Knit Picky

1-2-3-4 Tell Me That You Love Me More...

2008-10-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

1
Cyst-that-was-not-a-cyst-after-all

2
Surgeries

3
Weeks out of work

4
Doctors

It's been 1 helluva year

Here Bloggie, Bloggie, Bloggie

2008-04-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been very strange. A weird combination of really bad and kinda good and a lot of thinking and making decisions and getting well and truly tired of stupid people. Vague enough, for you?

Well, here's two bad and one good to give you some insight as to where my head is (oh, and you'll probably read this and think "My GOD, when will she stop with the whining?!" For that, I apologize.)

Thing the FIRST--I've titrated off of my anti-anxiety and anti-depression meds and it's turning out to be very hard. I'm finding out that I'm not nearly as nice (or at least well-balanced) as I was on them. I did really well for the first month or so, so I didn't worry about it. Then I started having truly depths-of-the-blues kinds of days. I felt like everyone was against me--for instance, my boss sent me what seemed to be an unnecessarily critical email and she copied a bunch of people that didn't need to be involved in what should have been between us. I took it extremely personally.

The Boy tried to talk me down by telling me I was overreacting. Do you know how well someone who is overreacting takes the criticism that they are overreacting? Think about it.

I've also found myself filled with massive, mindless rage. I'm a pretty even-tempered person most of the time, and yet I was becoming an absolutely dangerous crazy person in the car. Honking, screaming at the top of my lungs (till my throat was raw and my voice affected), throwing things around the car. I was unspeakably angry all the time, and couldn't place it. I thought it was some ridiculously bad PMS (which I don't really get much, so that in itself would make it weird), but I've realized that this is all connected. Partly because with the rage comes crushing, massive sadness. I cried when the new TV didn't seem to work; when the woman on the freeway cut me off; when my co-worker said something that seemed unjust (though I did this in private, obviously).

Needless to say, this has not been easy. Sigh.

Thing the SECOND--Maybe connected to thing the first, maybe not, I'm finding myself really, really offended by my co-worker and he thinks he is just soooo funny. I think I've mentioned before that in my office we have a couple of women who have no discernible boundaries--flatulence, belching, talking about their sex lives; nothing is off-limits. Well, the biggest offender of all of them (a woman) is leaving. And I am SO relieved. Maybe my office will become a bit more respectable and professional. Evidently, the fact that I have these kinds of thoughts (that the office is not the place for some of this behavior) make me some kind of freak, and my (male) co-worker has decided to point this out to me. Every single day for two weeks.

He's making a video for the going-away and was coming up with little sketches for each of the people in the office that are supposed to epitomize their character or their persona in the office. He told me that he couldn't come up with one for me because I'm so dull. He said this like I should laugh with him. When I asked him what he meant, he said, "You know, you're not really a character. You're serious and don't laugh at their fart-jokes." I suppose I am dull if that's the definition!

My friend/co-worker and I were discussing this because she was accused of the same thing but she can just shake it off, whereas I can't seem to do so. We were both wondering what was wrong with being 'nice' or 'responsible' or you know, 'not gross.' I wish I could drop it, but I can't. Mostly because he won't. Each day he tells me how dull I am and why. I know it sounds stupid, but it's really hurting my feelings. Maybe I'm overreacting--see thing the first. But I just don't see how it's funny to denigrate someone who you're supposedly friends with (he and his wife and The Boy and I have gone out together, he always wants to talk all the time about the things we have in common--cats, interest in tech, Firefly/Serenity, etc.).

To top this all off, I found out that he asked someone from outside our office to participate in the video to do something pretty risque that the woman leaving is known for and she told him that she wasn't sure because she didn't want me to tell on her. WHAT???

Honey, if I'd wanted to bust any of you for inappropriate behavior, sexual innuendo or anything else, I would have done it long ago. OMG. !!

This, of course, makes me wonder what, exactly, my co-workers say about me outside the office. I'd say that--with the exception of them knowing my feelings on the fart machine and my discomfort with some of their topics that they feel the need to discuss at full volume during business hours while I'm on a business call--everyone gets along (or pretends to) really well. How disillusioning to find out that they really don't like me and in fact say nasty things about me behind my back.

I've suspected it all along. I mean, they've made no secret of the fact that they consider me hopelessly weird because I knit, talk about my hobby, love my husband, don't say all kinds of vulgar things about men--and women--I don't know, etc. But this hit me hard. Again, don't know why it should, but I think I'm a pretty good sport, go along with a lot of things and have put up with ALOT of crap for three years. Only to find out that I am a DULL NARC.

Sucks sucks sucks.

Thing the THIRD--I am more thankful than ever for my knitting group. (See the banner for OC Knitting Meetup Group at right ---->). It is seriously my therapy right now. When I am extremely down, feeling beaten by the world, don't think I can manage one more person, I go to my group and get rejuvenated. We are all so diverse, and yet some of us have a surprising (alarming?) number of things in common besides knitting. I don't know what I'd do without them.

I was reading Stephanie's new book and she talks about Stitch 'n Bitch or Knit Night groups and how we come together over knitting and form such a strong bond. Naturally this made me cry, thinking of my own group, but it's so true! I have been able to tell some of the women in the group both things one and two above, and gotten such nice responses and much-needed perspective (such as pointing out that I do indeed have a sense of humor; it's just not the same as those of the people in my office). I can come to them with my health concerns, my anger, my pain, my feelings of self-righteousness, and they help straighten me out.

Fresh eyes and caring friends. Thank God for them! They're keeping me sane right now.

The Return of Freaky Friday! (a.k.a. Coming Up For Air)

2008-03-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the work nightmares have mostly come to an end, but then I got sick. Stupid cold. Who gets a cold at the beginning of spring? I don't even know anyone else who's sick! Ugh.

Anyway...it has come to my attention (probably ridiculously belatedly) that Freaky Fridays don't necessarily need to involve me injuring myself; they can just involve ways in which I've embarassed myself, or been embarassed. These instances, my friends, are countless.

So, bring on the shame!

Several years ago, when I was a young'un (in middle school, I believe), we were invited to have Christmas Eve dinner with mom's then-boyfriend's family (sister? cousin?). [Yeah, I'm nothing if not timely with the holiday tales] I dubbed then-boyfriend Slimey because a) it rhymed with his actual name, and b) it oh-so-aptly described him. So mom dragged my sister and I to Slimey's Family Christmas. [World's worst/best ever book title?]

As we were heading out the door from home mom instructed me to grab a present for each of us (my sister and I) from under the tree so that we too would have something to open while Slimey's family exchanged all their gifts. [Do you have any idea how a surly pre-teen felt knowing that the whole family would be exchanging gifts and we'd each have one measly one? Not good, that's how.] Mom pointed to a couple of gifts, "Grab those! Let's go!"

Many hours later, gift giving finally commenced. Because I think I was in college before mom stopped giving my sister and I matching gifts [come to think of it, has that practice stopped??], we were always directed to open our gifts at the same time. And because we were the guests at the Slimey Family Christmas, all eyes were on us as we opened our matching purses. With a slightly puzzled look on her face, mom said, "I'm pretty sure I wrapped another gift inside each of those purses. Open them!"

We waited for the news to spread throughout the room, and again, everyone stopped what they were doing and focused on us. It was with some excitement that we ripped into those purses because usually a gift within a gift meant something really cool--a charm bracelet? earrings? Just as my hand closed around something cloth-like, mom gasped. And I pulled out of the purse, for all to see, UNDERWEAR. Oh, yes. Several pairs of girly, cotton underwear.

The crowd tittered; mom [to her credit] looked really, really sorry for pushing us to open the gift for the throngs of not-our-own-family; I probably turned bright red.

And then my sullen, surly, pre-teen angst re-asserted itself and I was really, really pissed. Dude, there were cute teenage boys, older, cute teenage boys not related to me, at that party. And they'd just seen my pink, flowery panties! And not in a way that was going to make any of them think about asking me out [my sole goal in life as a surly pre-teen].

*************************

I know it doesn't seem like it, but there has been much knitting going on. Socks, of course; a baby sweater to welcome a sweet little girl (and she'll be able to wear it next winter--my gauge may have been a wee bit off); squares for a blanket for the sweet little girl; seaming the whole blanket of motley squares for the sweet little girl and made by the knitting group (4"x6" means something entirely different to everyone, it turns out); the beginning (and end) of a sweater in which the yarn just would not make gauge; and finally, the beginning of a new sweater. There were probably some other things, but I can't recall them.

I also threw a baby shower for the first time (is it normal to put yourself into the poor house with your efforts?). So.Much.Fun. I've been doing some exciting events with the OC Knitting Meetup Group (I'm a co-organizer), including a yarn hop trip to San Diego. And probably other stuff that I can't think of because I need to get back to work and see the stack of "To Dos" looking at me accusingly.

Until next week, enjoy my mortification!

Look Into My Eyes. Deeeep Into My Eyes.

2008-02-27T14:46:00.000-08:00

Hi. I'm Mei Mei.

The Giant Pink Hairless Cats(TM) took me in a few months ago when The Boy one found me wandering around their building crying.

Sucker! Like I hadn't seen the sweet life being led by the other two furballs in their apartment and planned my 'in'. These simple-minded creatures are so easy to manipulate.

Anyway, the girl GPHC(TM) suggested that I might be useful and type a quick note for you here to let you know that she's probably not going to be able to talk to you this week. I've heard her muttering words like "new fiscal year," "strategic planning," and "another damned quarter." That and the weeping and gnashing of teeth around here has nearly put me off my kibble.

Ha ha. Just kidding. Nothing makes me forego food.

You're probably wondering how a cool cat like me came to be typing you this note. Yeah, I've heard the old opposable thumb jokes. Let me tell you, I have paw-pettes (you call them something boring like 'fingers') and a tail. So, really, who is the challenged one??

Well, this is boring. I'm going to go look at Stuff On My Cat, eat some plastic mice and attack the white fluffy cat. I rule this place! Well, when that big, fat, scary girl cat isn't around anyway. She's mean!

Bye!

If it Ain't Scottish, it's Crrrrrap!

2008-02-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday The Boy and I went to the Scottish Festival on the Queen Mary here in Long Beach, CA. I love the Queen Mary*. I am also a big ol' dorky Anglophile, as you may recall, so this was a must-attend event for me.

First we watched the pipe and drum band parade.

I love bagpipes. No, really. No, really.
This was followed by the clan parade, but my people were not in attendance. At least, not officially. The clan MacClure (sometimes referred to as a sept family of the clan MacLeod) was not representing. Very disappointing for me, since I've only just discovered this connection, and I was looking forward to forcing my attentions on...erm, I mean, getting to know my kinsmen.

After the pipe and drum bands performed, we saw a military demonstration but we didn't get any pictures of that. Probably because we were far too busy covering our ears and cowering in fear at the loud booms coming from the 19th century cannon and machine gun (I'm sure there are more technical terms, but I don’t know them).

We then hightailed it for the sheep herding demonstration--naturally.

First they let the sheep out to just roam. Which they did.

Near...

And far...
Then they let out the Border Collie to demonstrate how the natural predator/prey instincts work for bringing the sheep to heel.

After seeing how effective the Border Collie was, they brought out a Schnauzer puppy to show that, though the Border Collie gets all the glory for this job, any dog with the right instincts can actually pull it off.

It was then time for the Bearded Collie to show us his stuff.

And where there are sheep...

I knew that my other people must be nearby. My fiber-loving friends. And I found her. A woman whose name I believe was Niamh, which I've always thought was one of the most awesome names ever because one of the two syllables sounds nothing like how it looks (it is pronounced: nee-ev). I love that. But I digress. The-woman-I-shall-call-Niamh was spinning.

I walked up to watch her. Now, I should mention that I've avoided fiber "in the raw" so to speak (non-yarn fiber) and all things spinning-related because I know me and my capacity for resisting new hobbies. (Which is somewhat on par with George Bush's ability to pronounce "nuclear" correctly.) So when Niamh offered to let me give spinning a try, I politely demurred. Then The Boy insisted I should try it. He really ought to have known better.

I had so much fun! I spent the rest of the day playing with my little bit of yarn.

After all that work (ahem), we were starved. So we headed back to the main area and found ourselves some delicious foods. We each got a plate, ate half, and then switched while we sat on the deck of the QM and listened to the bagpiper's competition below.

Savory pork pie. So.Good. Mashed potatoes and two veg. Yum!

Banger sandwich with onions on soft French bread. Mmmmmm.
Onboard the Queen Mary is a shake place (California Shakes) that has received accolades from all over for having the best ice cream shakes anywhere. We hit that place twice when we stayed on the QM last year, so we treated ourselves to a little shake action this time, too. No pics, though. We ate them too fast!

We then spent a good deal of time hunting down my family tartans and finding out that they were very expensive to buy when we had already spent a small fortune just to get in and park, so we didn't buy anything. And the shortbread place was out by the time we made it there—Scottish shortbread is so good; I think each piece uses a half-stick of butter! During our honeymoon through England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, most of the hotels we stayed in provided little packets of Walker's Shortbread next to the coffee and teapots in the rooms. I took all of them and have since become quite addicted.

After all that, we finally said Adieu to the old gal and headed for Los Alamitos Bay Yarn Co. to pick up some gift yarn for Laura (wow, she's a worse blogger than me!). She is now 3 days past her baby due date and extremely grumpy. I made her a Lamb's Pride bouquet of bulky yarn. Early in her pregnancy she professed that she was going to be able to knit as quickly after the baby as she did before**, so I thought bulky yarn would be a good way to maintain the illusion of accomplishing a lot in less time.

Lamb's Pride in variegated jewel shades
Finally, at the end of the day, we hit Buster’s next door to Los Al. Buster's has amazing luau pork. If you're ever in the area, get some! And start with the voodoo chicken skewers; you won't be sorry.

While we waited for our food, I played with my new yarn, spun by my own (and Niamh's) hands.

Dudes! I made yarn!
All in all, a very good (long) day!

*She's located only about 45 miles from my house, but I hadn't been until I had to attend a postal seminar there last November. I fell in love with her for her history and old furnishings, and The Boy and I ended up spending a weekend onboard—she is a hotel, as well as a showpiece—and he fell for her too.
**You don't have to have a baby to know that probably ain't gonna happen!

Awwwwww, Shucks!

2008-02-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

You guys are so sweet! I feel so lucky to have such kind and thoughtful virtual friends. And who knew there were so many of you! Like, 8 or something!

I'm so happy to be back. I really have missed you. I even have a long-ish post in the works, but I don't think it's going to make it today. That would be because I had a doctor's appointment this morning that should have taken about 1 hour from beginning to arrival at work and instead took 2-1/2 hours from beginning to end and arrival at work. Le sigh.

Advice to you, my dear friends: if your doctor's office tells you the day before your appointment that they can move your appointment from 4:30pm to 9:30am and to the office closer to your work, make sure they also tell the doctor this. Mine didn't.

I was there at 9:30. My doctor was there at 10:15.

And she was totally unprepared to meet with me. I had had an MRA (like an MRI but of the blood vessels instead of the brain tissues), and she didn't have the report, hadn't looked at the CD yet and couldn't tell me very much. So instead I sat there even longer while she viewed the CD in her office and the lab faxed over the report to tell her that I am, in fact, fine.

You know, I'd kind of figured that out. Because if I had an incipient aneurysm on the horizon? It would have blown while I was waiting this morning!!

Ahem.

Tap, Tap...Is This Thing On?

2008-02-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, uh, hi. So...um...how ya doing?

So I sort of disappeared? Like, for a really long time? And I really miss you.

Do you think you might be willing to give it another try? I miss our talks. I miss sharing the important things with you. And the goofy things.

I don't want to make a bunch of excuses, but I've had some health stuff, and some depression stuff, and some work stuff, but I think I've gotten it all under control. And I'd like to see if we can bring back some of that old magic.

What do you say?

Will you take me back, innernets??

…And That Is Why You Should Never Show Your Boss Just How Capable You Really Are

2007-10-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

So...have you wondered where I was? Did you wonder if I was ever coming back? I did. Sigh.

I got a great review at work. Really great. So great, in fact, that my boss felt that I could take on more responsibility. Much more. So much more, in fact, that I no longer have time for anything fun at work like reading blogs (you don't want to see my bloglines backlog, trust me). Certainly no time for writing blogs.

It didn't help, of course, that the Whatsamatta U computer gurus, in their infinite wisdom, started observing our internet habits. So much so that they would call people and tell them what site they were on.

So, in summary:
MORE WORK + BIG BROTHER INTERNET TACTICS = NO BLOGGING FOR 2+ MONTHS. I suck.

Even The Boy has pointed this out to me, and he's not a blog-minded kinda guy.

So what have I been up to lo these two long months? Sadly, the answer is not much. Outside of work, I've been knitting some socks (Hogwarts Sock Swap II); I saw the Yarn Harlot in L.A. (as great as rumor says); we accidentally got a kitten (rescue a kitten, keep a kitten); Laura and I spun off from our knitting group and formed our own (the Orange County Knitting Meetup Group--represent!); new dental woes have surfaced.

Most importantly (to me) I've had some health stuff arise that I'm not quite ready to blog about yet. I've been hyper-emotional as a result and went through a depressive episode struggle. Doing better now, but it's been some work, and I literally now have a team of doctors that I get passed around all the time. So, yeah, throw into that super-busy-at-work mix the fact that I have tons of doctor's appointments (why do they all have to be between 9am and 5pm on workdays??), and you can imagine how fractured my mind has been lately.

Sadly, I haven't even had any good/weird injuries lately for Freaky Friday fodder.

The GOOD NEWS is that The Boy and I are heading out for vacation this Saturday for a whole week. We're going to drive up the coast to Morro Bay, Monterey and San Francisco. I cannot wait. I sooooo need this time. A full week of no working, no deadlines, no expectations except fun. We have made a couple of firm plans to see places (Hearst Castle and Alcatraz), but other than that...fly by the seat of your (our) pants vacationing. Of course, this has made work that much more hectic because I've had to work a lot of late nights to get stuff done so that I can leave with a clear conscience (damn work ethic). But it will totally be worth it. Next week.

Yeah, so even though I'm back today, I probably won't be able to write again till the end of the month. But I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still knitting and griping over here in my little part of the innernets.

Freaky Fridays, Reverse Sock Progress & Shout-Outs

2007-08-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

++Edited to add: Longest blog post ever--sorry, but I'm making up for lost time.++

Happy Friday Friends! And it is happy. It's been a long slog of a week and I am plumb tired.

This week I endeavor to entertain you with the latest of my toof woes. If y'all read this blog with any regularity, you know that I have been having many a toof woe*.

Just a little backstory: I currently have a permanent crown that has twice been affixed with temporary cement because the dentist does not want to permanently cement it while my gums continue to misbehave. She is afraid I could end up with a cavity between the gums and the crown if the swelling ever manages to go down, probably leading to a root canal and taking the damn crown off for the THIRD FREAKING TIME. Ahem.

The problem with the temporary cement is that it is, uh, temporary. As in, it seems to stop working anywhere between two days and a week (if I'm lucky) and then I almost swallow the stupid thing. So they sent me some do-it-yourself temporary cement so that when the crown fell out again I could put it back in again myself since I don't see the dentist again for 6 weeks.

For the record: Me + Cement = Recipe for All Kinds of Mayhem.

I read the packet and thought to myself, "Self, this can't be that hard. It looks pretty easy in the dental office." Oh, Self, you are so funny. You think that anything you do will ever go smoothly? Have you learned nothing in your 30+ years??

Step #1 -- Squeeze a small amount of the two fixatives out of this little foil package thingy and mix together with a disposable spatulate tool. Um, don't have any of those around the house, how 'bout the back end of my toothbrush? Okay, so, squeeze it out onto...what? My hand doesn't seem like a wise idea, so I squeeze it onto the toothbrush end and put that back onto the foil thingy and start making the little paste. Easy peasy. Hmmm, this cement is kinda messy. It's sort of spreading up the handle of my toothbrush as I mix. Well, I should probably proceed to step #2.

Step #2 -- Apply to the underside of the crown that will adhere to the little nubbin in my mouth. Wow, this crown is actually quite small and my toothbrush end is a lot bigger than I thought. Hey, it's probably not good to get this cement all over my hands. Wait, I can't move my fingers! Okay, I can do this. With the three fingers not covered in cement, I can get this crown placed in my mouth.

Step #3 -- Place in mouth. Pshaw! That's so eas- oh. "Wai. Ow eres emen all o'er y owf. 'RAP!" Okay, in the dentist office they always have me bite down on those little cotton pillowy things. Cotton, cotton...cotton balls! Bite down and in four minutes I'm going to have a nicely cemented tooth that I bet will look so good the dental assistant will think she did herself. What should I do while I wait for it to dry? Oh--

Step #4 -- Scrub hands. Hard. Everything is sticking to me. Hey, I didn't even see that cat hair on the sink and now it's stuck to my hand! Why can't I separate my pointer and middle fingers? Ooh, my face itches. Man, that was a bad idea. What the hell is this stuff made out of? Oh, yeah. It's not coming off! More scrubbing. Has it been four minutes yet?

Step #5 -- "Your tooth should successfully be seated in your mouth." Okay, let's see how this worked. Ick. Gack. Spit. I don't think a cotton ball was the best choice. There's cement and sticky cotton everywhere in my mouth. The cotton ball is coming out in thousands of the finest of fine little filaments, stretching and breaking. It's stuck to my teeth. I have a mouthful of cotton fibers! Man, this really sucks.

Step #6 -- Opine loudly on the stupidity of depending on ME to take care of this. My dental office knows what a freaky spaz I am! Why would they send me the do-it-yourself cement kit? They must have known how this would go. Maybe they were laughing as they sealed up the envelope to send me?

************************************

Sock progress inaction photos

I know that some are not fans of flashing and pooling, but I believe in letting the yarn be what it wants to be. :)

Oh my sole

Teeny little bit of yarn left. I knit as close as I could because I'm always so careful that I end up with plenty left over. Not this time!

It is all kitchenered now, by the way. I'll be working on the second sock (which was actually the first sock and is about 1/4 way through--loooong story) until the yarn arrives to start my Hogwarts II sock for my pal.

I refer to this as reverse progress, though, because once I finished the toe I put the completed sock on and darned if the cuff wasn't too tight! Since I've never used up the entire skein before, most of my socks are a bit short and I've never had the problem of running into the dreaded giant calf/small cuff problem. If I don't mind the lack of circulation to my foot, I can wear as-is, but I just don't roll like that.

Instead I began to rip out the ribbing at the top. Turns out that ripping ribbing is a million times harder than ripping stockinette. Who knew? It's almost fixed now, but last night I was pretty close to putting the sock into permanent time out. It's gorgeosity saved it, though. Damn you, Koigu (shakes puny fist northward at those dastardly Canadian dyers)!

************************************

Shout outs

1) Dear lady I saw at lunch wearing the side-ponytail: No. Just no. I rocked that in the third grade and you are considerably older than me. It is simply unacceptable that you adopt this style in 2007.

2) To my new pseudo-dog, Susie: I can't wait to see you again!

I say pseudo-dog in the sense that she's not really mine (not that she's not really a dog, obviously). My dad's employee found this gorgeous Jack Russell terrier wandering around in Lake Arrowhead. She's obviously healthy and sweet as can be but had no tags or identification. The woman took her around to all the neighborhood houses and even contacted a couple of shelters: everyone had seen her, nobody knew if she had an owner, they figured she was just a stray. The woman took her home but couldn't keep her because her apartment landlord won't allow it. My parents took her in for a week. My dad was adamant that they were not keeping her, so my mom and the kids were not to get attached. She was only there for a week while they tried to find a home for her.

I came up to visit that weekend. Me, the cat person. I've never had a dog, never really wanted a dog. And yet: love at first sight. I *knew* instantly that her name was Susie and my campaign began to get my parents to keep her for me. I live in a no-dogs allowed building or she would've gone home with me the very next day--the dog-hating Boy would've come around, I just know it; she's so sweet! I have been waging an email campaign against my dad, sending him pictures of me and Susie from that weekend (two weeks ago, by the way). Many a soulful expression was made to him while I was there, from both of us. He even commented on how taken we were with each other. I'm going to go back up tomorrow and continue the assault.

Send your good doggie-keeping vibes to me and Miss Susie Blackjack! (the full name I've given her; black because, well, duh, and jack because she's a jack russell, dontchaknow).

3) And last, but definitely not least, big props to my dear, sweet friend LAURA. I sincerely hope she doesn't hate me for outing her here, but since only one person she knows reads this blog (that I know of), I think I'm safe. Laura's latest WIP is a BABY!!!!!

I feel safe in sharing, though it's not up on her blog yet, because Laura has told all her family, her boss, and our knitting group. I'm so excited! And y'all know this means a rash of baby knitting at the knitting group. Baby socks, booties, blankies--oh my! :)

*For those not as familiar, here is a quick recap: first was the diagnosis of gum disease that required scaling and depositing medication at the root level of many of my teeth. Then was the wisdom tooth removal that led to many, many "incidents" of bone chip removal. Which led to gum surgery for shaving the jawbone down so it would stop coming through the gums. Then cavities were found between two of my teeth. Somehow my rigorous dental maintenance (and boy howdy, is it rigorous, just ask The Boy who falls asleep waiting for me to finish THE ROUTINE each night) was not enough. Then the dentist had to remove a crown that she's already removed once before because a creeping cavity was moving underneath it at the gum line, and now, months and months later, my gums continue to be too swollen to allow her to replace the crown permanently. Seriously, just take 'em all at this point. I've about had it.

You Know, I'd Really Like Working At This School If It Weren't For All These Students

2007-07-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

Beware: Grumpy Old Woman Rant Commences...NOW

Whatsamatta U has the distinction of being located in an area populated by rich, snotty kids. Kids much like those spotlighted by MTV with their stupid, (sur)reality shows based on plasticy, enhanced-to-within-an-inch-of-themselves lives. And these kids are the worst kinds of entitled that you've ever seen.

They drive far nicer cars than about 90% of the staff. And they have no qualms about scratching, denting or otherwise damaging the cars of us, their underlings. They look with scorn upon those of us who cannot afford/do not want to dress like a) hookers, b) mannequins or c) the latest runway victim of Dolce & Gabana/Versace/H&M/Ralph Lauren/Gwen Stefani (have you seen what her stuff costs?!--holy !@#$). They walk blindly behind reversing vehicles, trusting that their charmed little lives could never be snatched away from them, knowing that if one of us deigned to bump them with our cars, daddy would sue us into oblivion. Because Princess should be allowed to be irresponsible and lazy and insensible of things happening around her!

Ugh. Today two such lithe, young, tanned, spoilt specimens just walked right behind my car as I backed up from my parking spot. They never looked at me or my car. They were talking at each other, scrolling through their ipods, in their designer clothes that cost as much as my monthly car payment. No doubt they were on their way to get their half-caf, soy mochaccinos in their BMW or convertible Mercedes!

If this is our future, God help us all. This is what happens with a concentration of too much money, not enough discipline and spoiling run amok.

Where are the parents here? Other than handing over the limitless credit card and the keys to the Jag, do these mini divas with JUICY printed across their a$$es/their $300 jeans/their Missoni dresses/Gucci pants and their Prada/Coach/Chanel bags have actual, involved parents? I know that there are some awesome parents out there in the real world. Hell, I've known more than a few in real life. So what dysfunction happened to this new generation that has made it acceptable for kids to be this way? Brainless wonders cum tween/teen icons. Oy. Paris, Lindsay, Nicole? I'm looking at you.

God I'm old.

Freaky Fridays--and Sock Talk

2007-07-27T17:22:00.001-07:00

I swear to you that there has been knitting, it's just not all that exciting. I have ripped and restarted a pair of socks using Koigu KPPM P113 7x. Seriously. SEVEN.TIMES.

Yeah, so I stole the picture, because I don't have a decent one, from Simply Socks Yarn Co. (though I didn't steal Allison's bandwidth or anything--I love SSYC and I love Allison--have you seen her latest addition to the shop? He's a doll--go say hi!!!).
The thing is, I love Koigu (as if you didn't know that), and I really love this variegated colorway, but it was fighting with every pattern I tried. So I finally started it with the Mata Hari pattern (discovered via a pattern search on Ravelry!) And it's working, but it's a slog for a number of reasons--I've been reading a lot and then there was a certain book about a boy magician named Harry, I think...yeah. But I will take a nice photo on my truly fabulous new sock blockers* for you, I promise. Speaking of which...

My lovely model

He really does put his foot in his mouth a lot ;)
*******************************************************

Aw well, on to the freakiness!

A somewhat recent fall in my very own bedroom. Fortunately the only witness was The Max (my cat) and he's not talkin'.

You know how falling can be like a domino effect? You start to fall, and you grab something to help break your fall and it breaks, and so you reach for something else and it hits you in the head, and...no? That's never happened to you. Huh. Guess it's just me then.

I was sorting out my underbed plastic storage bin that holds wrapping paper, and then I abandoned the project at the foot of the bed for a couple of weeks because it was boring. By it's placement it became a catchall for discarded socks, a paper bag with stuff that needed to be sorted, some papers...you get the idea.

I was walking between my 'vanity' (dresser) and the bed and my socked foot slipped on a piece of paper that had fallen off the plastic bin. I stumbled forward, and tried high-stepping in my effort to regain my balance. And thusly did my foot go through the plastic lid of the storage bin. I reached for the down comforter to catch myself, but it is silky and so it just slid off the bed and helped take me down. I grabbed blindly for the handled bag on top of the bin and it swung forward and hit me in the head. I grabbed for the dresser, but my hand slid across it's glossy IKEA surface. In the end I went down, facedown, with the handle ripped from the paper bag and a sweatshirt from off the bin in my hand; the comforter was hanging off the bed and dangling onto the back of my leg. My cat was sitting in the doorway, fascinated and terrified. I had one hand in front of me as I had managed (amazingly, considering) to avoid a faceplant right into the base of the floorlamp.

Naturally, The Boy came running in after all this to find me laying on the ground in the bedroom laughing like a loon. I told him I had been taking a nap. If it weren't for the noise that my ample self made when hitting the ground, I probably could've gotten away with my story, too!

Sock blockers purchased from Leggy Creations. Becky is super nice, incredibly fast and her gorgeous work is very reasonably priced. I saw an almost identical pair of sock blockers in her archives and asked her if she would take a custom order. She made mine a little bit different (so that it is unique for me), and I had them within about a week, I think. Handmade and to my door in about a week, people! If you are ever looking for sock blockers, hers are fabulous and she's wonderful to work with!

Freaky Fridays--And Why I'm Famous At Work

2007-07-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

So about a month after the first time I sprained my ankle, it was a bit drizzly out and I was walking back to my office from a lunch run, carrying my sandwich and soda. I was heading down a slight grade, unaware of the danger lurking just a foot or so ahead of me.

Cue dramatic music--Bum BUM bum!

Some background: the buildings where our offices are located at Whatsamatta U were built in the '60s (pink stucco bungalows, bay-bee) and had all the typical failings from that era, including no handicapped* access to the doors. The two entrance doors are about 6" or more off the ground, the main walkway has a drop of 5-6", and between the main walkway and the doors is a gravel walkway. Yeah, real handicap-friendly. At some point they added wooden ramps down the main walkway to the gravel area, and back up to the main door that is used to enter our building. /Background

So I'm walking down that first ramp and I hit a damp patch. When stepping with the foot with my already sprained ankle. And I'm wearing boots with a heel (because I'm a moron who doesn't learn her lesson). Down, down, down I went. My purse went flying, my foot/leg again landed folded underneath me, I dropped the bag with my sandwich. But through it all (and this is a point of pride) not one drop of my soda was spilled. (Thank you, thank you.) I got up, looked around to see if anyone had witnessed my idiocy, gathered up the scraps of my dignity and limped back to the office. I tried to pretend that nothing happened because I was sooooo embarassed. But the pain did not get any better.

The next day I told my boss about it half-jokingly because my co-workers love to hear the stories of my humiliation (and I give them plenty of fodder). Well, she didn't find it so funny since it happened on campus property. An accident report was quickly filed, I was dispatched to the campus medical center for assessment, I was referred to physical therapy, and some handy dandy changes were instituted 'round these parts. The most notable was the ginormous rubber mats that were installed that very day on each wooden ramp. The mats were jokingly therefore referred to as KnitPicky** ramps. Campus safety also asked me for any other safety recommendations that I might have (slippery when wet signs, said I). And then there was the fancy shoe.

Shexxxxy

*I know that 'handicapped' is probably not the most PC word to use, but I think 'disabled' sounds worse, like you are referring to a person or people-group with some kind of a failing. You disable a machine, not a person. And 'differently abled' just sounds like you're trying too hard. Is this the lesser of some evils?

**Obviously they don't say KnitPicky. They say my last name, but for purposes of this blog, this works. ;)

Hogwart's TWO, the Return of the Sock Needles

2007-07-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

Circumstances beyond my control kept me from posting yesterday, so I apologize to everyone that I may have let down--Freaky Friday fans and Hogwart's swappers alike.

I was meant to have posted the answers to the Hogwart's Sock Swap TWO before today. And I was meant to tell you that sign ups for the sock swap began TODAY if you would like to sign up for Hogwart's I. Le sigh. Life. It is so complicated. To all Hufflepuffs everywhere, I apologize!

Okay, guilt aside, here goes the questionnaire...

1) What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?
This go round the Sorting Hat saw fit to place me in HUFFLEPUFF!

2) Shoe size? Foot length? Foot circumference?
I wear a bog standard US Women's size 9 shoe. My foot is 9.25" from back of heel to base of toes. My foot circumference is also 9.25".

3) List your three favorite sock yarns.
a. Koigu
b. Lorna's Laces
c. Artyarns

4) Would you like to try a new brand of sock yarn? If so, which brand?
Absolutely! I'm open to trying anything new. My dream yarns to try are the world-famous STR, Yarn Pirate and Sweet Georgia Yarns.

5) Do you prefer variegated or solid sock yarn?
I am a huge fan of variegated and handpainted yarns. If they are solid, I prefer the semi-solids that still have subtle changes from stitch to stitch. I am not really a fan of self-patterning yarns--I think it detracts from the challenge and excitement that you get of seeing what pops up with a variegated yarn.

6) What colors would you like to add to your sock yarn stash?
Red, teal (not turquoise, but a blue-teal), orange, blues. Really, just about anything. I just love me some sock yarn. :)

7) What kind of sock patterns do you gravitate toward? Lace? Ribbed? Fair Isle?
I tend to do lace or ribbed. I haven't actually made that many pairs of socks yet, but the ones that catch my eye the most use creative patterning and stitchery.

8) Do you have any allergies? (smoke, animals, etc.)
I'm allergic to cats, but I have two of them, so that's certainly no deterrent! I am really sensitive to smoke, though. And the only yarn that I have ever sworn off is angora. It is lovely and soft, but it makes my nose itch like mad!

9) Will your socks be exposed to cigarette smoke or animals as you knit them?
As I mentioned above, I do have two cats. The cats are always involved with the knitting--as observers, mostly. But I always handwash 1-2x before I send any gift knitting.

10) Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?
I think that would be fun.

There you have it, folks. I'm looking forward to HSSII--I hope you are, too.

P.S. We just returned from seeing HP:OOTP and really liked it! Unfortunately so much of the book had to be cut out, but I thought they did a really nice job with what they could squeeze into the time. Was anyone else just shocked when they showed the flashback to young COS Harry vs. current-day Harry? Wow, he sure has grown. :)

Three Reasons Why Swaps Are Totally Worth It

2007-07-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

I am so ridiculously and thoughtlessly behind in posting these. I just have not had my act together outside of the work environment (there I am kicking some serious butt), and I didn't get these photographed until just a couple of days ago. I am so pathetic.

The worst part of all, of course, is that my swap pals were so sweetly generous (and, yes, I did thank them via email), and I haven't put their packages up to show you how kind they were!

1) From the International Notions Bag Exchange, organized by the sweet Patty (Midwest Knit Girl). My delightful pal, Sabrina (My Knitting Basket), sent me the following:

Uh, yeah, the picture would have worked if a certain fat cat hadn't gotten in the middle of things!

Here's a better one:

A much better picture, with the exception of Miss Minipaws covering up the adorable String Thing Geisha! You can see her in the previous picture. Sabrina made me a recycled notions bag out of denim and hemp (clever!), included incense (the little orange/yellow envelope), a braided bracelet, the String Thing (who is now attached to my knitting bag--I love her!), and a magnet from Toronto. Part of the swap is/was to include a magnet from where you live. Sabrina couldn't find a magnet for her actual town, but Toronto is just next door.

The other part of the package from her (yep, there's more), was this great crocheted market bag.

Here it is stuffed with a handful of grocery bags. I am trying to phase out the plastic bags, instead getting the reusable cloth kind from all the stores in California now making them available. So this turned out to be a perfect gift. I don't even remember saying on my blog that I was doing this as a baby step toward greener living, but I did see a couple of these bags on Sabrina's blog when I found out she was my pal (not an anonymous swap), and lo, I got one in my package. You have no idea how thrilled I was, or how much you can stuff in this little bag.

Thanks so much for the notions pack, Sabrina!

2) Also from Sabrina. Yep, we were also pals in her yarn 'n stuff exchange.

That darn cat is at it again, inspecting the goods. Sabrina sent me Werther's caramels (uh, they're open), the BEST smokehouse jalapeno almonds (mmmmmmm), a cute little basket that I'm going to put on my coffeetable (when I get one) to hold snall notions and things, a skein of Paton's Cha Cha, about 100 yds of citrusy merino yarn that she dyed herself (the colors are so fresh and summery!), some tags for attaching to handknit gifts, and a great little yarn scrapbook and little handmade envelopes for scraps that she hand-decorated for me! Whew! What a package! :)

3) My Hogwart's Sock Swap package. My pal Queue did Hogwart's proud!

Wow!! I saw this package on the blog and coveted it, but never in a million years did I think it would be winging its way to me. Queue made me some absolutely wonderful Gryffindor stripey socks (see picture below), with a great wrapper (soooo cute!), and she included yummmmmmy teas, delicious dark chocolate (I'm pacing myself; just a couple of little squares each night; sooo good), some bee-yoo-ti-ful stitch markers, size US2 Brittany birch, 5" dpns, and a gorgeous skein of sock yarn called, appropriately, 'Fawkes'.

This photo shows the needles, and a better picture of the Fawkes yarn, as well as a pink/brown (yay!) crocheted potholder and the yarns from Sabrina that were part of package #2 before they were commandeered by HRH Inari.

When I took the socks out of the wrapper The Boy said that there was no way they were handknit because they were 'just too perfect.' I'm not sure what this means about his estimation of my skills, but I have to agree. These socks are flawless! And I lurrrve the opposite toes/heels.

Queue, thank you SO much for a truly magical package. You can bet I'll be wearing my Gryffindor socks when we go to the movie on Saturday (The Boy works tomorrow night).

I have lots more photos of other things to post, but for now, I think this is plenty!

Hey, Guess What I Almost Forgot!

2007-07-06T15:49:00.001-07:00

Um, yeah, Freaky Fridays. Yay. The crowd roars.

So today's story is of the first time I sprained my right ankle (for the record, I'm up to *3* times now).

So I was sitting at my very expensive and fashionable [coughcough] KMART (grandma always called it 'CameApart'--heh) kitchen table in the very way that we are told not to, with my right leg tucked underneath me. (Based solely on the fact that I built these chairs myself almost 10 years ago, this was a bad idea.) So I was sitting on my rickety chair and talking to The Boy. He was telling me I needed to get up and do something I didn't want to do (I don't even recall what). He took my hand to help me up and I rocked a little in the chair. I was laughing and rocking, and then, suddenly I wasn't.

Suddenly I wasn't laughing because my chair had collapsed underneath me (soooo bad for the ego, really). One of the legs had completely disconnected itself from the rest of the chair (these are those cheapie chairs consisting of pre-fab shapes and held together with dowels). I had hit the ground with a resounding thump in a sitting position, with my right leg sandwiched between me and the surprisingly solid seat of the chair. I was so startled. I looked up at The Boy and he was staring at me in shock.

I just remember laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation! The Boy quickly reached out and grabbed my arm to pull me up. He kept asking me if I was okay. I just kept laughing (hmmm, maybe I was in a little shock, too?). The Boy, being medically inclined and all, quickly got me to the couch with my foot elevated. He made me put frozen veggies on my ankle, despite my protests that it was probably fine. I was more upset about breaking one of the 4 lousy chairs that we had, and the terrible feeling that it was more me and less the rocking and the cheapness that caused the situation.

Later that night I noticed the big bruise and the swelling that were forming underneath the frozen peas (or was it spinach?). I felt so dumb for how it happened that I tried to avoid explaining the situation unless pressed--mostly I went for the 'bar brawl' or 'gang fight' explanation because it usually deterred most casual questioners. It wasn't until I sprained it AGAIN less than a month later that things got really bad.

Guess what story you get next Friday? ;)

Ooh, a cliffhanger!

Out of the Mouths of....Really Sarcastic Columnists

2007-07-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

"So there you have it. Bush shrugs and smirks and then commutes the easy soft-focus sit-on-your-ass-all-day-and-knit white-collar prison sentence of a hollow political lackey who, in turn, took a bullet for his sneering mafia thug of a boss, Dick Cheney, who in turn was complicit (along with lead flying monkey Karl Rove) in the appallingly illegal outing of a CIA operative, which itself was a tiny but particularly nasty link in the giant chain of lies and deceptions undertaken to lead our wary and tattered nation into an unwinnable impossibly costly brutally violent war that will now last, if current estimates are correct, until the goddamn sun explodes."

--Mark Morford, SFGate.com

Freaky Fridays

2007-06-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have a new one for you. Exciting for you, but painful for me! This one happened yesterday, so you got it here first.

The background: apparently I am weirdly shaped. I see my body as basically a tall rectangle (as attractive as that sounds), but for some reason pants are always too short. In order to get pants that are long enough, I almost always have to buy pants that are way too big in the waist (about 1/2 size or more too big). I can use belts to help, but sometimes that ends up creating the oh-so-fashionable "paper-bag" look. So more than I'd care to admit, I resort to large safety pins.

Well, I was pulling on some pants yesterday that I had forgotten to remove the safety pin from the last time I wore them. And as I pulled the pants up I felt a sharp stab in my right thigh. I quickly pulled the pants back down, and as I did, I felt a good half of that jumbo safety pin pull back out of my leg. If I could have heard it, I'm sure it would have made a sucking sound. The area was stinging so badly, but I was running late for a dental appointment, so I decided just to go. I didn't see blood seeping through my pant leg or anything, and it stopped hurting after about 45 minutes (could it have gone into the muscle?).

Last night when I was changing into my pjs, I looked down at the area and not only do I have the red little pin-prick mark, but I have a nice, quarter-sized red/purple bruise.

I ask you -- who does this? Who doesn't even notice a honkin' big safety pin and stabs herself in the leg? The Boy was talking tetanus shots last night when I told him the story (oh, the wild and wacky world of being married to an R.N.).

Then The Boy decided to make me feel better by telling me of his own safety pin incident. Heh. We so belong together.

The Boy went to USC and was in the famous USC Trojan Marching Band. They went to play at Notre Dame and after a long day of rehearsals he got back to his hotel and noticed that his pants had split down the back, along the butt-al region. Being a boy, he didn't know how to sew the pants, and he had to perform the next day. Thus, the magic of safety pins.

He pinned the whole seam down and off he went to play and dance and march. At one point during the halftime show, they were on the field, down on the ground when suddenly BOING! one of the pins came unhooked/latched and poked The Boy in some sensitive areas. The Trojan Marching Band does not break for anything, so he just kept going, getting stabbed in the ass with every step he took and every move he made. Is it wrong that I was laughing wildly at this story? ;)

Maybe my pants stabbing me in the thigh isn't so bad after all?

A Note to My Mother: For The Record

2007-06-27T14:53:00.001-07:00

Despite years of my agonizing protests and refusal to eat anything even remotely green and healthy: I am eating broccoli right now.

VOLUNTARILY.

But don't get any crazy ideas about brussels sprouts. Those little baby devil cabbages are still beyond redemption.

That is all.

Addictive Personalities Beware!

2007-06-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

Ravelry is so crazy addictive. I've just spent 4 hours uploading a teeny tiny bit of stash and ogling other people's pages. I foresee many a sleepless night!

If you're on Ravelry, friend me: my username is conchobara!

Freaky Fridays (on Saturday)

2007-06-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Sorry about delaying FF for ya, but I was down with a migraine most of yesterday and a good portion of today.

Today's FF actually is a triad belonging to my (bio)dad. He is klutzy, so you know I come by it honestly, but this Freaky Friday is really about his unbelievably bad luck for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If I were to relate to you just one of these stories it would seem sad or scary, maybe even unbelievable. But when you get all three together, it's funny because it seems so ridiculously impossible!

A few years ago (bio)dad (hereafter known as bd) was on the bus heading to work when a guy pulled a gun and shot the man standing in front of bd on the bus. I know! Kept him off the bus for awhile, I'll tell you what!

Then, about a year later, bd was at work with another guy (working the graveyard shift), and he decided to walk outside to get some air. When he got out there, he found a man who had been stabbed in their parking lot. Naturally, when the police got there they had some questions for bd as to his whereabouts and actions before they were called. Fortunately he had a co-worker there with him who could vouch for his whereabouts. Which is unusual, because working the graveyard shift, he's usually flying solo.

THEN (oh yes, there's more) a few years ago, I was at work and somebody came into the office telling us about some madman sniper shooting at cars on the 5 freeway in Glendale (California). Uh-oh, bd lives in Glendale. Sure enough (and really, what are the odds?!) it was someone in his apartment building!!!! Because bd works the graveyard shift, he was asleep, so he missed most of the hullabaloo. Which, as it turns out, was a pretty darn good thing because one of the shots the madman fired before he started picking off cars on the freeway came right through bd's living room window and was embedded in the wall. It's still there to this day--he put a frame around it.

So, there you go. If you ever think you have it bad, think about bd and his incredibly bad, horrific and just plain crazy luck!

Lotus Knits Contest!

2007-06-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Lotus Knits is having a contest to enter to win some Gorgeous (yes, with a capital 'G') yarn that she dyed.

To enter her contest, one has only to include a picture of your first finished knitted item or the next item in your queue that has not been cast on yet. Sadly, I never got a picture of my first knitted item--a scarf for my little sister, all pink and white fluff. So instead, what will I be casting on for next?

I'm currently working on socks for myself, but you know me; that's going out the window because I entered another swap! This one is for a notions bag. After looking around for a bit, I've settled on one of these two.

Option #1 is from LMKG* and I've wanted to make it for awhile now. So pretty!

Option #2 is from Knitty, and is one of the very first patterns I printed out when I first began knitting and discovered Knitty 3 years ago. This option is slightly more exciting because I love buttons, and would get to use one or more. But I haven't made a final decision yet.

What do you think? Option #1 or #2?

******************

*Hey, did any of you read the article on Joelle Hoversen in the most recent Blueprint magazine? It was very cool! She has an amazing apartment and they had pictures from Purl and a sneak peek at the sweet little room she's created for her upcoming arrival (though I'm not sure if it's upcoming anymore, at this point).

Oh My Goodness-Oh My Goodness

2007-06-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

So much has gone on lately that I would like to blog about, but I don't want things to get lost in one looooong post, so I'll just have to parcel them out over the next couple of posts (and at the rate I go, that could be months!).

So the most important thing first: I got my awesome package from my ISE4 pal the night before we left for our anniversary trip to Santa Barbara. So, please forgive the delay in getting this information--and my HUGE thanks--out.

My swap pal was MoniDew , and boy, did she spoil me. Here are some pics of the goodies.

When I got home, I found this lovely box chock full of wrapped packages--yay! What could they all be??

Wow. Just, wow. Moni went to so much trouble to find just perfect gifts for me. Look at all the swag! She responded to my strong belief in breast cancer awareness and my desire to get back into yoga. I love Miso soup, and the candle smells just divine. Mmmmm. And how did she know how much I'm into organge right now?!

Please forgive the awful, sideways picture. I haven't quite figured out how to rotate pictures on my home computer (got it down at work, though!). This is my luscious scarf from Moni. It's in the Falling Water pattern. I'm not sure of the yarn but it is soooo soft and I adore the colors--which are pretty accurate here.

And another view of the scarf--as headband. I am a terrible photographer anyway, but when forced to take a picture of me wearing an item...well, let's just say that there were about 15 pictures of my back, the wall, the door and some items behind me. I immediately put this lovely in my purse and took it on our trip to Santa Barbara--though it's hot right now in CA, it was cool in the evening by the beach, so this came in mightily handily.

There is no thank you big enough to send Moni for this beautiful, thoughtful package. I was so thrilled to open each and every item. THANK YOU, MONI!!!

What a great swap partner!!

(And, by the way, check out Moni's blog for healthy living tips--she knows a little something about this, being a nutritionist and all!)

Freaky Fridays

2007-06-15T16:01:00.001-07:00

Hey peeps, sorry for depriving you of FF last week. The Boy and I were off to Santa Barbara to celebrate our first anniversary (of marriage; we've had five anniveraries of being together).

I have so much to blog about, and no time to do it in this week! I'm really going to try to get online this weekend to give you pictures and more information.

Due to our vacation (long weekend; we returned Monday night) and a supersized dental visit on Tuesday (5 hours in the chair!!!), I've been running like a mad woman at work, playing catchup on everything. Le sigh.

Soon I will have pictures for you of WAY TOO MUCH YARN (in The Boy's opinion, not mine, natch!), the cutest sea lion, a crab that collects yarn (really!), and some yarn-related goodies, including the AMAZING package from my ISE4 pal, MoniDew. What a truly wonderful pal. I'll give more details later, but she has been a commenter on this blog during the swap, sent me several cute little emails as we went along, and mailed me a mind-blowingly perfect package. I am so in awe of her swapper fu!

*******

Now, for why you really come here: more ways in which I've injured, hurt or otherwise embarrassed myself recently. ;)

So I mentioned a couple of posts ago the totally not real rabbit that is hanging out with us at work--but not really, of course, because I'm *sure* that would be some kind of health hazard, and we wouldn't want that, you powerful work enforcement types, so don't you worry. Or come looking for her.

Anyway, our imaginary rabbit spends most of her daytime life in one cubicle, but she has decided that the rest of us are WAY more interesting. As is running around the office. Enter: the prison break.

A couple of boxes were no deterrent for our four-legged hopping friend. So a makeshift baby gate was constructed out of some cardboard boxes to block the entrance to her cube. For weeks we all have just high-stepped over the gate when needing to get into the cube. Until this one magical day two weeks ago...

On that day I was standing outside the cubicle talking to its actual (human) resident. I went to step over the 'gate' to show her something and caught the front of my sandal on the flap of one of the flattened cardboard boxes. Not only did I stumble, but I fell--big time. I'm so glad it's not on video. I tried to balance myself by waving my arms wildly, while I had one foot caught behind me on the box, and one foot in the cube. I didn't want to hit the ground and squash the bunny, nor did I want to land on my teeny tiny officemate. But eventually gravity took its toll, and I fell to the ground, on my knees. And you know how cushy and comfortable institutional carpet is--about 1/8" thick over solid concrete.

I don't know how I looked exactly, but it can't have been pretty. My knees hit the ground so.hard. that people came running from other cubes. I skinned up both knees, and got ginormous bruises on each one. I also sprained the ankle that was caught on the box--my bad ankle, of course. The bunny and my officemate were just fine, though, lest you should worry!

It was really embarrassing, and quite painful, but it was one of those things where after it happened I was sitting on the ground in my officemate's cube laughing and laughing. Other co-workers came in and told their stories about falling to make me feel better. Which I appreciated!

*******

And as a little bonus for you, a conversation with another co-worker today:

She was on the phone with a vendor and suddenly shouted out, "OWWW!" Then she said, "Um, I stubbed my toe." When she got off the phone a couple minutes later I was laughing. I asked her how she supposedly stubbed her toe while sitting at her desk. She explained that the rabbit had bitten her toe, but she didn't want to tell the vendor that.

Then she said, "Of all people, Stephanie, I would expect you to understand how it is possible to hurt yourself in a bizarre way! If someone could get hurt sitting absolutely still at their desk, it would be you, so have some sympathy!"

Needless to say, we were all laughing at that one. And in that laughter, there was a tinge of irony, because it is so true. :)

Freaky Fridays -- and 100% more knitting content

2007-06-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

Whew, just making it in under the wire here with the latest installment.

I apologize for the relative blog silence, but short weeks really present a challenge at work since the clients still expect us to produce the same amount of work as in a regular-length week. I also developed a killer migraine yesterday that had (has) me down pretty badly. I came into work late today as a result.

But! On with the storytelling. This one is short, so I'll also be including some actual! knitting! content! with this post.

The first time I sprained my wrist was pretty typical. I was in a car accident, and I did precisely what you are told not to do--just before impact I tightened my grip on the wheel. I was pretty lucky that I only sprained my wrist, but that's another story entirely.

The second time, though, even *I* was laughing. Through my pain.

The Boy and I were standing in the kitchen talking. I think he was doing the dishes, and I was just standing next to the table, leaning negligently. Then I (stupidly) decided to stretch my arms out, first out in front of me, and then up over my head. And right into the blades of the ceiling fan.

Fear not, no limbs were lost and no blood was shed. The fan was on low. And it has those great big paddles, anyway, so all it did was stutter a bit, whacking my left wrist back and forth a couple of times until the shock dissipated a bit and my brain registered that my hand was in the fan.

Wrist to Brain: Ow! Quit it!

So when the pain didn't go away in a couple of days I called the doctor. And while in my appointment, when I told him how it happened, he just stared at me. I blinked first. Finally (and clearly trying not to laugh) he told me that that was an excuse he'd never heard--and he'd heard some good ones. (I wish he'd shared some of those so I wouldn't have felt like such a freak!)

So there you go. An injury as only Stephanie can do.*

***************************************

Blocking my ISE4 pal's scarf

I was about to take the picture of the full length blocking when Inari wandered in. Inari: Mmmm, alpaca is lip-smackingly good!

Here The Boy is helping me measure the full length of the scarf--my sore ankle was protesting all the time crawling around on the floor. Erm, sorry about the cat lying on the scarf ISE4 pal! I swear this was washed before blocking!

A pretty true representation of colors, and a closer picture of the lace pattern--it shows well on the purple alphabet block.

And even closer, because I love how it turned out!

And a few non-knitting pictures, because they're cute.

To Max's way of thinking alpaca=catnip. Alpaca yarn is the one yarn that I have to worry about him stealing from me. It's the one yarn that drives him senseless. He kept trying to steal away with the last little bit while I was weaving the ends of the scarf in, so when it was all done, I gave him the rest of the ball.

Alpaca goooooooood

And a last picture that just yelled SPRING to me

I saw the Bouganvillea coming back, and the Morning Glories popping and I couldn't resist. I'm no Cara or anything, but I'm pretty proud of how this picture came out. I have a clunky digital camera, and I'm a rubbish photographer, but this is such a pretty scene, that I guess I couldn't ruin it too much!

Also, as I was uploading all the pics into flickr, I noticed how well the flowers in that picture match the scarf. I love when synchronicity sneaks up on you like that!

*BTW--I think I sprained my ankle again this week. Probably just a minor sprain, but I think you'll enjoy the story. Evidently, starting this little blog 'tradition' of telling the world how I hurt myself may be bad for my health, because I've had a few falls and several injuries in the last two weeks!

A Diatribe

2007-05-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you not interested in political ranting, please feel free to scan through this blog. There are some cute critter pictures scattered throughout.

For the rest of you who are either sympathetic to--or willing to put up with--a liberal/progressive/Democratic opinion, here goes.

I don’t claim to be an international relations expert. I don’t even claim to have had a great political science education (thank you, public school). And yet, I know enough to be livid right now at the Democrats in Congress.

How could they capitulate and give the president a blank check to keep the troops in Iraq with no plan, no way out, no benchmarks, no responsibilities?! I am so disappointed. I really thought that when they took over after last year’s elections that they would be making drastic changes. And in those first 100 hours, they really looked like they were going to do it.

But now I am losing confidence. I don’t want to, of course, but when the president gets the opportunity to do a press conference where he claims that they all worked together and compromised (meaning he got everything he wanted, and the ones who will ultimately pay are the troops), well, my heart sinks a bit more.

Picture #1

This weekend The Boy and I watched the entire Band of Brothers series. If you haven’t seen this, please do. It is an amazing portrayal of what WWII troops went through in combat. I know that in some ways combat today is better, in others worse (the pros and cons of technology and field medical advancements), but I don’t imagine that the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness are any lessened.

And while watching this heart-wrenching series, the message that kept coming home to me was that at least the brave men of WWII knew what they were fighting for. They had a purpose and a genuine enemy. They were not responsible for attacking a sovereign nation that had done nothing to them. They were not being forced to serve in the middle of a civil war. They were often greeted as heroes and liberators. Not as bait.

Watching BofB made me even more angry about the unjustified and illegal war that we are ensnared in right now. While you can argue the appropriateness of war at all (I am generally a pacifist, myself), I don't think you can argue that the Nazi party should have been stopped. When Easy Company discovered a concentration camp, I lost it. I sobbed and cried for (what my high school English teachers liked to call) "man’s inhumanity to man." The concentration camp was the catalyst that broke the dam, and I cried for all of the soldiers lost; I cried because I cannot believe that the lessons of WWII and Vietnam and Korea, etc., have not penetrated the minds of so many Americans.

A few years ago I went to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. I walked away from that experience further baffled that anyone could treat another human being as less than equal. How could you see the evidence of what was done to the men and women whose only crime was being an artist, being gay, being Jewish--and not be changed? I was fortunate enough to be raised by parents that instilled in me from birth the equality of all human beings regardless of color, religion, or any other arbitrary differentiator.

Picture #2
So how do we today justify the wholesale slaughter of innocent Iraqis as though they are worth less than we are? How do we condone a war that is predicated on the belief that we and our governmental systems are better than theirs (particularly when many of our leaders never bothered to learn the history or historical politics of the region)? How do we take sides in what has become a civil and religious war? Day after day we hear that our soldiers are stuck in the middle between Shiite vs. Suni factions.

And the Democratic majority decided to let it go on instead of fighting for what they know is right.

Why?

Ugh. Then today I hear that Congress is talking about pulling troops out in September after General Petraeus gives his official report. Because they already know it will be bad and that the surge has failed. The surge that failed before it ever began.

Picture #3

"By September, when Gen. Petraeus is to make a report, I think most of the people in Congress believe, unless something extraordinary occurs, that we should be on a move to draw those surge numbers down," said Republican Senator, Jeff Sessions, longtime Bush and war supporter.
So, Democrats, I fear we can kiss goodbye any hope of retaking the White House in '08 unless things change, or 'unless something extraordinary occurs.' Because now the Republicans and the White House will get to be the good guys who bring our troops home following the monumental failure in Iraq. All because the Congressional Democratic leadership decided to allow Bush and his 28% approval rating to prevail, instead of supporting the vast majority of Americans’ opinions and digging in, taking a principled stand and being willing to die for the cause (metaphorically; while the soldiers do so literally).

I am so mad right now; I am just beside myself.

Now...for those of you who stuck with me through my diatribe, or those who skimmed through for critter pictures, here's two more--a cat after my own heart:

Max Sniffs Yarn

And one more, 'cause he's cute:

The Little Prince

***************************************

Photograph #1: Please disregard the evil-looking red eyes. I'm no photographer. She's actually quite sweet. This is the work rabbit--we all rescued her (she was probably 'set free' on the campus). She lives clandestinely in a large cage in our office and comes out to visit everyone in the afternoons when we close our door for 'meetings.'
Photograph #2: Cute bunny butt!
Photograph #3: Inari hanging out in her new bed.
Photograph #4: Max stuffs his head in my sock knitting bag. It holds alpaca; his favorite.
Photograph #5: Max climbed up on top of the pile of throw pillows. There seems to be very little point in organizing the throw pillows on the couches. Our house is ruled by the cats, and they would rather that we build them caves with them. So we do. He is perched on top of just such a cave.

Freaky Fridays

2007-05-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

This week's Freaky Friday incident will comprise the second half of this message. But, first, I have some well overdue updates.

I finally got my act together and got a picture of my Hogwart's Sock Swap partner's sock in time for today's show and tell (yay me!).

[Oh yeah, check out the awesome new Gryffindor House button! It's also in the right sidebar area.]

My Ravenclaw Pal's sock:

As usual, modeled by the lovely and talented (and oh-so-enthusiastic) Inari.

Fortunately my partner has nearly the same size feet as I do (only 3/4" bigger), so I can model them for you here.

This one probably shows the colors to best advantage.

Yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Glitter Alpaca in Moody Blues. I am so in love with this yarn. It's nice to work with, knits up really well, is a bit luxurious on the feet, but not so much that you'd be afraid to wear it. And it has glitter in it! The strands are periodically intertwined with little bits of coppery/silvery glitter that makes the whole thing sparkle (That's so Ravenclaw*).

I'm not doing much in the way of a pattern. I started several times with different ones, but they were not showing off the yarn enough. So I went with a 1-1/2" ribbed cuff and stockinette. And I'm so glad I did. It showcases the gorgeous color changes and the glitter so well. I've just to kitchener the toe on here and cast on immediately for the second sock. Truthfully this has been my fastest sock ever. 1 week to knit, it's only finishing the toe that is holding me up from being half done.

***********************************

The Disneyland Incident

I live to serve, and I received a couple of comments asking to know about my humiliating Disneyland experience for this week's installment of Freaky Fridays. Ask and you shall receive, dear reader.

Last year The Boy and I bought our first Annual Passes to the Mouse House. In the beginning we wanted to get our money's worth, and were there all.the.time. On this particular sunny southern California day, I was thrilled to go to Disneyland. I was wearing new khakis from Old Navy, it was a nice day, I was with The Boy. What could go wrong?

Fate laughs at me.

We had been there for only a short time when The Boy suggested we check out Soaring Over California at California Adventure. If you haven't been on this ride, it's quite a fun experience. You are seated on these 'benches' that lift up into this soundstage sort of area, and you are virtually transported all up and down the California coast. I'm not doing it justice; it's very nice. Well.

To get onto the 'bench' you have to hop up a little bit because it is a little bit high. As I lifted a leg to half-hop, I heard 'RRRRRIIIIIPPPPPP'. I didn't believe it. I reached behind me, and sure enough, my brand-new khakis had ripped--and not on a seam.

Needless to say, I did not enjoy the ride this time around as I spent the whole time wondering what I was going to do when it ended. The rip was extensive; at least 6-7" long, right down the middle of the right cheek. Incidentally, The Boy was laughing so hard, that he was of very little use to me at this point. I grabbed my backpack and carried it right behind me--at cheek level--all the way out of the ride, with The Boy walking inches behind me. I nabbed the first bench we came to and demanded that The Boy go get my sweatshirt out of the lockers to tie around my waist. I felt like a teenager the first time Aunt Flo comes to visit.

I also was not thrilled at spending several more hours with my flowery panties on display. Fortunately The Boy had sobered up and was a little more helpful at this point. He took me to Main Street in Disneyland and we looked for some new pants that I could wear for the rest of the day. And that's how I came to own what I call my 'Disneyland Pants'. Navy sweat-suit material, track-suit style pants that absolutely will not rip without application of extreme force. At least, not so far.

***********************************

I'm thinking next week might be the story of the truly creative and unique way I sprained my left wrist. The doctor was quite surprised. I was his first with this particular story. I usually am.

*Wow, that's an embarrassing kind of reference. I'm oddly proud of myself, whilst simultaneously apalled. For the record, I know of this show because of my little sisters. I'm not that pathetic! Ahem.

Freaky Fridays

2007-05-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hey peeps, thanks for the comments! That was just 7 random things about me, too. Imagine if I'd done 7 (or 70) weird things or something. That would have given you some real entertainment. And don't think I couldn't do it, either. I am all kinds of weird.

So, I was thinking about something that I could post somewhat regularly to keep my loyal readers entertained. Y'all deserve something for sticking with me through (and despite) my erratic posting and constant whinging. And my Fridays, while still outrageously overpacked with work, are somewhat more predictable schedule-wise since my major client is off every Friday.

So here's what I'm thinking: I'm kind of a freak sometimes. If there's a new and bizarre way to injur yourself, I'll find it. If there's an unusual way to embarrass yourself in public, I've probably done it. If one in a brazilian people will have an automobile manufacturing error...well, you get the idea.

(For a prime example, see: my dental dramas of the last few months. The oral surgeon had never even heard of --let alone seen-- anyone having the extreme cases of dry socket that I did, requiring gum surgery and multiple bone extractions. Lovely.)

This is all a ridiculously long intro to tell you about my idea to use Fridays to relate to you some of the really dumb or weird things that I've done or experienced. Either I am extremely cursed, or I exist merely to entertain everyone I work with (and now you!). This is also proof that I have absolutely no sense of shame, since I'm willingly going to tell you a lot of really stupid things about me.

I will start with the most recent. Last week I was taping some pictures to the backside of a matte so that they wouldn't slip out of place in the frame. I couldn't find the scotch tape, so I got out the tape gun. Not a good idea. Really. Not good.

I set the tape gun on the couch beside me while I finished my work. Then The Boy brought me dinner on a tray (yes, we do eat on trays in front of the TV because we are pathetic, and also 9 years old). So I moved the tape gun. Onto the floor by the couch. Where I promptly forgot about it.

After dinner I pulled out my knitting and got down to some serious TV watching. Then I moved my leg to recross my legs, and somehow--heaven only knows how--I managed to slice my big toe open on the 'teeth' of the tape gun. Commence the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Oh, and not to be too graphic, but copious amounts of blood.

Logically I know that it looked much worse than it was because our extremities bleed the most. But, dudes! I was instantly 5 years old and freaking out about the blood and the pain and how the hell did I do this to myself???

The Boy, being an RN was all calm and collected with the foot washing, and iodine application (I screamed. I have a reputation as biggest wimp in the world to protect, you know). Then I was Neosporined to within an inch of my life. And, do you know how difficult it is to bandage the tip of your flipping big toe? Well, I am here to tell you that they need special band-aids for people like me.

Explaining the big ol' band-aids at work the next day was fun--yet [perhaps not so] surprisingly, my co-workers just shook their heads. There are only so many times people will believe your explanation of "bar-brawl" for your injuries before they begin to look at you like an accident-prone lunatic.

So there you go. Now you know a little more about me. What would you like to hear about next? How I sprained my wrist? How I sprained my ankle twice within one month? The first time I got on a bike in 20 years and proceeded to make a complete arse of myself? The Disneyland incident? Oh, I've got enough to keep you people going for some time. If you have a particular story you'd like to hear from the above list, let me know. Otherwise, I will ruminate on my most recent or memorable disasters for next Friday.

Memememememe

2007-05-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

I was tagged for a meme! Is it pathetic how excited this makes me? I'm like that totally uncool kid in high school who is excited just to have her existense acknowledged by the in-crowd.

Susan at Knitter's Delight tagged me.

Here's the rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

So here are my facts:

1. I met my husband on Match.com. I wasn't even looking for someone; I just registered for the free account so I could read the profiles for fun. They would frequently send me matches that I would scan and delete. Until the day I got his. We were a 96% match. I emailed my sister and told her 'this is the guy I'm going to marry' before I ever chatted with him. And four years later, I did.

2. I have lots of food texture issues. There are many things I won't eat because of their texture--like jicama. And I won't eat lettuce on or in anything other than salads.

3. I'm the oldest of five girls. My oldest little sister is 28. Then they go 11, 10, and 7.

4. I am pretty sure I'm one of the slowest knitters in the world. It takes me ages to do anything, and I do almost exclusively small projects for that reason. The sad thing is, I knit ALL THE TIME, too.

5. Twice in my life I've met people who I just knew I was destined to be friends with. The first was several years ago at another friend's party, and that woman was my maid of honor at my wedding last June. The second was last year, and I can see us being friends forever, raising our (future) kids together.

6. I am a huge fan of books. The smell, the tacticle experience, and especially the stories (though I can't knit at the same time as I read, leading me to have to make tough choices sometimes between the two). Lately I've become a fan of what many might consider odd or macabre books on forensics. It all started with Mary Roach's Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Right now I'm reading Death's Acre, by Bill Bass, creator of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee. I have amassed quite a long list in this genre. I think that people may be looking at me askance when they see me reading this stuff, waiting for me to snap.

7. I cry when I read stories of anything bad happening to children or pets. I just can't handle those stories. Naturally I get upset about things that happen to adults, but it's the little ones and the animals that really get to me.

Okay, so I'm tagging:
Rebekah at Knit-Knack
Madalyn at Unravel Me
Christine at Knitting Virgin
Julie at Fickleknitter
Mindy at Swim Mom Knits
Eva at From Sheep to Shawls and Socks
Shannon at Stitchy Fingers

And Kristie at Guilty Pleasures --you were only saved by the fact that you recently did almost the exact same meme on your blog! :)

If A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, Y'all, This Is My Freakin' Novel

2007-05-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

How the heck has it been almost a month?? It's not like I live a wild, jet-setting life (I just typed 'jest' instead of 'jet', which is much closer to the truth).

So...to try to catch me/you up on things, here is my life in pictures for the last couple of months.

Finished Bigfoot Socks! And how do you not show your appreciation?

By taunting an evil beastie. Know why?

Here's a hint:

Yeah, she caught a loop right on her sharp little teeth. Not the koigu!! Sob.

Goodies from Stitches West. Clicky through to Flickr for details on the yarns (all sock yarns, natch).

I also got this awesome sock pattern at Lisa Souza's booth. It looks like entrelac, but it's created in a totally different way.

I survived the Yarn Focus Challenge for 2007, but only just! Here's a sneak peek at the goodies I sent to my pal at KniTV.

That's Inca Alpaca. Her favorite colors are red and black, so all the goodies are those colors (except the yarn, because the shop I was at didn't have it in those shades). The rest of the package is full of chocolate and coffee-scented and -flavored yumminess.

And not to be vain, but I was really proud of these:

I also got my package from my super-generous YFC pal, Mindy at SwimMomKnits.

Peeps, that's Trekking in the front. Check out those colors! Behind that is a skein of Cascade 220--which I've been really wanting to check out since everyone raves about it. And behind that is a yarn I'd never heard of before--Dream in Color. 100% Australian merino, and it is just luscious. The color is a semi-solid, which you can really see here:

The colors are amazing! And look at those unbelievably beautiful stitch markers. Oooh.

And--yeah, there's still more...

Yeah, it's a terrible picture. 100% cotton, GGH Molina. Geez, I was so spoiled by Mindy!! And I've been such a loser, not posting this sooner.

Other sock yarns that I've acquired and not shown off yet.

Click thru for the details on each.

Cat pictures!

She let herself into the DVD cabinet behind the TV. This is right after we moved, before all the electronics were set up.

And playing with the trapped kitty...

She knocked over a basket of cotton yarn--on purpose, I think.

I got this white flat thing at IKEA. It has a tail. I call it Flat Cat. She must destroy Flat Cat, it seems!

BABY!

My cousin popped and this gorgeous little boy was the result. ;)

I am in love. This is baby B at 1-1/2 weeks old.

Tap fists, dude!

Mama and B

I couldn't resist this little outfit for B

Can you tell I'm a proud Auntie?? Technically I think B is my second cousin (his mother is my first cousin), but she and I decided that since I've got 31 years on him, I am practically his aunt. I am so smitten. I have plastered my cube in pictures of little B and have queued up an insane amount of knitting for him.

Me & B

And, possibly the best baby picture ever! He looks drunk. Hee hee. Drunk baby.

So, there you go. You're caught up. Well, almost. There are a few new skeins of yarn (I know--I've gone nuts), and I just finished my ISE4 pal's scarf last night. It just needs steaming and blocking. I ordered the sock yarn yesterday for my Hogwart's sock swap pal. I've been reading like a maniac, so I haven't gotten tons of knitting done lately.

I'll try to be a better blogger. When I get behind with pictures, though, I tend to feel like I have to be interesting and post everything I have taken photos of for weeks. And that takes time that I usually just don't have.

This post has been in progress for days, in between work projects and on breaks. More blogging to come...

Overcommitted? Not me!

2007-04-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

So I've joined the Hogwart's Sock Swap. I need another swap like I need (another) hole in the head (see dental dramas below), but it's for Hogwarts! A Harry Potter theme!

There was no way that I was going to miss it if I could make it in. And I did! Barely. I was #99 to sign up. Gulp!

Below is the questionnaire for my witch or wizard pal, so that he/she can get to know a little more about me and my sock quirks. And if you're reading this secret magical pal--thanks in advance for what is sure to be a wonderful experience!

Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?
The greatest, most fabulous one there is--Gryffindor! Along with HP himself and my husband The Boy (what? we love the books and have taken the quiz before!)

2. Shoe size?
US women's 9

3. Foot Length?
From the tip of my big toe, to the back of my heel is precisely 10"

4. Foot Circumference?
A comfortable 9"

5. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.

a. 6" Crystal Palace bamboo--I don't really use anything else on a regular basis

b. I like the flexibility of the 5" Bryspun plastics, but only used them once, last year when traveling to the UK (airline restrictions being what they are, and without access to floo powder, a reliable broomstick or a usable portkey--sadly I don't even possess the ability to apparate yet!).

c. ...hmmm. I've never tried anything else. The only one I don't particularly like is Clover brand because they are so bendy that I feel as though they will snap at any moment.

6. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?
I would love to! I prefer the warmth of wood dpns. I have always wanted to try the ebony or rosewood needles. Longer than 6" seems to be too fiddly for me. I've never knit with anything smaller than a 1 (of which I have one set of CP dpns), so maybe it's time to try that? My favorites are size US2.

7. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?
This doesn't apply to me, but I would love to see what both options look like knit up!

8. Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?
For sure!

That does it for the questionnaire, but I hope that my secret magical pal will email me with any questions that I haven't answered. Can't wait to get started!

I Knew It!

2007-04-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

I'm a Gryffindor!

Dear Toe Up Socks,

2007-04-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday afternoon, I hated you. I loathed you with the white hot passion reserved for moths and the current presidential administration.

When I stuffed you in your yarntainer and threw you across the room after two weeks and several thousand attempts to make you work, it was with the intention of never, ever setting my poor blighted eyes upon you again.

I despised you for your complicated process, the twitch in my eye, the hot, seething rage, and my complete and utter inability to wrap my head (har har) around your stupid short rows of which we will speak no more.

However. As of last night, you are my friend. I love your Easy Toe. Your Easy Toe that made sense to me, even at midnight. I love your simplicity and straightforwardness and how I can now totally see myself using you over and over.

I don't know why, after casting on and ripping and ripping and casting on ad nauseaum that it didn't occur to me to consider your possible majesty. Instead I let myself be led astray by the words of others that those dratted toes that shall not be named were better. I was so very wrong. Their vileness even tainted the needles with which I worked, and thus you got fresh, happy new needles with which to work.

Easy Toe -- You Complete Me.

Short Row Toe -- You Are Dead To Me.

Sometimes It Really Does Feel Like a Dilbert World

2007-04-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

My co-worker just left for vacation. I overheard him leaving his out-of-office message on his phone, "I will be out of the country..."

He's going to Hawaii.

It's on his email out-of-office, too.

OHMYGOD.

Just Passing Thru

2007-04-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry to disappear after that last post. I caught the dreaded crud going around campus and was out of work Thursday, and Friday was a holiday for the University. And now I'm playing catch up for being off for two exciting and snot-filled days.

1) Stay tuned for more info on some kind of Knitting Ref memorial. I've sent a message to The Hubster (her husband) and will let you know next steps when I know them.

2) In other, more selfish news, I've finished The Boy's ginormous Koigu Bigfoot socks--and they are gorgeous. He demanded them when he returned from work the day after he knew I finished them, and then wouldn't take them off till the next day. I think that's a good sign! He'll be getting some more. His next ones will be his USC/Gryffindor stripey socks in Regia's Nation Colors (5393).

3) But first, some toe-ups for me using Silk Garden Lite. I'm totally copying Amy at Good To Be Girl but I NEEDED them after seeing hers awhile back. Of course, in order to do these socks I have to tackle the toe-up portion, and right now I appear to be far too stupid to figure it out. Seriously. I've tried no less than a dozen times. I am having problems.

4) I got an awesome package from my YFC07 pal but I haven't been able to find the camera cord to upload the pics. As soon as I do, I will show you the gorgeous goodies I got. You will be sooooo jealous. ;)

5) I have developed a bit of a girl crush on Rachel Maddow on Air America--she's so smart! The local progressive radio station used to air her radio program during drive time here, but now they've changed their format and some stupid blowhard is on during her time slot. Now I'm going to have to join the 21st century and learn how to podcast Rachel's show. Grrrr.

Coming soon--a letter from our girl cat! And oodles of pictures including Stitches (what? wasn't that, like, a million years ago?), my swap goodies, and lots (LOTS) of cats.

Sad

2007-03-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

*A Serious Post*

I know that most of us tend to use our blogs to vent, to share, to laugh. And I think that's wonderful. But today, today I would like to use it to ask people to send as many thoughts/prayers/good vibes as you can to the family of the KnittyRef out here in California.

I am so far behind on my bloglines, so each day I've been trying to read through just one of those that I've missed out on for weeks or months. Today I was reading through the KnittyRef's site and discovered that she passed away last Tuesday.

I don't know how many of the people who read this blog ever read her blog as well. The KnittyRef was an amazing woman; she battled ovarian cancer for over 4-1/2 years, but she was as far from self-pitying as a person could be. She was funny and charming and always, always caring for others. A more selfless person dealing with so much personal trauma and drama, you would be hard-pressed to find.

So today I am thinking about the online knitting community and the phenomenal blogosphere that we have created (each in our own small way). We get to 'know' or 'meet' so many wonderful people with whom we would otherwise never have crossed paths. We get to share in joys and tragedies. We can support someone from across the globe, because knitters are some of the most amazingly generous and thoughtful people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Unfortunately, the double-edge of the sword is this, today. A woman who I enjoyed reading about, who was always so stoic and selfless has died. And I never got to know her 'for real', never spoke with her directly, and can never really express to her family how I felt that we were sort of friends--even if she didn't know it! Her husband (The Hubster) really supported her blog, and often wrote posts when she was too ill from the chemo. I've sent him a message of condolence, but as in all cases such as this, it is so inadequate.

I am the absolute worst person as a leader (example: this blog), but would anyone be interested in doing something, putting together something for the KnittyRef's family? They are having a memorial service for her on April 1st. Perhaps we can get together and send flowers. Or make something for her family. I would really like to do something for a knitter who touched my life in such a small but poignant way.

What do you think?

By The Skin of My Teeth

2007-03-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Ha Ha

So I've survived another surgery. Just. I was out of work yesterday due to the residual pain and weakness caused by the surgery. It was an ugly weekend, I'll tell you what. Today's better. Still pain in the surgery sites (lower jaw where the wisdom teeth were extracted), but overall feeling better.

I'm beginning to wonder if a full set of teeth is really worth all this trouble.

Ah, I should quit jawin' away and get back to work. There's a lot for me to sink my teeth into. I don't want to procrastinate too long and find myself too long in the tooth to be of use. Geez, to get me to quit with the cliches is like pulling teeth!

Popping In to Say Hi

2007-03-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all my (3?) loyal blog readers. I miss you! Do you miss me? Say you miss me.

SAY IT!

Ahem.

So, here's my life currently:

get up (late)
go to work
work (late)
come home
work on the old apartment
shuffle through the mess that is the new apartment
go to bed (late)

Sounds fun, huh? I bet you wish you were me.

So there's not much knitting going on. Ooh, but my jawbone is still coming through my gums on the left side and now it's happening on the right. I'm that lucky one in a million who has this problem. I'm going to see the oral surgeon again in a few minutes and should find out whether I'm having (minor?) surgery to open my gums and shave down the jawbone. Guess how I feel about that. Go ahead, guess.

My cousin is trying to have her baby boy, but her doctor won't let her deliver before her due date. She's been in extreme labor pain since Tuesday but she's not dilating enough. They said that they will do a C-section tomorrow. I am so upset on her behalf! The baby is stressed, the mother is stressed, my aunt is beside herself. Ugh. Stupid doctor.

Work's still challenging. Eating up all my time at work. Work at work? So very wrong.

My step-grandma is back in the hospital. The chemo meds make her so sick that she doesn't eat or drink, and then she ends up in the hospital extremely dehydrated. She's going home today, and my step-aunt is going to be her nurse and my parents are having a hospital bed delivered there. She is so tired of fighting and being sick all the time. And I don't know that I could possibly blame her for that! It's such a brave and no-doubt draining thing to fight what the doctors consider the inevitable. But I don't want her to keep fighting for the sake of the family. She has to know that we will be okay so that if she's ready, she can let go. I HATE this. I had to watch my grandmother go through this 6 years ago and it is horrible.

Wow, sorry to bring you all down like that.

Tomorrow I'm going to a yarn tasting with my friend Laura--surely that doesn't violate my yarn focus challenge, right? I mean, I'm just tasting it; I don't get to take whole skeins of it home. (How I wish that were the case!)

I really need to update this blog with information on my Stitches haul, my star-sighting at Stitches, and Wicked. Those have by far been the highlights in an otherwise exhausting 5 or 6 weeks! We should have DSL in the new apartment soon and I'll give it a shot.

I hope to be back before another two weeks lapse my lovelies!

Dear Blog,

2007-03-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

Oh how I miss you! I would love to share all kinds of important things with you. Alas! I am so flippin' busy, I don't have time to knit, let alone write about it.

If I had more time I'd tell you about how I got to go to Stitches West at the last minute (driving 6 hours each way, and spending Saturday night in San Jose). I'd tell you about all the gorgeous sock yarns I bought from coveted names like Lisa Souza and Koigu, plus a few that were new to me. And the fun little accessories and goodies, including Lambchop in a pink velour track suit jacket.

Or about how, following my wisdom tooth removal early in February, the holes (for lack of a better name) are not healing properly and my gum tissue actually got worn away and exposed my jawbone on the left side of my mouth and how I'm in constant pain from that. Or about how we maybe get to move this weekend. Or how my awesome friend is taking me and another friend to see Wicked this Saturday just because she love us! Or how excited I was to see that ISE4 is taking registrations already--and you better believe I signed up immediately.

Just know that it's not you, it's me.

I will be back as soon as I can with pictures of the Stitches haul. Fortunately for me, having signed up for the YFC Secret Pal bought me one extra day to shop during the challenge, so my whole weekend at Stitches eats up my second and bonus free days--and I got some cute little things for my YFC pal to thank that person properly for that extra shopping day! ;)

Love,
Me

My Day So Far...And Some Other Stuff

2007-02-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

I feel totally disoriented today, which may or may not be linked to my absolute lack of sleep last night. I tossed. I turned. I sat up and petted cats. But what I did not do was sleep more than about 45 minutes consecutively. Weep.

This morning I rushed to work convinced that I had a 9am meeting. I was certain that the traffic on the freeway would lead to more weeping and gnashing of teeth, but I made it in by 8:50. (Yay) Of course, upon my arrival, I discovered that I had no meeting. Great. (I don't like mornings, nor do they like me. I typically have a loose affiliation with "9am" as a concept. I'm usually more of an 8:47 or 9:04 person, for some reason.)

I came in and hit the ground running with work because I was out for a good chunk of last week after having my wisdom teeth pulled. The pain was ridiculously intense for over a week. Today is the first day that I'm painkiller-free. And yesterday was president's day (thanks George and Abe for dying so we could commemorate all your hard work with a day of lounging and sleeping late!), so we were off. But today, lo, the crazy workload was back.

Sometimes when I have to go out to get an uber-healthy lunch (like today's jaunt to Del Taco), I can't remember where I parked my car all 4 hours before. It's like my cubicle is a sensory deprivation tank from which I must become reoriented every time I venture outside it's tiny two walls. I get to the parking lot and it's like, where is my car? Is it here in the good parking lot? Or downstairs in the other parking lot*? Is there a chance in hell my space will still be here in 15 minutes when I get back from my wacky drive-thru experience? Aaaaarrrggghhh!

I think exhaustion may be making me a leetle bit crazy. I want to shout all kinds of things to my co-workers and make silly comments to my clients. I also want to tell the vendor who is hounding me to give him my credit card # to wait the fuck up, because I don't live on his schedule. The truth is, I hate talking to strangers. I would be happiest if my entire business life could be lived exclusively through email. This is an unusual attribute in a marketing person, from what I've been told. Go figure.

Other things about which I've been meaning to blog for ages

Great places to buy knitting supplies include:
a) Angelika's Yarn Store. Unbelievable customer service, and fast! About a week before my wedding last June, I decided that I needed plastic knitting needles to get me through security. I ordered some Bryspun circs and dpns and within about two days they had all come with samples of obscene amounts of yarns. It was awesome!

b) Brooklyn Yarn Tree Customer service like you've never experienced. Right after tax time last year I got my refund and decided I was finally going to get me one of those gorgeous silk Lantern Moon needle cases. I searched all over the Internet trying to find a specific color combination that I had fallen in love with, and finally found it at Yarn Tree. A couple of hours later The Boy called from home to tell me that Yarn Tree had called and was having difficulty processing my order, and he gave me their # (did you see that I wrote hours; not days, hours, people!). They apologized profusely that they weren't going to be able to get my order out right away because they no longer had the color that I wanted, but if I wanted to select from their brand new cases that hadn't even gone up on the site yet, they would give me one for the same price as I had paid for the other (older) version. Hells yeah! And I had that puppy in two days, I think.

So, you should buy from these people if you like extremely efficient and friendly customer service and rapid shipping. If you don't like those things, you're weird, and should probably shop at mary maxim or something**. I don't know.

c) I haven't blogged about this in ages because I needed to take a picture first, but in the last several months or so, I've really started to enjoy the fruits of the online knitting community. I was contacted during the ISEIII event by a knitter in Luxembourg named Eva. Eva and I have now become pen pals, and recently (or not so recently, if you calculate by days and months instead of eons), we did an exchange. I ordered and sent to her some items that she was coveting from KnitPicks, which cannot currently ship internationally, and she ordered and sent me five (5!) skeins of Trekking XXL, which I've never used before. Ooooh, so pretty.

I must finish The Boy's sock soon so that I can make myself something with this yarn. Can't wait...

Sadly, they do not pay me to blog (oh, if only someone would!), so I need to get off my 'lunch break' and go do work. And call back the extremely annoying vendor who has now emailed me twice and called me 3x asking me to call him. And I'm going to be sweet as pie because that's how I was raised. While on the inside I will seethe with rage and burning anger. Because that's how I was raised.

*The other parking lot is down stairs and across the street from where my office is located. However, we shiny, happy Whatsamatta U employees pay $65/month to park either there or directly in front of our offices. Guess which one is my preference. And guess which one is always snatched away from me moments before I pull into the parking lot. The two answers are not dissimilar.

**Actually, I know of nothing particularly bad about mary maxim except her catalogs. Acrylic overload with hideous patterns, all copywritten in these hideously joyful, faux-super-excited voices. Who the hell sold her my name? I need to know so that person/entity can be destroyed!

I Married Bigfoot!

2007-02-06T17:58:00.000-08:00

Not in the sense of the super-hairiness. Or even the excessive height. No, it's just that The Boy has feet that just don't suit two skeins of Koigu. No way, no how.

We reduced the length of the cuff on the socks I'm making from 7" to 5-1/2" to save yarn. Why did it not occur to me that a) ribbing eats yarn like mad, and b) he has ginormous feet and 175 yds was just not going to cut it?

So (and this counts toward my YFC07 update, I think), I had no choice but to buy yarn. Darn. I headed on down to the not-so-much-immediately-L YS where I got the Koigu at a trunk show. And they were out, naturally. BUT. They suggested contacting the woman who I buy the Koigu from when she's in town, Merilyn from Foxyknits. (If you don't know La Merilyn, get to soon. She's marvelous and generous and has AWESOME customer service). So after caving and buying myself two skeins of Lorna's Mixed Berries sock yarn (I am weak; so, so weak), I headed home, contacted Merilyn and lo! she had one more skein in the exact same dye lot and color. [Edited to add the date of my 'free' yarn buying day used: 1/21]

So after eking out as much of that first skein as I could, for as long as humanly possible, I reached precisely the point at which I would begin the toe decreases. Then I took two days off knitting the socks to knit my step-grandmother a hat*, and then the Koigu was there, and I was able to finish the first of The Boy's socks.

Please ignore the nipple-like toe. This is my first round toe. It looks better after weaving in the ends.

I'm using the Oak Ribbed Pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks, but I had to modify it for The Bigfoot. You know, to make it bigger.

Here's my petite little foot modeling The Bigfoot Sock. See where my thumbnail is? That's the very tippy end of my big toe. That's how big Bigfoot's feet are.

So now I'm working on sock #2 but it may get worked on simultaneously with a baby sweater (cotton) for my soon-to-be-born second cousin. I'm not so good with the project polygamy, but I'll give it a shot.

*Finally, I'm sad to say that my step-grandmother's cancer has come back. Just last year she miraculously conquered StageIV cancer and went into remission. But the bastard is back. So she asked for a new hat to wear to chemo (I made her two last year), and this time she was particular about her colors--she really wanted fall colors. I dug through my stash and found four balls of Tahki-Stacey Charles Dazzle in color 003 that I got from elann a few year's ago. It is the softest 100% new wool. And in person? Check it out!

So.Beautiful. I adore the colors. They look like candy to me. (And yay, I have three more full balls of the stuff.) The ball band said 108 yds, but I have a bunch left over. In fact, the yarndex site I linked to says 183 yds per skein. Hmmmm.

The doctors are not optimistic at all for Teri (my step-grandmother). Our sincere hope is to get her into City of Hope. Hope is our watchword, just now. My parents are wrecks and I'm sad. So, if you're so inclined, would you send Teri your good wishes/vibes? We would all appreciate it!

Thanks you fabulous knitty community!

[One more edit: Gwendolen, I would love to chat with you! You can email me directly at conchobara at yahoo (dot) com. I will look into adding this link to the blog so if anyone ever wants to reach me without going through comments, you can.]

YFC--YAY! (Updated)

2007-01-29T16:47:00.000-08:00

Somehow I managed to miss two of the questions for the YFC secret pal exchange. I'm adding them now. Sorry!

If you are not a part of YFC (Yarn Focus Challenge) '07, you might not find this information all that interesting, but bear with me. There are two pictures wayyyyy at the bottom.

To follow is Rebekah's fun and funny questionnaire for my secret pal (and anybody else who's interested) to read and see what we're all about. I got my secret pal today and have already checked out that person's answers. And darnit if we don't have some of the same ones!

A) What type of yarn do you knit with most often?

I love merino wool in its many incarnations: cashmerino (who wouldn't?), sock yarns, etc.

B) Is there any type of yarn that you would love to try but haven't yet, such as bamboo, banana fiber?

I've never tried banana fiber, or recycled silk and yesterday was the first time I ever read about the shellfish yarn (and I saw it on TWO blogs). I'm pretty open to trying just about anything new. In fact, I would love the opportunity!

#1) In your opinion what is a luxury yarn?

Anything that I have to reallllllly think about before buying. Or more likely have never bought but only admired from afar. Some silks, cashmere and quiviut (from what I hear; never seen it in person).

#2) Is there any type of yarn or fiber content you dislike or would prefer not to receive?

I have become something of a yarn snob with experience. In the beginning I bought all kinds of novelty yarns and anything that was a 'bargain'. Now I know that quality and fiber content mean much more to me. Having said all that, the only thing I am really not a fan of is 100% acrylic yarn. It squeaks!

#3) What type of garments do you most often knit?

Up to this point I've knit one adult sweater (Sitcom Chic) and one baby sweater. Mostly I do accessories: scarves, mitts, hats, and my current obsession SOCKS. I am a process knitter and I take forever to knit, so I really, truly have to commit to anything more complex. Although I have yarn earmarked for about three full sweaters...

#4) What types of knitting books do you enjoy?

I'm a book lover from way back, and when I started knitting it sort of transferred over. I love books with personality (The Yarn Harlot), books that have interesting patterns (Teva Durham, Nora Gaughan), books that are fun to read (Mason Dixon Knitting, Knit 2 Together). Pretty much, it's hard to go too far wrong with knitting books. I also love Interweave Knits but haven't ventured too far into other knitting mags except for Vogue Knitting.

#5) What is a color you like but rarely or never buy yourself?

Probably blue or red. I always buy myself earth tones (I'm a Fall, dontchaknow) and I have an inordinate amount of pink sock yarn. I don't seem to have many blues or reds, though, and I think there's nothing like a baby-light or midnight blue or a flame-like or crimson red.

#6) If you were pregnant and had to name your baby a fiber, what would her/his name be?

Do I have a grudge against this kid?? I think I would go with Silk so that she could eventually feature in some kind of Danielle Steel-ish story. :)

#7) Do you spin?

Nope, and oddly (for a knitter) I don't really have a desire to do so. I'm happy with my yarn made for me, perfect and pretty.

#8) What is one fiber you've never spun?

N/A

#9) If someone in your family or a best friend had to describe you in one word, what would it be?

Picky -- hence the blog title

#10) Please tell us one odd thing about you.

Where to start?? I have a lot of food 'issues'. For instance, I won't eat lettuce on or in anything, but I looove salads.

#11) What was your favorite cartoon when you were little.

Scooby Doo

#12) Do you have animals? If so, please name them and tell us a little about them.

We have two cats: Max [the boy cat] is mine (a.k.a. Tyrannosaurus Max, Maxers, Maxaroni and Cheese, The White Menace).

Inari [the girl cat] is madly in love with my husband, so she's definitely his. (a.k.a. Little Miss Mini Paws, Missy Mew, The Dark One).

#13) And last but not least, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

England. We were there for our honeymoon last summer for a week+. I loved London, but could see living outside the City in a smaller town (we loved Chester). Oh how I want to go back!!

Whew! That's a lot of ME. I hope that this helps my secret pal understand me a bit. If you have more questions, secret pal, let me know!

Disneyana, part II

2007-01-24T16:40:00.000-08:00

Oh! I can't believe I forgot to mention one of my favorite things from our trip to the magic kingdom. That would be the girl sitting in front of us on the tram on the way back to the parking structure. The girl with the Princess Leia buns earmuffs. Don't know what I'm talking about? Why, that would be the next fashion sensation that I'm seriously considering embracing!

Not a great picture, but the only one I could find in my short search on the Internets

And now for my last Disney thing -- I promise.

I am a big Winnie the Pooh fan. My car has Pooh bear floor mats, steering wheel cover, pins stuck into the ceiling, little hanging doodads all over--the ultimate fan's car* (except for the Winnie the Pooh -- alone -- license plate frame I've yet to find). I've been trying for years to find a Winne the Pooh antenna ball. I look every time we go to Disneyland, or to the Disney store. Someone finally told me that they don't make or sell them.

Then while in Chester, England we went to the Disney store to get a gift for The Boy's faux pa** who is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. And lo! I found a WtP antenna ball. My search was over, my car decor was almost complete (except for the license plate frame).

And then last week, while driving on the freeway, a large piece of cardboard flew up from the roadway and hit my antenna. Taking Pooh with it. !!!!

So now a desperate plea for you international types: if you know of anyplace online that I can find one or if you ever find yourself in a Disney shop and see WtP gracing an antenna ball--will you get me one?!!?!?! I will reward you somehow. But I need my antenna ball back. He is so missed. [sob]

*Once when taking my car to the dealer, I got out and the service guy got in to check the mileage. He laughed and said, "Wow, your kids must love riding in your car!" I looked him directly in the eye and told him, "I don't have any kids." I'm not sure who he was more embarrassed for, me or himself.

**faux pa = The Boy's father's partner; you know, 'faux' as in not really his dad!

Disneyland Fun

2007-01-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

The Boy and I are very fortunate in that we live really close to Disneyland. So close in fact that every night we know when it's 9:30 because we hear the fireworks. I know!

So this last Saturday we went to 'the happiest place on earth' (we have passes). I must say, if you are into people watching (or, um, people mocking, as the case may be), there really is no better place. Behold, just two of the interesting folks/situations observed.

1) The guy who surveyed us on our way out of the park named Precious. He looked perfectly amiable and nice, but I don't know if I would have gone as far as all that.

2) The little boy in one of the Disney stores decked out entirely in a Disney princess ensemble. Cinderella, I believe. The dress, the wand, possibly the tiara, I'm not sure. I'd like to believe that I would be one of those mothers (presuming I had children) who would be cool with whatever my kid wanted without feeling the societal pressure for gender conformation.

Instead, each time I saw the kid in the store with his nonchalant mom, I cringed a little bit. Not because I'm one of those nuts who thinks that letting a boy wear girl clothes 'will turn him gay' or anything strange like that. My insecurity or discomfort is more from the perspective of not wanting the child to be hurt by the cruelty of other children for failing to look or act as mandated by our culture.

*******

If you live in southern California, or near Disneyworld you are probably bombarded by these commercials for the new 'Rockin' Space Mountain, playing the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I expected this to be very hokey. I mean, how much of a difference can the music make to the roller coaster experience, right? As it turns out, A LOT. The Boy and I tried out Space Mountain after it was updated or refurbished or whatever '05 or '06 and were greatly underwhelmed. It didn't seem different at all. In fact, we haven't ridden it since. On a whim this time, though, we decided to give it a go. And now? Now it is much cooler. The rock music addition really did make the ride more enjoyable. They have images projected on the walls, and the loud pounding music really underscores the experience. I highly recommend it!

*******

I did not, in fact, end up blocking Clapotis this weekend because we did not get home from Disneyland till midnight and then Sunday I had knitting meetup, so maybe next weekend. The Boy works all weekend, so it's probably a good project. The only downside is The Beasties like to examine my handiwork all pinned out on those little foam blocks. Last time I did blocking I pinned it all out, then covered it in a sheet and put some heavy items on top to prevent the kitties from a) eating the pins and thus costing us a lot of money, or b) messing up my knitting and thus costing themselves a lot of pain.

I HATE NEW BLOGGER

2007-01-18T18:00:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get in off and on all day and everytime I log in my computer just hangs up and gives me an error message. I most sincerely hope that this is being worked on, or we (that would be me, The Boy, The Beasties and The Yarn) will have to find a new place to mosey on over to. And I am incredibly lazy and cheap, so that won't be easy! Grrrr.

/rant

Ahem

So, on the good news front, I finished something. Yay!

I love it, but I need to block it. Badly. Here is a glamour shot for ya.

Isn't The Boy a fabulous model? And you--yeah, you--pay no attention to the mess all around The Boy. You are only supposed to check out the yarny goodies.

Specs: The marvelous Clapotis by Kate Gilbert -- the girl is a genius. I used 2-3/4 balls Lorna's Laces worsted weight in colorway Vera. I started out on awful Bryspun plastic needles (because I was flying to my honeymoon) and then got to switch over to my wonderful, wonderful KnitPicks Options needles. Love 'em!

Like everyone else, I loved the adventure of purposely dropping stitches. But I had a problem, and I'm wondering if I'm the only one. While plugging along on the last little bit of the Clapotis, I had one of those experiences of knitting dementia or knitting delusion that the Yarn Harlot likes to reference--a moment in which I knew that 'this is just not right' but I kept going. Rather than being a lovely parallelogram, as I imagine she is meant to be, one corner (the end of the knit) shoots off a bit alarmingly to the right.

I think it looks pretty wretched, but I am going to see how the magic of blocking works for me before taking any drastic measures. You can kind of see an example of the horror draped over The Boy's hand in the picture--looks innocent enough, but why does the other end not look like that?? It doesn't help, of course, that The Boy started referring to that corner as the bat wing portion of the wrap. Hm.

I'll block the darn thing this weekend, and we'll see how she fares. I've been working on her forever, so I really don't want to start over. There is definitely a downside to being THE SLOWEST KNITTER IN THE WORLD. EVER. FOR REALS.

I cast on wayyyy back in June, when my honeymoon began, and quickly discovered that knitting on the tour bus was not going to happen if I didn't want to be sick the whole trip. So I got a wee little corner accomplished and that was it for June. I picked her back up in July and knit the increase section and began the decrease sections pretty steadily. Then she languished while I completed other stuff. And more things. And a few others. I finally picked her back up about two weeks ago and cast off on Monday night. So technically knitting Clapotis took me 7 months, but not really.

And now I'm working on Koigu socks for The Boy. On bamboo DPNs. I got the magic loop book and figured out how to do it, but I know DPNs. I've actually built a good relationship with them. Maybe I'll try magic loop for my next socks...

Well, What Do You Know? -- A Fly By

2007-01-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to get into blogger for two weeks and it has frozen up my computer. Gah! So....yeah.

I survived the holidays; in fact, I rather enjoyed them. I took some time off work that was desperately needed for mental resuscitation and I did almost nothing except read and eat. Bad for Weight Watchers, good for my mental health.

So I will need to come back here and post more soon. I really didn't think it would let me in, so this is really sort of an accidental post.

Suffice to say, things are good. I realized that today I've been married for 7 months already. How did that happen? I'm swamped at work, naturally, and exhausted when I get home. I need to get back to the gym (see above paragraph about holiday and post-holiday eating frenzy). I'm in the home stretch on Le Clapotis. I've been excessively good on the not buying yarn front since December 1 (um, the outrageous bag sale--see below).

I joined Rebekah's Yarn Focus Challenge '07 and am feeling confident that I can do this. I might not like it much (I <3 sock yarn!), but I think I can do it. That's about the extent of the excitement in my life lately. Ooh, and my friend took me to a swap meet--my first ever (yeah, I'm sheltered) and I scored 3 cool necklaces for the grand total of $6. Woohoo! I'm wearing one right now and I lurrrrve it.

That's about it. I know, earth-shattering excitement. I hope you are all doing well. I'm still trying to catch up on blogs (didn't read those during my holiday break either; in fact, didn't use the computer at all--lovely). I really will try to post more soon. There are all kinds of knits that I would like to tackle in '07 and obviously I'll be working on stash with the YFC in full effect come Monday.

Oh, and I'm most definitely NOT watching the president speak tonight. I'd like to have a good evening. Me and Bones will curl up with Clapotis, a cat and some tea.

Mmmmm. Sloth--my favorite deadly sin.

Never Thought I'd See The Day

2006-12-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

I didn't think it was possible, but it is. I have reached maximal chocolate ingestion capacity.

You have to bear in mind that I work in a marketing department at a university--the holidays are a minefield of cookies, candy, giant gooey-caramel apples (I kid you not), cakes and the like presented by various vendors trying to assure our business in the coming year. Not that I ever look at a tin of peanut brittle and think, "Hey, we should totally use XYZ Printers again next year. Their holiday cookies kick ass!"

All day I have been craving salty foods. I think that this is more than just a need to counterbalance the sweet; I may have some kind of sodium deficiency resulting from too many cookies eaten over the last two weeks (and two whole pounds gained!).

Now, should someone present me with a pecan pie over the next couple of days, all bets are off, of course. But for now it's a lunch of chicken teriyaki and steamed rice. Mmmm.

As promised, pictures of THE HAUL from the bag sale at the beginning of the month. You know, when it's all spread out like this, it sure looks like I got a lot...

Clicky and read the notes for details
Here are some close-up beauty shots of some of the goods

Yeah, maybe if the flash weren't so bright I could tell you what type of yarn this is, but ooh! look at the pretty colors

Mmmmmm polyamide mmmmmm
Seriously. Click thru to my Flickr page for details on the yarns. I am a lucky, lucky girl. Wanna know how much I saved?* $510 -- because I am the (wo)man!

*When I said this to The Boy his response was, "I'd rather know how much you spent." Way to underappreciate my deal-shopping prowess. Geesh.

So Much For The Holiday Spirit!

2006-12-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

Allow me to rant 'n rave for a bit, won't you?

I am not generally much of one for cussing--well, except on the freeway, but that's normal, right? Especially when you live in southern California and everyone else on the freeway is an idiot?

I don't claim to write a 'family-friendly' blog, so if I slip up occasionally, it's forgivable. I am typically a nice, modest person. And my mother reads this blog*. So I tend to hold back on the vitriol and the four letter words.

HOWEVER.

Today I am not feeling nice or modest. Today I am pissed. At lo so many things and people. While I'm not generally a cusser, currently I find myself surrounded by people and immersed in events that make marvelous cusees.

Here are a few of them:

1) Dear Idiot Man who shook his finger at me like I was a naughty schoolgirl when he went through a four-way intersection on my turn: screw you. That little admonishment thing made me want to get out of my car and break your damn pointer finger so you could never belittle anyone else like that again.

2) Dear people who find the toy fart noise maker just so dang funny: QUIT IT! You are adults. I know that we all have fun from time to time with inappropriate materials, and that you have to lighten the mood sometimes, but seriously with the toy? All the motherf&*(#ing time?!?! For the love of Pete, put that thing away.

3) Dear person who thought it was a good idea to chastise me in front of other people today for being late due to traffic** and who felt the need to exaggerate the situation for effect, I really don't think you should be talking. Really, with the coming in late, leaving early, long lunches?

4) Dear person who keeps taking his/her sh#$%y mood out on me. I may not be your BFF, but neither am I the root of all evil. There is no reason to talk down to me. I do not deserve the snide comments or rolled eyes. Sniping at me isn't going to make me want to accomplish tasks better or harder. How about treating me like everyone else? Why you've decided that that other person and I are your own personal pinatas for these kinds of days (PMS? Fight with the spouse? Not feeling well?) is beyond me.

5) Naturally el presidente gets some of my wrath today. So we signed an agreement to give nuclear technology to India, the enemy of our ally Pakistan. And did I hear incorrectly, or do we already know that India is selling the technology and arms to Iran? Iran who we (as a country) profess to hate? I may not be a foreign relations expert, but this sounds pretty damn stupid to me.

6) More Bush: I woke up to his press conference this morning on the radio. ACK! Quick! Somebody poke me in the ears with something sharp so that I don't have to hear another bumbling, pointless message that says not one f&*(ing thing of value to this good country.

7) Dear person I work with: stop emailing me stupid questions! You are leaving for the holiday in 45 minutes (not that I'm keeping track). Don't worry about projects that we are not starting till mid-January. Seriously. If you keep it up, I'm going to have to hunt you down and burn down your house.

8) Dear person who likes to position him/her self as 'direct' and 'honest', sometimes others see that as 'bossy' and 'mean', and at other not-so-friendly times as 'outright rude'. Be nice!

9) Dear stupid woman in our apartment building--get out of my apartment! Let me explain. I FINALLY got The Boy to agree that 700 sq ft of space for two fully grown adults and two fully grown (and hostile) cats is just not reasonable. I swayed him with talk of not having to see yarn in the living room but safely stashed away in another room. I threw in the idea of his using an actual closet instead of the hall closet where most people store their broom and vaccuum. I had him primed and ready to move on 11/1 when the apartment downstairs was supposed to be open. And then stupid woman did not leave. And then it was 11/8, and still she did not move. 4 days later, I took action. I went to the apartment manager. Stupid woman has decided to move 'some time next year', with no real indication of when that will be. January? February? Who knows! The b#$%^h is playing Russian roulette with my apartment and my patience. Get out and let me have my extra 25 sq ft (or whatever it is) of palatial decadence. I would like to unpack some of my wedding stuff from 6 MONTHS AGO for which I currently have no room. At all. My brand-new Kitchen Aid mixer and I appear doomed never to make bread together. This must be remedied.

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Well, I think that's enough ranting for the time being. This has actually been kind of therapeutic. I feel a little better for having virtually yelled at all these people. Please don't let this entry scare you off. I'm usually pretty even-keeled. I've just reached my limit.

I once worked with a guy who observed that I am a pretty patient, easygoing person for long stretches of time when a lot of other people might tear out their own hair or set themselves on fire. Then I reach what he referred to as the "Dump Your Bucket" line. This is the place where I can no longer take, take, take all those meaningless, wasteful, stupid bits of information or slights and instead either explode or need to GET AWAY. Fortunately, I will be off all next week. So only two more days of incredibly stupid people pressing my buttons and trying to get me to hurt them. Oh goody. Let's hope I make it.

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*The great irony of using my mother as a reason not to cuss on this here blog is that I don't think anything would make her laugh more. After 30+ years of knowing me as pretty restrained, and in some ways kinda prudish, nothing tickles my mom more than hearing me cuss. That or talk about sex. I think she finds the sex talk even more amusing. You'd have to know my mom. She's a riot.

**Holy s#$%, this is f^&*ing southern California, as I stated before. Being late due to traffic is par for the f^&*ing course.

Playing Catch Up

2006-12-15T15:21:00.000-08:00

I have promised you, dear internets, dozens of pictures, a couple of store reviews and maybe even my second-born child (Target gets the first one; sorry). So prepare yourselves for a ridiculous number of pictures of recent stash acquisitions.

Some sock yarns acquired in October and November:

I've heard so much good about this yarn. I thought it would be good for a lacy patterned sock. This was the only color in the shop's extremely limited palette that I could see myself using. They could possibly be gifted to The Mom some day; it's her favorite color. But don't hold me to it!

From a Koigu trunk show. The pattern is simple but pretty, and I am madly in love with that skein on the left; they only had one left. So I spent a loooong time looking for other skeins that could be partnered with it for the shawl pattern. The boy deserves mad props for sitting there through the whole ordeal (the only male during our entire visit, mind you), under piles of Koigu as I weighed all the options in order to make my decision.

More Koigu. For socks for The Boy; he picked out the color--in reality it's more of the green, less of the purple.

And even more. For me this time. Luscious colors. Note the yummy flecks.

My finished Kathmandu DK socks in pine tweed. Warm and toasty!

Lorna's Laces Bittersweet Sportweight. The colors. They are too beautiful!

Great Adirondack Sock Yarn on the right (about 400 yds, I think) in subtle, glowing colors. On the left, just peeking out, um...well, that would be two more skeins of Koigu. But marvel at the colors!

There were other acquisitions throughout fall and winter, too.

The LA County Fair had a display on turning wool into yarn. And they sold wool at the end of it. The Fair: rides, shopping, delicious artery-clogging food and now WOOL. I didn't want to leave. That is a tweedy/marled lace-weight in the front that didn't have a band but was estimated to have approximately 600 yds. In the back is 400 yds of marled green alpaca laceweight. I encourage biggifying the pictures so that you can see all the colors in the yarns.

Well, I'm having some trouble with Flickr, suddenly, so I'll save for another post all the yarns from the bag sale I attended at the beginning of December, as well as all those that came home with me after a phenomenal yarn swap! Hint: I got by far the better end of a couple of trades with a super nice knitter who believes in a small stash (cah-ray-z!). Fortunately, I don't have that same problem, and was happy to accommodate her! :)

More later, folks.

Lists! My Life In (Probably not-at-all) Short, Pithy Statements

2006-11-30T16:56:00.000-08:00

Blog Reading:
So Far Behind Blogs
Not Enough Time In Each Day
Bad, Stephanie, Bad

Blog Writing:
So Behind With Mine
Too Many Damn Posts To Read
It Ends Today! Yay!

Politics:
a) I am so mad about this! How backward and archaic is this administration? A head of family planning who does not believe in the planning part and actively endorses and runs dishonest pro-life centers?

b) I hate that pro-lifers and neo-cons love to characterize progressives as pro-abortion. Nobody is pro-abortion. We are pro-choice. There is a huge difference, semantics aside. We are pro-controlling our own bodies. Pro-allowing each woman to make the choices that are right for her, her family and her situation. Pro-peronal rights and responsibility.

b) Snicker. First Charles Crist snubbed Bush. Then Keith Ellison snubbed Bush. And yesterday Al Malachi snubbed Bush. Do you think that he and his handlers are starting to see a trend here?

Knitting:
a) No holiday knitting this year by decree of, well, me. I don't have the time, patience, or frankly the willingness, to be knitting at 2am Christmas morning this year. Maybe next year.

b) I've actually been accomplishing a lot of knitting (this is, of course, relative--if you bear in mind that I am the slowest knitter in the known universe, then this seems like a lot). I've finished socks for me, a baby hat to replace the pink one for Dylan, and half a baby sock to match the hat. I just haven't taken any pictures lately because I tend to get home pretty late and am tired and hungry when I get there (stupid gym; stupid new "healthier lifestyle").

c) As soon as the baby socks are done, I will be casting on for socks for The Boy. We have yarn selected (Koigu), and a pattern (from Sensational Knitted Socks). I will be trying toe up--pray for me.

Things I Want to Knit, But Don't Have a Prayer of Getting to Before I'm Old and Grey
a) Fetching -- I so want to make me some of these. Last night we had practically freezing temps here in Southern California -- it was like 40 degrees (F)! (Shuddup, all you cold weather types!) I need me some handwarmers!

b) I am in love, love, love with this book and its lovely patterns. Unfortunately I possess neither the book, nor any of the called-for Kochoran. But I so want the vest, Gesta. Want it, want it, want it!!

c) I want to make Kate Gilbert's gorgeous Equestrian Blazer from IK Winter. It's pretty ambitious for me, but I still want to do it.

d) I should probably finish Clapotis at some point. I'm in the final stretch, on the decrease section. Why don't I want to finish it?? I love the yarn, and the pattern is so pretty. But I have zero motivation.

e) I want to make these. All three of them. This is mainly because I'm a huge Elizabeth I fan. We even share a birthday, good ol' Bess and I do.

f) I enjoyed (surprisingly, maybe shockingly) working with the KSH for the ISE3 scarf, and I have two skeins from our London trip in Jelly (love it!) that I'm dying to make into a lightweight sweater/pullover of some sort. Like the one from LMKG. Of course, I'd have to get a bunch more of the KSH or a similar yarn.

g) I SO badly want to try STR, but I've already gone a bit nuts lately with the sock yarns. I want to get and knit Puck's Mischief and Rooster Rock like nobody's business.

People, You Must Be Stopped!

2006-11-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

Enough with the NaBloMo or whatever it's called. This is out of hand. I just don't have the 24 consecutive hours it would take to catch up on all of your blogs. I appreciate your dedication, I really do. Heaven knows I'm no good at the daily postings. But everytime I check bloglines I have HUNDREDS of unread blog postings. I only have lunchtime to read these. I read fast, but not that fast!

I'm sure you can see my dilemma.

So, kindly quit it, wouldya!?!

P.S. Thanks to Shannon for giving me the tip on fixing my formatting! You're awesome! :)

You May Have Noticed My New Formatting

2006-11-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is not intentional. Any web gurus available to help??

People, I am a baby coder. I know enough to go into my blog's code and change colors and some formatting. I can modify html templates at work to make them do most of what I want.

What I can't do is figure out how to modify the weblogging women code (below right) so that it's not so wide. If I could make it more in line with the size of the other ring things on this page, I wouldn't have all this trouble!!

GRRRRRRR

Ephemera--A Loooooong Post

2006-11-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

Wow, my first political post on this blog, and I got more comments than any other single post here! And mostly from 'furriners' like those Canadians and British. ;)

Truthfully, I was so happy to read the comments from everyone chiming in with a same or similar perspective on the US. Particularly reading comments from abroad that paralleled our situations with theirs (which we seldom consider, seeing as how we have a completely centralized media with a very insular focus). Others shared their hopes that this will indeed be a turning point for the American government.

To all those commenters, a huge THANK YOU! I loved reading your comments. I wish I heard from more of you more often (coughattentionwhorecough).

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Now, on to other things...

I got my ISE3 scarf from my pal, the (technically) blogless Sonia!

The colors are closest here, but not 100% accurate. The gold areas are a little more green, with bits of brown and olive.

Here's another take, a little bit closer.

The pictures are not great, I know. I received my scarf package when I got home at 11pm on Monday, and haven't been home before 10 the rest of this week. I tried taking this picture in my cubicle.

And the other to-do I've been working on...socks! For me! Yeah, I said the next pair would be for The Boy. And I got my whole knitting bag together with all the ingredients to make his socks, and then drove to my parents' house, promptly leaving my knitting bag at home. But, not to be deterred (and to be given a really good excuse to do so), I went to the cute little knit shop down the street from the 'rents' house.

I got some Kathmandu DK in this gorgeous piney color with lots of wonderful little tweedy bits.

One down! I'm at the heel turn on the second.

I would like to say that I am just that good, but it's really the combination of DK weight yarn and US4 DPNs instead of US1s! I'm such a cheater. The Boy's socks are going to be Koigu on size 1s or 2s, so they will take MUCH longer.

Here's a picture of the bottom/gusset/heel area. I just luuuuurve this little heel cup (I have no idea what you actually call it). The pattern is Blueberry Waffle Socks, and it uses this great paired decrease for the heel that creates a really comfortable little heel cup.

I also have a couple of baby things to do. A friend of the family called my mom early this year to tell her she was having a baby (she used to babysit my littlest sisters). She said it was a girl, they had named her, had a girly babyshower. Guess what? It was a boy. And this is what I had given him (the accessories, not the bear, she's mine):

I'm sure little Dylan was very pleased.

So now I need to re-knit in blues. Sugar and Cream for easy maintenance (mom is about 20 uears old and I don't see her handwashing baby goods). Then my cousin found out she's having a boy, too. So I need to figure out what to make for her, since she's sort of my favorite cousin. I would love to do a log cabin blanket, maybe with all my many odd skeins of Encore--I have loads of the stuff leftover from lots of other projects.

Ach, back to work stuff. Seriously, it's one darn thing after another!

Warning: Political Post Ahead

2006-11-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

You know, in case you don't like that kind of thing and want to skip over this one.

Note: this should have published much earlier today when it was a bit more relevant. Stupid blogger.

I should start by saying that I am a pretty liberal progressive Democrat. I go to a liberal Episcopal church. My whole family is extremely open and accommodating to all walks of life. So is my husband's family (thank goodness!). Therefore, it should come as no great surprise that last night/today have been pretty awesome.

The Boy and I sat on the couch till late last night watching the returns, marveling that the Dems were doing so well and nobody had stolen the election yet. (Why, yes, I am a bit cynical. Why do you ask?)

I really, honestly believe that this power shift is exactly what this country needs right now. We have had an alarming amount of rights taken from us forcibly. We are hated around the world for being insulting and needlessly aggressive. Far too many people are dying in Iraq--Americans, English, Canadians, other countries willing to send their best and brightest to die for our unjust cause, and most especially (numerically) Iraqis. Our administration chronically intones the need for us to win in Iraq, but refuses to define what that means, or how we will do it. There was no strategy for going into war, and it's become more than clear that there is no strategy for exiting.

It is apparent that the president is not concerned with hiring people adequately qualified for the job, but instead hiring friends and those he feels he owes a favor for getting him elected. The government's response to the needs of the American people has been shameful. Particularly in the face of Hurricane Katrina, but also in taxing the middle class till they must live paycheck to paycheck; trying to undercut social security and successfully doing so with medicare; allowing people to die needlessly because there were photo opportunities to be had. There were never any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and they knew it when they told the UN and everyone else that there were.

This glorious nation--founded on the principles of peace and justice and escaping the rule of a tyrant--has been dragged backward in time and become a place that none (few?) of us wanted to revisit. A place where racism is acceptable, ignorance is fostered, religion is manipulated, corruption is expected, and the government baldly lies to its citizens, believing them far too stupid or caring to do anything about it.

But yesterday the American people overwhelmingly showed the administration that we are NOT stupid, and we do care. Democrats have dominated in the polls, even in scarlet red states. The Dems have taken back the House and are poised to take over the Senate.

Yes, Mr. President, there is a mandate; a mandate from the American people for you and yours to shape up or ship out. A mandate to do right by us. It is time for genuine leadership. It is time for our leaders to reflect the wants and needs of their constituents, and not line their own pockets for personal gain. It is time to look at healthcare, ethics reform, election reform and bringing this country back into the 21st century!

For Chappysmom's Calendar Contest

2006-11-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

Here is the November picture for my calendar at work.

Aren't they sweet? :)

2006-11-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

Is it a bad thing that the bulk of my vegetable consumption comes from Kung Pao Chicken at Panda Express?

Dear Women In My Office,

2006-11-03T17:14:00.000-08:00

I'm amazed that I need to remind you that we are at work. Not the movies, not a restaurant, not some social event.

You really do not need to attend the bathroom in twos and threes. Really, you look odd waiting in the hall for your posse to gather so that you can go into the bathroom together. Are you afraid of starting without the others?

It looks weird and is unnatural at work where you should just go in, do your business, and get out ASAP.

That is all.

A Coupla Things

2006-11-02T17:42:00.000-08:00

Hi to those of you who came over from the ISEIII site! To answer a question I've gotten here a couple times from those visitors:

The pattern of the lace scarf is called Arches & Columns and was in the pattern-a-day calendar. I think for 2006 (although it could have been 2005; I can check if someone would like me to).

I was so pleased with how the scarf turned out! I had a heckuva time working with the KSH, but ultimately it was totally worth it. You can look at this post here to see the goodies from Susan's package, and to read her really sweet comments (thanks, Susan!).

And here are a couple more pictures that I took before sending because they made me laugh:

Can you tell how thrilled The Boy is to be my model?

Blocking, under the cat's supervision

Ta-ta for now, my dears. I'm not feeling so great, so I'm headed home for the day.

Everbody in Blogland Went to Rhinebeck and All I Got Was...Nothing!

2006-10-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm playing along with Karrie's contest. I'm going to pretend that I went to Rhinebeck, too! And let's see what I got.

Oooooh, lots of sock yarn. And look at all those pinks!

Bottom left is Regia Sock Yarn (from my trip to London, actually). I dig those colors bigtime. On top are Paton's Kroy--the first sock yarn I ever purchased. (Whispered: from Michael's.) The third set is from Knitpicks old sock yarn line. I think the color is Morning Glory. I've swatched it and it's delicious.

So those are some of my goodies that I am re-admiring right now. I am going to try to post more tonight or this weekend, because I did actually have some stash acquisitions on Saturday. What is it? I'm not telling!

Oh, okay, here's a hint: Trunk Show & My Favorite Handpainted Yarn. So there you go.

Disruption in the Time-Space Continuum?

2006-10-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

Is there some physics I'm missing here? Or is the Kid Silk Haze I'm using for my ISE3 partner's scarf really NOT running out? I mean, I know I'm a slow knitter, and that it's my first lace project (one step forward, 3 rows back), but c'mon!

I'm starting to panic a wee bit. The scarf is supposed to be received by November 1st. And the KSH seems to be going on forever. Help! I still need to block this baby when it's done!

Pictures? Oh, those would be nice here, huh? But I don't currently have any pictures of the scarf. I should, but I don't. Every spare moment when I'm at home is spent working on this scarf. My apartment has become the equivalent of a teenage boy's bedroom (clothes everywhere!) while I dedicate my life to this scarf. It's beautiful and miraculously makes me want to knit a shawl. But not on a freakin' deadline. I'm a nutty nut.

On non-knitting related content, I hate my newish Victoria's Secret bra. Gah. I don't typically buy my bras there since they don't really cater to the, um, busty gals, but need bra + no $ + VS credit card = buy a bra that's a wee bit too small. The stupid straps keep sliding down my shoulders. It's not like my neck slopes straight down to my hands. What the heck?

Also, the dumb thing keeps unhooking itself. Explain to me why the wretched thing has straps that NEED to hook in the back when it doesn't hook in the front! It's not a 'convertible' bra. What is up with that? Today while driving I looked down and the left cup appeared to be trying to escape through my shirt. Huh? Stupid thing was unhooked again. And I don't have the dexterity to fix it without removing my shirt and turning the whole thing around. Blah.

I should get going. It's my dear sweet hubby's birthday (32) and I'm taking him out to dinner. Somewhere. And he's buying me yarn tomorrow. (Yep, happy birthday to him.) More about that later. I'm so excited!

The Spam Commentaries

2006-10-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

I know that other people have shown some of the spam subjects that have come through to their boxes. I've been hoarding a few of the better ones to share:

Clementina Huffman writes to me of irritation -- Poor Clementina, is this a call out to the universe about her job as a lowly and reviled sender of spam?

cobble writes to me of dauphin -- 'cobble', like Cher, or Madonna, only without the name recognition! Oh 'cobble' (all lowercase, thankyouverymuch) are you referencing Mark Twain's famous Tom Sawyer, or wanting to discuss 14th century French aristocracy?

lennie riccardo says Jus look at this! -- Close cousin of Rickie?

Joseph Hoffman apparently wants to let me in on the secrets of face inflate -- Mr. Hoffman, your procedure does not sound at all appealing!

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Other interesting name/title combinations of late:

--Someone wants to tell me about mystify bigoted

--Harry Berry is evidently a fan of brawny Brownies -- and, really, who isn't?

--Fishke Packer responded to my apparent request Re: news bisifu

--Walt Anthony writes to inform me about slither vault

--Tybalt Blue (which I'm totally naming my firstborn), calls me out for being cold-hearted solvable

--Donald Blair is a fan of the blue cheese handle

--And dear Ellen Bean (L.L.'s wife?) wants to invite me to a cataract square dance -- which sounds a bit painful!

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Yee-haw, happy spammin', folks. I wonder if they ever search for their own spams and whether they would be flattered to find themselves here?

Fishke? Lennie? Clementina? You complete me.

Long Time No...Blog

2006-10-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

It's not that no knitting's been happening, but it's been exclusively on the project for my ISEIII partner. I decided to tackle lace, with a laceweight yarn. For the first time. With a deadline. Maybe not my finest moment. It's progressing, but slowly. This is my first exchange, and I want to do it right!

So I'm knitting even slower than usual. But it's going to be so beautiful! I just hope I finish it in time.

Other than that, Clapotis is on-hold. I also got the Magic Loop book, which I'm dying to try out for Socktoberfest, with my first toe-up socks. But since they are for me, they are on-hold while I work on the ISE scarf. The scarf that has twice gotten time out. A phenomenon that The Boy just can't seem to understand. He doesn't know why I would want to knit something that is so fiddly and I have zipped up in Ziploc, put on the endtable, and left to 'think about' what it's done. Men. No imagination! ;)

Don't Know Much About HTML

2006-09-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why my blog is so compressed and moved to the left. I thought I needed to resize some pictures, which I've done, but I'm going to have to work on this more when I have some spare time. I possess very limited html capabilities, but that knowledge is continuing to grow at work. Maybe something will pan out soon so I can upgrade this beast.

Also, coming soon: NEW YARN ACQUISITIONS!

UPDATE: Okay, I've figured out that the problem is the Weblogging Women ring code. It has a standardized format that I can't modify and the width throws off my blog code. Any html gurus out there able to help me out??

I'm a Cheater

2006-09-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

So Clapotis has taken a backseat to some baby knitting for a co-worker. His wife is due on the 22nd, so time is of the essence.

I'm sorry to say that his shower was yesterday, but due to a two-day migraine, he's getting his gift on Monday. It's nothing too special, just a couple of Sugar 'n Cream cotton bibs using the pattern from the Mason Dixon book. So easy. I will take pictures this weekend.

Finally, though, I get to blame someone else for my picture-less-ness: The Boy has the camera and keeps forgetting to bring it home. So I can't yet show you the other baby stuff I made, or take pictures of the new stuff.

What I can show you is what The Boy got me for my birthday yesterday:

As I am currently cameraless, that is the picture from the Knitpicks site, but saved to Flickr, so please don't think I'm a bandwidth thief!
So last night I switched my current bib-in-progress over to the new Knitpicks needles. I would like to say I'm going to reserve judgment and all that, but day-um, they were awesome! As y'all know, I am the Slowest Knitter In All Of Creation (TM), and I just about flew through that second bib. I finished the whole darn thing last night!

The sharp needles were great with the cotton which, like many of its brethren, tends to be splitty. While I have long been loyal to Addis, I think I have found a new love. A much cheaper love. Smooth, smooth, smooth.

I .:heart:. the Knitpicks Options needles.

Still Knittin' on Clapotis

2006-08-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a bit, but I don't have much to share. I've been pretty project monogamous with the Clapotis and I now know for certain that I am the slooooooowwwwwest knitter ever. So.Slow.

I still have three repeats of the 12 row "straight" section, the whole of the decrease section, and the final rows. And I've been working on this since June. I did take off about two weeks in July to knit baby stuff for a friend (I'll try to remember to post pics), but other than that, it's been all Clapotis, all the (knitting) time.

I love the pattern. I think Kate Gilbert is a brilliant designer. I love the construction. I love the yarn. I am enjoying it a lot, especially now that I can knit backward instead of having to turn and purl. But it is going to take me the rest of my natural life, I'm pretty sure. There's not much point in posting a picture since everyone in the universe (except for maybe Pluto-ites) knows what it looks like.

A Surefire Way

2006-08-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

First, a couple of pictures of the yarn stash cleaning/organizing.

I'm still getting the hang of this.
On the top are the 'Afters' and the bottom are the 'Befores'.
Holy Moly do I have a lot of yarn!
On to the post...

A surefire way to kill my enthusiasm is to make it compulsory. Or at least expected. A couple of months ago, high on having just completed my third pair of socks, I joined Summer of Socks and the Traveling Sock knitalongs. I was just about to get married and leave for my honeymoon.

Confessional Time:

I haven't done a lick of work on socks since then. Sorry 'Summer of Socks'!

I did not take pictures of socks with famous monuments or interesting locations while in England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales. There goes 'Have Socks Will Travel.'

Ugh. I mean so well. And these -alongs are so brilliant and thoughtfully planned and managed. If I'd had a swap partner for this, I would certainly have tried a lot harder because I would never want to let anybody down. But when the only recipient is me (or, um, my new husband), my knitting mojo goes on hiatus.

Repentance:

Because of my failure to complete (or, uh, start) these projects, and indeed my general loserishness, I have removed those links from my blog.

Something New (to me):

Having said all that, I have signed up to join the International Scarf Exchange. No, really. This one I can handle for the following reasons:

a) I'm not currently getting married or going on my honeymoon (I believe this will make a big difference)

b) It's a scarf -- much more my speed

c) I have loads of time to do it in -- it's not due to mail until the end of October/beginning of November

d) It's for someone else (not related to me), so I'm guaranteed to be much more considerate

Wish me luck. No, you don't have to wish my partner luck. I told you, I'm good when it's for other people! Geesh, don't you listen?

Meet 'n Knit

2006-08-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the second ever Knitting Meetup near where I work at Whatsamatta U and it was loverly. In addition to me, there was the lovely organizer Ari and two others--Jenny and Pardis (isn't that a beautiful name?)

What delightful ladies! We noshed and knit and there was even a little bit of light tutoring.

I'm excited for the next meetup!

This Old Dog Learned a New Trick!

2006-08-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back someone whose blog I read (I wish I could remember who!) was lauding the praises of another knitter (who I would love to give proper credit, if only I could remember who she was) for creating a video clip for knitting backward. It sounded weird but intriguing.

Holy cow! I couldn't wait to put it into practice, but I was finishing up some other stuff I was working on. Last night I picked back up my Clapotis. And I tried backward knitting. It was great! I am incredibly slow (even slower than purling), but there's definitely potential for picking up speed. It was just so.cool.

So thank you to the referrer, and the video creator! I learn so much better visually, and the demo was perfect. I'm so excited to keep practicing now.

By the way, here's Clapotis currently.

I'm in love with it and can't wait to get to wear it.

Alert the Media!

2006-08-09T16:43:00.000-07:00

A second post in three days? Someone check me for fever!

Actually I really wanted to post my pictures before they became too obsolete. :)

Dial-up users BEWARE--loads of pictures upcoming! (Wait, am I the only person in the world who still has dial-up?)

First up: Honeymoon Yarn!

From Liberty, in London

Yeah, okay, I said I wanted to get yarn I couldn't just get anywhere, and this is Rowan KSH which is pretty readily available to me, but does it count that I didn't already have any in my stash? And I luuurve this apple green. In fact, methinks that I need about 4 or 5 more skeins to make something from Vintage Knits, or the sweet camisole from Weekend Knitting

Also from Liberty, in London

Regia sock yarn. Again, yes, I could get this in the states, probably at any of a handful of shops without travelling too far even, but this was in London, people! And check out those fantastic colors!

From Blarney Woolen Mills, Blarney, Ireland

I literally stumbled across this Tivoli DK yarn at the Blarney Woolen Mills. I was looking at the scarves and sweaters in this VAST shop, and at the last minute popped upstairs for a second. GASP! There before me was a big ol' cart full of cream-colored Tivoli worsted weight yarn. I was so darn excited that I bumped into a barrel next to the cart. I looked down into the barrel and found this bag of lovely tweedy burgundy DK yarn--10 skeins (also Tivoli) for 16 euro. I snatched that bag up so fast and hugged it to my chest, refusing to put it back down. And that's where The Boy found me a few minutes later. Drooling over the other bag of 16 euro DK tweed--in a gorgeous navy. How I wish I'd gotten both! But The Boy restrained me with the promise of searching for more yarn later on the trip. But I'd be damned if I was leaving without that bag you see there.

Wanna see it up closer?

I know the plastic bag doesn't make for the best picture, but look at those little tweedy nubs!

From Sheepish, an adorable shop with an adorable name, in The Shambles, York, England. The proprietress and the woman at the register were absolutely delightful. The shop was two itsy bitsy little rooms with bags of yarn and displays everywhere. I could have happily moved in with the two ladies and the gentleman stocking the back room (I'm assuming he was married to the owner).

Those are two skeins of Brigantia aran weight yarn in one of my most favorite color combinations. The wool is actually a bit scratchy, but I'm hoping it will soften a bit with washing. Anyway, who cares!? It's from England, from my honeymoon, and from the cutest little shop.

Here's another reason to love Sheepish

Yes, a yarn I could buy at home, but one I didn't have. Rowan Summer Tweed. In a beauteous gold color. And the 10 skein bag was about 25 pounds, if I recall correctly.

I found Sheepish on accident when our tour guide finished our brief walking tour in York in The Shambles. As he finished talking about it, my eye caught on the shop right behind him. The yarn shop. Well, that did it for me. I don't recall much of what he told us about that area of York (except that it used to house all the butcher's shops) because from that moment on I was overtaken with the need to see.touch.feel.yarn.now!

To illustrate how friendly they were at the shop, when I asked the owner if I might take a picture to post on my blog, she said she would be "delighted". So here it is.

So if any of you knitters ever find yourselves in York, make your way to The Shambles (very close to the Minster) and check out Sheepish. You'll be so glad you did.

Well, that's it for honeymoon yarn. Not for lack of effort, mind you! We just didn't have a lot of free time on our tour to go hunting for all the shops I just know were waiting for me.

I'm going to leave the pictures of The Great Stash Re-Organization of 2006 until another day. This post is already looooong!

Knitting is My Gateway Craft...

2006-08-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so you know how you think to yourself, "I sure wish I was one of those crafty types," and then you pick up a craft, and suddenly you've spent a zillion dollars and given over half of your living space to accomodate all of this crafting stuff you're not all that good at anyway?

So that's me.

I spent this weekend cleaning and organizing my crafts area. Because somehow, when I wasn't looking, my crafts multiplied exponentially, and have now taken over a bookshelf, and the top of my filing cabinet, in addition to the dedicated cabinet, shelves and baskets that they had already claimed (pictures to come).

It all started because I wanted to put all my yarn in plastic bags to thwart any moth-types that might get crazy ideas about my silky wool or merino sock yarn. And then I was buying bins, and sorting scrapbook stuff (which I haven't even started to do yet!), beads, knitting supplies, little tins that I've been hoarding just in case, fun ribbons that I seem incapable of resisting lately, and all of my magnet-making supplies. It's a sickness, really.

So it became quite an endeavor. Took me almost the entire weekend. BUT, it is so much more organized and neat that The Boy and I were inspired to do a little bit of other house stuff (which our sty, I mean apartment, really needs right now). We vaccuumed. 3x! The cats were thrilled. The Boy cleaned cat boxes, we went through things that were trash, and things that we will consider giving away. We finally put down the new rug [big rug] we got as a wedding gift. I filled a box and a bag with tchotchkes that have really become nothing more than dust collectors.

I read this clever little idea in the August Real Simple that said if you are one who has trouble getting rid of stuff (who, me?), put all the items in a box near your front door for a week. Once you see the space on your shelves or in your home opened up without those items, it becomes easier to face getting rid of them. I think I may have lots of little goodies for Goodwill!

I'll try to post pictures this week. There are many! I took pictures of the yarns I got on my honeymoon (better late than never, right?!), and the process of digging out all the skeins of yarn (frightening). There was a point where I was surrounded by mounds of yarn on each side of me and The Boy said to me a) There must be at least a thousand dollars worth of yarn there!" (I hesitate to point out that it's probably more than that), and b) He was pretty certain I would never find a home for it all. But I did!

4 XL 10 gallon Ziploc bags, 35 one-gallon Ziploc bags, and 7 tubs later, I have lovely organization! I know this post is sort of meaningless without pictures, but I really wanted to post because it's been WAY too long. I will post pictures of the carnage, and the newly 'renovated' crafting area. Despite all the work that it took, and that I got no actual crafting done because of it, I feel really good and accomplished.

Hard work feels good, I guess.

Or crazy OCD-types like me like that false sense of power that comes from putting things in boxes and bins.

Either/Or.

Back From the Dead!

2006-07-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

Actually, back from a) wedding, b) honeymoon, c) icky, horrible virus. For more details, see my other blog.

On the knitting front, I have been a completely lazy slacker. I did NONE of the socks I thought I would do on my trip. I thought I would take some great pictures of socks lounging around Westminster Abbey or Blarney Castle or similar, but when it came down to it, I was in thrall to the locations and never touched the socks.

I did start a Clapotis (as if you need the link). Yes, I am the last person in the Western World to take on this project. But I was being forever picky about my yarn selection. I wanted a variegated colorway with good yardage that I could actually see myself wearing. I wanted a yarn that was durable and felt nice, but that didn't cost me a fortune.

Finally I selected Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Worsted in the Vera colorway (why, yes, I do have the LL sockyarn in that colorway, as well, why do you ask?). It's so beautiful, feels delightful, and all told was just over $50 for about 630 yds from The Knitting Zone.

Unfortunately, I discovered that traveling in the motorcoach and knitting didn't mix well, so I only accomplished about 5 repeats of the increase section. I've done more this weekend, though. I'm now on the second repeat of the straight section. Yay!

I have much to tell you about the trip, and particularly shopping for yarn in the UK (London! Kilarney! York!)--after all, this is supposed to be a knitting blog! Hopefully will manage some pictures for you in the not too distant future. I would also like to take some time at a later date to tell you about some great online yarn and accessory shopping experience that I've had in the not-too-distant past. Real gems! I will try to blog more this week so that I can stop being so pathetic. Le sigh.

Here Goes The Bride!

2006-06-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well, folks, this is it. My last post as a single gal. :)

I am getting married to the most wonderful man I've ever known next Saturday. I'm off work this week (which is where I generally try to stealth blog) in order to tackle the zillion little things that still await attention before the big day. Then I get married, and then The Boy and I conquer the UK!

We are off to a glorious 3 days in London, and three weeks throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Makes my little Anglophile heart go pitter-pat.

I'm sure after my return I will be a) exhausted, and b) overflowing with pictures and anecdotes of my true heart's home. That is, unless The Boy and I refuse to leave London. It could so happen!

I hope that you all have a wonderful June full of love and happiness and excitement, as mine is destined to be.

Love,
Stephanie

UK Knitters -- or Other World Travelers -- Bend Your Needles My Way!

2006-05-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

On June 12th The Boy and I will leave for our honeymoon (we get married on the 10th). We are flying into London for three days before joining a Trafalgar Tour that will take us round England, up to Scotland, over to Ireland, back down to Wales, and return us, at the end of June, to London.

I am very excited, and know that we are going to have a wonderful time. But here's the all-important question: where do I shop for yarn in these places??

It goes without saying, and The Boy knows this, that we *will* be looking at yarn and possibly at the sheep and alpaca from whence it came, if possible. So what shops do I absolutely have to go to? The first three days in London will be the biggest dedicated amount of time without an agenda that we will have. After that we will have time to ourselves when stopped at the various locations.

UK Knitters -- and other world travelers -- can you help me?

If you read this blog and you have a suggestion, please de-lurk and leave me a comment!

Thanks!

Here Come the Knits!

2006-05-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my previous post that I was working on a wedding knit. Well, here it is. I'm happy to unveil (so to speak), Bride & Groom Bean!

Here's the happy couple, posing on the fancy schmancy box where I keep Martha Stewart (well, her MS Living magazines, anyway).

The lovely bride:

The combination of her white 'dress' and the lovely sage green 'necklace' she's sporting reflects my wedding colors.
And here's the groom:

Don't you just love his glasses?
The other thing I knit this week was a washcloth based on my friend's grandmother's handwritten pattern. The Boy had the last rotation of his nursing school career on Tuesday, and wanted to give his teacher nurse a nice gift. He bought her a selection of goodies from Bath & Body Works (picked out by yours truly, in the lovely Sweet Pea scent), and I made her the washcloth to go with all the pretty pink bottles.

The yarn is Lily Sugar & Cream (forgive the blurriness)
And then some random pictures from around the house and at work.

My little beastie found a new favorite place to sleep, in The Boy's laundry basket.

I couldn't believe how close this bunny let me get

This beautiful flower and the next were both caught at work. Right near the bunny, actually.

What are you knitting now?

Help a Knitter Out

2006-05-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

First, the FOs: I made a hat to go with the ugg booties, but it's on my other memory card for my camera, so I'll try to get that uploaded soon. It's really cute. I used the same yarns as the booties, and the pattern from Adorable Knits for Tots (which in the UK appears to be for TINY tots). If you look at the thumbnails, it's the sweet little square hat with the tassles (no fair isle, though).

I'm also working on a special "wedding knit" that I won't be unveiling until the second half is done. Patience, my sweets.

Okay, here's a sneak peek, but you'll never guess what it is.

She's a pretty good sport, considering how many things I make her wear
Here's the part where I need help, though. I'm trying to make socks with Brown Sheep's Wildfoote. Apologies in advance if there are any Wildfoote aficionados out there, but so far I am...well...hating it. Absolutely hating it. It has, essentially, the properties of several strands of thread held together--that frequently unravel. It's small and splitty and requires size US1 needles.

Now, I know that for some of you out there, US1 is positively gigantic, but I have knit all three pairs of socks I've made so far on US2s. And 1s seem so...toothpick-like. I couldn't find any 6" Crystal Palace bamboo dpns (my favorite) when I was ordering the needles, and I ended up with 6" Skacel bamboos (I think). And these things are just way too bendy. So, right off the bat, the tools are ticking me off.

On top of that, my first round is a nightmare. I'm knitting cuffdown, trying to do the Slipped Rib Stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks. I have not made it past the first few rows. The yarn keeps splitting and the stitches keep dropping and I've had to take it out about a gazillion times and restart, and I've about had it. What is going on?! I'm not an incompetent sock knitter. I've knit three other pairs without problems. But these socks are going to be the death of me.

Should I try toe-up? Should I go up a needle size to regain at least that level of comfort? Should I use a different cast on (backward loop is not working out well).

Do any of you have any sage words of wisdom about Wildfoote? What should I do? At this point I'm pretty much inclined to set it on fire--pretty drastic for a yarn ho such as me. So far I've knit socks with Elann's Denim Knit cotton, Sockotta self-patterning sock yarn, and Artyarn's Supermerino. The merino wins hands down. I'm really feeling like I should bite the bullet, kill the Wildfoote, get some nice merino and try, try again. What do you think?

I Have Been Knitting

2006-04-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

So I don't have actual socks to show, despite my oodles of sock yarn. But I did knit something sock-ish for a baby shower last week.

Baby Uggs!

For size reference
Yarns used: Llama Seta for the body of the booties (yeah, not the most practical for a newborn, but I was pressed for time!), and GGH Esprit for the white trim.

These booties took far longer than they should have. I had quite an ordeal even getting the yarns. I went to my LYS where they were sold out of both. I ordered the yarns, and waited a week. A week in which they did not come in! A woman at the shop said that she had a skein of the Berrocco Plush that the pattern called for and that she would let me know that night when I could pick it up. I never heard back from her, and when I called her two days later, she was camping in the mountains. There was no time for mail order, so I trudged to all the nearby yarn-ish and yarn shops that I could reach on lunch breaks.

My first trip to Tall Mouse I thought I'd caught a break because they had (GGH?) Serrano in white. But when I went to knit it up, the texture of the yarn just wasn't going to work. I spent days looking other places. Finally, two days before the shower I went back to Tall Mouse for something else and found a lone ball, sans band, of Esprit in white. Perfect!

The bootie pattern itself is oh so easy and knits up quickly. However, the trim. The trim was a nightmare. I don't know if it's just that I am a hopeless seamstress (I am) or what, but it took me 5 hours to trim the darn things! I finally finished at one in the morning. I was SO.Tired. the next day. But I had a fabulous handknit gift for the mom-to-be. :)

I'm hoping to get a pic of the mom holding the boots soon. When I do, I'll post it here.

I will definitely make these again, I just need to figure out how to minimize the time spent handstitching the trim. There has to be a better way!

What's your favorite baby gift to knit?

A Post! From Me! With Lots of Pictures, Even!

2006-04-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

I did not join Lolly's Project Spectrum because I know me. And knowing me, I know that the surest way to keep me from finishing something is to put it on a timeline and make it feel compulsory. Hence the almost complete lack of sock knitting since I joined SYAC.

Having said that, I find myself very aware of the colors of Project Spectrum nearly daily since just about everyone in knitblogland has joined, and I read Lolly's blog nearly everyday. This is the best way for me to be a part of PS. I can include stuff when I really, really want to, and not because I feel like I SHOULD.

Below are a few things that caught my eye because of their colors.

I believe this is a type of lily? I took this picture in the courtyard of our apartment building. The vibrant colors have just been beckoning to me all of April.

More pictures from our building.

An endcap display of silk flowers at TJ Maxx

I also finally got my Hill Country Yarns order from DiscountYarnSale.com. It took them forever (well, back before April 1 when SYAC took effect--have I mentioned my complete lack of patience?) to process the order, but once they sent me the email that it was shipping, I got the package in about 3 days. Here are the absolutely gorgeous skeins that came. Well worth the wait.

On the left is Chocolate Covered Kisses, and on the right is Indian Stone. Are those gorgeous or what?!
And I wasn't the only fan. A couple minutes later Inari came sauntering over to check out the haul.

(On the right is Lorna's Laces in the Knit Happens colorway for skein size reference)

Inari quickly took over. She seemed to think they were her yarns.
Now, brace yourself folks. You are about to be overwhelmed with cuteness. This picture deserves to be in calendars, on posters and on every knitblog ever.

Inari makes herself comfortable
And just so The Original Beast doesn't feel left out:

Max says, "Have a good weekend, everyone. Relax!

Finally! Someone Gets It!

2006-04-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

This is my latest update brochure from those people who manage my IRA. Check out that cover -- that's certainly my preferred way to invest for the future!

FO Shizzle!

2006-04-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Man, I so shouldn't use slang. Anyhow, I have actually been knitting. To whit:

An unusual knit for a thirtysomething's birthday, yes, but she seemed to like it fine.

The intermediary phase between roadkill (see post below) and finished toy.

Happy Driving Bear

The finished bear, in all his glory.

Again, I used the pattern referenced here. I used all kinds of scrap yarns for the body and accessories. I am hopeless with toy faces, so after countless failed attempts, his mouth is actually a little piece of red I-cord stitched down.

Interesting bit of trivia for you: the bear was completed while observing a wedding at our church to give us ideas for our ceremony in June.

I would like to be working on socks right now, but my boss' baby shower is on the 20th, so I'm busy working on some baby uggs for her little guy, debuting in May. Below is a pic of the first bootie underway. They are worked from the bottom up, so they start to resemble a nose after you knit the short rows to make the toe.

I did swatch for some socks in the Stargazer Lily colorway in Knitpicks' Sock Garden. I swatched the Laburnum design from Sensational Knitted Socks, but I'm going to have to learn to do toe up since I've always done cuff down.

And that's my wildly exciting knit life at present. I'm not feeling too well, so I haven't been able to knit too much in the last couple of days, but I'll get there.

Happy knitting, folks.

Flashin' the Sock Stash

2006-04-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

As part of the recovery process for sock yarnaholics at SYAC, we are required to flash the stash. I was supposed to do this yesterday, but the computer has not been cooperative. Stupid dial-up.

At any rate, here we go...

Left: Koigu, Right: Lorna's Laces (Vera colorway)

Paton's Kroy

L-R: Sockotta, Sockotta, Opal Rainforest (Tiger)

L-R: Wildfoote, KnitPicks' Pansy, bits of Koigu and Artyarns

Top: Lorna's Laces in Knit Happens colorway; Bottom: Lorna's Laces in Gold Hills

Left: Lavold Silky Wool, Right: KFI Cashmerino (discontinued)

Koigu

Left: Koigu, Right: KnitPicks' Sock Memories (New England Foliage), Bottom: bits of Koigu

There are also two skeins of Stargazer Lily from KnitPicks, and another skein of New England Foliage. And four skeins on order that haven't come in yet.

But other than that, there's nothing. Really. Nothing else.

See? Practically nothing.

The World's Slowest Knitter Actually Finishes Stuff! News at 11.

2006-03-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

Well, there's actually only one finished thing here. But she's a beaut. Check 'er out just before completion.

And after...

My proudest kitchener moment, yet!
And all done

Size US3 DPNs for cast on. Size 2 for the rest of the sock. Sockotta yarn. No idea what colorway.

Sadly, I have not been able to cast on for socky #2 yet. Nope, it's not the dreaded SSS (I actually can't wait to cast on the darn thing). I'm making a belated birthday gift for a friend. Can you guess what it is?

A really creepy scarf?

Roadkill?
It's sort of a conjoined bear twin, actually. See here for the pattern used (from this very funny site that I just discovered this week). Hopefully he'll be done tomorrow. Yeah, I suck. I made the bear for my (grown-up) friend instead of kids in Jamaica. Actually, I didn't see the link till the drive for bears was over.

Keep your eye out for the sock twin, coming soon to a blog near you.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Oh, You Lucky, Lucky Childrens

2006-03-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

FOs! From me! Whoda thunk it?

A capelet - a woman at my LYS was making it and I thought it was purty and might be useful in London in June (!!). I don't know how it really looks on me due to my, erm, overly generous serving of bustiness and midsection. But I think it is beautiful. I used just shy of 5 skeins of OnLine Rush in 0007. Glorious colors!

A close up of the amazingly perfect buttons I also found at my LYS. She was trying to get rid of these two-tone shell buttons in wine and orange, an unbelievable match for the Rush, and they were 50% off. I bought all five.

Please ignore the fact that I look practically dead without any lipstick on. The pitfalls of being a natural red(dish)head and possessing translucent skin.

Then one evening, I'd finished everything I'd been working on, and still had two more of those gorgeous buttons. And two skeins of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in a rich garnet/wine/burgundy color. Three hours later, voila! A plush neckwarmer. I am getting good use out of it, and I love the richness. (Although the yarn is surprisingly itchy on the back of my neck.)

Which brings us to the current WIP. Told ya I was about to start a sock jag. You have no idea.....

And some gratuitous cat and yarn photos. Because I can.

Have a lovely weekend, y'all!

GASP! Is that what I think it is?

2006-03-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is indeed an FO. Never thought you'd see the day these socks would make a re-appearance on this blog, did you? I sure didn't! They got sidelined for birthday knitting and Christmas knitting and toy knitting. Then I did a capelet, and a neckwarmer and I was out of stuffing for more Beans (more pictures to come later this week). So what to work on? Oh, how about those sad socks sitting in the discard basket?

Hmm, why did I put these down? They were fun. And beautiful. And pretty satisfying, even with all the counting problems I had! (Me + many YOs and SSKs and K2togs = one good challenge) It wasn't exactly a hard knit, just one I had to give greater attention to than I'm used to doing.

Well, without further ado, the Feather and Fan socks using Artyarns Supermerino!

Lookee! They're done!

Check out those toesies!
(Hmm, the left sock looks like the toe area is much bigger than the right. That's not the case. They are equivalent measurements and I matched them right up against each other. Must be my foot with the problem. Or an illusion created by the yarn.)

I love the colors and the bright shock of the patterning from the dye. I'm not at all particular about my socks matching. In fact, I love the surprise inherent in knitting with hand-dyed yarns and not knowing what will happen next.

I know this picture isn't great, but it gives you a view of the soles and how differently they turned out. On the left we have flashing. On the right, teeny stripes. I love that! Obviously I ended up working with 2 skeins here, from different dye lots (that's what happens when you *think* you can make it on one skein and run out with half a foot and a toe left to complete!). One sock is really vivid, while the other is more muted. Does it bother me? Not a whit!
The colors are true in all but the last shot. I love these socks and I think I'm about to embark on a sock knitting jag. I didn't want to take them off after putting the completed pair on last night. So soft, so pretty. Such an awesome pattern (from Socks, Socks, Socks).

I'm so happy and can't wait to cast on the next pair of socks. Really. I WANT TO GO HOME AND KNIT SOCKS NOW!

Avast Ye Scurvy Scum!

2006-02-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

Ye best be watchin' yerselves er the Dread Pirate Bean 'll be forced ter board yer ship and make off with yer women, beer and yarn!

More Toys

2006-02-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

Per The Boy's Request, a snake from Jess' book.

The Boy picked out the colors and requested that the snake be made longer than the pattern indicated. This baby topped out at almost 3'!

Here we see that he makes a good necktie, too.

Here's the new kitty, Inari, helping me knit.

A cute toy turns deadly.

And a super-cute finished toy. (2/3 completed during the SuperBowl.)

It's a Bumble Bean!!!

Lace Guidance??

2006-01-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

Hi friends, I have a question for all you fabulously talented lace knitters. At some point in time you must have been a lace novice, right? And that means you probably started with a particular book and type of yarn. Seeing as how I'm getting married in 4-1/2 months (!) and a lace-knitting virgin, I'm interested in finding out about how to go about learning to knit lace, in general, and a wedding ring shawl in particular.

This is not something I see myself wearing for the wedding, nor is it something I see myself finishing for the honeymoon. It's really something that I want to begin to undertake and be able to work on while wedding planning and during the long stretches on the tour bus while on our honeymoon. I see this as something that could become a long-term project for working on between other projects, purely for the process. And if I get a delicious shawl to wear at the end of it, all's the better, right? (This sounds rational, right?)

This is the most beautiful one that I've ever seen:

This is Heirloom Knitting's Project 16, Shetland Lace Wedding Ring Shawl. Dude. Seriously. Most gorgeous, amazingly breathtaking thing I've ever seen. So delicate. So ladylike. I like the thought of being able to aspire someday to something even remotely resembling this beauty.

So, back to the questions. What is a good starter book for cutting one's lace teeth? In the little bit of Googling opportunity I've had lately, Lavish Lace by Noble & Potter keeps coming up as a good starter one, but I also read a customer review saying that it is all charted. As in not text directions. As in, Stephanie's never done that. Would it be a suicidal endeavor? OR a good intro to charts? Does anyone have any comments on this book? Other suggestions?

Also, the lace-weight yarns. Where to go online to buy them (my LYS does not do lace)? I know Knitpicks has amazingly priced lace yarns. Are those a good choice, particularly for a newbie? (I mean, dude! they're cheap) Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Toys, Toys, Toys!

2006-01-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

This is Franklin. Ain't he cute?

Okay, not a toy, but I finally got a pic of my MIL2B in her 76 stitches hat, made for her for Christmas.

The colors are close to life. You can really see all the beauty of the Lone Star in the picture. Soft, fuzzy halo, gorgeous color variegation.

Not a great picture, but it shows the cute little ridge in the hat.

And finally, by special request of The Boy, the snake from Jess Hutchinson's book, Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy

He wanted it loooooong and he selected the colors from my many oddball skeins. This is on Sunday night. Last night I measured it at 23" and I still have 18 rounds and the head to complete!

And I leave you with a couch potato kitty shot -- too funny! We did not do anything to Tomi (The Boy's mom's cat) to get him into this position; apparently he finds this comfortable. :)

Meet The Bean

2006-01-20T08:52:00.000-08:00

This is The Bean
The Bean will eventually look much like Kate from Knitty. But currently, without his limbs and ears, he looks a lot like a bean. Or a pill, according to The Boy. Or a gourd. But I prefer to call him The Bean.

The Bean is for me. He is mine. A knitted item for me. Of course, he's going to lead to a bunch of other knitted toys that I will probably not keep, but this one stays.

Here The Boy demonstrates his love for The Bean

Baby Bean

The Bean and The Boy
And some of the pieces that will turn a bean into a cat

Two ears, 1 arm -- don't worry, he'll be getting more
Oh, and that hat The Boy is wearing?

A Serious Boy
I'm calling this hat With A Twist.

The name is for a couple of reasons: 1) It has cably twists (duh), and 2) I've twisted together two patterns and made some changes to them to get something more custom for The Boy.

I started out planning to make a Hot Head from the original Stitch 'n Bitch book. Which is really just a 2x2 rib. Then The Boy liked the cables on this pattern. But I worried that casting on the # of stitches for Hot Head wouldn't be big enough for his noggin, and the baby ribbed hat would be too big. So I picked a number in the middle. That's my creative contribution.

I used one skein of Rowan Soft Tweed in Slate Blue. Gorgeous, but since we all know that cables and cably-type-things require more yarn I was worried that I would run out, so I did three 'cable' repeats in a stash yarn that I got from my LYS when I worked there at the beginning of 2005. (It was a clearance yarn without a ball band, so I have no idea what it is).

On the left is Rowan, on the right is mystery yarn
The color match of the two was perfect and I ended up with that little bit of soft tweed left. The Boy really seems to like it. If I do it again, though, I'll leave off one of the 'cable' repeats since it's just a little too long (hence the folding).

Apparently this is now his thinking hat since he seems to wear it predominantly while studying at night.

Oops, I Did It Again!

2006-01-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

I swore I wasn't going to, but I did. I knit a bunch of Christmas gifts. I was even fringing on Christmas morning!

Isn't it interesting when you can see the progression in your own talent? In 2004 I learned to knit, and I did a bunch of scarves and a couple of hats. In 2005, I tackled harder or less common items. In 2006 I really want to take on something more complicated with cables or colorwork or an intricate pattern. I know that I'm the slowest knitter in all of creation, but according to Stephanie's book, I am a process knitter. It's not so much about finishing as fondling the yarns, lovingly selecting the right ones, finding the perfect pattern, etc.

So. Christmas, 2006. Right.

For the 'rents: A pinwheel blanket. I see it as a lap blanket; the colors were selected to match their new(ish) living room.

I love how this picture looks so 'arty', as opposed to the full blocking shot here . US 8s and 3 skeins Plymouth Encore Colorspun.

For my sister Heather and her husband Jason: A pinwheel blanket! Bet you didn't see that one coming. No picture, but it's much like the above, but with burgundy and navy stripes to match their house decor. US 8s, 2 skeins each burgundy and navy Plymouth Encore.

For mom: Fingerless gloves made with 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. I know that it's not very helpful to explain it--pictures are so much more interesting--but I dug through the second skein to make it match the first better. I don't personally care that much about things matching up when using variegated yarn, but since it was a gift, I made the effort. I will try to find a pic.

For dad: a hat. Using the hothead pattern from the original Stitch 'n Bitch book. Used 1 skein of lofty, ultra-soft Rowan Soft Tweed. Yummy! 2x2 rib pattern on US 10.5s. No pic right now.

For three little sisters: pillows using On Line yarn over 12"x12" pillow forms. Because, as I told my mom when she requested pillows for the girls for Christmas, they are just what every little girl dreams of finding under the tree. Must find pics.

A gorgeous shawl/wrap for my dear friend Desiree. I bought two skeins of S. Charles Collezione Ritratto in jewel tones to make something special for her, but didn't know what to make. Then I found this pattern. Using two skeins of the same yarn. Perfect! I didn't combine it with anything else, but I love how it turned out. A static shot, and an action shot.

Pretty, eh?

I made a second Headhugger for my step-grandmother since she loved the first one so much.

This is knit on US 10.5s with Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool doubled up.

I made The Boy's mom a 76 stitches hat hat from Interweave Knits, Fall, 2004 (scroll toward bottom). It's a cute and easy pattern anyway, but I knit it with Alchemy Yarns' Lone Star in Resolution. Mmmm. She loved it so much, she wouldn't take it off all through dinner. Of course, do I have any pictures? No. I'll try to get some because it was so soft and beautiful and it looked wonderful on her.

And finally, I have just one knit left. For The Boy. I stuffed a skein of Slate Blue Rowan Soft Tweed in his stocking and let him pick out a pattern. He said cables but nothing bulky. I searched and found about 6 or 7 good options. He selected this. I'm going to mix that with the hothead pattern so that it will fit his big ol' head. Here's the swatch:

Yeah, I know brown's not the best for showing the stitches, but it was about half a skein. Can you see the teeny baby cables?

And when that's done, my friends, it's all about ME!

What Have I Been Up To?

2005-11-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

Much knitting!

Fingerless gloves made for my sis (late birthday gift). She couldn't decide between green and pink, thus the dual-color styling. I used this pattern. I used two skeins of Lily Chin Gramercy. A strand each of 5627 and 7543 were held together to get this mottled effect.

After making the mitts there was still yarn left over for a scarf. I used the modified stitch pattern shown for the mitts on 9 sts. This is my very creative blocking since it turned out pretty loooooong on 13 sts (size US8). What you can't see is that the scarf extends across my little blocking table and all the way up and around that USPS box.

Mitts for me! One strand Gramercy throughout. On the ribbing it is held together with one strand Paillette in black with multi-colored sequins. The pattern is from my LYS.

A hat to match! One strand of Pailette all the way throughout. The hat is a spiral hat pattern from Foxyknits

A headhugger hat (this pattern) for my step-grandmother who's going through chemo right now. I used the remaining 1-1/2 balls of the Sirdar Snuggly DK from Ian's blue sweater (see several previous posts on THE SWEATER THAT WILL NOT DIE). This hat is SO soft! She's even requested another and taken this to her priest to be blessed (and if that doesn't make me humble, I don't know what will!).

The headhugger from the top/back to show off the nice decreases. Sorry it's at an angle. I tried to rotate it but Flick'r's not cooperating.

This is how long it is when not folded!

Self-portrait; I was trying to take a picture of the top of the hat

A hat and scarf set for my Physical Therapist. She's going home to Poland for the holidays for the first time in years and no longer has cold-weather clothing. I thought a hat and plush scarf might make a nice thank you for all she's done for me and a bit of an early Christmas wish. The hat is leftover navy Wool-Ease with a stripe of leftover Lion Boucle in Lime Blue. She told me that her favorite colors were navy and green, so I ran with that. The scarf is 1 ball Caron Soft Boucle in 'Blues' randomly striped throughout with 1 ball Lion Boucle in Lime Blue. Except for the Caron, all of these were stash yarns. Yay me for finally using them!

A better view of the striping, but the colors are more accurate above. I LOVE the way this turned out. The entire thing is random; I just knit until I got bored or felt like switching out in each section.

AND FINALLY

Gratuitious sleeping kitty shot

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Wow--Two In A Week!

2005-10-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

A pictorial version 'cause I have to leave in 10 minutes for physical therapy.

This is Barbara. She is my new clothing model (well, the job is new; she's not*). Here she models Ian's sweater before the arms were attached.

Barbara with one-arm completed (on the sweater, not herself).

Seamed and blocking

Finis!

And, would you believe it, I actually have another FO? For my sister's birthday (cough--2 months ago--cough). I will have to post later, though. Time to go suffer at the hands of the physical therapist.

*Barbara and I go way back. 25 years back, in fact. She was acquired at Disneyland, Country Bear Jamboree (remember that?). She was named after Barbara Gordon, the Commissioner's daughter on the Batman TV Series. Barbara Gordon was also secretly Batgirl--and my hero!

Oh, How I Tease You, Internets

2005-09-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

You didn't actually believe me when I said I would post pictures the next day, did you? Because I'm totally unrealiable in that capacity!

It's been nearly two weeks since I completed the baby sweater. And by completed I mean 'seamed' and 'finally got around to washing and blocking'. All that's left is the sewing on of the buttons.

Considering that the very first sewing project I ever undertook was a pair of shorts for my cabbage patch doll that came out as a beret, I am not looking forward to this ordeal.

I will eventually get you a chronology of photos, because I do have them, but here is a little something to tide you over:

Seamed, but not blocked or washed. The colors are accurate, though. Doesn't it just look comfy?? Ignore the ugly, ugly blanket in the background--it was a gift from my uncle when he was living abroad.
More to come: a picture from my kids' knitting class, and the new Knit Picky mascot!

So I Lied

2005-09-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

I meant to post the pictures I mentioned in my last blathering. Yesterday I forgot the camera at home. Today the camera made it all the way to the trunk of my car which is parked in the parking structure that I don't feel like walking to. So I'll post pictures later. Maybe this weekend; otherwise Tuesday.

I know that everyone is posting about the hurricane disaster, and I don't want to be redundant, but I join my thoughts with all of yours as we send the residents of New Orleans and Biloxi and all other affected areas the best of vibes/prayers/wishes.

Is This What Is Known As The Home Stretch??

2005-08-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

I may finish TBSTWND yet! This weekend I knit like a maniac and I finished the button band and edging for both fronts, I wove in all the ends for the fronts and back, and last night (after about a dozen fits and starts) I seamed the shoulders. Ya-Hoooo!

I can't believe it. Tonight I will start to pick up the stitches for the collar and knit that. Then it's attaching the arms and seaming the sides and then I shall be -- dare I say it? -- DONE. I never thought this day would come! I'll try to get some pics tonight to commemorate this momentous occassion.

Last night I really wanted to take pictures, but The Beast was sleeping alternately in my knitting bag or in the space created by my legs when I sat cross-legged. I didn't want to disturb the uber-cuteness too much. I'll try to remedy that tonight. And maybe capture a picture of The Beastie sleeping in my knitting bag. It is unbelievably cute.

Oh, and since I still don't know whether it's kosher to post pictures of me teaching the kids' beginning knitting class about a month ago, I don't want to take any chances. But my little sister Nikki, the 9-year-old photo ham, has reminded me that I can post pictures of her. So I will.

Vital Signs Indicate That There is Still Life

2005-08-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

I know, sometimes it's doubtful.

There's just not much knitty stuff happening. I'll try to get a status picture of The Baby Sweater That Will Not Die (TBSTWND), but it's just pieces. Nothing too exciting. Tonight I will begin to pick up stitches for the button band down the front sides. Then there's the collar. And, oh yeah, that pesky seaming. [sigh] This kid is going to be seriously too big for this thing by the time I'm finished with it.

Which wouldn't be the end of the world, frankly. After all this work, I want my own kids to have it. When I have kids. Someday. (For now I'll just worry about the wedding in 10 months, thank you very much!)

I'm so behind on all these self-imposed knitting deadlines. I just want to be doing something NEW. When I finally finish TBSTWND for Ian, I will need to finish my second feather & fan sock. Yes, it malingers on in it's clever little carrying tube (a cardboard wine holder from Michael's).

The baby sweater virus has also prevented me from making my sister something for her birthday, or making myself a pinwheel blankie. So those are on tap, too. I'm going to make the sister some of those fingerless gloves. My LYS has just gotten some Lily Chin merino/cotton yarn that I think would be great for this purpose. And they also just got some new thick & thin wool with amazing varigations (varigation-ness?). Perfect for a pinwheel blankie. And I have a few things to be considering for The Boy for assorted upcoming holidays. [Le sigh]

Oh, and no word yet on the knitting class for Girl Scouts. Apparently their troop leader is really, really bad at returning calls. So I'm off. Ole!

Teaching Trials

2005-08-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

I've now finished the fronts and back of the Baby Sweater That Will Not Die. I've started a sleeve. Do you think he REALLY needs two? C'mon, kid, life's full of disappointments. You might as well start learning now!

I taught my first group of kid knitters a couple weeks back. Aged 6-12. I feel that it was disastrous, but nobody else has agreed so far. Perhaps they're a bit less critical than I am of me. Hmmmmm. I *thought* that the thumb method of casting on would be easy for kids to grasp. Boy was I wrong. I am totally teaching the cable or knitting on method next time. It took them ages and I still don't really think they got it. That was Mistake #1.

Mistake #2 I mixed up the long-tailed cast on with the thumb method, and had them cast on using the tail. With the result that when the 12 stitches were cast on, the working yarn was at the wrong side of the needle. Nice. So we had to cast on AGAIN.

Mistake #3, I let a grandmother sit in with her granddaughter. She immediately jumped in and started teaching her how to knit. At a totally different pace than the rest of the class. With a different cast on and technique. Oh that was fun. When I asked her why she was paying me to teach if she could have done it herself (although I think I was a bit more gracious than that), she told me that she didn't know if she'd have the patience, but if she'd known how easy it was...Was that meant as a dig at me, or as a comment on her granddaughter's abilities, I wonder?

So, all in all I felt like a moron. Although all the kids were sweet as could be and knitting by the end of the two hours, I still felt like a screwup. I asked another lady who was there to witness the debacle and she thought I did fine. She said that considering it was my first time teaching kids, and it was a good sized group (6), she thought I was good. And one of the shop owners did ask me to teach another group of kids in two weeks. Girl Scouts, this time. Ages 9-17.

Do any of you have teaching horror stories that you're willing to share so that I don't feel so lame?

Also, I have a question about web etiquette. The Boy took a bunch of pictures of me working with the kids and teaching them, and I want to post some of them 'cause the kids were so cute and intent, but I don't know--am I allowed to show their faces? I don't have a release or anything, so is that verboten?

Ah, True Love!

2005-07-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

(a non-knitting post)

The last couple of nights have been wonderful! After returning from a wedding in the 12th circle of Dante's hell on Sunday, (that is, a wedding in the central valley of CA--105 degrees at 8pm with no breeze or fans), I got home to find Harry waiting for me. Harry and I spent the evening cuddled up in bed, where he caught me up on everything he's been up to. We spent hours there, just the two of us.

My relationship with Harry has endured over a number of years now, but it's not always been easy. There are times when he's gone for ages and I simply long for his next visit. Finally, miraculously, he arrived on my doorstep on Saturday (or, more accurately, my neighbor's, while I was at the wedding). I had been tracking his every movement for a week! I was so thrilled to see him. My heart leapt! I ran into the house, and we were reunited!

Some people say that Harry's too young for me, but I can tell you that he grows more complex as he ages. His life is so much more exciting and challenging now. I mean, he's almost 17!

Sure, The Boy gets jealous sometimes, but what can you do? It's like Harry has this mysterious magical power over me.

[sigh]

I .:heart:. Harry Potter 4-ever.

Progress!

2005-07-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

While the U.S. goes to hell in a handbasket, I knit away. And apparently I knit very S-L-O-W-L-Y. But here's what I do have.

Snuggly DK on the bottom, Snuggly Bubbly on the top. As slowly as I do knit, thank goodness this is for a kid!

Actually, it really didn't take that long. This pic has been sitting in the camera for a bit over a week. I'm to the Snuggly Bubbly portion of the left front, but I've been sidetracked by The Rule of Four. I'm SO hooked.

Other pics of the back:

Cable-y goodness!

A little fuzzy, but you get the idea!

Ooh, a giftie from my love.

Hey wait a minute! Does this even count as a gift??

And some even older pictures. Oh, you are so lucky! ;)

A finished sock! Only one, of course, because I do have Knitter's ADD.
(Please be so kind as to ignore my hairy leg)

And the top of the sock

Admire my craftsmanship! Okay, how about admiring the pattern?

LASTLY

Wait for it...
Max does his little turn on the CATWALK!

I Am Fickle

2005-06-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

Why is it that you can be working on a perfectly lovely pattern (like, oh, say my feather and fan socks using Artyarns), and suddenly become completely bored with it to the point where just about anything looks more interesting? I know that some might call this second sock syndrome, but generally this happens about 1/2 way through ANY project that I'm working on. This would be why I have so many UFOs hiding out in the bedroom, away from the watchful eyes of The Boy.

So even though I've completed 1 sock, and started the second, where is all my (admittedly limited) knitting time going? That would be here:

I'm doing the jacket at the bottom right for my friend's little boy who just turned 1. This would be the same little boy whose baby blanket I started shortly before he was born, and abandoned when he was born premature. (There's no real connection between him being a preemie and me quitting, it was just a time and stress thing.) So I'm making this jacket in all blue, Snuggly DK and Snuggly Bubbly. Have you felt Snuggly Bubbly? If you like baby yarns -- or even just enjoy really, really soft yarn -- you should give it a try. It is heavenly soft. I can't wait till I get to the point in the pattern where I actually get to knit with it instead of just fondling it manically.

And just look at this kid. I dare you to try NOT to knit him something! He's so unbelievably adorable, and the sweetest baby I've ever encountered.

I did a nice tubular cast on, 1-1/2" of ribbing, and knit 14 rows into the pattern before I realized I'd been reading it wrong and had totally screwed it up. This is after days of 'fixing' 'mistakes' in the pattern, and being really upset with Sirdar for publishing such a crappy pattern. Hmmm. The problem, it is with the knitter, I think. So I frogged it back to the end of the ribbing and started over. Amazing how much nicer it looks when you read the pattern correctly. It is going sooo much faster now. I'm already beginning the second pattern repeat (you just repeat to the required length. I want to say 19".) And I haven't run into any of those pesky 'mistakes' since. Imagine that. I'll try to take pics of both of these items tonight for the blog.

Until such a time, good night dahlings. Happy knitting.

Pinwheel-y Goodness!

2005-06-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

Look. It's pictures of my pinwheel blankie. Yay! (Well, technically, it's not MY blankie, so much as it belongs to Shalom, who got it as a wedding gift. From me. Minor details, right??)

Click thru and look at it in the large size. It's awesome! The Noro is fabulous for the rings, and the Steadfast fringe is gloriously plush. Oooooh. (By the way, ignore the heinous blanket underneath it. We were at the wedding reception/picnic and it was my last chance to photograph the pinwheel.)
And a close up of the fringe:

Again, indulge yourself, and click thru to look at the big picture in Flick'r. Those colors are just unbelievable. Now you can see why I didn't want to give it away!!

Pattern: Pinwheel Blankie

Yarns: Noro Silk Garden #37 for the body; Steadfast Fibers Wonderful Wool (the purple one at the top) for the edging and the fringe

Needle: Size US8 Addi Turbos (circular, of course)

Must.Have.My.Own.Soon

Yeah, so...I'm back. Yeah.

2005-06-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

[sigh]
So I did deliver the beloved pinwheel blankie to much gratifying oohing and ahhing at the wedding. But that's only sort of what I'm writing about today. In fact, I'm not writing much because I give you....[drumroll]....

PICTURES!

The Boy gets a real live pair of socks! Note the short ankles. Because the basic sock pattern called for 459 yards of sock yarn, and I had 400 yards of indeterminate splitty cotton from elann, I thought I'd outsmart the pattern and shorten the cuffs by 2". Know what? I have about 150 yards of splitty cotton left. And the bunchiness. I guess it helps to take into account the skinny ankles of the recipient, eh? And maybe to not use worsted (?) weight splitty cotton. The genius. That is me.

But wait, there's more!

It's a basket! No, wait, it's a rasta hat! Actually it's the pinwheel blankie in progress. (Please ignore the disaster of the room behind Kate the Magnificent's lovely bald head, please.) You'll have to wait for the picture of the finished goodness because it is still trapped on my memory card (hey, I finally figured out how to upload these, what more do you people want from me!?). You really must admire the pinwheeliness of the blanket. It's something to behold, my friends. I'll try to remember to upload the finished blankie picture and the current feather & fan sock in progress (the sock that will not die, don'tcha know) in the next couple of days (am I delusional?). Oh, lovely Noro. Ohhhhh. Look at those colors!

And just because it's my blog, gratuitous shots of The Beast.

Apparently The Boy shot these at around 4:30 in the morning while The Beast and I slumbered. Fortunately for The Boy, I do not show in these photos. That would have been a clear deathwish. But isn't The Beastie sweet? Ahhhhh.

Right. Well, that oughtta hold you for a bit. :)

Hope all is well in blogland, and I'll try to post again this week.

Oh, I almost forgot! I teach my first knit class on Saturday (beginning knitting) and I'm terrified! Any pointers from the experts out there???