Karen on the Kniternet

What a Difference a Week Makes!

2007-08-25T07:22:00.000-05:00

So, I am feeling much better now, thankyouverymuchforasking.

I realized, that if someone had asked me one year ago what my ideal life would be like today, I would have responded that I wanted the following things:

A wonderful boyfriend/partner - CHECK!
A good, stable job with decent health benefits - CHECK!
My massage practice to be to a point where I am seeing 2-3 clients a week consistently - CHECK!
My dog not peeing on the floor anymore - CHECK! (and truly, this might be appropriately placed slightly higher on the list)
In grad school, working to get myself out of debt - CHECK! (more on my master financial plan at a later date!)
I would have more yarn - CHECK, double CHECK and triple CHECK! (the stash getteth out of hand!)

This brings up the question of why am I feeling overwhelmed if I have all the things I thought I wanted? I think it was more a feeling of, for the first time in a long time, my life seems to be going ferociously in the direction I want it to, and that is a little scary. There has been a great deal of change going on around here in the last 10 months, and that is scary, but at the same time, the things that are changing are all things that I wanted to change, and I am grateful for where I am and to be abale to do the things I want to do with the people I want to do them with.

For the past week, whenever I felt overwhelmed by what was going on, I just took a step back, and said to myself "this is what you are doing right now, at this very minute (i.e. driving in the car, walking to my office, knitting a never ending surprise wedding present for my BFF), doesn't matter what is going on in ten minutes or ten days, this is what you are doing now and this is what is important." This focusing in on the present has really helped me to come back into myself a little, if that makes sense. I tend to get super stressed out about all the things that are going on in my life that are coming up instead of enjoying the things that happen to me as they are actually occurring. This past week, I made a concerted effort to not let myself do that, and it has made a huge change in how I feel.

I'm doing what I can, when I can, and instead of feeling overwhelmed, I feel grateful that I have the kind of life that I wanted and now know I am capable of having. I'm taking it one day at a time, and trying to change my perspective on things. For example, I am no longer saying "I have to fly to Florida by myself for the first time since 9/11 and pick up a rental car and then drive all over Florida to go pick up my HNB who will most likely already be drunk and then go to a wedding where I know exactly three people, all in the same day."

New attitude is dudes, I'm f***ing going to Florida - pass the sunscreen!

Update on this week's activities: Had a super fun time last weekend with HNB at the track; my lawyer friend "gently" informed him that I was allowed to bring knitting. I brought it, but didn't actually do any knitting because I never got bored. I did, however, bring the baby sweater I had been working on for my lawyer friend's new niece, and she loved it, so that got finished up and delivered this week. HNB bought me my own motorcycle helmet(!) and it matches the new one he bought for himself...now if he could only get the part he needs to get the bike fixed so we could go riding, we'd be all set! Grad school is starting on 9/10, and I am all set, and excited even - I got all my financial aid paperwork done and my employer's tuition reimbursement will pay for both of my classes this semester and the books I need for them. My mother is doing fine and feeling much better actually. All is good over here at the kniternet, all is good! I am going shopping for a dress to wear to both weddings today, and may stop in for a pedicure. I also have to go to the LYS to pick out some buttons, darn...doesn't that just sound like a terrible day ; ) Peace out kiddies!

Full

2007-08-17T07:38:00.000-05:00

When I was in massage school, I had a teacher, who, amongst other wonderful quotes such as "Nervousness is just excitement without breath" (really, think about it and its true!), also used to say "I'm full."

Not full in the sense that she ate too may burritos at the burrito bar or consumed a whole bag of Oreos on her own in front of the TV the night before. Nope. What she meant is the feeling when you have just taken in too much information, when there is just too much going on in your life and in you head and you don't quite know what to do but cut yourself off from it.

Needless to say kids, I am full.

In the past few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that I really love HNB in a way that is almost uncomfortable for me to deal with, because I haven't felt quite this way about someone in over ten years, and even then, it didn't feel like this.

My dog got completely out of control and then bit me (!) so HNB (who thinks he is the Dog Whisperer) and I have been working with him to do some long overdue dog training, and HNB has been working on trying to get me to treat the dog as a, um, dog, and not my child. It has been difficult for us all.

Also, my BFF....preggers and engaged and getting married next month!!!! I have her wedding surprise that I am crafting (on the off chance she has time to surf the web and comes a wandering over here, I am not telling you all what I am doing..suffice it to say though it is loverly and third time is a charm with the crafting).

Other BFF from college is also with child, and I have a combo surprise baby shower and "bachelorette party" weekend down in NYC that I hadn't really planned on time wise and money wise, because....HNB and I are going to Florida the next week for one of his really good friend's weddings.

The wedding is on Saturday, so I am flying down on the earliest flight that day. Um, yeah, my vacation time is a little lacking as of right now. I have managed to get Monday and Tuesday off, and will be flying back on Wednesday morning and going right to work from 11:30-8:00pm. Lather rinse, repeat.

My massage practice has somehow blossomed into its own thriving little entity, in fact, I just had a call from a new client who booked for Monday night, which means, for the first time ever at my "new" office (I have been there over a year), I will have back to back clients. While super excited and grateful for this, I am a little concerned with the amount of time I spend on my massage therapy practice (in addition to my forty hour a week job) because....

...I got accepted to grad school, and am supposed to start on Monday. Like in three days Monday. Don't have any books, don't have any financial aide paperwork done because my advisor hasn't created a profile for me to be able to log on and get started. Have no way to pay for anything (tuition, books, my credit card bills) until I get the student loan. Someone hand me a paddle, I am up a crick.

All of this, combined with various other situations such as my mother having surgery yesterday because she has been sick for two weeks and never told me about either situation (she's kinda passive aggressive like that); the fact that I am going to the track and to a party tomorrow that I had no idea I was going to until yesterday and will be gone all day instead of home doing the nothing that I had been looking forward to doing all week; next weekend, I really want to go to the Great New York State Fair with HNB, but am concerned that I will get more stressed out by going than I would be upset by not going; I talk on the phone all day with elderly people who don't understand their health insurance (sometimes, I even get to talk to them under my desk because I have to yell at them so loudly that I have to get under there for the echo).

For poops and giggles, we will add to all of this the fact that I am making all my Christmas presents for 2007 and 2008 (please see the forgotten about list to you right). I have an insane amount of knitting and crafting to do, and basically, once all this wonderful stuff is over and dealt with, we will be in October and the Holiday crafting will be in full scary swing. All I have to say is HNB told me I can't bring knitting with me to the track on Saturday - he is incorrect, I can and I must (I will put it away at Uncle Ryan's party though babe, promise!) and Lawd help the TSA agent who may try to take my needles away from me when I fly to Florida. You may get to read about that one in the papers!

So, the point of this post, besides explaining where I have been and where I will be, is to inform you posting will be spotty at best around here for the next couple of weeks. Also, I feel better for having gotten my frustrations out in written form (have I mentioned I am also a little bit cranky because I haven't been writing or working on the book lately??). At any rate, also, I have decided that a daily mediation practice is in order, and I will begin working on that today. Also, taking a page from Aunt Pearl (she's crazy you know!) and giving this a shot. I am going with October 28, sound like a good day for a breakdown, no?

You Know You Miss Me

2007-08-01T05:52:00.000-05:00

Yes. So my life seems to be a repetitive continuous stream of HNB is here = stay up late and wake up early to take out the dogs; HNB not here = can't sleep until after midnight but am so tired when the alarm goes off in the morning that I am useless. Sigh....

At any rate, this weeks WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM goes to what may be the best name for a knitting blog ever! Knit and Tonic is a very funny sight. She is a designer and very talented writer. Unlike a lot of knit blogs, hers is not filled with pictures of her kids and stories about them, which can get a little annoying (maybe like reading a knit blog that is all about someones new boyfriend......). I think you will enjoy reading her site, right now she is photographing pictures for her first knitting book that she is publishing.

K, this is a quickie - I have a lot to do before I leave for work and not a lot of time to do it. Sorry for the lack of posting lately, but you know how it is in the summer. Peace out!

In the Abscence of HNB...

2007-07-25T23:14:00.000-05:00

...I find myself unable to sleep.

It is after midnight, normally I am well on my way to sleepy time. Not so much tonight.

My darling overindulged in the Labatt Blue like only he can, and he had to spend the night at his friend's house in Saratoga. I much prefer this to his driving home (or me going to pick him up and then having to bring him back up there to get his truck), but still, my mind wants to go to sleep and my body wont let me.

I went to dinner tonight with my lawyer friend, we had a lovely time, and then I went to get groceries.

At 9:30 at night.

By myself.

I had to bring all the bags up to my apartment (normally HNB goes with me and carries the bags for me because that's how he rolls, that, and most of the food is for him). I put all the groceries away, cleaned out the fridge and freezer, did the dishes, ran the dishwasher, did a load of laundry (and folded it!) and made a pot of organic black bean soup in the crock pot (did I mention I started with dry beans and had to soak and cook them???!!).

Now, its way past my bed time. I am hoping I will fall into bed in a minute or two and drift soundly to sleep, but I don't think so. I love having him here, but I'm not so in love with the being so used to him being here that I can't fall asleep without him. I guess this is what people do though...they get used to being with people, and they depend on them and then that's how a real relationship is deepened and strengthened.

All I know is my HNB is sleeping on some couch tonight, and I will fall asleep eventually in my uber-comfy bed with my dog snuggled up behind my arse or up against my belly, wishing that HNB was here and thinking how wonderful it will be when I see him again.

That, and I am such a girl.

Sweet dreams people of the inter-tubes...I am off to Ambien land!

PS - The application was submitted at 11:05 pm...at least I got something done in the absence of HNB besides domestical crap!

Growing

2007-07-25T06:02:00.000-05:00

Today is the day.

Yes, it is time for WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM, but today is also the day I am actually going to send in my application for grad school.

Yep kids, you heard right...I am going to do it today.

In honor of this, today's link is for Ellis College, where I will be sending in my application and $85 right after wok today. See, with my work schedule and massage therapy practice, going to a brick and mortar school would be very difficult if not impossible, and would also cause Mr. Kendall to turn into even more of a latchkey dog than he already is (and who wants that?). I mean really, look at this face...

Now that I have distracted you with cute dog photos, I will take this opportunity to admit that going back to school has been the plan since I took the new job in November. I had to wait until the first week in June to begin classes so that I would get my tuition reimbursement from the company ($5k a year!), but, you may ask, why have I waited another two months to actually get the paperwork in and get the ball rolling?

The easy answer is to blame it on all the time I spend with HNB, and that has played a part in my delay. Also, I decided that I didn't really want to start grad school at the beginning of the summer, and there are financial aid implications (like me having to fill out another freakin' FAFSA form to start before August/September). Truth be told, even after the tuition reimbursement, I am still going to be paying for a large portion of this with loans, and I am slightly hesitant to take out more student loans than I already have.

I took out a doozy of a loan when I was in undergraduate (I paid my own way through and worked to pay all my living expenses, but tuition and books were expensive) and the one for massage therapy school still has another 12 years left on it, do I really need to add to this?? And, truth be told, my track record for using my degree once I graduate isn't the greatest. I defend this by saying "What the hell can you do with a BA in psychology and a dual minor in English and women's studies besides waitress or be poor?" As for the massage therapy degree, I never intended to use it to provide my sole source of income, so the fact that it is more of a side business really is okay with me.

I figure, I can take 5k worth of class there in the calendar year, if I don't like it, no harm no foul my company paid the bill. Kind of like when the restaurant I used to work for (many, many moons ago) paid for me to take a summer graduate level class in education and I promptly decided that Education graduate students are a special type of crazy and I didn't want to be a teacher. I'll give it a shot, make the most of it, try to explain to HNB why I never see him anymore and bunker down and go back to school.

This just leaves us one question to be answered: Is it appropriate to buy yourself a new back to school wardrobe if you are going back to school online??? I think the answer is yes my lovelies, I think the answer is yes.

PS for my Lawyer Friend: The baby hat is done, the sweater has one sleeve and one entire body done. Today while at work I will make the other sleeve and start working on the neck/shoulders area. Estimated time to completion, Saturday. Pictures to follow promptly.

Disappointment

2007-07-24T20:10:00.000-05:00

Of which there will be some (and none!) in this post.

Firstly, my weekend with HNB and my family went very well. He liked them, they liked him, everyone behaved and was polite. Food was cooked, beer was drank, a hotel was stayed in and doggies went to their grandparent's houses so their respective mommy and daddy could sleep peacefully and beyond the hour of 6am...all was good with the world. We played in the pools at my aunts' houses, went for a boat ride along the St. Lawrence River with my dad and brother...all in all it was good times.

We "took the scenic" route yesterday and the trip home took us about eight and a half hours when it should only take about four, but we did stop at HNB's family camp. It was beautiful and peaceful and I look forward to making him take me up there in the fall when the leaves change colors so we can enjoy another weekend of dog-less wonder.

Here are pictures. In retrospect, I wish I had taken a little movie of it so that you could hear the water rushing past...it was surprisingly loud and I fear if we were there for any length of time I would be tinkling a lot.

In the last one, you can kind of see how orange the water is. HNB said because of all the leather tanning they used to do in the area, the water still flows with a pretty strong orange tint. Whatever, it is beautiful and I wanted to go jump around in it, but I only had my Crocs with me and they are not the best shoes to be wearing in rapidly moving water, IMO, so I stayed on the shore and took pictures. At least I took pictures until my camera ran out of batteries.

We drove home through the Adirondack Park, and poor HNB (who had to listen to me say "Ooh, babe look - a kayak!" every time I saw one strapped to a car) was forced to listen to "Ooh, babe I wish I had my kayak!" as we dove past about a gazillion calm lakes and slow moving streams that are perfect for the type of kayaking I like to do. I need to "gently encourage" HNB to get a kayak and then get a roof rack for my car and we can just take off and go kayaking like a couple of kayakers.

What, "this is supposed to be a knitting blog" you say? Well, here is where the disappointment comes in (see, the rest of the post, completely lacking in disappointment because I was one very happy knitter all weekend!). Whilst driving home yesterday, I saw a sign that said, amongst other things, "yarn shop." HNB, being the best boyfriend ever, pulled a u-turn and promptly delivered me, wallet in hand, to the "yarn shop."

We pulled in the driveway, and seeing as the sign instructed us to "blow your horn," HNB tooted the tooter and we waited. Nothing.

Eventually, the neighbor came out and went to go get the people who lived in the house with a sign that said "yarn shop." At this point in the story, I would like to take this opportunity to explain a little more about where we were, geographically speaking.

We were in the middle of East Bumblef*ck, on what amounted to a mass of farm land. One could assume, with a sign that says "yarn shop" given the geographic location of the area that even though sheep were not visible, they must be close by, right???

Eventually, a very old gentleman came out and said yes, they had yarn and it was in the house. HNB stayed outside to entertain the dog and I walked through a dirty garage into a dirty house that smelled like kitty tinkle, the gentleman who came out of the house called to his wife that "there was a yarn customer" and he opened the door to a small room and told me to go in because his wife would be right with me.

I walked in, and it was filled with acrylic. Not even good acrylic. We're talking pastel baby yarn from 1973 and really, really, really old musty patterns and toilet paper crochet cover things. I waited until the lady came into the room, and politely asked if she had any wool. Because, it as obvious the beautiful handspun and dyed wool from the beautiful flock of invisible sheep must be hiding somewhere that was safe from the obviously evil peeing kitties. Her response, gentle blog readers, sent chills down my spine:

"I am allergic to wool, don't use it so I don't sell it."

She said this with a straight face as if her being allergic somehow made it okay for her to call this sorry collection of yarn a "yarn shop." Truth be told, it was more of a moderate sized stash of really bad yarn. I felt duped. I felt sad. I felt like I wanted to cry.

In the end, I said thank you, but that I really was looking for wool, and then we made small talk about an atrocious cardigan that had been knitted in a very scratchy acrylic yarn in a color that would not be becoming in a person the size it was knitted for. Then I left. Empty handed.

HNB looked at me quizzically when I came back to the car, and I tried not to laugh/cry as I told him it was okay to get back in the car because there would be no purchases here. For Miss Kniternet had struck out at bat, and there would be no stash enhancing opportunity that day. Nope. No new yarn for me.

We trudged on home, and I sat there not knitting (because while I brought my knitting with me, there was no actual knitting performed all weekend - sorry Lawyer Friend, I promise the baby sweater will be finished soon - opening day of the track tomorrow means HNB is out of the picture until Friday...I have lots of free time!), even though I did have about ten hours in the car that were prime knitting time - two hours were lost to sleep - I just so enjoyed being a passenger for the first time in a zillion years that I stared out the window and HNB and I had good car conversation.

All in all it was a great trip, even if the lack of truth in advertising did cause me to think there was yarn available where there was only crap. The doggies had fun, HNB and I had fun and I think I speak for everyone when I say we are happy to be home. On a final note, super cute picture of my dog and his nephew Sam (my parents' dog) playing in the backyard with my brother. Peace out - post tomorrow...I promise!

Did 'Ya Miss Me?

2007-07-18T06:38:00.000-05:00

Cause heaven knows I missed the wonderful tubes of the internet!

I had a lovely trip to see my family, filled with lots of sleeping, , family togetherness and Mr. Kendall being a good dog (seriously, no sarcasm there). HNB and I are going back up there together this upcoming weekend so he can meet my family (!) and I am thinking things will go fantastically well. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Of course, as usual, I brought my camera but didn't really take any pictures. You would be correct in thinking all the pictures I did take are of my dog, so when I have time to download them to my computer, you will be regaled with cute photos of my four legged baby. I misses him because he stayed for an extended vacation at his Gramma and Grampa's house. It just didn't make sense to bing him home for four days and then bring him back up there and have him stay there without me [HNB and I are getting a hotel - two double beds of course ; ) - so Mr. Kendall has to stay with my parents because they don't allow dogs] next weekend. I figured he could enjoy being a country dog for the week and I could sleep in a little bit in the mornings!

Before I forget, this week's WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM is for Etsy.com which is a uber-wonderful website where crafty peoples make things and then sell them. It's kind of like an online craft market, and is filled with all sorts of wonderful ideas and pieces and truth be told, I could spend a lot of time (and money!) there. Last night I made a purchase, and I can't wait for my stuff to get here (don't worry, I promise I will take pictures when it arrives!).

On to the knitting. Last post, I realize was all about the "yarn stash" problem, but I feel in the ten minutes I have to finish posting this before I need to leave for work, we should discuss the alarming problem of the number of things I have on my needles, i.e. the number of current projects I am working on. Off the top of my head, I can think of no fewer than nine unfinished projects I am currently working on:

My parent's Christmas mitre square afghan
Purple socks for my Mom
Baby blanket for BFF Erika
Teddy Bear for Jennica
Rainbow Opal socks for me
Lavender Mittens
Pink and white cotton baby hat
Jennica's baby sweater
Knitting for Peace messenger bag

Add to this the fact that the yarn was delivered to me yesterday for my fist contracted knitting assignment, and it is Cashmerino and I must stat knitting with it straightaway, and that combines for a pretty full bag of knitting tricks. Problem is I have so much yarn now, that I want to cast on for even more projects and I am a fickle, fickle knitter who has no control of herself. I fear becoming the knitter who has projects she forgot about casting on and then finds them years later and doesn't remember what they are.

For all of these reasons, sometime in the near future, a fair and honest inventory will be taken of all current projects, along with a "status check" of the craft closet. This will involve photo documentation as well as the welcoming of public admonishment for my shameful knitting ways. I fear public humiliation is the only thing that can save me now.

Well, I am off to work, and I have a bag FULL of tricks to knit with today ; )

Peace out kiddies and Happy Wednesday!

Falling Down

2007-07-11T05:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the abscnece. I got to play Florence Nightengale all weekend because HNB caught my illness and was super sick all weekend. He was a very manly sick person though, no whining and/or whimpering. I practically had to make him let me take care of him...yeah, thats what happenned ; )

On to business. My best friend that just got engaged, well, she's also with child. Remind me not to drink the water in Syracuse, these things are contagious! News of the upcoming baby (and wedding!) prompted a visit to AC Moore last night.

I had a little accident.

Back in the day, say about last week, I was the type of knitter who went to the store to get yarn for a specific project. I might not cast on for it immediately, but the yarn was bought with a purpose, and intention of what it was supposed to be. Didn't always become what I had originally planned on, but it was never bough all willy nilly. Sure, I had what I considered "stash," it was a few small leftover skeins and two balls of souvenir yarn from a trip last year, and I always have sock yarn (see the rules about yarn - sock yarn doesn't count as stash or as yarn purchasing really), but I didn't feel the situation was out of control.

Last night, while shopping, it occurred to me that I now have so much yarn for so many projects, that there is no way I can remember what project I bought what yarn for. Furthermore, I continue to be bombarded with new reasons to buy yarn and new things I need to make.

FYI to my people, please stop reproducing, joining your lives in everlasting love and union with boys, having birthdays, and wanting me to celebrate Christmas with you, there by expecting that I make you something of knitterly goodness. Also, if I could be released from all social responsibilities for the next year, I may have a chance to get all this knitting done. Oh, and HNB if you are reading this, please quit your job so you can drive me around everywhere I need to go for the next couple of months so that I can stop wasting valuable time on "personal transportation," and can instead focus on knitting at least until I can get caught up with the yarn. Don't worry, I can drive myself to the yarn shop (I don't want you being able to see that I am in fact adding to the stash which is making it necessary for you to chauffeur me around).

I leiu of my sanity, of which there is obviously none left, I present pictures of what was procured.

This will become the baby blanket for my BFF's new little bundle of joy who is due in March. I am using blue, not because she knows the baby will be a boy, but because there is a long tradition of fuzzy blue blankets in her family and in the apartment we used to share.

One can never have too much warshrag cotton, especially if it is on sale for $1.19 a ball. My mom's birthday is on Friday, need to make her a quick little sachet out of this and some lilac potpurri today. I'm thinking the pink is more her style.

Onward and upward, this was on sale for $5.99 a bag (its mill ends, but it is Lion Band Homespun - $2 a skein isn't half bad!). This will be for the Red Scarf Project 2008 charity knitting shenanigans.

And, seeing as I am going away this weekend to see the family (there will be no more posting until next week - super sorry lawyer friend!), I wanted to make sure HNB had something to keep himself occupied with. I may have mentioned he is super smart, but I am pretty sure I didn't confide in all of you that he is also capable (and quite competent, actually!) at solving a Rubix cube. He also loves the Mets.

That oughta keep him busy, right?

On to this week's WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM posting. Great little crafty website called How About Orange. It focuses a lot on craftiness and design, and I just think the look of her website and the content is very warm and cheery. Lots of good stuff over there - go check it out!

Well, I am off to run some errands before work. Wish me fun at my parent's house, hopefully I will have lots of time to knit! Peace out kiddies.

A Post to Say I Posted

2007-07-06T09:29:00.000-05:00

I had grand plans for getting a bazillion things accomplished today. Because of the July 4th holiday, a lot of the people at work who do the 11:30-8:00 shift took the week off, so I had the opportunity to go in late today. HNB works late on Thursday nights, so he wasn't coming over last night. I came home from work, went to le Tarjay and spent a lot of $$ buying things to organize my office.

See, I got rid of my old office configuration a few months ago, and they way I changed it to just wasn't cutting it. So, I bought a lovely 6' folding banquet table for $34, combined it with the 4' long card table I have already been using to store my printer and paper accessories, and made an office!

View from the front:
And view from the side:

Yes, you may have noticed the purple bumper sticker that says "Save the Uterus." Feel free to ask me about it sometime!

Well, I really enjoy my new office space, and it feels good to have a large flat surface to work off of again. The desk is a little messy and the carpet needs to be vacuumed (it never occured to me to wait to take the pictures until after I had done these things), but I think that it will work out just fine for me. Grad school is supposed to be starting soon, and I am going to need some place to be smart ; )

Oh, so on to the bazillion things. Had to go to Target, make some cupcakes, do some laundry, a whole whack of cleaning (see above), and then there was the feather in my cap...I had to call Vonage to shut off my phone service with them because quite frankly it sucks.

Now, I work as a customer service rep, I understand the reps have NOTHING to do with the hold time, but when I have been waiting for 35 minutes to cancel my sevice becuase their website wasn't working properly, and then some boy who sounded like he would have been scared of his own shadow starts trying to get me to keep my service, well, lets just say gentle blog readers, it wasn't one of my finer moments.

But you know what, I don't feel sorry. Confidence is a trait I demand in people, and those that don't have it can make up for it by being either smart or cute. Yohan (yes, seriously his name was Yohan), may have been very cute, but over the phone, you just can't tell, so therefore nothing saved him from me unleashing a very un-knitterly flurry of not nice-ness, which, I must say, might not have happened had I been knitting while on hold instead of cleaning.

Moral of the story is, I am late for work, and because of the karmic cycle of the world, I will probably get screamed at all day by cranky old people. Or perhaps, my loudness was me balancing the karma of all the times I have calmly and patiently talked the elderly people off the ledge of crankiness ans back into the warm confines of niceness.

Yeah, thing about that karma wheel, you never know which way it's turning.

Enjoy your weekend, and if you are an old person calling your insurance company today, remember that I am confident, smart and cute, so please don't yell at me, okay??!!

Happy July 4th!

2007-07-04T06:20:00.000-05:00

Well, not only is it July 4th, its also Wednesday, and you know what that means....WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM!! Whoo and my I add Hoo!

Okay, the original plan was to have this as this week's link,

Knitting, animation..what's not to love??

But then I found this on the Onion's website, and somehow it seemed more appropriate for today.

I Should Not Be Allowed To Say The Following Things About America

As Americans, we have a right to question our government and its actions. However, while there is a time to criticize, there is also a time to follow in complacent silence. And that time is now.

Happy July 4th and be well and safe!

Crabs

2007-07-02T17:07:00.000-05:00

I am sick, and it sucks! Sore throat on one side, my ear on that side is painful, and my whole body just aches, plus, I am super sleepy. So I called in sick to work today and slept. So sick, I don't even want to knit. I almost didn't even blog about knitting today, but at my lawyer friend's urging, I am here. Blogging. Through. My. Illness.

Knitting content!

Baby hat the Third, recipient unknown:

Pictures of the s'mores squares from last week, don't they look tasty??!!

Actually, they did not pohotograph so well in my opnion (I think it was the tinfoil), but damn they taste good.

Here is a picture of the bear in progress:
See, he's wearing green shorts and then he will have a blue sweater (maybe with a matching blue vest or scarf). Problem is I need to get a 16" size 7 circular needle so I can get the bear off the DPNs and get the raglan arms set in. Right now the bear took a little bit of a break on a 24" size 7 because I wanted to see how it was coming along and make sure the proportions are looking okay. Haven't had a chance to get it back on the DPNs co I can start knitting it again.

What? You want to know how things went yesterday? Hmmm, do ya, do ya??

They went really well. I met both his parents, his sister and one of his brothers (the other one lives in Florida), and about five assorted dogs. As soon as I got off the highway and into town, I saw a little farm with sheep, and I knew things were going to be okay. I found the house with no real problems, and pulled in. HNB was working on his new car. His dog jumped up to say hello, and he had to come over and pull her down so I could get out of the car - that Ursa just loves me, I tell 'ya what! We kind of stood there for a little while, at HNB's request, I brought Kendall with me, and all the other dogs were very excited to meet him. He was a little less interested. I don't think he's ever been around that many dogs at once, and Ursa wanted nothing to do with him for some strange reason. So he was kind of on his own, poor baby. First time not fenced in and not on a leash (read through the rest of the post to find out why this was a bad idea).

So anyway, HNB's mom and I talked for a while, he showed me the house when he was done working on the car. I got to see his room from when he was younger and watch him work on his car (he's so manly!), I offered to help with dinner, but HNB must have warned her that I can't cook because she declined my help ; )

We went outside and he showed me the backyard and their pond, it was all great until Kendall decided to run up the road. While a car was driving by, and almost got hit. HNB got in the car and went to grab him, because the little jerk wouldn't stop running away from me and wouldn't come when I called him (this is why he doesn't get let off the leash!).

We had dinner, and it was good. Salad salad and fruit salad, bruschetta, a very nice pasta dish and steak sandwiches for the meat eaters. They also had some of the home-made wine they made, and it was very good. All in all, I think it went really well. I was nervous for no reason; his family was just very laid back and comfortable, kind of like him. Middleburgh is a beautiful area, the views are just incredible and there are animals all over (sheep, cows, horses, dogs and I even saw some badgers and a fox - it was like a nature excursion!). On the way home, I saw a rainbow. It was just kind of a perfect day.

So perfect, in fact, that Kendall is so tired, this is what he did all day:

And with the exception of the two minutes it took me to find the camera and take the picture, I was right there next to him. Twas loverly! Now, if you will excuse me, I have some soup to eat and some tea to drink.

Housekeeping

2007-06-30T18:47:00.000-05:00

There has been much knitting in these parts lately. I got the legs and most of the trunk done on Jennica's baby's bear, and am actually keeping track of what I am doing seeing as I might make this my first pattern!

Although, I realized while knitting on it yesterday at work, I didn't have enough yarn to finish...so I made a mental note to get myself to the yarn shop sometime today since they aren't open on Sundays and are closed by the time I get done work on Friday. Then, HNB got done work super early yesterday, and any plans for yarn procurement were placed on the back burner.

What, you may ask, do a wacky knitter and a super smarty trousers HNB do on a Friday night? Well, the wacky knitter decides she wants to go out on the motorcycle, and the HNB obliges with a giant grin on his face as he realizes he has turned her into someone who actually enjoys riding on a motorcycle instead of being someone who is deathly afraid of them and opposed to the whole concept.

We met at his apartment, and, seeing as I understand that when we go there, there is usually some sort of distraction going on which keeps us there longer than I had planned on, and while I do enjoy watching his roommates play video game baseball or play Guitar Hero, I decided to bring knitting with me to occupy myself and my hands (and quiet the nervous butterflies in my belly since even though my mind wants to go on the bike, my belly still gets nervous until we are actually pulling out of the driveway). Nothing big, just a stockinette stitch project - moron knitting.

Well, I had my giant bag-o-crap with me like I usually do, although it was a bit more full than usual because I had to bring a long sleeve shirt and sneakers/socks to go out on the bike with (can't wear Crocs on a motorcycle!) and also had my knitting. HNB kinda looked at the bag with a slightly raised eyebrow, and gave me that "You are crazy, you have so much stuff with you" look, so I defended myself by saying I brought knitting with me, and he looked at me honestly and said "Babe, you can't knit on the bike."

I think dude seriously thought I was going to try and knit on the motorcycle.

Anyway, we took a trip up to Thatcher Park just after sunset, and the moon was almost full. We could see a fireworks show somewhere kind of far away, but neither of us could figure out where they were being shot off from. We sat on the little wall and looked at the view and the moon, and it was really, really nice. On the way home, HNB was almost attacked by a vicious bat, but in the end it all worked out okay, until we pulled into the driveway of my friendly lawyer and her MB's house.

I got my first motorcycle related injury (besides a sore arse). I skinned the crap out of my finger while closing the visor on my helmet as I was taking it off. There was blood involved, but no tears. It is now covered by a band aid and I feel much better, BUT I am not looking forward to having to put the Nu-Skin liquid bandage stuff on it tomorrow while I have clients. That will not feel nice, but a massage therapist has to do what a massage therapist has to do!

Cut to today, HNB and I had a lovely day. He put a new car on the road this week (its a convertible!), so we took that out for a spin. Guess where we ended up - the yarn shop!!!! I just got a few quick skeins for the teddy bear project (luckily the had the same dye lot for the brown color I am using even though I bought it three months ago!). He came in, met some of the ladies and seemed totally comfortable, even impressed by how quick I was able to get in and get out. It was a quick trip - I didn't even look at the sock yarn. Don't think HNB wanted to spend the whole day there, and I didn't want to let him see me in the throes of a yarn fume induced stupor.

So then we went home, he went to work and I took a nap. He's at a party tonight out in the 'Burgh, and I am spending the rest of the night on the couch with my dog and my knitting. I have a client tomorrow, and am pretty tired (not to mention the apartment is not the cleanest and the laundry pile is almost as tall as me), so I wasn't in the mood for an all night drink fest. But, when I am done with the client tomorrow, I am hopping in my car and driving out there because, I am meeting his parents tomorrow.

Wish me luck - I haven't met someone's parents that I have been dating in almost ten years - yeah, true story. I mean, his mom knits and has friends who spin, so she has to be cool, right? And besides, I am fabulous and cute and wonderful (if I do say so myself), how could they not like me??

Somebody pass the yarn - I need to knit the butterflies out of my belly..details to follow!

Baby Hats

2007-06-28T06:19:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make.

I have become slightly obsessed with knitting baby hats. We all know about the one where I decided not to give it away, well I finished that one and then cast on for a new hat so I could give it away to the mom to be. Of course, I forgot to wrap it up once I got home from work the other day or to make a card for it. When I saw her at work the yesterday, Amy said "Oh, look...she's still here! Did you wrap the hat?" And then I said some expletives inside my head, and the outloud I said "No."

I started looking around my desk for something to wrap it in, and tried to wrap it in the pretty paper from the potted plant I got for my birthday, which was pretty and bright and pink and yellow, but it was still covered with little specks of dirt that wouldn't come off.

In the end, I very unceremoniously took the hat up to her, unwrapped, explained the situation (she is so tiny, even though she is due next week that I thought I had more time - I mentioned nothing of my unwillingness to give up the hat that was originally meant for her baby), and wished her well and told her I hope I don't see her again for a couple months. Because that is something you can say to someone who is about to go on maternity leave. Its a good thing.

So what did I do when I got back to my desk you ask??? Cast on for another freakin' baby hat. My size 7 DPNs and cotton warshrag yarn have me entranced in a baby hat knitting coma. Baby hats in natural cotton, baby hats in white/sage/blue/lavender stripes, who knows where the shenanigans will end!!!!

And speaking of babies, I am doing my first commissioned knitting for my lawyer friend. I feel kind of like a "professional" because of it. All I know is, at some point, a package will be delivered to me of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, I will not have to pay for it, and then I will get to knit a pattern I adore and make something cute for someone cute...good times! Speaking of which, I still have to finish the sweater for my Jennica's baby (Just have to kitchener up the armpits, procure/sew on some buttons and block that puppy).

Ooh!!! I said puppy, and that made me think! I just officially derailed the baby hat in cotton train and hopped on the express train to teddy bear land. I bought yarn to make a teddy bear for Jennica when I got the yarn for the baby sweater, and it has been resting in the yarn box for quite some time. I do believe I shall take it out and show it a good time at my office cube today. Because I mean yarn loves to go on field trips - it lives for that kind of thing!

Also, it has been brought to my attention that this blog has turned slightly away from being so much about knitting, and has started to focus a little too much on HNB. This was brought up in his presence, and he blushed a little (which was very cute). Just want to throw it out there that I will be making a more concerted effort to keep things on track over here, this is, after all, a knitting blog. I think HNB and I have found a good groove to be in, and we are moving gracefully out of that spending all the free time on the couch together thing (partially because the futon is gone - good story to follow!), and now that I can knit while he is here, there will once again be knitting content to share. Maybe even with pictures!

And with that, I leave you for this lovely Thursday and will now go hop in the shower and be grateful that I am not the smartee who got super sunburned yesterday - you know who you are and I have two words for you: 1) sunscreen 2) melanoma!

Changed my Mind

2007-06-27T06:30:00.000-05:00

After kvetching about how annoyed I was with HNB for "messing with my computer," I am now going to take at least some of it back because Fire Fox actually remembers my password and log on information for the blog where as Internet Explorer always claimed that it would, but likewise always fell through for me. Lies. Deceit. Betrayal.

So take that honey if you are reading this, and add "fixing my computer" to the list of things that make you awesome!

Okay, lots of responses to the recipe from yesterday, none in the actual comments but thats okay - email is just as good. They are wonderful yumminess, and I promise they will be my new signature desert/you invited me to your house for something there fore I must bring something treat.

This weeks' WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM is brought to you by my cheapness. I am linking to my local library, the William K. Sanford Library in sunny Colonie, NY. Granted, this will not help you much if you don't live near me, but the idea is to get you to your own local library and check out all the wonderfulness they have there waiting for you. Pointing out the obvious here, but they have books, books on tape, DVDs and CDs that you can borrow. There are also magazines and computers you can use, and at least at my local library, they have classes you can take and groups you can join...oh how I miss knitting on Fridays with the ladies, sigh...(damn grown-up job!). And of course, they have wonderful librarians who can help you find what you need and in general tend to be really cool people. And the kicker people, the books, the help, the computers...FREE!!! Get your stuff in on time, and you pay nothing. Zero. Nada. Again, me with the Captain Obvious, but it is a point worth repeating.

So, the moral of this post is...go to the library. Get books. Read them. Bring them back, and be smarter for it!

And on a knitting note, did you know if you are running spell check, and have typed in the word "Cashmerino" as in Debbie Bliss Cashmnerino yarn, spell check tried to correct it to "cash." Coincidence? I think not.

Quickie!

2007-06-26T09:16:00.000-05:00

I haven't downloaded the picture, but I do have a recipe to post for you. When I was supposed to go up to Middleburgh this weekend, I put a whole tank of gas in my car and made s'mores squares. Knowing the level of intoxication that was most likely to be present at the gathering, I figured it may be safer to make a rice crispy square style s'mores treat than have drunk boys trying to roast marshmallows. Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup margarine
1 bag marshmallows
1 bag chocolate chips
1 box Golden Grahams

Microwave margarine until it is melted, or just leave it on the counter in the summer - either way works. Dump the marshmallows in the bowl, toss to coat with melted margarine, microwave for 45 seconds then stir. Dump half the chocolate chips in, microwave for another 45 seconds, stir. Dump the rest of the chocolate chips in, microwave 20 seconds, stir.

Dump in the whole box of Golden Grahams in the bowl and stir until its all mixed together. Then, pour the mixture into a 13"x9" pan that has been lined with buttered tinfoil, butter your hands and use them to pat the mixture into as even a layer as possible. Wait 15 minutes, and then dig in! Supper tasty treats!

I am sure I am not the first person to come up with this recipe, but I mean you no copy write infringement if you are the one who has copyrighted it, it was just a clever idea I spontaneously had while shopping at le Tar-jay. Pictures of how fantastic and tasty this looks will be posted as soon as I download pictures onto the laptop again. Knitting content to follow also!

Whew!

2007-06-24T20:58:00.001-05:00

What a weekend!!!

Friday, we had a massage school reunion (CNW Class as Fall'04!), and I got to see a lot of my old friends that I don't get the chance to see very often. I also got to introduce HNB to some of my friends for the first time. It went well - here is some photographic proof.

Me and my friend Alicia, the soon to be Chiropractor. She is much taller than me, and wore heels. I wore flat flips. Lets just say we were eyes to boobs, good times.Theses are my knitting girls, Kiva and Jeanne. We haven't gotten together to knit in quite some time, but plans were made to resume our Sunday evening ritual in the fall.Group shot!

It was wonderful seeing everyone, and I really enjoyed myself. Afterwards, HNB and I came home, and I let him read the blog! We were talking about it while we were out, and it just kind of came up. I let him read the last post, and I do believe he got a little chuckle out of it. As well he should have, because frankly, that was one funny post. He also apologized for telling me the computer had crabs. He's such a good HNB. He also found this picture as wonderful as I did. Two peas in a pod I tell 'ya what!

Saturday, I had a new massage client - you all know how happy that makes me. I was supposed to go up to Middleburgh for a little pool party with my Lawyer friend and her MB, but I was super pooped, and decided to just stay home and wait for HNB to get done work. He ended up coming over after work and I made him dinner (Stop laughing, it was pizza. It was good. Nobody was seriously injured.).

While waiting for HNB to get done work- brace yourself for actual knitting content! - I cast on for a baby hat. One of the girls at work is mucho preggers. I thought that even though we aren't that close, I would make her a little hat and bootie set, just to, you know, be knitterly. I wasn't even halfway through the cast on, and the phone rang. It was my best friend Erika, calling to tell me that after over ten years, and a lot of crap, her boyfriend had finally proposed!!!! (Happy Dance that my BFF is getting married - FINALLY!!! - and that she is leaning towards a destination wedding. Did somebody say vacation???). So I continued knitting the hat thinking what nice mojo to be putting into a baby hat.

Then, HNB came over and I made dinner, and while it was cooking I sat with him on the couch and worked on the hat (This was deadline knitting seeing as the hat really needed to be done by Monday). I realized that was the first time I knitted while he was here, more good mojo to put in the hat.

Today, we had a wonderful day. The dog let us sleep in late (almost till 9am!!), then, seeing as I had cooked the night before, and I have a quota of cooking no more than once a week I need to maintain, we went out to breakfast and had a lovely time. While at the diner, I smoked some really good crack and decided that I would go for a motorcycle ride with him. See kids, I am terrified of motorcycles, and the first thing I said after finding out he has one was that I was never going to get on it, so he shouldn't even ask.

And kind of in the same way I like to teach people to knit, you let someone be around the yarn, see how much fun you have with it, don't give them any pressure, and 99.87654% of the time, they will come to you and ask for you to teach them. Such was the way with the HNB and his motorcycle. We drove around Albany, through Washington Park and up the highway a little. I must admit, it was much funner than I though it would be, and I felt very safe with him. As soon as we pulled out of his driveway, I released my death grip on him, and realized that I really just needed to hold onto him with my knees and very lightly with my hands. It was super fun, except when we got off the bike and my arse felt like my arse has never felt before - it was difficult to describe, but slightly painful to experience. HNB laughed at me a little, seeing as we "weren't out for that long." I was so distracted by my tingling arse that I didn't even take a picture, but I assure you, it was good times and the back of my boyfriend's helmet is super sexy, lol!

The fun times continued well into the afternoon, when, for the first time, he invited me to go watch him play flag football. His team was in the championships and they had a late afternoon game instead of an early morning one. So I took the baby hat out into public and sat behind the end posts (not my most brilliant move because every time they had to kick a field goal, I had to get up out of my chair and pray they didn't swerve right with the kick). Then, it occurred to me.

This baby hat I was making for some girl I barely knew and never really talk to has a lot of wonderful personal mojo in it, and I don't want to give it away to her. It was started while my best friend talked about getting engaged, worked on as the first piece of knitting I did while HNB was over, and it was part of what may be to date the most wonderful day I had with HNB. Its not like I used some crazy expensive yarn (Peaches-n-Cream, baby!) or some insanely difficult pattern, but I realized sitting there watching HNB play football and thinking about the grand scheme of things, that my knitterly generosity had met its match.

This has never happened before. People talk about being a result oriented or process centered knitter, and I am definitely the former. I don't tend to get tied up in the outcome of my knitting; if I am making something for someone, when the item is finished it goes to them.

But not this time. Nope. Not so much.

This tiny little hat, made with dishrag cotton and about five hours of my time over what amounted to one of the best weekends I've had in quite a while is too special to just give away to some girl I barely even know. No, this little hat is going someplace safe, not necessarily for me to keep (because what do I need a baby hat for?? -- and trust me, the gauge is a little big and I tried it on, it doesn't fit me), but at least until I find someone more deserving of the mojo, with a head that it will fit.

Even though it doesn't fit my head, it looks pretty cool as modeled by my knee , right?? And with that being said, I am off to sleepy time - I'll polish up the spelling and post this bad boy tomorrow so my Lawyer Friend has something to read while she's at work tomorrow instead of, um, you know, lawyering ; )

Have a great week everyone, and I promise not to wait until Friday to post again!.

Crabs

2007-06-22T05:49:00.000-05:00

This post is PG-13....if for some strange reason you are younger than that and are reading my blog, I don't know whats wrong with you - go outside and play already or something! And my dear goodness, why are your parents letting you read knitting blogs???

So, Captain Obvious is going to tell you something astute blog readers will already know:

#5 got crossed off the list

It isn't my intention to draw attention to this fact, nor for all of you single people out there am I trying to rub your nose in it and make you feel bad (I always used to feel that way about things of this nature when I was single, and I was single for a looooong time!). I bring this fact up so that we may have a discussion about the fact that while I feel perfectly safe and comfortable enough with HNB to consummate our relationship (in a safe and latex protected manner of course), I had a trifle of a meltdown over the fact that he "did some stuff" to my computer.

My computer is my baby. I love it. I spend a lot of time with it; granted it is a lot less time since HNB came onto the scene (Super Sorry Lawyer friend for the lack of blogging, but damn it if that boy hasn't totally screwed up my schedule. Tell your MB [short for Middleburgh Boy] to take mine out sometime and then maybe we can go to dinner, AND I can write a blog post for you!). Tangent. Back on track.

I have used this computer to start a business, write a novel, and meet more people on Internet dating sites than any person should have a right to. My email is here (all 5 accounts that I have). I have used this computer to build a website, a blog and find overwhelming quantities of knitting patterns I want to make (all of which are saved into my favorites). My pictures are here. This 7 pounds of wire and electronic and plastic tomfoolery is my home and my friend.

I may have mentioned, or then again maybe not because not so much with the blogging lately, but HNB = Super Smart Boy. Like freaky smart to the point where I feel a little less smart because he is so freakin' intelligent. For those of you who know me, I do pride myself on being a little bit of a smartypants, but this guy is like a smarty trousers. With a nice cuff and well pressed crease...point being, the boy is a nerd.

He started complaining recently that my computer is slow. I will admit that it is not the fastest thing going, but it is two years old and I got it for only $449 and there is an entire season of The Shield saved to my hard drive. All I expect is that my baby starts up in the morning, connects to my LAN, gives me my email and takes me to the magical tubes of the Internet. I don't care if I need to wait five minutes for it to warm up and get started - I turn it on, plug it in and take the dog for a walk, the system works as soon as you get on board with it. Trust me.

Well, after listening to him whine for two weeks about how slow my computer is and how annoyed he is getting with it, I gave in and told him he could fiddle faddle with it to see what he could do. I'm telling you that man's eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning - he got that "Man get to fix thing, man LIKE fix thing" look in his eyes, a sparkly little twinkle that said he was soooo looking forward to this.

Then, I, the computer's mommy, got a little knot in my stomach. Dude was totally going to screw up my computer! I was sure of it.

I yanked it (lovingly) away from him and told him I needed to check something. I pulled up one of my email accounts to make sure the latest version of the novel is there, safe and sound. And then I let him proceed. I sat there, wishing that I could drink a martini or twelve, and watched as his eyes got big and excited and his fingers trickled over my keyboard - then it hit me.

I was totally willing to let this guy have sex with me, but was completely unwilling to let him monkey around with my computer. What kind of sense does that make?

Worse thing that could happen with the computer is that I lose all of the information I have saved. Worse case scenario with the sex - lets not go there.

In the end, I sat there and just watched him, thinking in my head that I was a complete whack job and that this would all make a lovely blog post. As soon as he finished destroying my computer and I went any bought another one so that I could blog again. I must admit I feel like I am channeling Carrie Bradshaw with this one, and that kind of makes me want to vomit a little.

When all was said and done, he did find a virus (or three) on my computer, and he looked up at me with an evil smile and said "Babe, you have crabs." Because that is a statement that a girl wants to hear from her boyfriend. All the time. Seriously. Even if he is just referring to her computer.

I swear that I can tell no difference in the way the computer is working or how fast it starts up, because I still turn it on in the morning before I take Kendall out and it is ready to go when I come back in. I now have Mozilla Fire Fox instead of Internet Explorer, even though I don't know why, and the only difference I see is there is no "Refresh" button on my browser now and all of my favorites (which HNB so kindly imported for me) are all now called "bookmarks" and are listed alphabetically.

I guess that I am happy he "fixed" it for me, although, by his own account, it still isn't fast enough for him and is still pissing him off. I for one am just happy that neither my computer nor I have crabs. Seriously, who says that?! If there are any boys reading the blog, take note and put that on the list of things you will never say to a girl, for ANY reason - trust me, she doesn't want to hear it. Even if she is standing in the shallow water of Chesapeake Bay, with an actual crab (The kind you would eat) attached to her skin somewhere via those nasty crab claws - Girlfriend doesn't want to hear it. Seriously.

...Well its My Birthday Too!

2007-06-17T19:05:00.000-05:00

And the birthday madness continues!

First, a moment of silence for the FinePix....

Thank you. It was a good camera and it served me well for over four years. I picked this little pretty up on Friday

Easier to take a picture of the camera box rather than the actual camera itself. I am rather happy with it, it takes wonderful pictures and is moron simple to use. Plus, it doesn't weigh eleventy five hundred pounds and is not the size of a Zack Morris cell phone. The very helpful sales boy at Staples asked me if I would need a new memory card to go with my new camera, and I told him that I already have one. He asked how big it was, and I said 64MB. He then proceeded to laugh at me in a slightly sarcastic tone. He then sold me a 1GB SD card and welcomed me into the 2000's...

Back to the birthday shenanigans. Here is a photo of all of my birthday cards.

Cute doggie cards - gotta love them! I wonder if I could get Kendall to hold a piece of watermelon in his mouth like that, hmm.....

Cute close up of my gift card to JoAnn's..how g-darn cute is this??

And it came with stickers!!!!

We have birthday sock yarn and new book,

This was one of the most wonderful birthdays I have ever had. HNB went to the kayak shop to get me "some accessory" for the kayak that I didn't have for my birthday, and quickly realized that when I go shopping, I get it all ; ) So, he got me this book, and told me that if he can't get a kayak this summer, he will see about borrowing his brother's canoe.

Then he proceeded to point out all the paddling spots that were close to his parent's house, his camp and where he grew up. Amy thought he was going to get me yarn, and for the last month has been reciting the following mantra "He is sooo getting you yarn for your birthday," but I think this -gasp!- made me even happier than if he did get me yarn. Lots of though went into this, and my oh my, I don't call him Handsome New Boy for nothing!

Oh, and this came for free with my new camera!

Yeah, it was a good week. And now, for what you have all been waiting for...pictures from the wedding. Sorry to disappoint you, but I am the type of person who always brings her camera with her, but never takes it out of her bag. HNB is also apparently the same way. I felt weird taking pictures at the wedding seeing as I met the bride and groom for the first time at the reception, and so, the new camera stayed safely tucked in my purse until we got home. You may notice I look a little sleepy, it was waaaaaay past my bedtime. But doesn't the shawl look lovely and the boy handsome? It was a wonderful night, a great end to a fantastic week.

And here I am making a valiant attempt to make it look like it is 3pm and not 3am as I make my poor drunk boyfriend take a picture of me so ya'll can see the shawl.

He did a pretty good job, seeing as I told him he could only take a picture from the waist up because it was 3am and I was not going to put my shoes back on. Speaking of putting shoes on, I have to go stuff my piggies in some Crocs and get myself to work! Yeah for Mondays! Peace out kiddies!

You Say It's Your Birthday...

2007-06-15T06:14:00.000-05:00

This is what I walked into on Wednesday, big thanks to Amy, Lee, Michelle and Kristin for their cube decorating skills...

Little overwhelming, no?

This is a good picture of me, wearing my headset that is festooned with curly ribbon streamers and what amounts to a plastic ribbon sea anemone looking think on the side of my head which was meant to invoke the feel of an island flower. You can partially see how cute the new bangs look, and I am realizing that this may be the first time I have posted a picture of myself on here where you can actually see my face, so for those of you who don't know me, here I am!

This, while not a good picture of me, does show me sitting at my desk where you can (clearly) almost see the picture of Edward Norton that Amy cut out of a celebrity smut magazine and taped to my cube wall while I was on a particularly difficult phone call. My supervisor came over the other day and said, "Who is the guy on the surfboard? Is that your new boyfriend?" I could only stammer in my head, Hell yeah that's my new boyfriend, in my dreams!!!! because alas, while I may love me some Edward Norton, he may not, in fact, reciprocate those feelings, even if I do have a picture of him hanging at my desk. Sigh....

Sorry for the tangent, HNB and I are going to the wedding tonight, so there may be an actual picture of him up and on my desk before long. The wedding wrap got blocked, and it looks good. The FinePix has officially stopped focusing (as the munchkins would say, "Its not only merely dead, its really most sincerely dead"), and I am on my way to new camera shop today after I leave work early for the wedding. (By the way, who gets married on a Friday night, that just doesn't seem right to me - its like people who get married on a holiday, kinda rude).

All of these pictures were taken with Amy's camera, sent via the magic tubes of the Internet to my lovely laptop, and then saved and posted here. Gotsta love the technology! Suffice it say, there are more pictures of fantastic things that I would love to post for you, but I am unable to steal Amy's camera to bring it home to take pictures of them. God willing and the creek don't rise, new camera today, new pictures tomorrow.

I leave you today with the obligatory pictures of the birthday cake.

What are those round pink, yellow and purple things on the cake that look like squiggles you ask?

BALLS OF YARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amy, when ordering the cake had to argue quite profusely with the bakery to get them to do that, apparently the only decorations they feel should go on a birthday cake are balloons. Everyone I work with looked at me a little oddly as I said, "There's yarn on my cake!" in a happy voice. Think they thought there was actual yarn on my cake, which would not have been yummy to eat or good for the yarn. Too much fibre in your diet is a bad thing after all. Get it? Fibre/ Fiber....I crack me up!

All in all, it was a wonderful day, and thank you to all of you who were a part of it - you guys rock, and a girl couldn't ask for a better group of cube mates and friends!

6AM

2007-06-12T09:38:00.000-05:00

No matter what I do, Kendall wakes up and demands to be taken out at exactly 6am every morning when HNB has managed to, er, um, fall asleep on the sofa - yeah that's it! he sleeps on the sofa! The jig is up, I am Trampy McTrampants, he is completely snuggled with me in my fluffy down bed.

Any way, the dog is driving me insane. Today for example, although I do not have to be at work until 11:30, the dog got up a 6, HNB and I slept in a little longer, but were both awake, dressed and drinking tea on the futon by 7:20...that crap ain't right! Any suggestions besides shipping the dog off to his gandmama's house would be appreciated.

On a knitting note, the wedding shawl isn't finished, but I did buy a few skeins of sock yarn and a wonderful book yesterday. HNB came over after I got my haircut and we went to the grocery store and got stuff to make chickpea burgers with, and then he cooked for me (have I mentioned how freakin' wonderful he is??), it was hard to not start knitting and stay in the kitchen keeping him company and showing him where all of my obviously inferior cooking utensils are. At one point, he looked at me and said "Is that the pan you really want me to use?" which he then clarified to mean "That's the only pan you have, right? This one?"

I took the opportunity to advise him that yes, it was the only pan that I had, and that Hello, dude - I DON'T COOK!!!!

That seemed to clear up some confusion.

I am doing WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM a day early because tomorrow is my birthday!! Last one I am having, as I will be turning 29, after this year, we will be celebrating anniversaries of my original 29th birthday. For example, I will not turn 30 next year, we will celebrate 29 the year, part II. Feel free to hop on my delusion train, there's plenty of room for you and your knitting!

Oh, yeah, this weeks post is a little bit of a cop out, BUT the new Knitty is up and I think that is noteworthy. I didn't get a chance to really look through all the patterns, but I am sure I'll find something I want to make!

Off to work, the accident with the kayak is getting fixed today and I need to find some clothes and pack a lunch and a bag of knitting tricks! You know how I roll...with a thirty pound bag filled with crap...just like my mom! Peace out peeps - pictures to follow of the new haircut and lace blocking as soon as the auto focus gets itself fixed on the camera (think happy FinePix thoughts today!).

Blah

2007-06-11T06:21:00.000-05:00

Not so much in the mood for blogging today, but if I don't, it sets a dangerous precedent for the whole week, and next thing you know its Tuesday next week and I realize I haven't blog chicka blog blogged in almost two weeks (Amy, you know what song I'm singing that too, right???).

First, giant props to My Lawyer Friend Nicole for both her lovely comment from two posts ago and the rockin' party she threw on Friday night. Good times were had by all, especially by her boyfriend the birthday boy. HNB also had a really good time. In fact, he was still being reminded of what a good time he had on Friday night when we hung out on Saturday night. Poor baby. On the way home, we made friends with a little bunny we saw on the side of the road, but, on the off chance that he may ever read this blog someday, I will not go into details. Suffice it to say it brought up the differences between two people, one of whom is a vegetarian and one of whom is a hunter. Interesting conversation to have at 2am.

Moving on, the wedding shawl continues to grow at a slightly alarming pace. Should have it finished and blocking by this evening, tomorrow at the latest. NOT loving the Moonlight Mohair or my Balene knitting needles, they are a little difficult to work with together although I feel that separately they may be okay. I don't know. I'm working with size 15US needles, and they are a little big to grip comfortable and work with quickly. I have to keep an eye on the yarn and make sure that I am not splitting it and that both strands make it on and off of the needles.

Truthfully kids, I'm just a little grump today. No one's fault, and really, I shouldn't be taking it out and complaining about my yarn and needles...it is so not their fault that I'm a wee bit pissy today. At any rate, I am getting my hair cut tonight, big ups to my girl Courtney at Jean Paul, her cuts last me a minimum of four months, and now that I am growing it for Locks of Love, its closer to six months. Just getting a trim, maybe add some layers, take out some weight/bushiness and of course, I'm getting my baby bangs.

Before and after pictures tomorrow, along with the photos of my first attempts at blocking (wish me luck!). And now, my favorite way to end a post, random cute dog photo - ttfn!

Oopsy Poopsy

2007-06-08T06:13:00.000-05:00

Sorry I disappeared all week. The elderly people at work have been a touch, well, disgruntled would be putting it mildly. I think someone spiked the prune juice.

At any rate, I didn't want you to worry that I cooked Monday and killed HNB with my cooking skills or burned down the apartment with my lack of cooking skills. We went out for dinner thankyouverymuch because I had promised the man food, I just preferred to pay to have someone else cook it for him.

To explain my absences, I will tell the story of the week in pictures.

I bought this on Saturday. There was a little accident getting it in the car, good story to follow in another post.

Look, here it is again:

See how sexy it looks sitting on the carpet in my apartment. It looked even sexier when I fell out of it and into the river after my paddling class Wednesday night. Good times.

This is the finished pink shawl from last post which demanded my attention all weekend, look at the pretty, pretty beads! FYI, getting glass beads on cotton 5 ply yarn, NOT the easiest thing to do.

As you can tell, it is unblocked. I finished it, promptly decided it doesn't really go with the dress intended for the evening,

And last night I took a trip to AC Moore, bought four skeins of Lion Brand Moonlight Madness, and began this ...

...and of course a picture of the new wrap in the sunshine. Once it is blocked out, twill be loverly!

But mostly the reason I haven't been blogging, is because the guy who left this ....

...on my obviously very dirty end table, makes me happy and I kinda just want to spend all the time with him I can. You can tell this by the empty knitting basket, the dirty glass on the end table and the fact that my legs are shaved.

I mean seriously, you guys understand, right?

It might not count...

2007-06-04T06:33:00.000-05:00

...as an actual post, but I did update the 101 in 1001 list from the sidebar. Not doing too bad, percentages wise, I am right on track. Although, getting an MBA probably will take a little more time and effort than say, not eating candy for two weeks (that was damn difficult, so then again maybe it wont), I do feel like I am chugging away at an appropriate pace and stand a very good chance of not running out of time to get things done. I may run out of motivation or run into other stumbling blocks, but time does appear, for the moment, to be on my side.

Pictures of both my kayak (YIPPPEEE!!!) and the finished pink shawl from last post to follow later today. Or maybe tomorrow...HNB is coming over tonight, I might be - shudder, gasp, snort, chuckle - cooking him dinner! Hope he likes not real meat chicken ; )

Knitting Content and Healthy Food

2007-05-30T06:21:00.001-05:00

Random post brought to you today by my complete running lateness.

This week's WWWdot WEDNESDAYdotCOM post is for the Honest Weight Food Co-op, which, if you live outside of Albany, probably doesn't concern you too much. I have orientation there on Saturday this week to become a member, and I am super excited. Only took me four months to do it, lol. I really think that co-ops are a great place to shop, even if you don't join them to get the discount. They are staffed with friendly and knowledgeable people who know how to help you eat better foods and take good care of yourself, not just some punk arse kids who need to work at Super Big Box Market to earn money to get their nails done or a new stereo in their car (go ahead, ask me if I am dissatisfied with the level of customer service at my local supermarket - ask me!!).

Even if you don't live near Smalbany, NY, you can just Google the word "co-op" and the name of your town, and I'm sure you'll get something good. I do believe I just wrote directions for how to Google something, perhaps my problem isn't that I am running late, perhaps the problem is that I never fully woke up this morning because who doesn't know how to Google??? Sigh.....

Continuing on, knitting content as promised. This is what the Giant Afghan 'o Doom looks like (it got fed a couple of skeins this weekend):

And these are pictures of my latest project. A very simple increasing triangle shawl, recipe 'a la Harlot.

Handsome New Boy (here on in to be referred to as HNB for reasons of my laziness), invited me to a wedding next month - yeah, I know - and seeing as there is the moratorium on buying new clothes, I figured a nice new shawl would jazz up one of my many black dresses and I would look lover-ly. I have started and ripped it out about five times so far because I tried to do an improvisational lace thing; I am not yet at the level of a knitter who should be doing anything improvisational with lace unless it involved throwing an impromptu dinner party on top of a lace tablecloth. Sigh, again....

And, just because he's cute..new random dog picture taken this weekend...gotta love the Mr. Kendall!

Happy knitting!

What a Wonderful Weekend!

2007-05-25T05:49:00.000-05:00

This has been a fantastic week! Handsome New Boy and I introduced out dogs to each other, and things went pretty well - no extended growling or trips to the emergency vet, and Kendall didn't try to hump her (he is in fact neutered; he maintains however, a slightly frightening disposition towards humping things, even if they outweigh him by forty pounds) . I purchased the latest copy of Knit.1, and I am more than just a little in love with almost every pattern in there.

The good just keeps on coming, because my BFF Erika is coming to visit tonight! We are having an early celebration for my birthday, yeah!!!! We are going to go have fondue, both cheese and chocolate, Erika will drink wine, I will whine because I can't drink wine (not supposed to be drinking because of my belly, kinda forgot that rule last weekend - spent three days feeling like poo because of it). She will leave her kid behind with her mom in Syracuse, and I will leave Kendall trapped in the confines of the bedroom. We will go here, I will wear shoes that aren't named after an animal, and we will pretend we still live in Albany, are in college, have no children or real responsibilities and haven't started paying off our student loans.

Fantasy, such a sweet, wonderful far-away land.

I may even wear a skirt.

And as for the weekend to follow, I have a new client to see for Maya Abdominal Massage - very much looking forward to that. The rest of Saturday, I get to go to the craft store because Joann's is having a fantastic sale, and I have a coupon. The parent's Christmas afghan continues to need yarn fed to it, even though I have bought a great googly moogly amount of yarn already. I guess a six by eight foot *before* border blanket requires a lot of yarn. Makes sense.

Then Sunday, oh sweet Sunday... I will be taking Amy, the muggle I turned into a knitter, and we will go to the Massachusetts's Sheep and Wool Fair. It will be my first such gathering, and I am super excited. I also have an extra paycheck coming in next month, and birthday $$$ I can count on, so I think I may be doing a little "pre-birthday shopping." If I can have a pre-birthday dinner on Friday, why not pre-birthday shopping on Sunday, huh???

As for Monday, this is the most Delicious day of all. I will have nothing to do. No clients to see, no office job to go to. No Handsome New Boy to play with (he's going away this weekend), just a Chuck Palahniuk book to read and yarn to put away! Perhaps some laundry to fold, but other than that, zip. zero. zilch. nada.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have fondue to eat and large quantities of yarn to fondle. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

The Things You Don't See

2007-05-23T06:18:00.000-05:00

This week's WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM if brought to you by MSF/DWB (for those of you who do not read the Harlot, and therefore do not know about her wonderful work on this cause, this stands for Doctor's Without Borders, one of my favorite charities).

The link this week is the their annual Top 10 Most Under-reported News Stories for 2006. If you stop to think about how connected the world is, and the speed with which information can get to us and allow us to make changes and help people in need, you have to wonder why these are stories we don't often get to hear about. I will not get up on my soap box right now, because this blog was never intended to be a forum for that, but I do, on a very deep and personal level, question the news media and the stories they report, and the reasons why they report what the do when they do.

That's why I think the MSF/DWB is such a wonderful charity, and why all my tips from my massage therapy practice are getting donated there this year. Check it out, and if they tickle your fancy too, maybe you could donate a few dollars...everyone always gives around the Holidays, and for a lot of charities the Summer months are lean ones in the way of donations, so get on out there and help a kid grow into a healthy adult, where else can you help make a change like that for just a couple bucks??

And speaking of things you don't see, there is a sorrowful lack of knitting around here. Yesterday, I am almost ashamed to admit, I was in too terrible of a mood to want to knit, and therefor, -shudder at the thought- I cross stitched. That promptly turned more annoying than what was bothering me in the first place, and so I got over my problems. Aversion therapy is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Knitting content to follow promptly, promise!

Oh, Its a Good Reason Why I've Been Gone

2007-05-21T06:19:00.000-05:00

But it doesn't involve yarn.

Well, not really. Its not like I've been knitting or anything.

Gently blog readers, I met a boy.

Take a minute, all of those who know me personally to let this information wash slowly over you as you realize the enormity of the situation. I met a boy, and we went out on not one, not two, but three dates this week.

For those of you who don't know me personally, please take a moment to try and understand that while I have been on more dates in the last sixteen months than I ever thought would be humanly possible, none of them have moved beyond the second date. Well, one of them did but he told me he didn't want to see me anymore the evening of the third date (ironically, this was right after I went to buy yarn to make him a hat with for Christmas...coincidence, I think not). And it has been almost two years since I have been in a relationship.

This is cause for merriment, and apparently a good excuse to not blog.

I will not give details, but suffice it to say, he is very smart, and cute and funny and he has a dog that is just as over attached to him as Kendall is to me. PLUS...I don't know if you are ready for this...He knows how to knit! He doesn't do it obsessively or reflexively like I do, which is good since that means I wont have to fight him for yarn (I'd probably lose, he's a lot bigger than me), but he didn't freak out about all the yarn lying around the house, and, you probably aren't ready for this one. Ladies, prepare yourselves....

He offered to take me yarn shopping at a farm near his parent's house.

Does the happiness just emanate from this blog post? I hope so. Try not to be too jealous, if it ever gets to the point where I need to knit for him, I'm screwed - he's rather tall, and it isn't like I could whip out the measuring tape on our 1st, 2nd, 3rd date to measure his chest (that would be weird and perhaps cause him to not want to go on a 4th date), but something tells me I'd be knitting for a looooong time to make a sweater for that boy.

Something also tells me, I might not mind.

You Know What Day It Is

2007-05-16T06:15:00.000-05:00

Its Wednesday, HOORAY!!

This weeks' link was actually in the blog yesterday, but since they have changed the submission dates for the scarves, I wanted to also do this as this weeks' WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM.... so, without further ado.... Red Scarf Project 2008!

As you can see, (because I know you all clicked on that link, right??!!), the submission date is not the end of January like it was last year, they have moved it to the fall of this year, and while this will interfere with my holiday knitting, I will give generously of my time and stash to knit scarves for people who really need them. Of all the charities that you can knit for, I think this may be my favorite. It's very close to my heart because I know how hard it can be putting yourself through school with no help financially, but even in my situation, I did have my family for emotional support and laundry services. These kids are doing a great thing by standing up, pretty much on their own, and getting an education, and I think the least we can do is knit a scarf (or two or three or a hundred) to show them that someone cares enough to do that for them, right?

Once I get the charity knitting group up and running, I will take the donations of knitters in the Albany, NY area, and mail them in with the scarves that we will be sending from the group. Any questions, drop a comment or email me (check out the new email address listed on the right!). So start knitting happy knitters!

And for my non-knitting friends and blog readers, you can always donate money to buy yarn or yarn itself if you can't do the knitting, although if you want to learn to do the knitting, all you have to do is ask. All I'm saying is, buy a man a fish, teach him to fish...One of these days I will turn you all into knitters, hahahaha (maniacal laughing there, good way to end the post).

Thankful Tuesday

2007-05-15T07:52:00.000-05:00

Remember when I told you how special Amy is and how I would tell you why in a later post?

Guess what kids, its later!

Amy used to be just an ordinary woman working at the insurance company with me, adjusting claims at a breakneck speed that would make most mere mortals quiver with awe (trust me - I am a mere mortal and I quiver). Then, her cube got moved and she came over to sit in the Corner of Cool with Lee, Kristin and myself...Lets just say the conversations make the guy on the other side of the cube aisle blush. The four of us have a wonderful time talking between calls and it is one of the most socially satisfying jobs I've ever had.

Well, you all know that I think of work at the insurance company as an excuse to knit mitre squares for the 'rents afghan, and I think it was the second day after her cube got moved that Amy asked if I could teach her to knit too. Then Lee asked. Then Kristin.

Lee got her needles and yarn, gave the knitting a shot, and promptly decided she is a crocheter. I try, really I try to not hold that against her ; )

Kristin has a super busy schedule, but I showed her how to do the knit stitch, and she sits happily at her cube garter-stitching up her 20 stitch lavender swatch. She makes me smile.

But Amy, Oh Amy! Amy took the knitting and ran with it. She had her first baby hat done in a matter of two days, done in knit 2 purl 2 ribbing, complete with knit two togethers and sewn up with yarn ends woven in - I was so impressed! (If you are Amy's husband, you may want to stop reading this post).

She spent almost $200 buying yarn, books and notions her first week, and quickly progressed from ack!-rylic to merino from the yarn shop.

Amy is my hero!

Then, to top it off (after letting me read her new book and promising to let me borrow it so I could knit all the patterns from there that I want), Amy did this:

A Thank You card for showing her how to knit - how hard does Amy rock???

And her thank you made me remember that in the dark days of the blog (when there was no camera), this came in the mail and I forgot to tell you about it...

Its a thank you card from the Red Scarf Project for all the knitted goodness from back in February. Who would have expected that, but it certainly was nice to get. I'm still in the process of trying to join the co-op, but as soon as I do, you can expect that I'll be working hard to try and get a charity knitting group started.

You all know that Tuesdays make me king of sad, but last week's Shield episode was so good, I think that it will keep me going until the new episode is up on Amazon for download. At any rate, happy Tuesday and remember to tell someone today that you are thankful for them or what they have done for you - it'll make both of you feel good!

Happy Birthday Mr. Kendall!

2007-05-14T06:10:00.000-05:00

Today, my sweet pup turns four, or 28, but whichever way you do the math, he really isn't a baby anymore. I can still remember the day I went to the farm to pick him up. I had his carrier all set and strapped in with a seat belt, I placed him in there with a few of his new toys and some soft blankets. We made it about a mile down the road before the pathetic and incessant whining prompted me to take him out of his carrier and let him ride home on my lap.

Its been kind of downhill ever since!

He is very spoiled and some might say a little over-attached, but its always just been the two of us. That dog just loves his momma, and sleeping in bed with me under the covers and sleeping in the knitting chair with his farting dog butt aimed at my face...good times!

At any rate, yesterday was the first Mother's Day in eleven or twelve years that I haven't had to work in a restaurant. It was also the first Mother's Day that Kendall hasn't left me a Mother's Day present of some fresh poo on the kitchen floor (something tells me the two are related). We had a lovely mommy/puppy weekend, and it also marked the end of two weeks with no puppy messes in the house. We were almost there about two weeks ago, but Kendall got excited when we got to my friend Erika's house, and had a tiny tinkle on her floor. So even though it wasn't my floor he tinkled one, I still counted it.

Now, we have a good routine, the days that I am gone for longer than eight hours, I put him in the kitchen with a wee-wee pad, but he still doesn't use it, he just holds it. It wasn't like he just peed and pooed all over the house before, it was just that he would miss the wee-wee pad or if he was mad at me he would occasionally poo someplace in the apartment that he wasn't supposed to. It was my fault for not watching him, and I accept responsibility for that.

At any rate, not an issue any more! Now, I just need to rent a carpet steamer and deep-clean my carpet, lol. Have a lovely day, and if you see a special doggy, give them a little extra love today!

Feliz cumpleanos al perro malo!

Mother's Day Mania

2007-05-10T05:57:00.000-05:00

Why do I always wait until the last minute?

At any rate, whether I was staying up late last night/getting up early today to attempt to download and watch The Shield, or just finishing up my Mother's Day presents, it doesn't really matter. Either way, I didn't get much sleep, this week's episode is still not available for download yet, but I do have all my Mom's presents finished, sort of...

I tried making something else for her, but it isn't done yet, can't send it in the mail, so it waits, sitting on my kitchen counter top and still drying. For someone who loves to plan, I sure do suck it royally sometimes with the gift deadlines. Its the darn baby sweater from yesterday's post, jut totally took over all my crafty time. Yeah, that's it, blame it on the baby sweater...

At any rate, huge props to my girl Amy for commenting yesterday - more on why Amy rocks in a later post. For now, I have to go get ready for work, make my lunch and go to the post office to get this Mother's Day goodness in the mail. Peace!

Yeah for Babies

2007-05-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

One of my very good friends from college is having a baby. I wont mention any names, but her due date is sometime in October.

Needless to say I went to the yarn shop the weekend after I heard and bought a large quantity of cashmerino/silk blend yarn, and stopped working on everything else I had on the needles. The yarn became, in rather short order, the following...

Pattern can be found here, and a picture of what it looks like all finished and blocked out with pretty buttons sewn on is here . For the most part, I think they look the same, please don't burst my knitterly bubble by telling me they don't.

I realize I didn't do the kitchener stitch on the underarms yet, but I finished this yesterday while at work and I felt that kitchenering while working may not have been the best thing for me or the sweater. Other than that, just need to securely sew on some buttons and block the heck out of it (Oh, and knit some matching socks/booties...still looking for a pattern for that).

Close up of the neck:

And, here is a close-up of the super cute I-cord topped hat that I made, without a pattern! Thanks be to Harlot for writing the book that taught me how to do that. Also, this was the first time I made I-cord...kind of fell in love with it (for my non-knitter friends, I-cord is the stuff at the top of the hat that is tied into a little knot and sticking up, looking all cute and whatnot).Kinda makes a girl want a baby, or at least to find her baby daddy if you know what I mean. You just can't knit baby hats for dogs, not even Mr. Kendall.

Today, there will be more mitre squares, because I have been doing a whack of knitting, just not that type of knitting. Let me tell you, it is hard to go from knitting cotton, to cashmerino/silk, to LionBrand Homespun...LOTS of different textures right there, but Hey, I'm adaptable.

Now, for this weeks WWWdotWEDNEDSAYdotCOM...I bring you GreenDimes. They work for a fee to get you off all the mailing lists you don't want to be on, while giving you the option of being on the ones that you do, AND they plant a tree for you every month. This would make an excellent gift for so many people I know, and as soon as I get paid next week, I myself will be signing up. Good for the environment, good to keep your identity your own (less random junk mail, less chance of a bad person getting a hold of personal information), and dudes, they plant trees!!! It doesn't get any better than that. Check 'em out when you get a chance.

Knitting Without a Pattern, Why Tuesdays Make Me Sad

2007-05-08T09:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I usually am not a fan of knitting things without a pattern, however, I managed to make this soap cozy below with only the dimensions of my bar of soap to guide me. I made no plans, I wrote nothing down, I simply knitted with my DPNs and some cotton yarn and made a Mother's Day present.

Inside is a bar of lavender soap...

...there will also be lavender bath salts and a lavender scented eye pillow made, also, with just my imagination. There will need to be a pattern created for that, just so I can know how to cut the pieces out, but really, there is flying by the seat of my pants going on over here in large portions.

Also, today is Tuesday, which means that I wake up knowing The Shied is on tonight and that I have to wait until at least tomorrow to be able to download it off Amazon. Kind of makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Patience is a virtue, catch it if you can..seldom in a woman, never in a man.

Ain't that the truth.

Oh, you may have noticed, there are pictures on the blog again. Camera fairies came and fixed my camera, seriously. I didn't use it for about a month, picked it up one day just to see what was going on, it took focused pictures AND the picture downloading software is working again on my computer - I take this as a sign that the Universe is awarding my not spending $$ for a new camera, aka my super cheapness. Either way, long live the FinePix. Long may she take nice pictures of pretty knitting. Tomorrow, baby sweater pictures!!

Prepare to be Dazzled!

2007-05-06T07:55:00.000-05:00

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but in my sickness, I have been doing some righteous knitting. I can get at least a mitre square done a day while at work (I can hear how jealous you are all right now), and because of that, please take a look at these:

Holy mitre squares Batman! I have decided to not do random squares, because, as any of you who know me will attest to, I am not a fan of not planning. There is a drawing on loose leaf paper that is covered with different pen and highlighter colors that maps out the whole project. This picture above, is Big Square 1, and all the stripes are done in dark brown.

This is Big Square 3, all of the stripes are done in green:

The green yarn (Meadow, Lionbrand Homespun) is variegated, which got me thinking, why bother making rows if the yarn will do it on it's own? So I came up with the idea of doing two Big Squares using the same color yarn. Here is Big Square #6 (only two squares done):

Kind of hard to tell on my crap ass dog pee colored apartment carpet, but the colors are really gentle and lovely.

Finally, we have "the scragllers," Big Squares where I only have one square done:

We have another brown stripe square, the single green self variegating square and the light tan stripe square. Man - o - man, I loves me some mitres!!!!

Not to let you think that I have been obsessed (who, me??), I also bring you pictures of socks in progress, guarded by Mr. Kendall:

These were supposed to be for my mom for mother's day, but then I stopped and thought: You know Karen, wool socks as a gift in May might not be the most practical gift. They are being worked on slowly but steadily, and will be for Christmas instead of Mother's Day. Look how Kendall appears to be guarding them with his very life!! Have you ever seen such dogged determination (chuckle, chuckle, snort - I love bad puns!). Seriously, how cute is that dog?! I realize the look on his face says "My mother is a nut-case who makes me take pictures with hand-knit socks on sunny May Sunday mornings instead of taking me for a nice long walk," but Kendall and I have been together for almost four years, he knows the drill.

And finally, speaking of sun, here is some Opal in the Sunshine #1075, thinking about making this one my screen saver, lol.

I was seduced by this at Trumpet Hill while my parents were visiting for Easter. I got the leg done, the heel turned and about half the foot done on the first sock before the mitre madness took over and the almost mono began. Sadly, I have not worked on them in quite some time, but I love just looking at the yarn and the way it works up.

I am going to spend the rest of this morning in bed finishing a book I have to finish reading today. Then, its off to the library to pick up some more books, I have a Chili Cook Off/Housewarming party to go to, then AC Moore is having a midnight madness sale, so I must go. 25% off everything, kinda makes a girl's head spin, 'ya know. I have to pick up a few more skeins for the afghan, some stuff for my mom's Mother's Day present,and I might even get a treat or two for me, who knows. The day is young, I finally feel better and the sun is shining, the options are endless!

Alive

2007-04-30T06:29:00.000-05:00

Hey, just realised that I haven't posted in a week and a half, wanted to let you know I am still alive, it isn't mono, but I haven't been feeling 100%, so there has been mucho knitting and menos blogging. Sorry kids! Another couple of good night's sleep, and I should be rarin', rockin' and ready to go. Promise.

I Knew I Was in Trouble When...

2007-04-19T11:30:00.000-05:00

... I didn't want to knit.

What I thought was a "nasty arse chest cold," in fact left me thinking I might have mono.

Um, yeah.

Not looking like it is mono, although in my hypochondriac brain, I was convinced for two days that I did have it. What worried me the most, is that I didn't even want to knit. Not socks, not mitre squares, not scarves, nothing!!! It made me both very sad, and very nervous.

I took Monday off work, then Tuesday and I went for acupuncture in the afternoon. I tried going in yesterday, and my boss looked at me and said, in a sweet way "The phones are slow today. You can go home. Really, you can go."

The nice thing about an office job is they don't want you there when you are sick, which is such a different thing from working in the restaurant where, unless you are bleeding severely or vomiting profusely, if you cant get your shift covered, you must show up.

So, I left work yesterday, went to an urgent care facility since I don't have a primary care physician, and saw a physician's assistant who spent a total of 3 minutes with me, told me I didn't have strep, it probably want mono, but I should go for a monostat test just to be sure. Drink lots of fluids and rest; resume activity as your energy levels allow.

Golly gee, 'ya think? Here's $110 for telling me what I already knew and looking at me like I was a whack for going to acupuncture before going to the "doctor." You should have seen the way she looked at me when I said I don't have a primary care physician, I go for acupuncture. After that visit, it just confirmed my belief that I am doing the right thing by avoiding Western medicine.

On a positive note, I am feeling better today. Not as tired, not as achy, my throat is feeling better, my appetite has come back, and last night, I knitted! I am pretty sure it isn't mono, but the lab results wont be back until Monday. I stayed home from work today again because I'm not 100% and I didn't want to get there and feel like poo an hour later. I am getting ready to take another nap today, and I might try taking the dog out for a walk later (it is a gorgeous Spring day out there), we'll have to see.

At any rate, it is clear to me that I am a giant baby when it comes to being sick, but I already knew that. No surprises there. My only regret is that I didn't want to do any knitting, and I feel like I lost a lot of "free time," but as my mother said, it wasn't free time, I was sick. Just a gentle reminder that from time to time, we all need to be gentle with ourselves.

I am officially pooped, time for a nap...peace out happy knitters. Seeing as we are still having camera issues, I know that blog posting without pictures are dreadfully boring, and while I have no knitting pictures to show you, I do have lots of stock dog photos to share...how cute is Mr. Kendall??? Gotta love the pup! Just look at that mug...

Ugh!

2007-04-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I managed to get my taxes done, and by the way, I will be getting a very nice ball winder, thank you very much! But, as soon as I got everything done on Saturday morning, a huge grey cloud swallowed me up and started raining all over my parade.

The "slight tickle" in the back of my throat that had been there every since the family came to visit for Easter and my mom was smoking in my apartment, turned into nasty-arse chest cold. This happens to me frequently: I have a lot of stuff that I need to get done, and as soon as it gets finished, my body just crashes. So, I have not left the house since I went to work on Friday, have been holed up in my apartment all weekend drinking ginger tea and reeking of Vapo Rub.

Good times.

I called in sick to work today because 1. I can and 2. I need to be healthy for the end of this week - clients, Massage school reunion dinner and a trip to NYC with my friend Dr. Alicia (she's in Chiropractic school and she is fabulous!). Better to take a day, kick this stupid bug out of my system and get on with my life. I've been taking the Flu Away remedy from the Arvigo Massage technique that I specialize in, and drinking Aloe Vera juice all morning. I am wearing 3 full layers of clothing and I hope that I am going to be able to sweat this out of myself. At some point today, I need to migrate out of the house, go to the bank and get my new glasses readjusted. I may stop out and pick up some echinacea throat drops and a large container of OJ. I am kind of in the mood for chicken noodle soup, but I think that some nice hot Miso with rice crackers might do instead.

Enough about my physical illness, lets start taking about my new mental addiction. It seems only fitting that since I have now watched all the episode of The Shield and 95% of the DVD commentaries, that I need to find something else to become obsessed with. That thing, my dear readers, are mitered squares. I bought the Mason Dixon knitting book a few months back. I looked lovingly over its glossy, hard-covered pages, and I said "hmm, those squares look like fun, but I sure wouldn't want to ave to sew them all up."

I will reference back to this post at a latter date when I have been admitted into the Sane Home for Insane Knitters.

I got 3 1/3 squares done last night. I am making them out of LionBrand Homespun, and they are for my parent's Christmas present, a bedspread. The nice thing about using the Homespun in my mother wont "accidentally" felt the blanket, and trust me, out of necessity, things at my parents' house get washed A LOT. Also, using the pattern in the book and casting on with 72 stitches, it works out that the blocks are exactly twelve inches square...so I only need to do 48 of them (6 blocks wide by 8 blocks long). I just can't wait to see what this behemoth will look like when its all done.

Still having camera issues, although I could afford to get a new one with my tax refund, I am being a judicious shopper and not just running out to buy the coolest new gadget I can find (please don't ask me what has happened every time I have ever bought a cell phone). I am waiting to find the camera I want at the price I am willing to pay. This is a balancing act that we cannot rush people, except that I do need to hurry up and have a camera for next weekend. It'll all work out, it always does.

Well, this is a super long post for me, even without any pictures. Just wanted to say that while my mom was here, we went to Trumpet Hill (my LYS that still does not have a website up otherwise I would link to it), and while I was not able to convince her she wanted to knit, the first thing she picked up in the store was Noro. I take that as a good sign. Then she wanders over to the sock yarn (on her own, like she instinctively knew where to go or something), and picked up a skein of the yarn I have been knitting into socks for her for Mother's Day, in a different colorway, and she said "I'd like this if it came in purple."

Two guesses which colorway this smart knitter was already using.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Happy knitting kiddies, and I'll see you on the kniternet!

I'm Alive!!

2007-04-12T06:34:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the abcense, but it has been a crazy week.

Last Thursday, I had what amounted to a day long panic attack, good times...

The family came to visit for Easter, which, also was good times (even if it did involve an insane amount of cleaning on my part).

Just realized this morning that it had been over a week since my lat post, and I had missed not one, but TWO WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM-s...Super Sorry.

I am in the middle of finally doing my taxes. What, me wait until the last minute??? Surely, you must be joking!! So I promise to post as soon as things fizzle down a little bit.

On the good side of life, I have successfully completed watching all the Shield DVDs, and have found a wonderful way to watch the current season...details and love for Vic Mackey to follow shortly. Hugs and kisses and happy knitting to you all!

Whew!

2007-04-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

I am pooped, it has been a very long, rather rushed kind of a Tuesday. I had an eye doctor's appointment today (because the one from last week got screwed up!) and the day as been filled with general business. If it wasn't for the gratitude posts, I would not be here tonight.

So, without further delay, I present Five Things I am Grateful for tonight:

1. My dishwasher - Duh!

2. New eye glasses - won't be here for two weeks or so, but I am already grateful for the fact that thick frames are in, andthey hide the thickness of my lenses (see #3)

3. Being able to see, even if my prescription is so bad that my Optometrist informed me today they will never be able to make my vision 20/20...if they increased my prescription so that my vision would be 20/20, it would make me start to see double...I told him things are fine just the way they are, thank you very much!

4. Free samples - I say "free," but really I dropped $400 at the eye doctor's today, the least they could do is give me a free set of disposable contacts with some solution and a lens case, right? Any way, free things make me happy...I am a sucker for Clinique Bonus Time, let me tell 'ya.

5. Vision insurance - please see #4, and add on $475...that's what it would have cost me if I didn't have vision insurance. I don't even want to think about it. I shudder...

Well, this completes my day. I did not once today pick up any knitting or even touch yarn. I can't even remember the last time I did this, but I assure you it was quire some time ago.

Must. Go. To. Sleep.

Must. Not. Go. Start. Knitting. Must. Not......Zzzzz....Zzzz....

Monday Mania

2007-04-02T18:49:00.000-05:00

I have gotten soooo much stuff done today, even with having to go to work. It always amazes me, I leave the apartment dirty all weekend, and then wake up on Monday with a surge of energy to clean and organize. This sometimes leads to me looking at the clock and seeing that it is 7:45 and I have to leave the house in twenty minutes, and then panic quickly sets in.

Not today though! Today, I took a nice hot shower, cleaned the kitchen (including mopping the floor), made a pot of soup, did several banking transactions, did a fair whack of knitting whilst at work and have managed to stay awake until almost 8pm!!

In honor of this, I bring you an abridged 5 grateful things today. I feel these are things that require no real explanation.

1. Cheesecake

2. Honesty, and people who are honest by their nature. There is an important distinction, hard to put into words, but I know what I'm thinking.

3. Cell phones

4. My family coming to visit me (ask me how I feel about this one on Sunday around 3pm)

5. Watching DVDs on the laptop while taking a bubble bath.

I only mention #5 because I have not discovered that I am a capable enough knitter to avoid dunking my yarn in the tub water. At least with the DVDs in the tub, I can just sit back and relax and enjoy, no need to participate. Sometime a girl just has to tune out, 'ya know?

Peace and joyful knitting, I wish you all a wonderful evening, and seeing as there were no comments to Friday's post, I guess I don't have to give away any knitting. You're loss, it was going to be something beyond fantastic, the epitome of knitterly love, made with only the finest yarn and carefully executed and specifically counted stitches: you know, the kind of knitting I don't actually do, lol.

Just kidding, it was going to be a warshrag! Catch you on the flip!

Oops! I ALmost Forgot!

2007-04-01T20:27:00.000-05:00

I sooooo almost forgot to blog today's 5 grateful things list...that would have been pretty stinky of me. Sorry for the late post, but I have been busy doing not a whole heck of a lot. As we speak, I am actually on hold with Time Warner cable to inquire what the procedure/cost would be of me obtaining cable.

I am weak.

I am obsessed.

I am aware of these two qualities in myself and am working on making peace with them.

What can I say, you all know I love the Shieldy goodness, even more than I loathe Time Warner cable.

Anywho...5 Things I am Grateful for:

1. Paper and ink... I went yesterday to Staples to get a paper shredder, some plain white paper and an ink cartridge. All basic, tax deductible supplies. Didn't think much of it, until I loaded them into the car and realized that it would be that ink cartridge and that paper which would become the final version of my novel as I send it out to publishers and agents. I am that close, I just need to get my arse in gear and do it. Realizing this about that paper and that ink cartridge yesterday may have just been the kick I need.

2. Spring rain...Not so much because it will bring flowers later, I just really love when it starts raining in the spring and it isn't the freezing cold rain that makes you wish it was snowing instead. I wouldn't classify the rain we are currently experiencing as "warm," but it sounds nice outside, and it is warm enough that I can have the window open to listen to it and not be cold. Good enough for me!

3. New massage clients...There is just something so nice about working with someone for the first time; of having them decide they think enough of you as a professional to trust you to perform bodywork on them. Possible one of my favorite things about doing massage.

4. Relaxing Sunday afternoons...I spent most of today surfing blog to blog looking for WWWdot WEDNESDAYdotCOM fodder, and came across a lot of good blogs. Kinda makes me wonder if people do that and come across my blog and think I am cool, you know what I mean? At any rate, it was a very relaxing way to spend the late afternoon until I fell asleep in the knitting chair with El Perro Malo's stinky dog butt in my face. Don't ask.

5. Realizing Time Warner sucks monkey toes...to have BASIC cable, it costs almost $52 a month, and that's without any premium channels. PLUS a $27 hookup charge AND I would have to be home for them to do the installation. Um, no! There will be no Vic Mackey goodness flowing trough my cable lines any time soon. This is what people invented YouTube for anyway, right? I would not mind having to pay to watch the shows I want, but there's no way in hell I am paying that kind of $ to watch ONE FRICKIN' SHOW!!! Seriously people, I have yarn I need to buy. I must keep my priorities straight, after all. My judgement may be clouded, but I am not blind here. Sheesh!

Saturday Blogging!

2007-03-31T08:45:00.000-05:00

Can't remember the last time I blogged on a Saturday...its kind of nice not having to worry about hurrying up and getting in the shower to go to work. I really enjoy the leisureliness of my Saturday and Sunday mornings, only problem when I look up at the clock and see it is 7pm and I still haven't gotten out of my jammies. Oh well, we all need a break some times.

Five things to be grateful for:

1. Today is my last Passion Party...I have been doing the parties for almost four years, and it used to be a lot of fun. Lately though, not so much. I just don't enjoy doing them, and I haven't been doing as many or making as much money doing them as I used to. My credit card processing fees went WAY UP, so I decided to just stop the whole darn thing. Plus side is, since I decided to stop doing the parties, I have gotten two new massage clients through no real effort of my own. Close a window, open a door.

2. Realizing I don't have to be so busy all the time...There was a time, about four months ago, where I took great pleasure in being able to say I had five (5!) jobs...a) Office job b)Restaurant job c) massage business d) Passion Party business e) writing and trying to publish the book...and stupid me, I thought all of this was a good thing! Well, I have since gotten rid of b and after today, d will be done. I need a to pay the bills, and c and e make me so happy that they are things I do for myself. I'm still busy, but I don't feel that I have to fill my life up with things that are no longer congruous with what I want or who I want to be.

3. New shoes...specifically new running shoes. Please see #58...I have decided to start training to meet that goal today, first stop, new shoes! I found this great training schedule that seems totally do-able for me. My friend Gillian has suggested I "bump up" the goal to do this, and the training schedule would put me at the 5k mark at the correct time, we'll see. Can you knit and run at the same time, that might get me motivated to get out there and just do it.

4. Stash...odd thing to be grateful for, but, seeing as the parents are coming!!! the parents are coming!!!, I have been cleaning and organizing the whole apartment, and I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of stash I have. Not too much, but enough that I can cast on for many different projects with many different needles when the creative bug bites me on the arse. And, as of right now, it can all be contained in the "craft closet," notice I said "can," not "is." Don't look at me in that tone of voice, I like to see my pretty yarn. All. Over. The. Apartment. Keeps me motivated!

5. Waking up in the sunlight...I took the curtains off the bedroom window that faces my bed, and it is so nice waking up with the sun in my face. Better that than a dog's arse on my head or the alarm going off while it is still dark outside. That's one of my favorite things about Saturday!

Well, I'm off to go get new running shoes, some ink for my printer (So I can do my taxes this weekend - I mean it this time!) and a paper shredder. Odd combo I know, but hey!

Insert Your Own Title Here

2007-03-30T06:02:00.000-05:00

Can't think of a good title for this blog today, so feel free to sing out i the comments if you can think of one. I'll do a random drawing from the millions of entries I am sure to get, and give you some sort of free knitted goodness if I select your title. You have until 8am on Monday April 2, 2007 to get them into me. Winners announced Monday.

Now onto the gratefulness...

1. Bunnies...I saw a client last night, and while walking into my office, I saw a bunny munching on some early spring greens right in front of the door. Very apropos for this time of year, and it put me in such a wonderful mood for my session.

2. Aloe vera juice...it's like natural PeptoBismal, only instead of "binding you up" as my grandmother would say, it relieves the belly discomforts while keeping the system running smoothly, no pun intended. That's it for the poopy talk today. Promise.

3.Checking the toilet paper...I said it was the end of poopy talk, not potty talk - there is a difference. I have had some problems as of late with the management company who owns my apartment building. I asked them to switch the light bulbs in the bathroom light because based on where the light is mounted and the way my counter comes out, I couldn't do it myself. Instead of switching the bulbs, they switched the whole light fixture, and in doing so, they removed my only outlet in the bathroom. Fast forward a week of having no outlet in the bathroom, I come home, find the dog had been let out of his bedroom prison, and started to wonder if someone was in the apartment ready to kill me because I hadn't been told they were coming over to work on anything that day. But I saw the pink work slip on the kitchen table and then felt a little safer. I took the dog out, came back in so I could tinkle myself, and fortunately, I look at the toilet paper before I use it, because they had in fact replaced my light switch in the bathroom to now include an outlet. Problem is that the outlet is right over my TP holder, and there were bits and pieces and giant chunks of plaster all over the cottony soft goodness of my premium TP. Good thing I checked before using, huh? Big chunks of plaster, not such a good thing on TP.

4. People liking hand knit stuff...one of the ladies at the new job retired yesterday, so I knit her a warshrag and filled it with some Burt's Bees samples that I have. Quick, simple, easy and cheap, and she loved it. Kind of goes without saying that if what you knit is not hideous or overwhelmingly scratchy, the people you make it for will like it. They may not appreciate all the work you put into the tiny stitches, but they will like it, and that counts for a lot!

5. Peaches 'n Cream cotton yarn...please see #4. I am seriously grateful for this yarn and intend to buy large quantities of it in the near future. Spell it with me kids, S-T-A-S-H!!!

Camera news update...sorry for the lack of pictures and knitting content. The camera situation should be resolved this weekend, keep your eyes peeled for a picture heavy post sometime in the next few days!

1-5 in Under 9

2007-03-29T06:21:00.000-05:00

Think I can blog 5 things I am grateful for in les than 9 minutes?

Here goes:

1. My car - I totally love my car in all its Toyota goodness. Sometimes I wish she were a hybrid, but then again, if need be, I can fold down my back seat and sleep comfortably. That has to count for a lot.

2. The birds are back in the trees outside my bedroom window. In the early morning now, it sounds like I am in the middle of a woodland forest, and I love it!!!

3. Going to the eye doctor's today to get new glasses! Super excited for this one (and grateful) because I now have decent vision insurance, and I am probably going to be saving close to $300.

4. Being healthy. Cheesy, I know, but it wasn't that long ago that I had a lot of problems with my tummy and my digestive health. I went for acupuncture this weekend, and had a mild return of my old symptoms ( I think it was just the old energy finally moving out of my system), and it has made me SOOOO grateful that I don't feel like that everyday anymore.

5. Libraries. Need I say more? There is just something wonderful about a place where you take things, learn from them and/or are able to be entertained by them, and then you bring them back...and its totally free! So much knowledge, just waiting on the shelves to be checked out.

Whew... I did it! Doesn't matter, I'll still probably be late to work ; )

I Don't Want to Be Late!

2007-03-28T05:55:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is a quick post to say that I don't have time to do a full post, BUT I wanted to get something up here before I left for work. Today's WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM is actually a very entertaining article that I found, thought you may enjoy it, I know I did! It doesn't say for certain they are knitting, but even if it is the dreaded crochet that they are doing, still pretty frickin' cool!

Five things I am Grateful For, Day #2

1. The new boy I met on Sunday wished me "sweet dreams," the other night while we were instant messaging...that is one of the needy chick things that I have done in the past which, I am certain, has led to the breakdown of a future possible relationship. I am so happy he did it first! And, c'mon, how sweet is that??!!!

2. The Shield...I watched the first four episodes of The Shield season five last night, and let me tell you, Kenny Johnson was breaking my heart (in a good way). If it wasn't for the fact that he was born the same day (and year) as my mother, I may have to fall completely in love with him, but seeing as he is technically old enough to be my father, he kinda falls into the category of people who are older than my mother who I am not allowed to date. Plus I think he is already married. And he's famous. He may also live in California. Doesn't mean I can't fall in love, lol! Seriously, fantastic acting with a very moving story line - god I love the Shieldy goodness!!

3. I ordered the software to do my taxes with. Lets find the gratitude in being able to afford the software, and having the opportunity to spend all weekend engaged in doing math and using a calculator. Can you knit and add at the same time? I'll let you know Monday! And I just decided, if the refund is more than $500, I am buying a ball winder - YEAH!

4. My apartment is relatively clean, and with having the windows open, the winter funk is really starting to get out of here. Finally, it is really starting to feel like Spring!

5. I am doing my last Passion Party on Saturday. I will post more on why this is a good thing at a later date, but suffice it to say, I am grateful for the opportunity to wrap that business up and focus on this one.

Hey wow, it turned into a full post! Once I get on a roll, I just can't stop...well, I am off to the showers, the post office, possible the library, and work. Peace out, it's going to be a grateful day!

Gratitude

2007-03-27T06:02:00.000-05:00

So, I decided that I am going to change/add #35 to the list...

35. I will do at least one thing to get myself towards one of my 101 goals every day.

This could be knitting a row on a mitten, or writing a page in the new novel. Could be reading a page in one of the many books I have on my To Read List, or it could be staying up all night tonight watching The Shield season 5 DVDs which will be delivered today. Mmmm, Vic Mackey goodness....

I have also decided to give a run at #94, Keeping a Gratitude journal for two weeks. I figure by writing it down in a book, it would force me to go buy a new journal at Borders, and why spend the money on a new journal when I can do it for free on here, and plus, its good blog fodder. So, I will be back for two full weeks you lucky readers.

In no particular order, here are five things I am grateful for right now:

1. The ducks are back in the pond next to my building.

2. It is warm enough so that I can leave the windows open and hear the ducks outside. Also, how nice is it to open the house up in the spring and air it out??

3. My heat is off. (Duh, I have the windows open, did you think I was trying to heat the whole outside?)

4. I have lost track of how many knitting projects I have on the needles. I love having enough yarn, needles, and inspiration to be able to say that.

5. Organic dry beans. Seriously, I made a pot of kick-ass organic lentil soup with barley and carrots...whole pot of soup, probably cost me less than $4. How can you not love that? Healthy, filling and cheap!

Well, I do have more things to be grateful for, but I also have another thirteen days to go, so I have to save some things for later, right? Happy knitting kids, see you on the Kniternet!

PS - Please don't notice the lack of pictures, sorry...working on it!

Hip Hip Hooray for Mondays!

2007-03-26T06:08:00.000-05:00

Yeah, not really in the mood for today, so I am faking it. The alarm went off at 6am (hey, I am trying to be more productive), so I of course woke up and hit the snooze for another 30 minutes. Not that it mattered because El perro malo decided that it was time for him to get up, go in and out and in and out of the covers and try to sit on my head.

Yeah....

So I woke up, and discovered that my chin is trying to grow another head for me. I have the largest, most painful pimple-y thing. One of those blind ones that really hurts and makes me just want to stay in the house and hide all day with my knitting. But, I am already leaving work early to go the eye doctor's this week, and I can't really afford another sick day, especially one for a pimple, so...Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its Off To Work I Go.

But, I am bringing new yarn to cast on for a new project, the Felted Messenger bag from Knitting for Peace (NOT Peace Knits as I am so apt to call it). Simple garter and stockinette in the round, moron knitting perfect for work. I have a hard time with the sock knitting at work because the DPNs get caught in my fingerless mitts of alpaca joy and then they don't work too good, so I need larger needles, preferably circulars, to avoid the problem.

Well, I gots to go get ready for work. There is no need to do my hair today gentle readers, because I have date hair left over from yesterday. Yes, you read that correctly: I had a date yesterday with a boy who was attractive, tall, smart and not at all weird, and the kick in the arse is that I had a good time! Keep your fingers (and your needles) crossed, this could lead to my first second date in over a year! Damn, this might REALLY cut into the knitting time...maybe we could go to the yarn shop for our second date, think he'd like that??

PS - My restraint overwhelms me. I neither ordered cable, nor purchased a new digital camera, even though it is apparent that I NEED them both. Aren't you proud, I know I am!

What's Missing?

2007-03-23T06:15:00.000-05:00

First of all, big shout outs to my anonymous lawyer friend for her comment yesterday - of course I will let you help me with my will, what else are friends with a law degree good for?

Secondly, you may have noticed that there are no better pictures of any better knitting, and it not for a lack of better knitting. Think it is safe to say my camera has taken it's last focussed picture. I need to play with it this weekend to make sure, but I am sad because I can ill afford a new camera now, but I do have a lot of available credit...I intend to use pictures in a new writing project I am working on, so if I end up selling said writing project, I would be able to claim it as a tax deduction.

Speaking of which, I still need to do my taxes. Let us speak of it no more, but if you see me out and about in the world, feel free to hit me and give me a dirty look to prompt me into action.

And then speaking of action, season five of The Shield will be coming to me from Netfilx sometime next week. Dear lawd I can't wait, even though I know the major plot twist of the season is going to make me very sad and want to cry and stuff. I won't tell you what it is because I feel like I would like to be able to go into the season not already knowing what will happen, but my impatience led me to YouTube, and well, I clicked my way to finding out the ending. I deliberately did not link to YouTube so that you can hopefully avoid my mistakes.

I am actually considering getting cable again so that I can watch The Shield when the new season starts April 3rd.

Seriously considering it.

I may be calling Time Warner this weekend just to see how long it will take them to get it installed and if there is a fee (I think because I already have basic cable, all they have to do is flip a switch someplace outside, but I could be wrong). Of course, for the price of having cable for the four months that the show will be on for, I will probably be able to buy the entire DVD set of the series when the show is all done.

But like I said, I have available credit and a 12 year old school girl crush on Vic Mackey, so whats stopping me?

If Warshrags are Wrong, I Don't Want to be Right

2007-03-22T06:15:00.001-05:00

Wanna see what I did at work the other day???

I was able to accomplish the casting on, pattern design, knitting and casting off of an entire washcloth while filling idle time at work on Monday - God sometimes I loves me job!

The picture is terrible, and I apologize, I have the very bad feeling my camera may have pooed the bed so to speak. She is an old camera and has taken many fine pictures, but she is wide and heavy and cumbersome, and now with her lack of clear picture taking ability, it may be time to donate her to my little brother to destroy. Alas, we shall see what type of shape she is in before next month's planned excursion to NYC.

Speaking on NYC, this week's WWWdot WEDNESDAYdotCOM (brought to you a day late because I HAVE NO FREAKIN' IDEA WHAT DAY IT IS) is going to seem a little silly in an obvious way to those of you who are knitters, but for those of you who are my friends and have not wandered over to the Blogs I Am Reading toolbar to click on some knit-blog wonderfullness.... I present to you The Harlot. She makes me proud to be a Canadian-American and a knitter and a woman. She is in NYC for the launch of her newest book, and it is set to be a rockin' good time in Gotham today. I am sorry only that I did not plan my life better and kidnap a friendly knitter or two to drive down there with to represent.

See, this is where having the job is bad, because if I was still at the restaurant, I could just get the night off, reschedule my clients and drive on down. But I couldn't knit while working at the restaurant, so I guess things all work out in the end, huh?

More better pictures of more better knitting if the camera permits. Go see the Harlot (seriously, if you Google "Harlot," she is the first thing that comes up - no joke!) and marvel at the number of comments she gets...kind of makes a knit blogger think that she should get some comments, sniff, sniff, sob, sob!! I know you guys are reading, so come on, show me the love...or buy me some yarn, whichever, I'm flexible!

Happy Spring!

2007-03-20T06:26:00.000-05:00

And that's all I have to say about that!

Thanks to Gillian for the picture of her b-e-a-u-tiful orchid. You can see more pretty pictures of them here.

And Then There Were None

2007-03-19T06:37:00.000-05:00

For a very brief time yesterday, I had no cast on knitting... I finally finished all of the things I had cast on when the 101 in 1001 started, and yesterday at about 5:45 pm while the screenwriter commentary track was playing on the Little Miss Sunshine DVD, I grafted the toe on the last Sockotta Sock.

Twas a glorious feeling.

I promptly cast on three new projects and added yarn to my work bag so I could cast on a warshrag for an upcoming baby tomorrow while at work.

What? Don't read me like that. This is one thing off the list that made me look at who I am and decide I don't want to change. I like having options of things to knit and yarn to work with.

Fickleness, thy name is Kniternet.

PS - Pictures tomorrow, I promise!

Guess What Day It Is???!!!

2007-03-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

Your weekly post of another post is here, Happy Wednesday.

This is one of the blogs I really wait for, Crazy Aunt Pearl, totally one of my favorites, and her post for today is really what I think knitting (and family) should be about. Check it out, you'll be happy you did.

And on my own home front, I got word today the fam is coming for a visit, so you may want to make sure that the earth hasn't stopped spinning. Wish me luck as I begin the month long cleaning process. This is really gong to cut into the knitting time, dammit, but it will be nice to see them, and not have to drive four hours each way to do it. Happy knitting kiddies, see you on the kniternet!

Muggles

2007-03-12T06:21:00.000-05:00

So, ya'll have seen my delicious green wrist warmers, and you know how much I love them and that they are not only a fashion statement, but I NEED them to keep my wrists warm and my carpal tunnels loosey goosey, right???

Well, I had a meeting at work with my manager a little while back, and he looked at me with complete sincerity in his eyes, and asked if I was cold. Of course, my first thought was if the headlights were on (if you know what I mean) because, frankly, I have worked in restaurants for ten years, and that question is normally followed by a downwards glance towards the nippage area. But no, I am in the corporate world which is free from sexual harassment and innuendos...my manager thought I was cold because I always had my wrist warmers on, and couldn't think of any reason to wear them other than because I was cold. Ever hear of fashion, ever hear of being "hip"? Actually, my boss is a pretty cool guy, so I gots to cut him some slack, maybe he just needs to be around more knitters, but then again who couldn't benefit from being around more knitters???

On a super positive note, I am down to only two projects on the needles - Sockotta socks and the green shawl - one for work, one for home. I went to the yarn store yesterday, and purchased yarn for the Peace Knits felted messenger tote and also some black Pima cotton/silk blend for a beanie type hat. My goal is to have both current projects off the needles by the end of this week, and I want to make sure I have proper encouragement to get on with it.

Also in the positive column, I have finally learned enough at work that I can actually knit while I am on the phone, listening to the elderly drone on about their medical problems and how "you people" screwed this, that or the other up...a couple of rows really takes the edge off sometimes, 'ya know?

Well kids, it is 7:30, time to hop to it and get my arse in the shower. Peace out, happy knitting, and may all of the yarn you really, really want be on sale.

WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM x 2

2007-03-07T21:59:00.000-05:00

Today's post brought late to you by my lack of early morning motivation, and the delivery of some Shieldy goodness this evening...God I heart that show...

Any way, since I skipped last week, I bring you one fan-frickin'tastic blog and one uber-website that you may or may not have come across.

The first is www.whipup.net, all over entertaining crafty ideas and fun good times. Lots of great links within that site as well.

And, in case you have been living under a rock, or are a non-knitter, the Spring Issue over at www.knitty.com has come out, and if Knitty can't convince you that you want to knit, I don't know what will.

And, with that note, I leave you so that I may peruse the new Knitty and listen to some The Shield commentaries. Peace out kiddies, happy knitting and long live Vic Mackey..mmm,mmm, I love the Shieldy Goodness!!!!

Looky looky loo!

2007-03-05T07:19:00.000-05:00

Look what I did!!!!

Slight modifications/mistakes made to the pattern include adding extra stitches and waist shaping to the back, making it a keyhole instead of a V-neck, and I also didn't crochet the edges - I did a mattress stitch around the arm holes and left the neck plain; size 10 needles with ???? "mill ends" acrylic yarn from AC Moore (even though it is acrylic, I still really like this yarn).

How cute am I??? That isn't a rhetorical question people - comment damn you!! (And for those of you who don't know me, I do have another side of my body [duh, without another side how could I knit??!!], I do not, however, have the patience to try and take a good picture of myself. I promise the sweater looks the same on the other side too.)

Love,

The knitter who finally made something she can wear and only has two things left to finish knitting before she can cast on for a **NEW** project!

Malo Perro Walks on (Frozen) Water

2007-03-02T07:15:00.000-05:00

I just took The Dog out for his morning walk, and there is about 1/2 an inch of ice on top of the foot or so of snow that is left over from Valentine's Day. The poor dog has had to content himself with walking along the shoveled pathways and around the fire hydrant where they had to shovel out the snow (yes, I know how cliche it is for a dog to tinkle on a fire hydrant).

Well, today, in a fit of blinding dare-devilness, my little baby climbed up on top of the snow, walked about five feet into the yard, tinkled, and then came running back at me like his tail was on fire. Just as he was about to get to the shovelled sidewalk, he fell through the snow and then skidded on the sidewalk, landing up against the snowbank on the other side of the sidewalk. Poor little baby...

Maye two weeks DOESN'T make a habit...

2007-03-01T06:58:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I have been a bad, bad blogger. Actually, it is more correct to say that working this 9-5 job just has my schedule all screwed up and is driving me nuts. I can't get up early enough in the morning to accomplish much of anything, by the time I get home at night, it's all I can do to fix myself dinner and not fall asleep in the knitting chair at 7:30pm. And the weekends, don't even get me started on the weekends. All I want to do is snuggle on the couch and knit. Now with the added benefit of Netflix occasionally delivering me episodes of yummy Vic Mackey goodness, I am helpless to actually perform meaningful tasks.

On the upside though, I bring you pictures and explanations.

Picture #1 - Living Room Afghan - DONE!!

Picture #2 - Green Sweater (Front only - DONE!!)

What I had planned to do with this:

...just wasn't working so I frogged and began anew - so far, I am VERY pleased with the results. Since this is considered the "green sweater" for list purposes, I do not consider the fact that I technically cast on for a new project as interfering with the list. I must tell you though, casting on for something else was a joyous occasion - when its time for the second Sockotta sock, I promise you no danger of 2nd Sock Syndrome.

3. Mod Podge Goodness, Part Uno (the Desk) **more on this at a later date

Yes, I realize it is practically on the floor - there is a method to my madness which you are not privy to at the moment. All will be clear in time my sweets.

And last, but not least, Mod Podge Goodness Version 1.0 (The Necklace)

This was made by printing out a copy of The List on several different pages of co-ordinating scrap book paper. I then cut out the individual goals into 1/4 - 1/2" strips, covered them in Mod Podge, rolled them around a 1.5mm DPN and left them to dry. They came out lovely, and I was getting ready to string them up on a necklace, when I noticed there were only 99 beads. I checked the list, and was surprised to find out that I never included a #35 or #41.

So, I have been waiting to decide what to do about the two missing goals before I finish up the necklace. Any suggestions??

Other than all of that, not much is new around la Casa del perro malo, I have a massage client today, so I am super excited, might get together for an impromptu S&B tomorrow night with my friends J and K...who knows what will happen. Most likely though, I will probably spend my weekend cuddled on the couch with my poorly socialized and ill behaved dog, knit and watch The Shield. And I wonder why I am still single...

At Least I've Been Knitting!

2007-02-27T07:06:00.001-05:00

Sorry I disappeared from blogland, but I promise I have been doing a whack of wonderful things with two pointy sticks and LOTS of string.

Since I last posted, I have finished the 4 ply Living Room Afghan. By finish, I do mean I finished knitting and binding it off, but did not weave in the ends. C'mon, you know me, don't act so surprised.

I also decided the green sweater I had started wasn't going to work into something wearable, despite my best laid plans. To that end, the tube I had knitted for the body/waist area was frogged and I cast on for this little cutie. When I say "cast on," I mean I spent Sunday watching 8 episodes of The Shield, 4 DVD commentaries, and knitting my little heart out. Needless to say, I got almost the entire front done, and I finished it up last night. The back is straight St st, but I am thinking of trying to work the cables around to the back - we'll see how that one works out for me.

There was also some miscellaneous crafting and cleaning done this weekend - pictures of which are to follow tomorrow with www .wednesday.com - Peace out peeps!

WorldWideWonderful.Wednesdays.Community

2007-02-21T09:20:00.000-05:00

Greetings my dear readers. I had a fantastic idea, and I am now going to share it with all of you!!

It is called WorldWideWonderful .Wednesday.Community, (or www . Wednesday . com for short- written that way because the link that will sprout up if I type it the other way brings you to some weird site). What I am going to do on every Wednesday, instead of doing a full on blog, is to select one of my favorite blogs, and set up a link so you can go and check it out too.

The beauty of this, is that I am hoping to prompt some of the lurkers out there (myself included) into commenting and getting the word out there on other fun, exciting blogs that we all may want to read about. So, without further ado, my first www . Wednesday . com posting is... Concateknit. Her post today is especially funny, and for those of you who know about me and my public restroom fetish, you will get a definite kick out of this! Happy clicking and I'll see you guys on the kniternet!

PS - Mod Podge goodness for tomorrow, I promise...oh, and btw, I can't do math. Look at the list, and tell me if you see something (or two-thing) missing...

I thought I could do it

2007-02-19T19:23:00.000-05:00

I thought that after two weeks of solid, straight through blogging, the last thing I would want to do today is blog, but here I am...blogging.

It was hard NOT to blog this morning when I woke up, almost like I was missing out on something important. And now, the TV is on, but nothing seems like anything I want to watch. Just making me think about how you get used to things being the way they are and then when they change, you don't know what to do with yourself.

So, I'm thinking I am going to turn off the TV, start reading a book and maybe do some writing tonight a little later on. What ever I do, at least I know my toesies will be all warm and snugly - God I love these socks!!!

Think I can walk around barefoot at work tomorrow??

2007-02-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

Look what I did!!! (finally)

My very first pair-o-socks! I would like to thank my friend Gillian for being the knitter who started the club that got me around other knitters who made me want to do things besides knit scarves and baby blankets, and also The Yarn Harlot for writing a very simple and straightforward "recipe" for socks in this book.

I even went back and Kitchener stitched the toe on the first sock "the right way." Originally, I mis-read the sock recipe, and though it said to Kitchener stitch 8 stitches together (4+4), but it is two sets of 8 stitched (8+8), hence the wonkiness on the first toe. Oh, but they are beautiful now, and my feet feel slightly unworthy, like maybe I should shave my legs and paint my toes pretty colors to make them look pretty enough to be put into these socks. Please don't any of you hold your breath while waiting for that to happen!

I also went back and turned this:

Into this:

I cut almost a foot off the handle and then did a three needle bind off with the stitches. I thought about Kitchener stitching it, but it just didn't look right. I am now so in love with this bag - I wished it matched my socks so I could wear them together tomorrow, but it doesn't, and I don't care...Fashion/matching be damned, I am knitter, look at me knit and not match and wear Spring Socks with a brick/wheat colored bag while rockin' out with a pair of green alpaca wrist warmers...Any funny looks I get tomorrow will only be because people are jealous of my krazee kool style and knitting ability, at least that is what I am going to tell myself!

Peace out kids!

Two week finish line

2007-02-18T07:40:00.000-05:00

Well, the first of my two week adventures are over today. I've gone two weeks with blogging everyday, and two weeks without watching TV, although I must admit that I have been watching The Shield DVDs for the last few days, BUT that is on my list to do also, and therefore it is okay (even though I think when all of my DVD watching requirements have been met, I may go another 2 weeks completely unplugged, we'll see).

Today is a day for me to go through and clean the apartment and take a look at the list and see how I am doing on it. I have it set up for myself so that Sunday's are for taking stock of what was last week and looking forward to what will be in the new week. On the agenda for today, we have a fair amount of cleaning to do, followed by some laundry and vacuuming. I have to cook up some beans and rice for the upcoming week for dinner, and I might make some cookies or something. As far as knitting is concerned, the socks come off the needles today - all I have to do is finish the toe decreases and sew 'er up! The afghan grew about a foot last night whilst I watched The Shield DVDs, Good Times! I have some marketing I want to go over for my massage practice and some pone calls to make, so it looks like today is going to be a super busy day - I better get to it! I promise to post pictures of the finished socks as soon as they are done - 2 posts in one day, you lucky duck(s)!

I'm So Smucking Fart!

2007-02-17T09:05:00.000-05:00

Look what I did!!!

The Forgotten About bag is the first one done (and slightly felted) off the list!

I'm not sure if I am most proud of the knitting, or of having FINALLY figured out how to get my g-darn pictures on here, where I want them!!! Either way, I rock!

Seeing as I can now load up the post with pictures and therefore, do less actual typing, I present for you, a gallery of UFOs (as was noted in the comments yesterday by my dear friend Alicia, not everyone who reads this blog is a knitter, although I am working on converting them all...UFO stands for un-finished object, i.e. still on the needles, and as for felting, info on that can be found here).

UFO #1 - Spring socks, EFD (estimated finish date - tomorrow, seriously)

UFO #2 - Sockotta Socks, EFD - ? (these are work knitting and will most likely be the last thing that actually gets finished up, however I do love the yarn in a slightly unhealthy way)

UFO #3 - 4 Play Living Room Afghan, EFD - next week (again, seriously. I joined Netfilx again, and have started ordering the Shield DVDs, and got my first shipment yesterday. Not sock knitting stuff, so as soon as the Spring Socks are done, the afghan , Vic Mackey and I are cozying up on the couch)

UFO #4 - Green Shawl, EFD - two hanks of yarn later (I am working four rows on this bad boy a day until the other two hanks I have of the yarn are gone. There is a baby sweater I want to make out of the yarn I made this shawl with, so there needs to be some figurin' over how much I'll need for that before I can really go to town on the shawl)

UFO #5 - Green Sweater, EFD - probably when I decide I really want to knit something else and this is the only thing standing in my way (I think I know what I am going to do with this, but haven't figured it out 100%...good news is, there is lots-o-yarn for this one!!)

So there you have it, you are now all up to date on my knitting mis-adventures. When all of this stuff is done, I have two babies to knit for (small things for both of them), and then I think I am going to start working on my parent's Christmas gift. Yeah, I typed Christmas gift. I am going to get the yarn today!!! Wish me luck, and yes, I know it's only February, but when the yarn is on sale, you go!

Felt me baby, one more time

2007-02-16T07:01:00.000-05:00

Truly, to be sure, knitting is what I do to relieve stress, not cause it.

Remember when I talked about the UFO bag that I found in the yarn closet from last summer, well, it had always been my intention to felt it. I finished knitting it on Wednesday, and left the end sewing in until last night. So, in an uncharacteristic display of knitterly attentiveness, I actually wove the ends in last night and thought to myself, "Smart, fun, attractive lady, why don't you felt this bag tonight with some of your jeans you have to wash anyway??"

And so my adventure began.

I learned several things during last night's felting adventure. In random order, here they are:

1. Felting makes me nervous. I actually sat in the laundry room of my apartment building in a fold up chair so that I could be there to listen in case something made a weird sound or the washing machine caught on fire. The big lump in my belly, not a nice feeling!

2. If my neighbors had come into the building and seen me sitting in the laundry room, knitting a sock and watching and listening to the washing machine, I would have been very, very embarrassed. Thank mohair that didn't happen.

3. The yarn I wasn't sure if it would felt, didn't felt. I tried felting a strand of it, and it seemed like it would work, and if I had left the whole thing in longer, it may have, but I am impatient.

4. The other yarn did felt, quite nicely by the way.

5. You CAN put knitting in the dryer!!! (Don't try this at home kids, always get parental supervision)

6. My dryer only needs half an hour to dry three pairs of jeans an one hand knit bag; the other half an hour is just enough time to get all the fuzz/lint off a load of freshly washed laundry and get most of the wrinkles out so I can hang the clothes to dry completely. This will save me mucho dinero seeing as it costs me $1.45 for one load in the washer, and $1.45 for one load in the dryer. More money to put in the yarn jar!!!

7. Since the wheat colored yarn didn't felt so much, the strap is waaaaaayyyy too long, however, there are presently some options I am considering. Among them are:

A. Not care (not a good option)
B. Tie a knot in the strap to shorten it up
C. Grow so the strap doesn't seem so long (I like this one!!!)
D. Give the bag away to someone taller (snicker, laugh, choke! um, no...)
E. Do something I never do which is go back and fix a knitting mistake because not
fixing it will make me sad and not love the bag as much. I just need to take about
six inches off the strap and sew it back together. Totally within my knitterly skill
set to do.

And so, later on this evening, I will embark on my first project rescue mission, because people, I am in love with this bag. I am in love with felting and the possibilities it opens up and the way it beats the yarn into submission and makes something so very different from what you started out with. Washing machine as a cocoon for metamorphosis, kind of makes you wonder what else is possible in the world, huh, if your washing machine and a little soap can create so much change?

Peace out peeps, it's the first day in a while I don't need to shovel off the car, so I'm taking an extra long hot shower this morning. See you on the kniternet!

PS - Still having camera issues, hence the lack - o - pics, but I am working on it, promise. I have not forgotten to show you the Mod Podge goodness : )

I Heart Winter, NOT!

2007-02-15T07:02:00.000-05:00

Yeah, it snowed...boy o boy did it snow. At least principal snowfall has ended, now we just get to deal with the blowing and drifting. Somebody, please, tell me why I don't move someplace warm, or run away to be a massage therapist on a cruise ship. Somebody, please??

At any rate, they let us out of work at 1pm yesterday, which would have been a lovely gesture had we not been spending all morning watching from the sixth floor windows as all sorts of cars and SUVs got stuck in the snow in the flat parking lot. Kind of a bad sign when a SUV can't get through snow on a flat surface, maybe that would have been a good time to send us home. It took me almost 30 minutes to drive 5 miles, but I made it home safe and sound.

Once nestled inside my warm and cozy abode (haha, snicker, snicker - You all know the only time my "abode" is ever warm and cozy is when it's summer and I am too cheap to turn on the AC, right? It was a rockin' 62* in here as usual.), I watched Fight Club and knit my little heart out in honor of Valentine's day. I finished the long ago forgotten about bag I started last summer. It definitely needs to be felted, but I have a terrible feeling that one of the yarns I used may not be 100% wool, so the felting might not happen. I have a rescue plan devised if it wont felt, which involves picking up stitches and adding a seed stitch border and re-doing the handle in seed stitch also. (And please don't worry, I am going to make a swatch to felt before I throw the whole darn thing in the washer, geez, I'm not that much of a newbie...)

All a knitter needs is a plan, right? Happy knitting kids, I for the second time in two days, get to go shovel off the car. Drive safe, and knit wildly! Peace out.

Winter arives! And a V-Day rant!

2007-02-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

Thank you for visiting Karen on the Kniternet. Your hostess cannot come to the blog right now, seeing as her half an hour in the morning before work blog-time is being taken up by shoveling snow off her car. Please join your hostess in welcoming winter, and in the same breath, telling it that it can go back to where it came from.

Stupid snow...makes me have to shovel : (

On this Valentine's Day, I would just like to say, that I do wish I had a love muffin to spread my buttery spread on (if you know what I mean), but more importantly, I wish I had someone to shovel off my car for me and take the dog outside to tinkle when it is hella-crappy out like this. Just a reminder to all those whiny people out there who will complain that their sweetie pie forgot, or didn't get them what they wanted...IT'S A MADE UP HOLIDAY DESIGNED TO SELL GREETING CARDS!!!!!!! Get over it, and then get over yourself. If your love muffin does nice, everyday things for you, try and find the love in that, and go buy yourself a box of chocolate, or better yet - buy some yarn. And if you still have some time left, wanna come shovel out my car???

Happy Valentine's Day, and remember, it isn't your muffin's fault they forgot Valentine's Day, it's Hallmark's fault for thinking the whole stupid thing up! Happy knitting!!!

PS - I created this post last night, BUT, I am writing this PS today, so this does, in my mind, constitute "blogging" for today, and my uninterrupted streak continues.

Damn camera!

2007-02-13T07:18:00.000-05:00

I have wasted over half of my blogging time this morning trying to figure out how to get the little pictures in my camera out, and in to my laptop. Twas not a success.

Therefore, gentle reader(s), twill be a short blog.

I have nothing to tell you about the knitting except, it continues. I am not particularly in love with any of the projects I am working on, but because of the list, I must persevere, I simply must. There are felted messenger bags and mittens in my future, and I must make my way towards them.

The list is progressing nicely, and I have been getting some input and suggestions. One of the most marvelous things is that I have been going to my writer's group again, and have really started working on editing and polishing the last novel, and I have also started writing on the next one. So far, both endeavours are going well, and the ideas for the new story are flowing pretty smoothly. When I sit down to write, I usually have no specific thought in mind (you may have noticed this by reading the blog), but the ideas magically spring forward out of the recesses of my mind. In the past, the only times this happened were between 10am - 2pm and again from 11pm-2pm.

This schedule of creativity is not conducive to my 9-5 job, and so, I have been spending the better part of the last two months figuring out when it was that my body wanted to write. So far, consensus is 9pm - 11pm is the answer. I've got my groove, I've got my general story outline (it's all in my head!), and I got some encouragement last night at my group, so I'm all set to rock this party out...

...see you on the best seller's list, I'll be the short one knitting! **

** (Something tells me there may, in fact, be lots of other short women knitting that are on the best seller's list, I mean have you been to a bookstore lately and looked in the "crafts/knitting section," it's kind of out of control. Point being, I may not be the only one there, but I will be in good company!)

Why me???

2007-02-12T07:17:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I figured out how to put the pictures in throughout the post, THEN I went and figured out how to "fix" my camera (something about the "new" batteries I put in just weren't doing the trick - it would let me take one picture, and then the camera would shut off...new new batteries took care of the problem), and now, I can't get the pictures to download from the camera onto the laptop. I'm starting to notice a trend.

So, without nay a picture to show you, I will tell you what I am working on.

Old stuff.

Old stuff I'm not sure I really wasn't to be working on, but I have to get #78 crossed off before I can move on to any new knitting. So, I have developed a knitting plan. This plan is somewhat similar to the plan I established for Christmas 2006, which was a very successful plan.

This week, I am finishing up the Spring Socks. They will, in fact, be my first finished pair of socks - EVER!!! I am so proud! I am going to leave the Sockotta socks at work, and I am going to make myself do 4 rows on the shawl a day until it's done. As for the afghan, as soon as I am allowed to watch TV again, that will be done in three evenings, if not less.

The sweater is a different story, because I have no pattern and am not sure what I am doing with it, but I have ideas, and that's all a knitter really needs, right? Which brings us to the fact that I found something else - a bag that I wanted to felt - that has been sitting in my closet since last summer. That might get bumped up to work knitting because it is just St St worked in the round on large needles, one of my favorite kinds of knitting.

Well, now that you all know what a fickle knitter I am and how undedicated I am to my MANY knitting projects - I bid you good morning. I have a camera/computer problem that needs to be addressed. Mod Podge tomorrow??

Sunday, Sunday...

2007-02-11T08:39:00.000-05:00

Hi! Sunday's are for being lazy, and for being crafty. I have a client today, which means I will be forced to take a shower and put on clean clothes and drag my arse up to Clifton Park, BUT it also means I can go here to buy groceries!!! Is it sad that I am actually excited about that?

Someone suggested to me a way to fix the picture problem I was having, so I bring you some oldies but goodies, i.e. Christmas presents from 2006.

These are scarves made for my little cousins, who are all under the age of five. They are made out of a continuously cut strip of fleece, and are super warm and fuzzy. Cutting the fleece was a total pain in the bum, but they came out so cute and the boys love them (and actually wear them), so that is all that matters, right? The pattern can be found here, and I just modified it by adding a key-hole so my aunts could really tie those suckers on the kids.

Next Christmas 2006 knitting picture is one of my favorite things! It is the first blanket/throw I ever made, AND it was for my grandparents so that makes it extra special.

It was knit with three strands held together, I used Lion Brand Thick and Quick (the cream color) and a pink and a bluish-grey Wool Ease. Just basic St St worked with a garter border and some tassels. It worked up quick, the grandparents loved it, and it assured my place as the favorite grandchild for another year to come.

Well, it appears that I have managed to learn how to put my photos in throughout the post. It was something simple called "cutting and pasting," anyone ever heard about that? Sometimes, I am so computer illiterate. Well, now that we have THAT problem, taken care of, I am off to work on my camera issues, because I have been working on something that needs to be photographed. Hint: it does involve a knitting needle (size 00 dpn), but involves no yarn.

Two words for you: Mod Podge!

Happy knitting kiddies!

Saturday in bed

2007-02-10T10:21:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning, right at 9am and had that funny feeling that I had slept in. Such a wonderful feeling...

After taking Mr. Kendall out to tinkle, I decided to declare Saturday in bed day, and have promptly amassed every thing I need to spend the rest of the day in bed - my laptop, my knitting, a whole bunch of books, and of course, a snuggly Mr. Kendall.

It is going to be a good day!

I am going to knit, and write, and read, and listen to NPR, and heat up some vegetarian pasta e fagioli soup later with some crusty bread. Does it get any better than this? I think not.

On another positive note, I went out to dinner with a bunch of friends from massage school last night, and not only did I not order an entree that had meat in it, I didn't want to order an entree that had meat in it, and to be blunt, we are currently in the one week out of the month wherein I usually demand to be fed meat. Most frequently, it is red meat too.

I think I have been eating vegetarian for a while now, just not consciously. I think the last time I sat down to eat something and knew it contained meat was almost a month ago, and let me tell you, I got hella-sick the next day (damn chicken sandwich tasted good though!). We'll see how well this all goes over the next time I visit my family! Crazy liberal knitting veggie daughter with lots of dirty laundry and a dog with a small bladder, ah, my parents love me!

Happy knitting peeps - I'm going to go make myself some breakfast, and bring it right back into bed with me! Peace ; )

PS - Still having problems with posting pics, not the lest of which is I am having camera problems. I posted a comment on the Google message board, so hopefully someone can help me help myself. Wish me luck!

Hooray for #95!

2007-02-09T07:07:00.000-05:00

I was on my way home last night when I heard about this, and while my first natural reaction was to think about the baby she just had and how she would grow up without a mother, my second thought was "Holly-freakin-luya, I CAN'T watch TV so I DON'T have to listen to this for the next two weeks non-stop!" Something in my mind tells me that her death is probably just as big, if not a bigger story, than any of her other wild and zany antics.

I will admit to having watched her show when it was on E!, and feeling terrible about myself every time I did so, whatever. She put herself out there for that one. The point I am trying to make, and I admit this will not be coming back around to knitting, is what we value as a society, what we are sold, is crap.

Ironically, I was reading John Irving's book, The Fourth Hand last night (look it up on the list!), and there is almost an entire chapter devoted to a journalist's response to the weekend JFK Jr.'s plane went down into the Atlantic. I don't want to give anything away about the book, but it seemed kind of fitting that the character was concerned about the same things I didn't want to have to see last night - the train wreck that the media makes of what should be private family grief. It was very interesting reading it from his perspective as a journalist and what he thought of the situation. (Good book, by the way.)

I'm just thinking this morning about what sells, and what information gets out there, what we are force-fed while watching TV and the messages that come across our eyes all the time. You may not always be paying attention, but the information is there just the same.

People are always surprised to find out that Fight Club is both my favorite movie, and my favorite book (yes, it was a book first!). They look at all five feet nothing of me, my knitting probably in my hand, a my little dog and my lap, and they say "You like Fight Club?" And I say "Um, yeah, I do." It isn't quite so much about fighting each other with your fists and beating the crap out of one another - that, I think is what our lives are about in general, figuratively speaking. What that story is saying, is I don't want to be a part of this crap-ass culture that puts values on such stupid stuff.

Granted, not everyone is enveloped in the "mass media culture," but enough people are that it makes it difficult not to be. All I know is that I was sad I missed Grey's Anatomy last night, but glad that the only information I had about Anna Nicole Smith dying was the one story I clicked on from MSNBC. I can only imagine the coverage this will get, and I have to ask "Why?" The answer, I think is because it sells, but what is it selling? That is the real question.

All I know is that not being able to turn on the TV has caused me to not want to turn on the TV, and I am super happy about that. It's almost like I have given myself a present, the gift of tuning out. So for that, I say thank you to myself, and invite you to join me in the fun - you probably need a break too. Pick up your knitting or your favorite book, and just spend a night being quiet, and see what you hear. It's kind of nice, trust me.

Look at the Yummy!!!

2007-02-08T07:13:00.000-05:00

Aren't they delicious??

These fingerless gloves may just be my favorite thing I have knitted in, oh, I don't know...FOREVER!!! The way the pair of them keeps my wrists so warm and toasty, it almost makes talking on the phone all day at work less of a crap-fest.

I went to the S&B at my LYS last night - so much fun!!! I have been to a S&B before, but never in the presence of so much yarn. I know I will sound like a newbie when I say that all the yarn was a little distracting and I wanted to just get up and walk around and decide what I want to work on next. I just wanted to touch all of it and take it home with me...but alas, I was a good girl. I did decide, however that I think I want to make the messenger bag from Knitting for Peace out of several shades of Noro alternating through the project...we'll see!

As for tonight, wish me fortitude as I try to not watch TV on what previously had been the only night of the week I intentionally plunkered down to watch specific shows. It's only twice that I will miss them, and remember, I can still watch Grey's on the laptop tomorrow! Peace out kiddies - Happy Knitting on the Kniternet!

Strange Dreams, and the Heat is On

2007-02-07T07:09:00.000-05:00

Last night I was playing fetch with Mr. Kendall, and my aim was a little off. I threw the toy and it hit the wall in the area of the thermostat...No big deal I thought. Shortly there after, I sat on the couch to read a book by John Irving (I am going to kick my list's arse!), and quickly was overcome with the feelings of sleep. At 8:15. See what happens when there is no TV!

Well, I gave in to my sleepiness, took off my glasses and drifted off with the gentle sounds of my furnace kicking on. Lets just say I had an weird dream last night, and in an odd way, it did include knitting.

I dreamt I was back in high school and mega-pregnant, like 15 months pregnant my belly was so big. My parents and I were living in the same house we lived in when I was in high school, only it wasn't the same high school I went to. It seemed like it was a school down in NYC - do you know how when you dream sometimes, you just "know" that you are someplace? it was one of those types of things - well anyway, I am living in upstate New York, going to high school in NYC, massively pregnant, and guess who is my doula. That doesn't even compare to what came next, because I think this guy was either my baby daddy, or I was a horny little pregnant girl and was trying to work on #5 with him anyway. Either way, not so much my style. In the end, I can't even remember if I gave birth in my dream, so I'm just stuck being eternally 15 months pregnant, lol.

Yeah, that was a weird dream, and I kept waking up through the night to the sound of the furnace being on, and kind of surprised that I wasn't cold with just the one blanket I had on me, so when I woke up this morning, I looked at the thermostat. Apparently, last evening's game of "fetch" should be renamed the "accidentally turn the thermostat up 20* game."

I can't wait for the NiMo bill. The only time it will ever be that warm in my apartment, and I slept right through it. Oh well, at least I had a fun dream from all the heat!

PS - Obviously, there was no knitting last night with the going to bed at 8:15 and all, the fingerless gloves will be finished and photographed for tomorrow, I promise!

What is this post about???

2007-02-06T07:14:00.000-05:00

I had a FANTASTIC idea about a post for today. Last night before I got into bed, I was thinking I had an awesome, thoughtful idea to post on here for today. Now, my mind is mush.

What I can tell you, is I have the first of my fuzzy yummy wrist warmers done, and the second one should get finished up at work today. I can't even describe to you how wonderful they feel, their soft delicious woolly fibers cradle my forearms and hand and prevent my wrists from hurting while I knit, I mean type, all day. How, you may ask, do I know this if I only have one of them done? Because I wore the first one all day yesterday while I was working on the second one, duh!

Well, as you can see, #85 on the list is going along fabulously. I also decided to pursue #95 when I got home last night from my Writer's Group and discovered I had gone all day without watching TV, I said "What's another 13 days?" I unplugged the surge protector that all my TV electronic crap is plugged into - lets see how much my electric bill goes!

I talked to my friend Alicia last night, and we made tentative plans to work on #51 and #62, possibly within the next few months. I am super excited - those are two of the goals I am most looking forward to! We have decided to go here, but other than that, no decisions have been made. Who knows, perhaps going here will help me with #5 too, lol.

I have also decided to tinker with the photo posting options on here and possibly send an email if I can't figure it out, so hopefully soon my dear reader(s), we will have a proper looking knit blog with tons of pictures throughout the post.

Okay, its time for me to get in the shower. I leave you by wishing a Happy Birthday to my Dad today. Please don't ask me how old he is, I really am not sure and it would require me doing math. You may know I am not a fan of math, but I am especially not a fan of it at 7:30 am. Hugs and kisses and happy knitting on the Kniternet! (and Happy Birthday Dad!!!)

# 85

2007-02-05T06:59:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that I joined the 101 things in 1001 days meme-along. It just seems like such a good idea - it's been a very long time since I sat down and made a huge list of all the things I wanted to accomplish in a time span that goes beyond a month. It was super hard thinking of 101 things to do, but I think the list reflects well on who I am and where I am, and also who I hope to be in the future. I don't think anything on the list is too "out there," and I think they are all things that will make me a better/stronger woman.

That being said, the very first thing I decided I could do was #85...Staring today, I will blog everyday for the next two weeks. I read somewhere once that it takes two weeks to turn a task into a habit, so I am hoping that through the series of "Two Week" goals that I have made for myself, I will be able to set up some good long-term strategies for being a better, healthier person.

On to the knitting! I have realized that for a "knitting blog," there has been a sorrowful lack of knitting on here lately. For this reason, I bring you pictures of the red scarves...All SIX of 'em!

Four of them were done in Lion Brand Homespun, two were done in Patton's Voodoo (discontinued). There is a cabled scarf (my first cables!!! - how I fell in love with doing cables...), a garter stitch keyhole scarf, two plain garter stitch scarves (one Homespun and one Voodoo), one Very Harlot Scarf, and one scarf worked horizontal in garter stitch.

And apparently, I can not figure out how to put my pictures IN my post, they all just float up to the top. Anyone have a suggestion on how to stop that?? Oh well, at least there are pictures, right? Happy Monday kiddies, and happy knitting on the kniternet!

How I Spent My Saturday Night, Part Deux...

2007-02-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am probably not the only one who thinks it's kind of sad that I am posting about last Saturday on THIS Saturday, but this my dear readers has been an eventful week.

Let us start at the beginning, with the wedding I attended last Saturday night. You may have been able to discern from my lover-ly cross stitch piece that it was not a boy-girl wedding. It was in fact, a commitment ceremony, because I live in New York and we are stupid here and don't let people who love each other get married! (breathe...) Anywhoozels, I was privileged enough to be invited to my friend's commitment ceremony, and it was wonderful.

I have this thing about gay people getting married. First off, I don't like that they have to have a "commitment ceremony" because they aren't allowed to legally get married. It sounds like they are being sentenced to a mandatory stay at some nasty-arse psych hospital. Semantics aside, it's time for some math...

Now, most information I have ever read on the subject says that about 10% of the population is predominantly interested in sex with partners of the same sex. Okay, so then you figure that only a percentage of them ever come to feel comfortable enough with those feelings to be free to act on them in a way that would allow them to form a loving relationship that leads to wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone.

For the sake of argument, lets just assume that out of the 10%, 90% are out there, actively looking for love (I just pulled this number out of my arse for purposes of conversation, I have no idea on the actual numbers, bear with me...). So out of only 9% of the population, if you are lucky enough to find someone you want to make and share a life with, that gives me hope. As someone who has been heterosexually single for quite some time (wait until the novel gets published, you will all understand), it gives me great hope and strength to think that out of that small percentage of people, two people could find each other and fall in love and get married. It just makes me happy and it makes me want to dance.

So that's what I did on Sunday evening at my Christmas party - I was happy and I danced. I also drank Cosmos. Actually, I asked for a Cosmo, and I swear to gawd this woman poured ice into a plastic cup, dumped some cheap vodka in it and threw some cranberry juice in. No triple sec, no lime, no martini glass and Dear Lawrd there was ice in it.

I had two of them.

Point being, if I wanted a vodka cranberry, I would have asked for one.

It was a really great party though. Sadly, any of the pictures taken of me do not shed a great light on the fine, upstanding moral person and knitter that I am. Lets just say the only pictures I've seen so far involve me, my friend Amy and a chair...good times! On a brighter note, there is one picture of my ass that looks great - yeah for yoga!!

However, probably the most eventful things that happened this week was that I quit the restaurant. I am now down to only having one job, two businesses and a novel to publish. I went to talk to the girl who makes the schedule to ask her to take me off for next week, and found out that she had already done it. My last day was Wednesday night, and for a while, I was kind of sad about it, like wanting to cry about it and stuff. I feel better now, I knitted my way through it.

Now, I am going to focus on the massage practice and looking into starting a charity knitting group. I am on my way to a new LYS today to see if they know of any charity knitting groups in town because I haven't heard of any of them. As far as this weekend is concerned, I am doing my taxes. When I say "doing my taxes," what I really mean is doing all my bookkeeping and receipt checking for two businesses for the entire calendar year of 2006. I am off to Tar-jay to buy sustenance (i.e. Red Vines and Sour Patch Kids) - wish me luck and big tax returns!

Happy knitting on the kniternet kids - I wonder if I can knit and use an adding machine at the same time......

How I Spent my Saturday Night, Part I

2007-01-30T07:22:00.000-05:00

Does this give you any idea what I did on Saturday?????

Did I mention this is one of those lefty, liberal leaning knit blogs with a trying-to-be-vegetarian-single-chick behind the wheel? Yes, I realize I work at a steakhouse, but in my head, it all makes sense. Knit on!

Ode to the Bookstore

2007-01-29T22:23:00.000-05:00

So I went on a bazillion errands tonight after work, just what I wanted to do after the weekend I had of trying to act like I was 21 again.

Well, the end to my evening, the very last stop was at Border's. I had some books for this that I bought back in October of last year that I had to return seeing as this is not something I am interested in doing any time soon.

Seeing as I was a scoach over the ninety day limit for returns, I got store credit, and what does a knitter do when she suddenly has "free money" in a bookstore? I assure you the answer is not walk herself out the front door, get in her salt covered car, and go home to her dog.

Oh no, gentle knit blog readers and friends o'mine, the knitter heads to the knitting section of the mega-book store, sits her arse down on a stool, and starts going through all of the books! That my friends, is what a knitter does.

Funny thing happened though, while I was reading through the books - I realized that I no longer feel like a beginner. As I looked over all the books that had devoted more than two pages on how to cast on or do a purl stitch, all the patterns for a 2x2 rib scarf and roll brim hat, it occurred to me that I have moved beyond that (just a little). If I want to make a scarf, or a hat, I can do that all on my own, muchas gracias por favor.

Then it hit me that there are so many things in my life that I have gotten to this elemental level of proficiency (maybe I should take the GRE's, that was some wordy goodness right there!), and then I kind of give up on them. Take, for example, yoga. Love it, pretty good at it, do it whenever I feel like it, but not on a consistent basis. My writing, we wont even talk about it because I have renewed the same two books from the library for almost two months solid trying to get the quotations I want inserted into the manuscript. God knows I change careers like fertile women bear children.

But knitting is different, and as I walk away from the beginner books, I am struck by how wonderful it is to me that I have this thing, this talent, tool, skill, whatever you want to call it that brings me so much happiness and peace. It seems a shame that I can't use knitting to bring some of that peace and happiness to the world. That's why this is the book I bought. And you are all just going to have to wait to see what I'm going to do with it, because right now, mama still has a wee bit of a hangover and needs some sleep.

Happy knitting on the kniternet kiddies - keep it peaceful.

2 Sweatshirts, Hat and Scarf...

2007-01-26T07:13:00.000-05:00

...that's what I wore to bed last night underneath three blankets!

Damn its cold here!

This freezing cold makes me feel good that I am knitting for the Red Scarf Project, how wonderful for those kids who are working so hard, to get something hand made to keep them warm. It kind of makes me wish I knit for myself more often, because I am walking around wearing a fuzzy fleece hat from the Gap (not someplace I shop - it was a gift) and a fleece scarf from Old Navy (also a gift). We wont mention the "gloves" I have to put on later. Suffice it to say, they aren't made of some wonderful alpaca or snuggly wool, oh no, my "gloves" are marketed under the term "magic," and they shrink back to the size of a five year old's hand when you take them off, how embarrassing to be a knitter and be seen in such things??

At any rate, I have managed to only be late to work once this week, and I claim no responsibility for the fact that when people in Albany, NY see a snowflake for the first time each winter, it causes them to forget how to drive and ends up taking me twice as long to get to work. Its a kind of math I just can't do in my head. Actually, I can't really do any math in my head, but that's another post...

As for this weekend, I am dating myself tonight. I am going to see this beautiful movie at this wonderful theater. There will be no popcorn, but perhaps some herbal tea and chewy candy of some sort. There will also be the last Red Scarf I am knitting, which has about another six inches or so left to be knit. All that knitting goodness needs to be sent out tomorrow, so I have a lot of ends to be woven in before I trampse over to the Post Office.

Tomorrow night, I have been invited to something wonderful - I'll tell you all about it later. And as for Sunday, four words for you: Restaurant Worker's Christmas Party.

If you don't know exactly what that means, be happy for yourself, and if you do know what that means, please feel sorry for me on Monday morning.

Happy knitting on the kniternet kiddies!

Guess What....

2007-01-22T07:23:00.000-05:00

Chenille does not equal mohair!!!!

In a fit of "I want to make something cute and finish it quick" -ness, I cast on for this , but instead of using the Moonlight Mohair, I used the only thing in my stash I thought I had enough of: eight or so skeins of jewel tone green Lion Brand Chenille Thick-n-Quick.

Any other, smarter knitters out there know where this is going???

Now, I checked gauge for both stitch and row accuracy, and I was pretty much on target. I will admit that it came out a little larger than it should have, HOWEVER, I did not take into account the fact that chenille (especially three strands of it held together!) does not have the same weight or drape as mohair.

Basically, I have created a large, floppy green thing that I can throw around my shoulders, and still manage to keep my arse warm, and the top portion of my thighs as well. The problem my dear friends, is that my living room is already covered with little pieces of fuzzy green chenille from knitting this thing up - could you imagine what would happen if I frogged the stupid thing??

This is what I get for trying to make anything with the word "shrug" listed in the pattern - I don't like them, I think they look stupid most of the time, and up until about 1:24 pm on Saturday, I chose not to participate in them. The Knitting Goddess has layeth down her smack, and I must abide. Back to knitting Red Scarves, where I belong.

53 degrees!

2007-01-17T07:31:00.000-05:00

It was 53 degrees in my bedroom this morning when I woke up - Fahrenheit, not Celsius!

That is just way too cold! Although I suppose if it was 53* Celsius, that would be way too hot maybe?? Any Canadians out there who can help me out with the conversion??

Granted, I keep my heat set on 64*, but still, VERY unreasonable!

This will be a shorty post today, running late for work as per usual (but at least I feel well enough to GO to work today, right?), and when I say "work," I mean job A and B. I may not be at Job B much longer; it kind of hasn't been worth it lately.... We'll see!

Wish me fun knitting on my breaks at work b/c that is the only knitting I'll get to do today while working from 8:30am - 12:oo am. Somebody remind me why I do this to myself, oh yeah, because its fun!

Photo Update!

2007-01-16T16:23:00.000-05:00

See, two posts in one day - I am getting to be such a GOOD blogger!

Any-whoosels, I figured out how to and successfully erased all the pictures from my digi camera, so I am proud to deliver this b-e-a-u-t-i-ful picture (although, I will admit, it took place before Christmas).

Sorry Loren that Mr. Kendall is wearing your Christmas hat and scarf - but doesn't he look handsome??!!

Dogs and yarn are WAY cuter than cats and yarn, right?? C'mon, admit it!!!!

Pattern - made it up as I went for both the hat and key-hole scarf

Yarn - Wool Ease Thick-n-Quick w/ Lion Brand Fun Fur (I only use this yarn for small children that I REALLY love)

Needles -10 1/2 Takumi

Model - the infamous Mr. Kendall

Recipient - the adorable Miss Loren, my best friend's 4 year old daughter

I'm a Bad, Bad, Blogger, Part II

2007-01-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

It has been brought to my attention by myself, that I frequently begin projects without immediately making a commitment to follow through on them. For those of you who know me, examples of this include, but are not limited to, going to graduate school, starting and expanding my massage business (although technically, I have done that, just not very much lately), and blogging.

The good news, though, is I have been knitting!!!! So far, there are four scarves done for the Red Scarf Project and I have two more on the needles (one at home and one at the office). Time and fiscal budgets permitting, I may also buy more yarn and do a "quickie" - I fear all the scarves I have made are a little girly, and the instructions do say "unisex."

More good news, I started a shawl. It can be so g-darn cold in my office building, that I decided to get over my "shawls are for olde ladies" thing and just start knitting one. I am doing it bottom up, so my fear at how long the rows will be once I get towards the end is pretty big, but I will march on (or start a pair of socks when the time comes to distract me from the tedium).

You may be asking yourself why there are no pictures on the blog yet, and the answer I have for you is kind of sad. Right now, on my digital camera, there are pictures from almost three years ago. It was a trip that I went on for my birthday to visit a "friend" who had moved away. This particular friend is also the one who would erase all the pictures from my digital camera whenever I needed it done, and truth be told, I don't think I have ever erased pictures myself.

See, we aren't even friends anymore, let alone "friends," and it makes me kind of sad in a way that I will never admit that I don't want to erase those pictures from my camera, and I don't want to have to do it myself.

But, I need to.

Or, I could buy a new memory card.

Or hell, I could buy a new camera!

It takes almost 15 minutes for all the pictures to download from the camera onto my computer so I can get to the most recently taken pictures. But probably, I should just delete them, because every time I start downloading, there he is drinking his coffee and looking stupid, me smiling and looking kind of fat in a white shirt (??!!). And seriously, do I really want to spend valuable yarn money on something as silly as a new memory card - I think not!

I will delete them, but maybe just not today. He and I do not work together, this has been documented, studied and verified on numerous occasions. But before we were ever "friends" we were friends, and I miss that more than the "-" but it has come to the point where it is impeding on my ability to blog about knitting and therefore, it must be dealt with!

Somebody, find me the instruction manual to my digital camera!

On a gloomier note (!), I feel like poo today, and had to cancel my date for this evening (very nice guy by the tone of his emails - pictures are handsome - sounds cute on the phone!). Actually, I had to come home from work early too because I thought I was going to yak, and it is very difficult to talk on the phone with the elderly all day when you feel like you are going to get sick. I was fine until about 8 am this morning, and then WHAM!, yak-central. I am still not feeling that well, but I ate some Cream-o-Wheat with apple sauce for lunch and took a nice long nap - and I feel better now!

Off to knit a red scarf, happy knitting on the kniternet kiddies! Pictues tomorrow (maybe!) !

I am a bad, bad blogger!!

2007-01-10T07:32:00.000-05:00

So I know I get kind of sad when my favorite blogs don't get updated for a few days, so I can ONLY IMAGINE how sad the three of you who are reading this must be right now : (

Sorry!

I pledge from here on out to go no more than three days without blogging, barring unforseen or unexpected illness, or the possibility that some day I may actually go on a vacation!

As of right now, I am officially running late for work - but this is normal, no need to be concerned - so I leave you with the promise of a fantastic post tomorrow (maybe even with pictures, ooohhh, pictures!) and the kowledge that so far I have completed three scarves for the Red Scarf Project. I have two more on the needles and at least two more going on the needles, and I am starting to get a little sick of the color red. For those of you who know me, you can imagine how weird it is that I am getting sick of red - 2 red cars, 1 red winter coat, LOTS of red shirts, even a pair or two of red pants, not to mention the fact that I look fab-o-lous in red lipstick... but its all for a good cause!

Until tomorrow my sweet little readers, happy knitting on the kniternet!

Happy 2007!

2007-01-01T20:30:00.000-05:00

After much knit blog reading, and A LOT of holiday knitting, I have decided to add "Knit Blogger" to the list of my many other, varied duties!

I hope that this will be a place where I can keep track of my projects, keep in touch with old friends and hopefully make some new ones. Also, I am hoping that the act of writing frequently will keep me on the right track towards getting my novel edited and published before the end of this year.

I wish you all health, happiness, and happy knitting in the new year!