Lefties K2

Oh Lawdy!

2008-10-31T15:39:00.012-04:00

Really, I haven't posted in two months?!? So sorry 'bout that. I've been having so much fun with Raverly and the baby bird and the girls and what-not I just haven't been a productive blogger at all. See, now you all know how well I keep a diary. Not well at all.

OK, on to pictures.....

a quick history of a growing bird:
(we won't know the sex until after it's first molt but we're all guessing it's a boy)
When the baby was only about 3 weeks old he got sick. Very, very sick. Like thought he was already dead when I found him lying on the floor of the nest and was cold to the touch. He had crop stasis which is where the crop (neck buldge that holds food) got too full and wouldn't empty properly. This of course meant I had to hand feed him from here on out plus give him 3 med's a day for a few weeks and weigh him every day to make sure he was growing properly. Yeah, fun. But thanks to some great vets and a lot of TLC I'm happy to say he's as good as new! Better in fact, because when he was new he was sickly.

The red you see there is brusing.

finding yet another use for the mail scale

all the med's

feeding time

being a ham for the camera as always

Starting to get feathers and learning balance

learning to get around

trying solid food

Trying popcorn for the first time. Finds it very acceptable.

Now he looks just like a real bird and he's learned to fly and fend for himself around the food bowl with all the other birdy's. Life is good.

Onto the knitting finally...

I had finished one of these forever ago but knit it all wrong so I frogged it and re-knit the pair. They have toes out of a different yarn because I ran out of the Knit-Picks parade.

Made mom some yoga socks for her birthday

sweater was coming along until I started a million other projects. I am just now picking it up again.

Threw a totable project on the needles but haven't done too much with it.

I also made a birthday girl a requested present but I can't post a picture yet. Today is her birthday so she'll see it soon and then I can share :-)

Last but not least, I got honorable mention again for the Knitty 2009 Calendar contest! Apparently my picture's so naughty that it will only show up if you're logged in to Flickr and even then you have to click agree to view it. I wasn't going for anything that would offend, but it's always nice to be considered too racy for the general public ;-)

HALLY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

New stuff's a brewin'

2008-08-27T22:34:00.011-04:00

After finishing the blanket I decided I wanted to do another large project so I finally cast on for the Cardigan for Arwen in luscious Noro Cash Iroha. I had to frog about 6 inches because the gauge was off, but now I'm on a slow but steady roll. It's actually a pretty rust color but it looks a little washed out in this photo.

More excitingly though, this time last week I was surprised with a new baby bird! Basically after carefully candling the eggs of three female birds for over five years one slipped passed me. I realized last Tuesday night that one looked awfully dark which either meant it had gone bad or something was growing inside. By the next night I had my answer. So now I have SIX cockatiels. SIX! But you know what, I don't care, s/he's so ugo that s/he's cute and really, what's one more bird?

Just born!

Feeding at less than two days old

And here's tonight at one week - look at how quickly it grew! It looks like some weird little fluffy dinosaur or something doesn't it? Yes, you will be seeing a lot more bird pictures, I just can't help myself!

Tis Done!

2008-08-18T16:50:00.004-04:00

The Lion Brand Artful Afghan was finally finished on Saturday! It's not as a big as I would like but it's still a great great throw and I can't wait to see if the blocking helped at all. It's supposed to be 64" at it's biggest point which seems to be diagonal - mine's about 60ish. I would definitely do this pattern again with a heavier weight and bigger needle or do it in the same yarn as a child's blanket. Either way I'm so happy with the colors I picked - a big worry of mine in the beginning. As previously mentioned, one of the Knit Picks cables broke during the making of the blanket but they decided to replace the cable after-all even though it was out of warranty - I actually already received it, can you believe that?
On a gardening note, my first two Morning Glory flowers FINALLY bloomed. I've never had a problem with the in all these years but for the first time ever I was thinking I was just not going to see a single flower this summer even though they grew all the way up to the rain gutters. Hopefully this is only the beginning in the blooming to come.

Oh for knits sake!

2008-08-11T14:14:00.005-04:00

The blanket is very near done and I couldn't be happier. However there was a small glitch this weekend which really hindered my progress... Uhh yeah, the cable broke on one of my needles mid-knit! Of course this decides to happen while I'm away at my friends lake house (perfect knitting venue) so now I'm sitting there scrambling to put the stitches back on the cord and tie it shut so they don't slip off again. I even tried my most favorite of products, Krazy Glue, but that didn't work either. Sadness. The only saving grace is that I had a second cable at home so things should be good from here on out (fingers crossed).
I know, it's hard to get an idea of what it's going to look like (should have taken a picture when I was switching the cables out) but I think it's gonna be a new favorite of mine. I'm not sure what to work on next, but I'm inspired by large items so I may start a sweater. Of course after this weekend I got orders from all the girls for Fetchings, Pantas and pulse warmers so a sweater might have to wait. Oh and a funny hat. And a scarf. They're going to turn me into a one woman sweat-shop! (not that I mind in the least)
Lastly, in knitting news, I had to give away the Monkeys to my size 5&1/2 footed friend because I apparently felted them in the wash and they have no more give to get them over the heel. I mean, technically I got into them, but if you break a sweat putting on socks it's time to release them into the wild. I guess that means I'll just have to make another pair one of these days.

Nikki's happy feet

It's been a while

2008-07-28T22:55:00.003-04:00

Finally found a use for the Noro Aurora I bought at Stitches a couple of years ago. I loved that it had the little bit of teal glitter in it but wasn't sure what to make. And then it hit me, a Clapotis scarf! I love the way it came out and remembered how much I love the pattern. I'll definitely be making this scarf again, maybe with some more Noro in the stash.

Got another dishcloth done. I couldn't decide if I wanted to make the purple the main color or the multi-color the main so I decided to switch it up half way through. Next time I'll make an opposite version with the left-over yarn.

Last but not least, I decided to finally get started on the Artful Afghan I fell in love with years ago. I've been meaning to make this blanket for so long and had even started collecting random skeins to get it going but finally caved and went on Lion Brands site and bought the rest of the colors since it seems AC Moore and Jo-Ann Fabrics is pulling it off their shelves. Of course most of the colors originally called for are discontinued now so I had to wing it, which is hard when you can't see the colors in person, but so far I'm happy with my choices. I can't wait to get this bad-boy off the needles and see it in all it's colorful glory. Pray it's big enough because I'm not buying anymore yarn to add to it!

Dishcloths & Such

2008-06-12T16:41:00.005-04:00

I'm getting a lot of knitting done lately... well I'm getting a lot of tiny projects done lately, but hey a finished object is a finished object, no mater what size right?
One of the ladies in the knitting group started her first dishcloth and chose of course, one of the most popular patterns, ye old ballband. This reminded me that I had yet to make one, so I did. Like everyone else, I liked it a lot and will definitely be doing it again.

As satisfying as that was, it was nowhere close to the ease and quickness of grandma's favorite dishcloth though...

...another new favorite of mine! It was SO easy and looks great with the Sugar and Cream striped yarn. The only thing is, at it's widest it's only 44 stitches, which makes it more like a washcloth than a dishcloth, next time I'll add a few more rows. It'd be a great start for a baby blanket too, or any giant square thing come to think of it!

And last but certainly not least, is my new favorite quickie sock pattern. These are knit with one (1!) ball of Cascade Fixation and knit up in just a couple nights. I will make them again for me and as last minute gifts for sure - plus I got to knit them on size 5's - couldn't be quicker if I tried!

(boy do I hate those ladders, but with Cascade it's hard to pull it tight enough. But I know, with washing they will tighten up, right?)

Done, da, da, dooonnneee!

2008-05-27T13:09:00.013-04:00

The blue sweater is finally done! Actually I finished it a couple weeks ago but once again haven't been blogging like a good little blogger should. It's still a bit big in the pit region but I love it just the same. The color is great and it's nice and cozy. I even had a chance to wear it once before putting it away for the summer thanks to this crazy weather we've had lately.

Here's some pictures of the giant sleeve versus the regular sized before I frogged it for the last time. I wanted to get a pic of it on, but got over-zealous with the ripping and had to settle for a picture of it laying on the bed instead.

I also finished another pair of Cascade Fixation socks (by chance they match the sweater). I was hoping the yarn would strip like the last pair but no luck. Of course I still love them, but have set them aside to maybe become a gift.

I have to say, two at once is a big fat YES! I was a little annoyed at first knowing that I would be half finished with a sock when was only a quarter of the way through two, but eventually I got into the grove and loved finishing both at once. I think I even got them done faster than doing each alone. Maybe that's just mind over matter but hey, whatever works.

Oh, and I went to my Godson's 8th birthday party and saw this in the bathroom. Yes, I totally took pictures in their bathroom like it was no big deal. I just got excited to see that something I made was still being used. I've always been into arts and crafts so as each new little cousin came along I always made something for them (pre-knitting days). I love that they use it and it's not as bad as I thought it was - plus, they're trying to adopt again which means I may just get to knit something for another cousin soon!

Tiny Clothes and Giant Food

2008-04-30T15:40:00.024-04:00

Ta Da! Dagoba's (that's the nick-name of my friends baby) sweater is done and gifted. It still looks weird to me that one shoulder is wider than the other but I stuck to the pattern so whatever, hopefully it'll look better on him.
Here's the mom-to-be getting a hand knit blanket (1 of 2!) from Gran plus booty's...
...plus homemade pillows with an under-the-sea theme from another crafty friend!

I finished another pair of socks because I've been dying to cast-on some more Fixation that's been calling my name from the knitting basket for far too long.
(my feet look like they're melting in these socks - or like I have bunions which I don't. Anyway, they look silly but feel great!)

There's not much to them yet but note that there's two! 2! Yuppers, I'm finally jumping on the bandwagon and getting two socks done at once. I briefly attempted the two circular needle knitting thing but after getting everything all tangled upped was forced to ask why am I torturing myself when I could just use a little Magic?

I'm still working on the blue monster sweater which I do really like even if I call it the monster. I'm just so over re-knitting sleeves at this point that I'm not getting it done as fast as I could and yearn to drop it for my smaller project above.

Oh yes, and a friend of mine sent me the link to a funny site which I periodically check just to make sure I'm staying up to date on all the white folks news and got excited when I saw this today which ties in both my whiteness and my love of knitting.

Lastly, I got up this morning to find these big beautiful strawberries on the counter. At first I just thought they were unusually large, but upon a second glance I realized they were beyond HUGE.

Is that not simply redonkulous!?!?

Yes, I too am afraid of the tomato sized strawberries, grapefruit sized oranges and uber plump banana's that are taking over the kitchen. Science is scary, scary stuff. Why can't they just leave well enough alone?

Sometimes I find my lameness overwhelming

2008-04-18T14:29:00.021-04:00

Here I am goofing off at work because there's little to do and it's a beautiful sunny spring day and I no longer even have a window to gaze out of (new office). So I'm reading blogs and searching patterns, and watching video's of Bill Maher bash the Pope (at my boss's request mind you - we were curious about what exactly he said). Anyway you know how it is with the Internet, one search leads to another and suddenly you find you're looking yourself up. Surprisingly, today, I found me!

Uh, yeah, that embarrassingly lameo picture is mine. I completely forgot (blocked from my memory) that I had even taken that picture and submitted it for the Knitty calendar. I had no idea Amy Singer kept a Flickr set of some of the entries (I know I sent better ones) but there it is. I'm only sharing this with you because as a blog reader I know you have a wee bit o' dork in you too or that you're a close friend - more likely one and the same.

So consider today True Confessions Friday, I searched myself, I carefully staged a bunch of knitting notions on a Clapotis (I do remember rushing before I lost the light) and snapped pictures from a chair in my backyard and I have no shame. Ahh, I feel purged now. Thank you for not laughing too hard at me.

I still hate that Y, it's not the right size at all.

Here's Bill if you're interested - can't say he's wrong (it's OK for me to say it, I was raised Catholic)

I can finally share!

2008-04-16T11:45:00.017-04:00

So toward the end of last October my Dad and I started on a little top secret project for my knitty sisters. We decided - after a long back and forth of me swearing it's not hard to him looking into it and declaring (as if I didn't already know) "hey these will be easy to make" - that we would make sock blockers for my knitting group.

They're so expensive to buy and it seemed silly since the construction is so basic - -or so we thought. The initial cutting out of the blockers wasn't hard at all and I even got to learn to use that hand held sawy-thing that you see below. Of course my hand isn't so steady and being too short for the work bench even at 30-something left me with the job of using the hand sander. Also a cool toy, but all the vibrations makes your hand feel funny after awhile.

Anyway, we got everything cut out and sanded and looking nice until it came time for the painting. That's when the S%#& hit the fan!
(give me a break it was the trial run)
Everything seemed simple enough, I bought the spray paint and we gave then all a good coat but then it was time for the second coat. My Dad gave them all another spray one night and came in to bust my chops that I must have gotten cheap paint because it all bubbled up! In the meantime we were also trying to add a decal - a super awesome logo that one of the knitters created for us with instructions to make it in all variations and ask no questions. They were applied, bubbled up and ruined the paint job yet again. So now this project has become my Dad's Everest and I'm barely involved other than as a sounding board. Re-sand, re-paint, re-sand repeat. This went on for quite some time and it became obvious that they weren't going to be ready for Christmas.

Ahh but then the light went off! It wasn't the paint but the temperature of the paint! They're not kidding when they say keep it above a certain temperature. That was the trouble all along. once we figured that out we were off and running again, keeping the can in the house until paint time worked perfectly. We gave up on the logo out of fear and finally gifted all the blockers.

Don't worry though, in between drying times I made sure to test run each set. Boy, I'm going miss being able to dry 3 pairs of socks at once :-)
Two of the three ladies had birthdays coming up (in MARCH mind you) so they received STR from the Raven Collection to accompany the blockers. Ahh, the blockers have finally left the nest!
Chris & Jana's Birthday yarn
In other knitting news, my aunt gave me a big box of "wool" from an elderly woman at her church who had to hang up her knitting needles (sigh). In the box was a plethora of Lion Brand Baby Soft in yellow and green, a few skeins of scratchy blue and purple old school acrylic and the beginning of a child's sweater. Sadly no pattern accompanied the box or I would have loved to pick up where she left off. I know there's more knitting stuff from her out there because we all know no knitter would have just one new pair of size 8's plus long (bent) and one short size 8 needle in their stash!
My second Condom Critter was gifted to my cousin's bride to be at her bachlorette party and seemed to receive a warm welcome to her new home.
The baby sweater was almost done - knit and blocked and ready for assembly, until I realized the sleeves were way too narrow to fit the body. Jana, the ever brave knitter in the group, said I should be able to fudge them into place but I'm afraid of making it a lumpy mess so I decided to just pick up the stitches and re-knit the sleeves. I know me, if I get too frustrated it'll never get done.
Well, that was a long post but I think it wraps everything up. Oh, yeah, I picked up some socks that were patiently waiting their turn to be finished while the sweater was blocking, I just turned the heel so after the sweater I'll get those bad boys off the needle too. Then I can FINALLY get back to my sweater - just in time for 75 degree weather!

No Mokeys were hurt in the making of this post

2008-03-22T00:15:00.010-04:00

Today is April 1st - I am SOOOOOOO behind!!!

Let's play a real quick round of the photo catch-up game...

Working on a sweater. The sleeves are coming out way too wide so they'll be frogged and re-knit once a the gift knitting gets done. Other than the sleeves being big enough to fight around my thigh, I really like this sweater and yarn. (more details to come.)

I'm making another Condom Critter for my soon-to-be cousin-in-law...

...out of yarn purchased at the closing sale of a LYS. I got a couple other little things - button, row counter and boots!

Yes, I totally bought clear boots so everyone can see my Monkeys!

The silliest thing about these boots (besides how they look) when the sun hits my foot it's instantly warm - I find that refreshing. We'll see how I feel when they're baking in plastic but for now they're my kitschy little treat.

Oh, I also ordered myself one of the last copies in America apparently of a Jo Sharp book I had my eye on and the store included a little free gift.

How cute is that? It's a yarn themed nail file! (morethanyarn.com)

Oh, Mom gave me this for no reason other than it had yarn on the cover next to the 20% off tag - it's really cute so far. And guess what? There's a lot of knitting in it!

And last but surely not least, I went to see Eddie Izzard when he was in New York! And yes, I'm seeing him again in the "real" show in June.

It was a super windy night so I never got a chance to get a group shot with everyone but that's my friend, brother, friend and the two smiling folks behind us are new friends who bought some of our extra tickets through Ravelry. Yarn AND Eddie lovers - you just know they're good people! (Well the hubby may not love the yarn but he quotes Eddie so it all evens out).

There was a big guy head in front of me so the pictures aren't great but whatever, I love that man!

Snow days!

2008-02-24T14:15:00.004-05:00

Yay, we finally got some real snow! Of course it's already rapidly melting but still, it was fun to work on my sweater while Mother Nature offered some inspiration.
On the birdy front, some of the girls have moved into their new pads. As I suspected they were not the least bit impressed by the new giant fixture in their cage but they're starting to warm up to it. Mom (Amelia) is the only one still trying to nest outside the box but I think this is largely due to Dad (Cosmo) picking a fight with her every time she tries to enter the last unoccupied home. I don't know why he's being so picky but we've had some words today so maybe he'll back off her now :-) Who am I kidding? He never listens to me, Amelia will eventually tire of his yelling and kick his butt, then all will be well.
That's the two un-named girls sitting on their respective eggs and Idgy (the gimpy bird) was napping on the ramp (until I started taking pictures). Dad built him a handicapped ramp before we new he'd have no trouble getting himself up and down the ladder. Idgy's such a trouper!

Yarn n' Feathers!

2008-02-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

The picture is upside down, but that's the neck and shoulders of the sweater. It's coming along nicely and is an easy knit so far. I really like the yarn which is a wool and cotton mix (Salishan) but I don't understand why Knit Picks decided to discontinue it. Hope I don't find out the hard the way that it pills terribly, the color runs or the yarn doesn't wash well.

On another note, the birds have been fighting over the nest a lot lately and have taken to sitting in the corner of the cage to nest leaving eggs all over the place. They look like they're homeless and it's very sad to see, so I begged papa to make a birdie condo. After much begging and pleading it's almost done....
Is that not the cutest thing ever!?! He gave them each their own doorknob, house numbers, South-Western motif and even a clock and dart board to occupy them while they're nesting! Yes, they will soon chew all of this to shreds but until then it looks great! He'll put a roof on tonight and then I'll put it in the cage. I have a feeling they are going to freak out at first but eventually I think they'll love it. Once they all pick their place he plans to add name plates to the door. This man needs grandkids quick, I think he's bored with us grown ones :-)

To keep with the theme of bird cuteness check out this picture from cuteoverload.com which is aptly named, "Snorgle"...

Done, Done and Started

2008-02-10T10:37:00.000-05:00

I finished my Wine & Roses fingerless gloves which I'm thrilled with! I have so much of the yarn left-over though. I can't believe it, but I think I could get a second pair out of what’s left. I guess I'll be making a light scarf or headband so I'll have a matching set - which is of course, OK by me :-)

I also finally finished off the last little bit of the Quant - not that I need it, they promised snow for this weekend but all I see are sunny blue skies!

I also got one of the basic socks done but haven't bothered to cast on for the second yet because there's a new project on my plate....

What is that blue blob you might ask?
It's the beginning of my Tree Jacket sweater! Yes, after a long hiatus from attempting sweaters (the first and only try being such a disappointment) I'm ready to give it another go.

I have no idea why they call it a "Tree Jacket" because it's not a jacket or even a cardigan and there's nothing "tree-like" about it, but I love it anyway and I think the yarn will work well for it. Keep your fingers crossed for me please.
Oh, and I caved and bought a couple things from Knit-Picks...
I wanted to try a shorter cable for magic-looping and I've found that the Knit-Picks cables are the best for me since the regular and the lace Addi cables kink terribly. I'm so disappointed they cost so much and are by far the WORST compared to Knit-Picks or Susan Bates! Anyway, I also got the magnetic pattern holder which has already come in very handy for keeping track of what row I'm on for my lace patterns. Lastly, are the pretty colored wood cable needles. I wanted to see that rainbow wood in person and I wanted to try that style of cable needle anyway (the metal slip so easily) so when I saw I could get both things in one product for less than 5 bucks I had to jump on it!

I'm Baaaaaaaaack!

2008-01-31T16:17:00.000-05:00

If I had, had a New Year's resolution to blog more I would have surely broken it ten times over! So I'm glad I'm a slacker and had no such good intentions :-)
I may not have been blogging but I have been making peppermint bark for Christmas gifts, knitting, going to New Year's parties, to see a show in the city and over-all mixin' n minglin' with my friends. I've been using Ravelry to track my knitting projects, books horded, magazines stashed, wants and wishes and what-nots but of course it's just not the same as blogging. So without further ado, I present pictures of crap that's been going down lately! (I'll try to be better from here on out, cross my heart.)

In no particular order.... I got a few sets of Fetching done for my Manic Monday group (four of us go to diner once a month). I also made myself a pair but managed to forget to put the thumb stitches in the second glove so I'll have to go back and fix that up. See, you make so many pairs you get cocky and forget really simple, but really important steps.

I also made the Quant Headband from the latest issue of Knitty but had to make some adjustments to the pattern to make it lefty friendly. When I got to the end I hit a wall. I know I just have to fudge the pattern so I can do the last few rows and call it a day but I was sidetracked by a thousand Fetching gloves and the like. I think since it hasn't snowed (except for that dusting months ago) I lack the motivation needed to get it done.

I can't remember if I mentioned this on here but I started my first pair of Jaywalkers (ever late to the party). I started on size 3's because so many people said they knit up way too tight but they ended up way too big for me. I changed over to size 2's and they're juuuuust right.

Last winter I started a Cloche hat for a friend after we saw The Painted Veil. We were terribly taken by all the amazing clothes and I thought it would make a great birthday present and look just darling on her. However, the pattern was a bit over my head (no hat pun intended) and I finally decided to frog it this year.
It was a sad thing to do but I'm glad I did it. I still may make the hat or the yarn will become knee high socks but either way, sometimes frogging really is for the best.

And then there's the Wine & Roses Mitts fingerless lace gloves. I fell in love with the pattern when I first got the Interweave Knits magazine last winter. When I was at Stitches this year I found a booth that had knit up a sample pair and once I slipped my hand into that cashmere delight, it was impossible for me to resist these gloves any longer.

I only have one done so far because I started knitting a basic sock to have something mindless to work on while at a friend's house. As we all know, lace isn't really conducive to "mindless" anything. However I have to say, all-in-all the glove knit up pretty quickly and really wasn't hard to tackle. (Soon, I'll get a better picture to show off the real color and pattern.)

And here's that plain sock. I'm using Sockotta yarn which I got on sale when a LYS was going out of business. Erin, one of my knitting gal pals, had knit this up in their green/pink/purple mix and I just loved them, so when I saw it on sale I couldn't resist getting that colorway plus this blue/purple combo. The pattern is the 56 Stitch x 56 Row pattern that Chris (another knit diva) swears by. I agree, anything where all I have to remember is that the answer to my question is probably "56" is OK by me!

I didn't take this picture but I couldn't resist sharing, it's chicken on kittens - seriously does life get any better than that?

Secret Birthday Gloves Revealed!

2007-12-11T11:30:00.000-05:00

(JJ modeling)
The gloves are finally done and in their new home with Miss JJ as we speak!

I borrowed the basic shape from an Opera Glove pattern adding my own lace pattern down the arm and turning them into fingerless gloves in the process. I worked from the elbow down to the wrist and realized if I followed the original patterns decreases no human would ever be able to fit their hand in the glove as the wrist was ridiculously small.

There was no option, I was going to have to rip the glove back to re-adjust the sizing. But then I thought since there were a few other things I was not 100% satisfied with (bumpy looking decreases & increases) I would start the second glove with new measurements and if happy with that version, frog the first one and re-do the whole darn thing. Of course this is what ended up happening, so I guess I really made 2 and 3/4 gloves :-)

I'm still not 100% thrilled with them and would use a different yarn/color and/or sized needle to make the bumps and glitches less noticeable next time. But other than that stuff, I think for a first time glove attempt that included many of my own alterations, I think they're pretty good if I do say so myself.

Let it snow!

2007-12-07T17:56:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a little snow. Just a tad, but hey it's a start. Snow inspires knitting, so that's what I'm off to do right now!

In knitting news, JJ's secret birthday gloves are finally done - once she receives them I'll share a picture. Now off to finish some other UFO's that have been waiting in the wings. Oh, and do my Christmas shopping list, I am soooo behind!

snow n' ivy
snowy spider-web
happy feet

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2007-11-22T11:15:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for far too many things to be able to list them all here. Let me sum it up by saying I am thankful for everything. Every friend, loved one, breath I take, body part that works without pain or strain, yummy foods, cozy home, good books, soft yarn (of course), music, bubble baths and a million billion other things that I really try not to take for granted. Shoot, I'm even thankful for Tivo so I can not only catch the parade today (sans commercials) but also the cheerleading competition which used to be a favorite Thanksgiving tradition of mine to watch -- they now show it a week later and I always end up missing it.

Today is an exceptionally, and unusually warm late November day so I took a quick stroll around the yard to get some pics of the leaves. Last week was when they were at their peak but I think you still get the idea...

Yes, the ivy is eating the back of the garage. Believe it or not, if you're inside the garage you'll find that some of it managed to break through the window and is now vining around our junk in there. It's like watching the blob take over!

Just one of a million......

Things are STILL blooming!

Oh, and Mom's homemade pecan pie, just one more thing to be thankful for!

Last but not least, today's my birthday so I'm thankful not only for having another happy & healthy one but for the cinnamon buns I got for breakfast as I do every year. (Good gawd I love them!!!)

Yes, it says "congratulations", apparently the Happy Birthday sign went missing :-) Happy Thanksgiving once again to each and every one of you!

Rhinebeck Finally!

2007-11-08T15:39:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, I'm so very behind!!! OK, the knitting group went to Rhinebeck the weekend after we went to Stitches. We're hard core, I know. It was exactly as I expected except one thing, I thought (and I'm not alone in this) that they were really lacking a good selcetion of yarn. However, if you came for fleece, roving, heavy hand spun wool etc. this is your heaven. While it wasn't the shopping spree we were hoping for we had a great time checking out all the animal's and foodstuff's and really, we didn't need anymore yarn after Stitches.

I'll keep the descriptions short since the pics are really what we all live for...

Sea of cars - it was like Great Adventure's parking lot, I would never have thought there would be that many people there.

There were itchy baby goateses

with cute little noses poking out at you

and ying & yang sheep...

...who appear to be smiling at you because they know they just started peeing right when you clicked the camera

It's ok, I love you guys anyway

There was also sheep beauty contests

and sheep hearding contests

and alpaca's that were aparently cross-breed with cows

and proud alpaca's with funny toofuses

petable angora bunnies

so much fleece everywhere you looked

and crazy silly hats (she was making one while sitting there - no, none of what you see is her actual hair)

Oh! And then we radomly bumped in to Emily, the one who first started out knitting group. She ran off to live in NY with her new hubby and we never get to knit with her any more but leave it to the power of fiber to draw old friends together!

so many people

including the Yarn Harlot and her friends (her back is to us - great sweater eh?)

We had Spacey Tracy's fried pickles (I know, weird right?). Of course I couldn't help but get a picture in front of the sign since they spelled my name right. We also had fried artichoke hearts but they were in our bellies before a picture could be had.

then of course we had a fantabulous dinner and dessert (and drinks)

and then we were off to the Ravelry party! Stupidly, this is the only picture I got :-(

Once again, a great field trip with the girls!

Halloween Awakening

2007-10-25T11:02:00.001-04:00

Yeah those be my bitches hangin' at Stitches

2007-10-19T16:42:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was Stitches East in Baltimore. It was the first time the whole group was able to go together and we had a grand time.

Not only was there much yarn yumminess to drool over and bring home, but we spent a good half hour or so playing with the sleep number bed in the hotel when we got back. Inside we're all 8 year olds, it can't be avoided.

Around 100....
around 25 - I'm melting, melting.....
To top off an already perfect day, we went to the Cheesecake Factory which was fanfriggintastic! Chris and I had never been so Jana and Erin took special joy in initiating us to the club. Here's how to tell you're with cool people... the hostess says it'll be an hour and a half wait (meanwhile we're already starving) and everyone turns to each other and shrugs "yeah, ok", knowing that we can amuse ourselves at the bar until we're called. Mmmm, and boy did we enjoy our drinks :-)
The cheesecake came back to the room. Can you believe 4 women couldn't finish 2 slices of cheesecake? That's how much food we got for diner. Oh the Golden Girls would be so disappointed in us!

Stash I brought home - it just jumped in my bag I swear!

Tomorrow we're off to Rhinebeck for more yarn shopping! At this rate we'll be able to open our own store in no time.

And my "Fall Feet" socks are done! So see, it was ok to buy more sock yarn because... um because... because it's pretty ok, back off!!!

Oy, am I behind!

2007-10-12T11:58:00.001-04:00

Let's see, let me catch up so that the next time I post it will be Stitches, Stitches and more Stitches! Yes, tomorrow morning we leave on our fiber pilgrimage to Mecca. Then, the weekend after that it's off to Rhinebeck NY for us to the sheep & wool festival! It's all too much for my little brain to handle :-)

On to pictures...
the first fall sock is done and I'm half way through the second one. The secret glove is on hold for a moment while I figure out how to transition into the hand.

Adam had a birthday recently so we went over and he cooked us dinner (?!?) --- ok but we brought the cake and board games so that's something... yeah, I don't know either. It was a good time that's all that matters.

Last weekend the knitting group went apple and pumpkin picking, you know, cause it's fall, or so we thought. It was friggin' HOT (almost 90 degrees) and there was no shade in sight. However we made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves just the same.

Even the sunflowers can't take it!

Jana & Erin find some apples worth picking, and Chris is good enough to climb the tree for Erin to get her just the right one!

Come on guys - like I said, it's really hot and pumpkins are heavy (Chris is such a good sport).
Oh but then there's gourds and they're always fun

Busy, Busy Week!

2007-09-25T15:52:00.001-04:00

First off, I treated myself to a GPS device. Tom-Tom is my new friend-friend. I love-love this thing-thing (ok, I'll stop-stop).
Being that I'm often driving without a navigator, I keep missing my exists and turns because I can't read my directions and the street signs fast enough, causing me to have to make an endless amount of u-turns to get back on track. I knew I was going to be driving quite a lot this weekend to get to a friends wedding up north so I splurged on this bad boy to keep me company and on the right path. I have to say, one of my best investments to date! Granted, I'm a bit of an electronics whore so any new gadget is going to push my buttons so to speak. (I'm sick, bad puns come out when I'm battling a fever.)
And here's the pretty bride and her new hubby. Big, fat congratulations go out to Amy and Matty once again!
Everything was amazing -the bride was beautiful, the weather perfect, food delicious, dancing plentiful and the company divine. Aside from that being the day I first got this terrible chest cold, you really couldn't have asked for a better day.

In the meantime, I began two knitted items. I'm calling these my fall socks (the colors and it being September ya know?). I figured I gotta make a dent in my 2006 Stitches stash since the next one is coming up in just a few short weeks and I need to have a reason to need more yarn.
Plus, I'm working on a birthday present for my BFF/blog-stalker JJ who, although knows what she's getting, isn't going to see them until her birthday. They're on Ravelry if you're really curious - Ha, ha non-knitter you can't see 'em :-)

Last but not least, I got a great note from my former downstream ISE4 pal Kate who was kind enough to send me pictures of her new beautiful baby Matilda enjoying the socks I made for her from mom's left-over scarf yarn. Here's Mum & Tilly getting "dunked"! (Well, Tilly is, Mum needs no more dunkin' I'm sure)

Look, "Baby Birks" in use! How cute are those tootsies?!?

Eee gads I almost forgot!

2007-09-16T22:43:00.000-04:00

Big thanks to Jana for passing on the rocking' girl blogger love! And in return I pass it on to the rest of my knitting posse Chris & Erin who may not blog often but rock their needles just the same! As well as Susan of Farm Girl Fare who's not a knitter but a Rockin' Blogger/Farmer

Thanks again Jana, if I could I'd give you the button right back because you really rock my blog world baby!

Oh you stinkers!

2007-09-12T16:02:00.000-04:00

With your pretty new needles! Geez, I did want to try the 6 inch double points so maybe...... nooooooo, no more needles..... unless I really, really, really need them (which somehow I think I will).

On the knitting front, the Condom Critter seemed to be a big hit at the bachlorette party however the pictures I can post are limited since it was a grown up party and there's no need to embarrass anyone on the web :-)

I also finished two hats for Afghans for Afghans and hope to get a few more done before the October mail in deadline. I'm putting the sweater I was going to make on the back-burner so I can start someones b-day present. And I think I'll start yet another pair of socks so I can use up some more stash to justify hitting the Socks That Sock booth at Stitches! While I'm sad summer's over because I didn't get to the beach as much as I'd have liked to, I do look forward to all the fall knitting. Tis the seasons for sticks and string!

Absinthe

2007-09-06T14:06:00.000-04:00

A couple of weekends ago I headed in to NYC with some friends to see Absinthe (the show, not the little green fairy) a sexy, campy, burlesque, acrobatics show and it was AMAZING! Everyone sat with their mouths agape as the performers spun, climbed, roller-skated and danced around and above us. The venue was small but the entertainment was huge, only made better by the fact the there was no line at the bar. Four martini's later and I was ready to volunteer to swing by my neck over the crowd too!

The show was at South Street Seaport (haven't been there since I was a kid) with a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge as we walked in. The actual show took place inside a circus tent but there were bleachers (including pillows), chairs and hammocks to lounge on outside of the tent before and after the show. Afterwards we even snagged our own mini-tent for the 20 people our group turned out to be. Of course we couldn't take pictures inside, but you can see below that it was a grand time!

Where do we go?

In here ya think?

Seriously, this was a show worth seeing and I would go back any time. It brought back that warm feeling after seeing De La Guardia - I think I like acrobatics a tad come to think of it. Cirque Du Soleil here I come!

And yes, some more socks are done! YAY for stash busting!!!

More knitting news on its way soon........

Fugley little critter!

2007-08-22T13:00:00.001-04:00

Amy's Condom Critter is Done! I already have a few goodies for it including a light-up penis lolli-pop, some candy rings which I won't get into explaining, "Dick-Tacs" (penis shaped tic-tacs) and a bride-to-be button. I need a couple more little items for the critters front pouch but otherwise she's all set. I think I'll add a little tag explaining what exactly it is and maybe some hair since I think it looked cute on the proto-type. Otherwise, tis done and I love her!

Below are pictures of the building of the critter-
I gotta say, I love the big eyelashes more than any other feature, I just hope they stay on.

Monkey monday and those dancey people again

2007-08-13T12:47:00.000-04:00

The Monkey Socks are done and in record time (for me)! They're really snuggly buggly, I think I really like this sock knitting thing. JJ (one of the party people see below) was asking me about this fascination with hand knit socks after she saw pictures of my socks while going through the camera 9she also reads this blog - hi JJ!). I've often wondered to myself how I could spend $20 on yarn, hours upon hours working, ripping and re-working a pattern only to end up with a simple pair of socks that I could have purchased for less than 5 dollars. But when I have these anti-knitting thoughts I quickly dismiss them, pick up another hank of yarn, fondle it and go on about my merry way. Trying to explain the joy of knitting, especially sock knitting, to a non-sock lover, well that's just damn near impossible! Ahh well, just one of life's little mysteries, some will get it and some won't I suppose.

And on to the party.....

It was Nikki's (pink tank top) 30th birthday this weekend so her mom threw a birthday BBQ for her. There were a few beer runs, some singing along and a lot of laughing. All in all, good times!

Monkey's, tripods and flowers oh my!

2007-08-06T23:45:00.000-04:00

So I finally cast on for a second try at the Monkey Socks. Because I was having a hard time frogging the rest of the purple sock I decided to just start with a new color and work from there. So here's a comparison of one moving forward while one is taking a step back so to speak (really I didn't intend the pun but frig it, it stays!)

One down and one to go. And for the first time ever I think I'm gonna conqure my terrible second sock syndrome!

I also finally bought myself a tripod so I played with it for a few minutes this weekend taking suspicious pictures of my socks in the yard. What the neighbors must think! I decided to move on to flowers since photographing them seemed less shady to those spying on me.

Tequilla before a wedding shower? Sure, why not?

2007-07-31T23:27:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I went up to the now famous lake house for a fun-filled eve to a friends wedding shower. The was much drinking and dancing, I do believe the pictures speak for themselves. Night two, there was less drinking but we still danced and had a ball getting spa treatments at the local coffee house which hosts and all girls spa night once a month. This is the way to live!

Party, party. Dance, Dance.

Pause to make a towel cake for a shower present.

Party, party. Drink, drink.

oh, and I got a new haircut.....

Stick a fork in her, she's done!

2007-07-23T18:20:00.001-04:00

There's not much to say here. The Chevron scarf is finally finished!!!!
Yes, I plan to make another one (larger needles, maybe even heavier yarn). But I really enjoyed the pattern and watching the colors work up. I think next time I might switch things up and add some 4 rows along with the regular 2 rows. Other than that, all I can say is, blocking wires. Get some blocking wires. So much easier. Gosh I hate blocking but I so love the effect!

I do wish you could see the texture better, it actually has a nice pattern to it as well. Mmm, I think I may just have a new favorite scarf in my home.

This is way off

2007-07-18T17:34:00.000-04:00

I think this quiz underestimates me which right there should get me some points (isn't it always the least likely to reach the credits?) Geez, I know to kill the brain, and we even have The Zombie Survival Guide in the house. I know if I didn't stop to save my loved ones I would have gotten at least a 65%!

37%

Mingle² - Online Dating

In knitting news, the Chevron scarf should be finished up tonight. Then there's just blockin' and wearin' to look forward to!

Because I apparently had more time available to waste than I first thought

2007-07-11T22:55:00.000-04:00

So I got my invite to join Ravelry last week and I've been kinda going a little crazy getting myself set up over there and neglecting my blogging duties. Sorry.
However, I have gotten some knitting done including a cotton baby hat and about 15 miles of chevron scarf (ok, 3/4 of it which is approximately the same thing.)

I've also managed to watch season 1 of 24 as well as the first four episodes of season 2, hence so much knitting accomplished. This past season (6) was the first time I really watched it. Now, after going back and watching the first one,and picking out 99% of all the bad guys and plot points I might add, I'm hooked! Shoot and I'm already still playing catch up on Lost! Ahh, one high intensity show at a time please.

Oh, but back to knitting. I have begun the depressing job of frogging things with 2 inches of dust on them including the few inches of the second Monkey sock that I never got around to finishing. I haven't had the strength to pull out the first one yet being 75% of the way though but I do intend to because I want this pair to be just right. Call it spring (summer) cleaning but it just seemed like time to take the needles back from the basket of the un-done and call those projects flubs. I plan to revamp my knitting world by frogging things that have errors and ditching the yarns that don't give me that special jingle. There's a lot of junk yarn floating about the house from "deals" I got or just unfinished projects that I have no plan to complete and it's time for them to go. I figure if I let it sit for too long the yarn will go bad and get crunchy or stinky or faded and then it'll be no good to anyone. Now I just need to put my plans into action. See, it's all so simple I can't believe I didn't do this sooner ;-)

I don't know what it is.

2007-06-27T23:23:00.001-04:00

Really, I don't know why but I just love, love, love this man! I know his jokes in his action flicks are pretty lame and he's going/gone bald and sometimes he has a bit of a belly but there's just something about that man.

And yes, as embarrassing as it is, I have felt this way for a very long time.

But my obsession is not why I here.

I ended up seeing Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4 if you've lost track) with my pops tonight. After chatting with some friends the last couple of days about possibly seeing it tonight we decided to do it another time. Sure enough I get home from work today and my dad wants to know if we're going to go see John McClain (Die Hard is a fav with us, kind of a tradition). I didn't think he remembered us talking about it months ago when we first heard about it. So yes dad, or course we're going.

If you're a Die Hard fan you won't be disappointed, I promise. Of course you have to suspend disbelief at times like always but it's totally worth it. The only way it could be improved (besides adding partial nudity) would be to make a 3-D version.

But again, not why I brought this up. Look, do you know who that sidekick is?

Yup, it's MAC!

Having just gotten a new computer at work, of course with the oh so loved Vista operating system, I'm sure I'll have dreams tonight of Justin Long coming to my aid to rescue me from Windows. Maybe he'll slay my boss and the computer guy who made my old hard impossible to read and whisk me away, off to his Apple lair where Bruce will be waiting to run me a bath and feed me chocolate covered strawberries. Ahh, that would be a sweet dream indeed.

and yes Jana, believe it or not it was a full house!)

Could I be more stoked?!?

2007-06-18T19:18:00.000-04:00

Yeah you heard me, I said stoked you gotta problem with that?

I dragged my butt in the front door today hating Monday's and dreading that I have four more work days until the weekend, only to find a big box from Australia waiting for me. Guess what it was... yup my scarf from my upstream ISE4 pal! Not only was there one of the most gorgeous lace scarves inside but a bunch of yummy goodies as well. I can't properly express through blogdom how excited I am but the feeling of Christmas morning hopefully sums it up. The whole time I was going "oh I wanted to try that" "ooh, I heard they were good".....

First is the most impressive scarf/wrap which puts my first attempt at lace to shame. The details are amazing all around and throughout the scarf and it's in a beautiful navy which reflects the light perfectly (don't listen to them Pamela when they say dull white is the only way to do lace). Besides the main attraction, there was also:
Lindt chocolate (my all time favorite brand)
Tim Tam's which I've heard so much about on the swapping scene(they're 100% correct, they are the most irresistible chocolate biscuits)
Two Yarn magazines - one from the future since it's the "Autumn 2007" version (it's just about to turn into summer right now in the states)
and to top it all off, two skeins of recycled silk sari yarn which I've been dying to touch and try!

Could it get any better?!? Seriously, Pamela you have renewed my faith in swapping! I have had some very bad luck lately which included a pal who received multiple packages but never acknowledge my gifts, as well as a swapper who made plans to do an even international exchange, received my package then never heard from again (I chocked that one up to her being 16). Anyway, I have both a wonderful downstream pal who's been gracious and kind - especially given that my package paled in comparison to some out there- as well as a great gifter. My faith is renewed, if not in all swaps at least for the next International Scarf Exchange where I will be more daring and maybe attempt a wrap or shall ;-)

Oh and by the way Pamela, I love the deep colors of both the shawl and the yarn so very much - us lefties have impeccable taste, no?

Thorns on roses tend to stick to lace, who knew?

These capture the color a little better but no picture does it justice. I can't believe she parted with it!

PICTURES!

2007-06-17T19:13:00.000-04:00

Finally catching up on all the vacation happenings. First I went on a cruise with my father's side of the family courtesy of grandma to Bermuda (same cruise and even the same week as Chris's destination wedding last year!).

Then I came home for a week, went to work, did some laundry and re-packed.

Then I was off to Cancun with the girls! It was just by chance that they ended up being so close to one another but again, it mimics last year when I went on the cruise and to Ireland within a month of one another. Next year I will give myself at least 4 months in between vacations because this is just silly!

Now on to the pictures.....

Bermuda
Bro & me on deck (Luke, Luke is bro)
First coming into port
FUD! just one of the yummy food stuff's they force fed us - alright, so maybe we weren't exactly forced...
The whole fam damnly - grandma, folks, cousins, aunt & uncle, brother, waiter....
More pretty houses as we leave

Cancun

Players include Natty & her twin sister Vicky who planned this shin-dig in honor of their 30th birthdays. JJ (BFF) and I are of course along for the ride - - and the all inclusive food and drinks. Did you hear me? Even the drinks, at the swim up bar mind you, were included in the cost! We wanted for nothing!

Vicky, me & JJ on the plane

The view from our balcony (JJ & I got upgraded to a suite with a balcony!!!)

Scottish pirates in Cancun?!? OK, they were Scottish boys in Cancun who happened to go to a pirate show but they were fun just the same and even sang to us as we took pics!

All the ladies out on the town. Can you tell we're all a tad hot?

Stormy skies - big winds and downpours but it didn't last too long and it didn't hinder the drinking!

We did do the tourist bar hopping thing one night - in the 3rd or 4th bar, they had swings at the bar. Happy ladies we were! (Me, Nat & Vic)

I took HUNDREDS of pictures in both locations so if for some reason you're interested in seeing more feel free to check out my Flickr page, soon I'll have them up there.
Surprisingly, not much knitting got done. Who woulda thunk it? Although mad props go out to both the US and Mexican authorities who allowed me to fly with my needles no questions asked. I'll give up my bottle of water any day to bring my needles!

I'm home... for a second

2007-06-05T08:42:00.000-04:00

Hello all! I'm back from Bermuda and preparing for my trip to Cancun on Saturday! Yes, I am a total nut, thanks for asking. It was an error on my part when two trips came up I didn't realize just how close May was to June. Did you know the last week of one month bumps right into the first week of the next? Duh Tracy! Bermuda pictures to follow, but for now I wanted to thank you all for the complements on the scarf. As I mentioned I took a basic stitch pattern and just added an edge below is the pattern I used, hope you enjoy! Oh, and if you decide to make it please share a picture I would love to see the pattern knit up in different colors and/or yarns.

Diamond Chain Lace Scarf

Two balls of Blue Sky Alpaca (I forget the specific name): 50% Alpaca / 50% Silk

Cast on 28 sts on sz 9 needles
Seed stitch 6 rows at beginning and end of scarf
(odd rows: K1, P1 Even rows: p1, k1) □ □ □ □ □ □

All odd rows: (k1, p1) 3 times, purl 16, (k1, p1) 3 times

All even rows: (p1, k1) 3 times, follow pattern, (p1, k1) 3 times

Row 1: and all odd rows: Purl

Row 2: K5, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k5

Row 4: k3, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k4

Row 6: k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k3

Row 8: k1, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, (yo, ssk, k2) 2 times

Row 10: k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k1

Row 12: (k2, yo, ssk) 2 times, yo, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k2tog

Row 14: k3, yo, ssk, k2, yo, sk2p, yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k2

Row 16: k4, yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k3

Repeat rows 1-16

*Sk2p = slip 1, k2tog, pass slipped st over

Oh yeah!

2007-05-21T23:37:00.000-04:00

I treated myself to lace blocking wires which I got on ebay for about 5 bucks less than anywhere else and the mailing tube doubles as a storage container so whoopee for me! Gotta say, while the wires aren't magic, they are as close as you're gonna get. Waaaaaaaaayyyyyy easier than just pinning. way.
I splurged on them because I was knitting lace for my ISE4 pal who's scarf broke my wires cherry (potty mouth Tracy, potty mouth). I also bought some super yummy green lace yarn at Stitches East, as well as some cashmere yarn at School Products when I went on the city excursion to the knitting and lace show with my knitting gal pals. There's a lot I plan to use these bad boys for and I figured I could put off buying them and 2 or 3 projects in, cave and curse myself for not buying them sooner, or I could just save myself the grief for once and jump straight to the end result and buy the damn things!
Wires in use - well I haven't pinned it down yet but you can already see how great they work.

I likey this scarf for me. I think I see one in my future ;-)

No really, there has been knitting

2007-05-20T20:57:00.001-04:00

While I do have some flowers making their way back into the garden, this post is about the knitting finally :-)

First, a friend of mine is getting married in September so how could I resist making her the Condom Critter for her upcoming bachelorette party? I couldn't help it, I just had to have this book!

I haven't had a chance to attach the face and feet yet but I think she's pretty cute just the same. I plan to make a couple more of these babies because it was so quick and easy. Well, it was quick, not necessarily easy.
The directions for putting it together really left something to be desired, I could have used straight size 5's for most of it instead of putting point protectors on the ends of double pointed needles and really the whole thing could have been knit on circulars much more easily which would have greatly reduced the seaming. I know, I know, I sound so negative! It really wasn't all that bad, I think I'll just make a few adjustments when I make the next critter. Also, I made this one much smaller than I had expected because I didn't hold two strands together like it called for so I may take their advice on that next time.

I also started the Chevron Scarf because when I see a band wagon I can't resist jumping on it! I got this altered version from - - - shoot! I can't find which blog I snatched this from. I promise to find it and add the link so you too can steal the adjusted pattern and I can give props to whomever made the scarf a tad wider. (I'm so sorry)
Anyway, this is her and I'm loving it! I had originally planned to use some of the Socks That Rock that I treated myself to for my three month, no smoking anniversary, but then realized that I would have far too much left over from each of two different skeins so I caved and treated myself to two little skeins of Koigu which I've been coveting for soooo very long. The yarn not the colors. While I love the colors I picked they are not necessarily (well the light one anyway) be what I would normally pick. There was so much to chose from in the store and I knew I wanted two that really clashed which made it hard to pick because your mind automatically wants to pair things accordingly. Even though I went with one very light and one very dark shade I can still see how they match. Next time I'll be really brave and go for two shades that seem awful together ;-)

PS: I got my Stitches brochure the other day. Yay, I can't wait!!!

OH NO!

2007-05-18T12:53:00.000-04:00

It's May 18th and I haven't posted since April?!?!?

OK I promise that within the next 48 hours I will post a picture of the progress I'm making on my Chevron scarf and maybe some other miscellaneous fun too. I'm sorry I'm so bad (I'm apologizing to myself too. I meant to use the blog as a sort of journal for myself).

Warning: this post contains profanity

2007-04-28T15:14:00.000-04:00

I'm gonna make this quick because thinking about it makes me so angry. All I can say is, Rachel was 100% correct!

Look some of my tulips are ok!

Some of them made it and I have a second chance at having a halfway decent amount of flowers.

Or do I?

How did I spend my beautiful Saturday? wWll not gardening as I had originally planned!

Saturday morning I heard some giggling outside my bedroom window which is normal because all the neighborhood kids cut through our yard to get to the park (we're not fans of this but without a fence it's hard to control). I have no idea what made me decide to go onto the front porch to see who was cutting up through the path, but I did. As I stood there watching, two teenage girls, each with a bouquet of tulips and daffodils in their hands, made their way up our neighbors driveway. And with this I went from zero to white-trash in 2.5 seconds.

"Excuse me, did you just help yourself to my garden?!?"

No answer from the girls who barely glanced over their shoulders, giggled and rushed across the street.

"Hey, Stupid Bitches I'm talking to you!!!"

They proceeded to cut through another neighbors yard as I stood in my front yard dumbfounded and barefoot.

Did that seriously just happen?
Did two girls make the effort to come into my backyard with scissors and steal every last one of my flowers? Seriously? Again? Twice and with scissors?!?

If you look closely you can see the flowers blood :-(
So if anyone has a suggestion on how to get even without getting arrested (besides the hose which I will use if the opportunity presents itself) I'm all ears.

Oh and the best part? We have the culprits narrowed down to the girl down the street or the neighbor who shares a property line with us. Some people know no bounds!

MS Walk on a most perfect Earth Day!

2007-04-24T23:34:00.000-04:00

Sunday was the MS walk at Sandy Hook - a favorite beach of mine. I'm fortunate enough to have a gaggle of great people around me (see 30th b-day party for examples), many of which were willing to give up their Sunday to come out for the walk.
Those of us lucky enough to wear those pretty orange t-shirts (I felt like Lynette on Desperate Housewives having to wear her husbands orange pizza place shirt) were there at 7am. 7:00 AM!!! (up at 5:30?!?) We were finally given the job of selling pom-poms around 8:45 - - time better spent sleeping no?
Me, JJ & Jennifer smiling even at the butt-crack of dawn (can you tell I'm not a morning person?)
Some walkers arrive - Vinny, Adam and that most famous of knitters, Jana!

Of course this group made the most of pom-pom gig, even if it was just busy work for the loud group in the back.
Terry takes his job seriously

By 10am the walkers were on their way!

"Ummm, now what do we do?"
There were so many volunteers that we were once again left standing around with nothing to do but wait for our walking friends to come back to us.
Solution?
Beer run of course!
And like any good 80's movie the dudes took off for beer while the chicks laid out the blankets on the beach.
It was a beautiful thing.

Ahhh look at that view! The water is so beautiful and refreshing...

...oh, what there's an old dude fishing in nothing but a Speedo? I hadn't noticed.

OK, so not everyone was concerned that it was Earth Day - - look at that nasty black smoke!

Horseshoe crab laying eggs in the sand, they were all over the place! Yeah, summer is coming!

These people rock! Thanks again everyone, what should we walk for next?

Bastardo Critters!

2007-04-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

I was so excited when I lifted the cover off the turtle and saw that the tulips I planted in the fall were coming up. Every year I try something different in ye ol' Yertle the Turtle but this was the first year that it started to look like it was actually going to yield some strong and cut-able flowers.

After work today I went to check on them and from a distance noticed I couldn't see any purple flowers. I assumed the rain storm we had must have beaten them down but alas it's much worse...

Some friggin' critter ate every last one of them!
The weirdest thing, and the theme of the turtle for the last 6 or so years is that only the flowers inside Yertle seem to be worth eating. The daffodil's 2 feet away as well as the dozen tulips just about 4 yards away are all in pristine shape. Grrrr, sometimes I hate that I'm an animal lover because on a day like today I sure could ring a furry little neck! (cue Ms. Hannigan voice)

On the bright side, I guess I don't need to rush to clean up the leaves and stuff in the surrounding area anymore.

Look Erin I told you so!!!

2007-04-17T08:47:00.000-04:00

I did start blogging about the fabulous care package from Spain, I knew I did! Shoot now, how do I change the post date so you can see this?

Look what we got from our 4th partner in crime Erin, who's off in Spain right now on a teaching adventure.....

mmmm, all sorts of fun things were tucked away for us including scented tissues, candies, teas and even aloe flavored chocolate! Why they would want to do such a terrible thing to perfectly good chocolate I'll never understand but it was something interesting to try.

I also tried to wind my Boulce that we got on our NYC knitting adventure and it wound up so tight I couldn't get it off of the ball winder. It was a friggin pain to unwind the whole thing and then re-wind it especially considering how little the ball turned out to be. boy I hope it knits up easier than it winds!

RIP Kurt

2007-04-12T08:41:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite authors passed away last night so in honor of him I thought today would be a good time to post a book meme that I came across. (Article regarding his death posted below.)
I was lucky enough to see Kurt Vonnegut with my creative writing class when I was in high school, but at the time didn't really know who he was. His quick wit and humor during that speech is what prompted me to first pick up his books; my favorite of which is Cat's Cradle.
Thanks goes out to Kurt and all those writer's who push the envelope, question authority, make a mockery of normalcy and judge the average. These are the people who truly inspire change and if they do it well, can make us laugh at ourselves at the same time.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Book Meme
"In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of." (my italicized items didn't seem to take, I'll update that later)

1. +The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. +Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. +To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. +Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. +A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. +Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. *Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. +The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. +Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22.+ The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
23. +Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. +Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. +1984 (Orwell)
35. +The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. *The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. *The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. *The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. +Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. +Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. +The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. *The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. *One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68.+ Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)- started but never finished
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. +The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. +Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. +Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. *A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
101. My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Author Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84 By CRISTIAN SALAZAR, Associated Press Writer

In books such as "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus," Kurt Vonnegut mixed the bitter and funny with a touch of the profound.

Vonnegut, regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping 20th-century American literature, died Wednesday at 84. He had suffered brain injuries after a recent fall at his Manhattan home, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.

Vonnegut's more than a dozen books, short stories, essays and plays contained elements of social commentary, science fiction and autobiography.

"He was sort of like nobody else," said fellow author Gore Vidal. "Kurt was never dull."

A self-described religious skeptic and freethinking humanist, Vonnegut used protagonists such as Billy Pilgrim and Eliot Rosewater as transparent vehicles for his points of view.

He lectured regularly, exhorting audiences to think for themselves and delighting in barbed commentary against the institutions he felt were dehumanizing people.

"He was a man who combined a wicked sense of humor and sort of steady moral compass, who was always sort of looking at the big picture of the things that were most important," said Joel Bleifuss, editor of In These Times, a liberal magazine based in Chicago that featured Vonnegut articles.

Some of Vonnegut's books were banned and burned for suspected obscenity. He took on censorship as an active member of the PEN writers' aid group and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The American Humanist Association, which promotes individual freedom, rational thought and scientific skepticism, made him its honorary president.

Vonnegut said the villains in his books were never individuals, but culture, society and history, which he said were making a mess of the planet.

"I like to say that the 51st state is the state of denial," he told The Associated Press in 2005. "It's as though a huge comet were heading for us and nobody wants to talk about it. We're just about to run out of petroleum and there's nothing to replace it."

Despite his commercial success, Vonnegut battled depression throughout his life, and in 1984, he attempted suicide with pills and alcohol, joking later about how he botched the job.

"I will say anything to be funny, often in the most horrible situations," Vonnegut, whose watery, heavy-lidded eyes and unruly hair made him seem to be in existential pain, once told a gathering of psychiatrists.

Vonnegut was born on Nov. 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, and studied chemistry at Cornell University before joining the Army. His mother killed herself just before he left for Germany during World War II, where he was quickly taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge. He was being held in Dresden when Allied bombs firebombed the city.

"The firebombing of Dresden explains absolutely nothing about why I write what I write and am what I am," Vonnegut wrote in "Fates Worse Than Death," his 1991 autobiography of sorts.

But he spent 23 years struggling to write about the ordeal, which he survived by huddling with other POW's inside an underground meat locker labeled slaughterhouse-five.

The novel that emerged, in which Pvt. Pilgrim is transported from Dresden by time-traveling aliens, was published at the height of the Vietnam War, and solidified his reputation as an iconoclast.

After World War II, he reported for Chicago's City News Bureau, then did public relations for General Electric, a job he loathed. He wrote his first novel, "Player Piano," in 1951, followed by "The Sirens of Titan," "Canary in a Cat House" and "Mother Night," making ends meet by selling Saabs on Cape Cod.

Critics ignored him at first, then denigrated his deliberately bizarre stories and disjointed plots as haphazardly written science fiction. But his novels became cult classics, especially "Cat's Cradle" in 1963, in which scientists create "ice-nine," a crystal that turns water solid and destroys the earth.

He retired from novel writing in his later years, but continued to publish short articles. He had a best-seller in 2005 with "A Man Without a Country," a collection of his nonfiction, including jabs at the Bush administration ("upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography") and the uncertain future of the planet.

He called the book's success "a nice glass of champagne at the end of a life."

Vonnegut, who had homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons in New York, adopted his sister's three young children after she died. He also had three children of his own with his first wife, Jane Marie Cox, and later adopted a daughter, Lily, with his second wife, Krementz.

Vonnegut once said that of all the ways to die, he'd prefer to go out in an airplane crash on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. He often joked about the difficulties of old age.

"When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life; old age is more like a semicolon," Vonnegut told the AP.

"My father, like Hemingway, was a gun nut and was very unhappy late in life. But he was proud of not committing suicide. And I'll do the same, so as not to set a bad example for my children."

___

Associated Press writers Michael Warren, Hillel Italie and Chelsea Carter contributed to this report.

Bring your own grapes

2007-04-04T16:04:00.000-04:00

Last weekend the knitting group (all three of us that are in the country) headed into the city to see the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting show at the Museum of Art & Design. Although the exhibit wasn't that large and it consisted of a lot of art more than craft we really enjoyed the trip and all the amazing things people will commit their time and talents too.

I was so impressed by so many of the items on display it'd be hard for me to pick a favorite - - so I just won't. Although this material hand cut with exacto knives to look like lace was pretty damn amazing! There were 2 or 3 wide rolls of it hanging from the ceiling with more still on the roll at the floor. Fanfriggintastic!

On the way up 6th Ave. we did some shopping and let me tell you, if you are looking for quantity and not quality this is the place for you! Here's a sample of some of the pretty dresses on display in some subtle tones.

As we were rounding the corner to the museum, Chris spotted the next knitting project to go on the needles....
Is that a hat on your head or are you just happy to see me?

Here I am outside the museum fondling my new yarn that we got at School Products which was a lovely store. We had to be buzzed in for a practically private viewing of some of the yummiest lace yarn ever that was - get this - reasonably priced!
Looky! super-soft lace merino, Cashmere boucle ("boo-clay" as we were told), and a cashmere/silk blend

Oh, and let me not forget, a couple of weeks ago both my knitting gals celebrated birthdays! What does one do to celebrate aging? Drink and eat lots of cheese and chocolate of course!

The whole group went out for a light dinner at the Melting Pot (fondue) and my goodness was it yummy! They even served us (I got to be treated like a birthday girl without having to age further) "cupcake" martini's which were so thick the straw stood up like in a milkshake. Needless to say, we were all rolled out of there by the end of the night.

I also ordered Arctic Lace in hopes to help narrow down my choice for the ISE4 scarf. I ended up going with a basic lace pattern that I turned into a scarf pattern but I still can't wait to use some of the patterns in here because they're amazing! I have yet to sit down and really read the book since a lot it consists of stories about the native Alaskan people who raise musk ox to use for what is said to be the be all, end all softest yarn ever. Eventually I will not only read the book but touch some of this fiber gold - eventually.

International scarf is on the needles!

2007-04-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

I'm working on the scarf for my pal for the ISE 4 finally (it's so hard to pick a pattern and yarn). I thought I was going to use something from my stash (it was a plan with the best intentions to help my stash problem) but instead found myself at my LYS getting an alpaca silk blend that's just heavenly if I do say so myself. I bought the lavender not only because my pal loves purples, but because I think it will be flattering on her. Now that I'm working with it I think I might need to add more purple to my wardrobe as well.
I'm still using this diamond lace pattern with a seed stitch edge, but the alpaca/tencel yarn is back in the basket for later use. It's ok though, I really wanted to use it for myself anyway.
Mom caught me working on this and seemed to really like it so if I can get my butt in gear, I'll make her a lacey scarf for Mother's Day - that's on May 13th I can do it, right?

Oh, and don't forget to call me by my new name:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Her Excellency Tracy the Omnipresent of Melbury Bubblewick
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

(Saw this on knitty prof's blog and couldn't resist knowing my proper name)

DBS affects 15% of the blogging community

2007-03-23T10:01:00.000-04:00

(It's a looonnggg post today kids)
It's no secret that I have a terrible case of Delayed Blogging Syndrome. I have the best intentions of using my blog a sort of photo journal for myself, having abandoned proper maintenance of a real journal quite some time ago. But alas this too has been placed on the back-burner. As someone who suffers from DBS, I have come to realize that I can not spend my time reprimanding myself for not posting in a timely manner because it only wastes more time, making pictures of my knitting in the snow appear terribly out-dated on a lovely spring day. So today, I am playing catch-up. All these little "draft" items that have been patiently waiting to get posted will appear today. I will do my best to be brief in my description so that I can actually complete my mission and bring everything back to current affairs. Hey, maybe then I'll even have some time to knit, wouldn't that be mad?!?

Even I can do it? You must be joking!

2007-03-23T09:45:00.000-04:00

I'm usually not one to get my panties in a twist over the politically incorrect things that people say on a regular basis, but this one just stuck in my craw and there's nothing I can do about it. This ad for The Knitting Board boasts that their handy-dandy device is perfect for "children and South-Paws".

Yes, you heard me, lefties!!! Even left-handed adults, who let's face it, are about as bright as small children, can master this fantastic tool. It's that easy. Apparently righties can do double-sided knits in their sleep, but those of us who favor the right side of the brain, are often caught drooling over how to master needles and string and can really benefit from the assistance of this board. Thank goodness they came along just when I thought the knitting world had forgotten all about us!

(*in adding the Wikipedia link about lefties, I just saw the Irish word 'Ciotog' mentioned and found it hysterical that it not only means left-handed but also, strange person. Yes, I suppose that may be true)

On a lighter note, I went to see The Pogues this weekend on St.Patrick's Day none-the-less!

OK, so pictures in the dark, with the lead singer in a wheelchair and many beers and sips of whiskey from the flask, don't make for the greatest of pictures.

Here's me and JJ - her hubby's taking the pic and Nikki and her crew are out and about (rustling up more drinks maybe?)

Back at J's place she showed me some of the things she's been learning at The S Factor. I got to fly around wearing 6 inch red stiletto's and a fluffy black skirt. Of course I twisted my ankle and got pole burn on my wrist but it burned off enough alcohol to save me from a hang-over the next day so it was worth it to me.

Here I am relaxing in both the fluffy dancer skirt and my jeans afterwards - remember, you must always replenish your fluids after heavy activity. Ab Fab's (champagne, vodka & cranberry) are good for this.

-Oh look, in the picture you can see I was also working on the last bit of my Fetching that night too! It's like the Where's Waldo of knitting! -

Diner & a movie take 1:
A big group of us went out for our first movie club night. In talking with Vinny (Jana's hubby) we realized there were a lot of movies that we both wanted to see but no one would go with us. So what better plan then to start a little movie club to go see the indie, horror, foreign etc. films that everyone around us scoffed at? But, then Reno 911 Miami came out as did the gaggle of folks we roll with.

We decided to go to Harold's which is one of those places that everyone should go to at least once. They serve THE LARGEST of everything you've ever seen. So big in fact we ordered 1 bowl of soup for the table of 9 to share just to give you an idea. They even have a pickle and bread bar - - you grab a plate of slices of bread so you can make regular sized sandwiches from the master sandwich.

1/2 a Turkey Club sandwich and the "mini" Rubin

Then off to Reno 911 Miami - I think my extra large dirty martini's added to the comedic experience (I must say, I caught a lot of heat for ordering that drink)

Flashback
Mom was cleaning out the hall closet because they were getting new carpet and look what she found!

I remember how I just HAD to have those and got them for Christmas one year (just add a dab of salt to the water for the perfect hold). Ahhhh, 1991 how I miss you.

Last but not least...
I got my upstream/downstream partners (I'm so going to mix that up) for the International Scarf Exchange! I'm so excited to start digging through my stash of patterns for just the right one for my pal. Oh and the yarn, all the fun yarn that must be rubbed, caressed, pet and sniffed. Mmmmmm..... yarn.... (sometimes I feel like Homer must feel when he's near pork chops)

Randomess of the week.... They're pencils!

This one makes me feel a little dirty

Spring Has Sprung!

2007-03-10T22:07:00.000-05:00

Welcome new knitty, welcome!

I've already printed two patterns. Now we just have to wait for the unveiling of the surprise patterns. I hate waiting.

MS Walk

2007-03-02T13:54:00.001-05:00

So here's my thought, if you're going to have a blog you might as well use it for all that it's worth right?

This year I'm doing the walk for Multiple Sclerosis to do my part in helping to eradicate this debilitating disease (actually I'm volunteering and not walking but that's just semantics). For me, one of the most terrifying things about MS is the idea that it can, and often does, come on suddenly with no rhyme or reason. Those with MS never know from one day to the next, or from one minute to the next for that matter, what to expect from the disease.

Great advances have been made and will continue to be made towards a cure for MS and other demyelinating diseases but there is still so much work that needs to be done. I thank each of you in advance for any donations you make via my personal page or in support of any other walker, biker, hiker etc.

Best Wishes,
Tracy

If you would like more information about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from the MS Walk are used, or the other ways you can get involved in the fight against MS, please visit the national MS society website.

Click here to visit my personal page and follow my progress.

A brief explanation of MS:
multiple sclerosis (MS), chronic, slowly progressive autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks the protective myelin sheaths that surround the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord (a process called demyelination), resulting in damaged areas that are unable to transmit nerve impulses. The disease also gradually damages the nerves themselves. There are elevated numbers of lymphocytes in the cerebral spinal fluid and of T cells in the blood (see immunity).
The onset of MS is usually at age 20 to 40 years, and its many symptoms affect almost every system of the body. There may be visual difficulties, emotional disturbances, speech disorders, convulsions, paralysis or numbness of various regions of the body, bladder disturbances, and muscular weakness. The course of the disease varies greatly from person to person. In some patients, the symptoms remit and return, sometimes at frequent intervals and sometimes after several years. In others the disease progresses steadily.
There is a genetic predisposition to MS, and environmental factors also seem to play some role. The disease is more common in temperate climates (1:2,000) than in the tropics (1:10,000).
There is no cure for MS, but a number of drugs—the first of which became available in the 1990s—can slow its underlying progress and reduce the frequency of attacks. These are Avonex, Rebif, and Betaseron, forms of beta interferon (a synthetic version of a natural substance produced by the immune system); Copaxone (glatiramer acetate); and Tysabri (natalizumab).
See R. Rubinstein, Take It Or Leave It: Aspects of Being Ill (1989); U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, Multiple Sclerosis (1990).

The Ice-Storm Cometh

2007-02-15T14:42:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. It would take too long to fill you in on the love/hate relationship most Americans have with this holiday or how some people go totally over-board with it but here are a few example of things you'll often hear this time of year: "it's too commercial", "I'm a loser if I'm alone on Valentine's day", "it's hollow", "if he forgets Valentine's day it means he doesn't love me"..... it just gets silly. Me personally, I like to give a card or some candy or whatever to that special someone just to say "hey, you know I love you but I also know you love ______" and fill in the blank with the token of their choice. As most of my friends know I can't resist a reason to give them crap so this holiday works for me in that sense. This year I was psyched to find that the boxes of Valentine's that are standard among all grade schoolers now come in candy form, so it was Fun Dip for everyone!

But I digress.

What I really wanted to share was the kick-ass ice storm that happened yesterday. When I first woke up I thought for sure I was heading out to work because upon first glance out the window it looked like a simple dusting of snow. It wasn't long before I found out how icey and treacherous it really was. SNOW DAY!!!!

I stayed home and cleaned, knit, watched some old episodes of Lost and listened to all the trees come crashing down in my yard and through-out the neighborhood. We lucked out and got to keep our power but much of the area is still without. The weight of the ice brought the lines down even if the falling branches didn't.

The grey sky spewed icey slush all day turning the whole yard into an ice-skating rink.

I had to go out to park the cars between the houses to protect them from all the falling lumber. I got hit in the head with a pine cone or a chunk of ice while scrapping the windows down and as I looked up to see what it was a couple of yards away a giant branch came crashing down onto the garage. I took that as my cue from God to hustle my bustle.

The top of one of the pine trees came tumbling down in huge chunks all over ours and the neighbors yard. One side of the tree is pretty much completely bare from branches being snapped off as it fell.

You can see how close my brothers car was to getting squished. I actually pulled that one branch off of his bumper but luckily there was not even a scratch on it.

Late last night Papa was out cleaning off the cars because they once again had to be moved and he started getting all excited because he had seen a blue glowing light in the distance and thought maybe one of the transformers blew up. (Yes, we are those people who get excited when stuff blows up). Anyhoo, A few minutes later I saw it too and came to the conclusion that it was sparks or fire or whatever coming off of the passing trains. It was really friggin' cool! Anyway, we check the schedule for the next train and bring Luke out to see it too. Of course he comes out in a light sweatshirt and has to run back in for a coat. In a flash he's back outside in this.

Yes, that's mom's coat! It was apparently the first one he grabbed and thought it was dad's but no such luck. What must the neighbors think when they see my family standing on the porch in the middle of an ice storm, brother in mom's coat, in desperately searching for fire in the sky?

This morning, all that ice is nothing more than a thousand photo opportunities.

Everything looks pretty when glistening with ice.

Mail 'N' Such

2007-02-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

1-29-07 (It was in the draft folder but I really have no idea why)

This weekend I mailed out my last package for SP9, the Revenge Blanket to Project Linus and a few scarves for the Red Scarf Project. I really can't believe I didn't get more scarves done. I'm disappointed in myself considering I had a year, but I kept putting it off thinking "it's just a few scarves, they don't take much time at all." Yes, this is true to an extent, but between all the holiday knitting, and personal knitting I failed to do much charity knitting at all. So I've decided that I should make a belated New Years Resolution to do three things....

1. STOP BUYING YARN!!!
This is going to be very hard since I've become quite the little shopper lately (it's the change of the season bargains, I'm a sucker for a deal). I have to remind myself that if I buy $50 worth of stuff on sale, it's still $50 out of my pocket even if the stuff in the bag is worth three times that amount.

2. I will try to make sure I knit at least one charity item a month for the year. I should really make that two, and make one item always be a red scarf, but I will start small and practical and if I go above and beyond then great. I will also pick a place and mail out the 3 or 4 items I have on hand that have been waiting for a loving home by the end of this week.

3. If I can't use it for me or give-away then it's going on Ebay or to the local grammar school, nursing home, shelter etc. I bought quite a butt-load of crappy yarn over the years (at the time having a plan for it) but now it's just taking up room and there's no way I'll ever get a chance to knit it up nor will any of my knitting gal pals touch it, so out it goes! [update: I bought a big bin last weekend and filled it with "keepers", everything else must go!]

I know these sound like pretty reasonable things to do right? Number one may be the hardest but I'll try, really I will.

These are the scarves I sent out...

The front label had a cute little penguin with a red scarf and hat on it but (love clip-art!) but showing you that side doesn't really let you see the final product. I know that two out of three aren't red but they wanted unisex scarves and in looking at their blog quite a few are very lacy and/or shades of pink and purple. I figured these colors say "dude" and will be easy to sort from the group.

For 2007, stir-up pants tucked into boots and belts about the waist are back, as are manly men

2007-02-09T23:12:00.000-05:00

Why is it so hard to find a real man who's not afraid to be a tad fancy?

Here's a good example of the kind of guy that I've been looking for. Someone who I could be proud to bring with me to Thanksgiving diner. Won't grandma be so happy?

And what's in his hand? Some sort of Brave New World futuristic cigarette?

This is by far my favorite picture - - possibly ever.
Swimming in sweaters? HELL YES! And those shorts and hairy man legs, can you say YUM!

Good God he's so pretty!

Thank you Stitchy for making me, while totally alone, loudly snort and giggle once again. I hope she doesn't mind me borrowing her wonderful finds but they were too good not to share.

SP 9 Pal Revealed!

2007-02-07T21:52:00.000-05:00

Today I was home sick again still recovering from that awful stomach flu that was going around. You know it's bad when you can't keep water down. Water? Water should NEVER be to much for your stomach to handle!
I was home mostly just making up for some much needed rest, so today wasn't all that bad, especially once the mailman got here. Not only did I get disk 3 of season one of Lost, I'm playing catch up (sorry Chris, you'll have to catch up before our next viewing I just couldn't wait) - but I also got my final package from my secret pal!

Mmmm, yummy chocolates to make up for eating nothing but chicken broth and bread for the last couple of days and a great new hat. I'm excited about the hat because it fits, unlike the one I knit for myself last year which is way too tight. I don't remember if I originally made it for someone else, put it away because it was tight or if I've just gotten a big head over the past year but it was cutting off the blood to my brain which I thought may not be the best quality in a hat.

Oh, and the pretty felted flower decoration also doubles as a ring.

Let me apologize now to my SP if I ever implied that you were a woman. The weirdest thing is that when I got my first package I wrote a whole long blurb about maybe you were a man, maybe a woman and how I should make no assumptions yada, yada, yada and then I cut it out because it sounded like dribble that went nowhere (much like all my posts). And low and behold I got a diamond in the rough - - a man not afraid to knit and with great taste to boot, what a gem! Thanks again Chris for being such a great Pal, I hope you also had a great SP9 experience!

Before/ After/ After the After

2007-02-01T22:59:00.000-05:00

I call this the, You don't know what you got 'til it's gone" hair color session:

This is my natural color. I took this picture because I wanted to go 1 or 2 shades lighter and I needed to be able to see what I was working with.

I bought the hair dye after an extended period of pondering in the isle reading boxes looking for just the right "cool" "ash" shade so that it wouldn't turn out brassy. But ultimately, I chickened out about doing it myself because I knew I may end up turning it red and this time I wanted light brown. While I actually have a pretty extensive knowledge base on the whole world of dyed hair, especially the red family (see Tracy circa 1990-2000) I know that the red shade in general, like natural red-heads, will do what it wants.

Anyway, I ended up going and getting it "professionally" done. Let me just say, had the hairdresser just been honest and said yes, it did turn out red and offered to help me fix it I would have been fine. But instead she lied and kept telling me I was wrong and that it was brown with "golden" highlights. Then blamed the lighting and finally said we all see color differently, implying that I was seeing color wrong. Apparently, she and the guy working next to her are the ONLY people who see color correctly because not one person who noticed my new hair told me it looked brown.
I should have gotten a shot in natural light for the full effect but you get the point.

So I did crazy planning for the fix, cutting at least half a dozen chunks of hair for strand tests - which I think I've done them as often as I've checked my gauge over the years - buying multiple shades and spending a lot of time playing mad-scientist with the Pyrex dishes. Ultimately, it was Nice N' Easy (the first brand I ever used, how sweet) that was my salvation.

In less than a week, with 3 boxes of hair dye un-returnable and 3 back at the store, and having spent far too much money at the hair-dresser to end up doing it myself, I present to you "back to my original (almost) hair color".

Sigh. These things happen, I suppose, but now all is well.

Quit Monkeying Around

2007-01-29T23:47:00.000-05:00

So it's kinda done. But a wee bit sad I am.

Disregard the messed up toe for a moment. I was watching 24 with Pops and so not paying attention to the Kitchener stitch. Instead of knit, knit, purl, purl, I may have knit, knit, knit, purl, knit, purl, purl... But that is easily correct and not my issue tonight. My real problem, and the reason I finished the sock in such a sloppy way, is because as I drew towards the end, I realized it was looking a bit small. I knew all along that the sock was a bit tighter than I would normally have liked but it had been working up to normal shape and size for the most part and since I prefer my socks snug over loose, I wasn't too concerned. But then I tried it on for the last time.

ICK! The heal is not in the right spot at all! It's kind of hard to see but the bottom doesn't line up and slips down on the heel.

This is so discouraging because I was sock (I'm leaving that typo, because I was "sock" excited!) excited to actually start my second sock and not suffer from second sock syndrome for a change. So now I suppose I have a few choices, I can try blocking it and hope a good stretching will do the trick, I can un-do the whole foot and knit it on the next size up or frog the whole thing and start over. Or I suppose I can just suck it up and wear lumpy socks.

I have knitting group tomorrow so I'll ask the ladies their thoughts on the matter while either starting whole new basic sock and leaving the Monkey alone for a moment. Or I may work on the illusion scarf I started before Christmas and left in the bottom of my knitting bag to collect dust.

Still in all though, I do like the pattern, I just need to figure out what size foot it was intended for because it's surely not a 7 1/2- 8!

bugs, glue, chinese finger traps and other things that could go wrong

2007-01-24T00:18:00.000-05:00

I was cleaning out my email the other day and came across the info. below that I had sent to some friends awhile back. I thought you all would be able to appreciate it too. Funny, you don't need to be able to speak German to follow what's going on.....

I love the idea but if I were a guy I think I'm be terrified to use it. Those crazy Germans are always up to something....

Oh, and one of the Monkey socks is almost done. I had to do a little more ripping the other day which set me back again, but now that I know what I'm doing hopefully the second one will be much quicker, I'm so psyched I tell ya!

Ummm, ok, so maybe I spoke to soon

2007-01-17T00:29:00.000-05:00

Chris: Did you do a gauge swatch?
Me: (scoffing) Naw, I never do one unless it's a sweater.

Cut to me an hour later at home.....
Not... going... to.... fit...

I eventually got it on but it wasn't going to go much higher up on my leg than this.

Grr. No option but to frog it. Luckily something (impatience) made me try it on tonight so I found out relatively early in the game that it didn't fit. I just hope my LYS has some long size 2 or 3 circulars on hand because the thought of waiting for them to be shipped is just too much!

The reason I need the long circulars is because I started these bad-boys using the Magic Loop method which I'm such a fan of already! My major hold-up on making socks (besides second sock syndrome of course) is that I create terrible ladders between the needles that I can't seem to ever get rid of no matter how tight I pull. This great method not only gets rid of that issue but means I won't have to run up and down any more NJ Transit train cars looking for my 5th double pointed needle (seriously did this Saturday night).
The next trick I want to learn is to knit with two circulars which should combat my other sock issue. Oh, and I want to learn how to knit toe-up. Yeah, that should about cover it for now. After I master all of that I can start to worry about playing around with alternate heal types and making my own patterns ;-)

Last but not least, the yarn I'm using is some light-weight Socks that Rock yarn I got at Stitches. And while it does totally rock, I have to warn you, it also rolls. The color that is. I washed my hands tonight after knitting with it and found a pile of purple soap foam forming in the sink. I will definitely be giving these a super rinsing before wearing them so I don't end up looking like violet!

Who, me?

2007-01-10T08:50:00.000-05:00

Jana has tagged me for a Meme listing six odd facts about myself and I'm finally getting around to doing it. Funnily enough, or maybe #1 of the list, I have thought of a thousand things to list as I go about my day but suddenly I can't think of much of anything at all. I do know this though; there are at least a dozen scraps of paper lying around my room with random things jotted down such as this.....

1. I don't like when one nipple is hard while the other isn't. Especially if they can be seen through my shirt. also, when they can be seen (because face it, cold wind happens to everyone) I pray that they are even. Nothing looks more stupid than having one nip up high and another down low. Well, except when just one is visible I suppose.

2. I have no shame about saying what's on my mind (see #1 for an example.) HOWEVER, I will undoubtedly blush when talking about anything that can be perceived as unlady-like. It baffles me and quite frankly pisses me off. I'm not ashamed of most of the things that come out of my mouth (most), and it's very hard for others to offend me by being too graphic, yet somewhere in my DNA lies that last little shred of good little Catholic girl that can't help but blush like a Geisha at naughty things - - if Geisha's blush. I think they do, why wouldn't they?

3. I get stuck on the dumbest crap and spend far too much time thinking about it. Like the "do Geisha’s blush, and if so can you see it through their make-up? Is that part of the reason for the white face paint?" yada, yada, yada. This also causes me to ask too many questions. For example, I now know not only how plywood is made from watching a show on it on the Discovery channel, but I also found out why it has to be cut the way it is after having Chris's carpenter husband explain it to me in detail. This interest in the uninteresting can either be a wonderful, eccentric trait or an utter annoyance. Depends on the day I suppose :-)

4. I try to be kind to inanimate objects. I was recently telling my knitting group (there was a reason at the time I'm sure) that when I have to replace the paper in the copier, printer, fax machine etc. if there is any paper already in the tray I will put that paper on top of the new pile because they've been patiently waiting their turn and it doesn't seem fair to let the new ones cut in line. Then I worry that maybe they don't want to be next in line and I'm not doing them any favors by expediting their journey through ink & toner land.

5. I hate line cutters! Who doesn't right? But I get really upset when people cut in line or take more than their share or screw someone over for their own benefit. I will wish them harm but usually only equivalent to their crime. I strongly believe that if everyone would just play fair and follow the rules things would go so much smoother for everyone. But there's always those greedy people out there that think the world owes them something and feel free to steal it from me and the other rule followers. On top of whatever I come up with at the moment, my main punishment for all these people would be for them to have to explain to their mother's or grandmother's why they felt like it was ok to do whatever their crime was. I think if people had to consider breaking their grandmothers hearts they wouldn't be so quick to be dicks.

6. I get easily wound up over injustices (see above). There are two things that my mom always told me in regards to that, 1. she said I never liked injustice - - which I find to be funny because, really who does? But I know what she means. It's a bigger pet peeve of mine than it is for most people (see #4). Secondly, she said I always wrote better when I was mad (yes, I used to consider myself an aspiring writer - now I don't know what I consider myself). I digress though, she's right, anger gets my creative juices flowing as does getting myself into situations I shouldn't be in. Maybe as I got older and wiser and stopped putting myself in harms way I lost some of the fire. This could definitely be the reason for the reduction in writing. Hmmm.... ok, this is getting more "Dear diary" than "here's why I'm weird".

Sorry I kinda went off topic up there.
Anyway, I get to tag six people now:
1. My SP (the one who's buying for me who's blog I don't have of course)
2. Adam
3. Claire
4. Kim
5. Ade
6. And these ladies can share spot #6 Chris (because I hope she comes back to the blogging world) & Erin (if she can blog from Spain)

I would love it if everyone did one of these so just because I didn't post you doesn't mean you're not tagged ;-)
Eventually I want to get one of those "100 things about me" lists up here, but seeing how long it took me to post just 6 things, it's not looking good.

****OK, wanna laugh at me for a second? So I have of course seen meme's mentioned all over blogland and in my head always pronounced it "mem". Then the other day I had a moment of clarity and thought "oh you dumb-ass, it's me-me, because it's about me!" And from there I proceeded to say it out loud that way. Then of course I come across this nugget and realized life really is like the SAT's sometimes. You really should just stick with your first choice; don't over-analyze things or you'll end up sounding stupid.

meme n (mëm): A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. From the Greek mimëma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate.

In Blogspeak, a meme is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs. ****

On a totally unrelated note, here's some pictures of my Godson/cousin from last weekend when we had an after the holiday's family holiday party. I've included a loose version of the dialogue for clarity.

Me: Hey Shayne, whatcha got there?
Shayne: It's the blue guy from the game in the basement, see!

Me: Oh, he's cool, but I can't see your face. Can you hold him down for the picture?

Me: Shayne, why do you look so sad in the picture? You look like the saddest boy ever!
Shayne: Leme see, leme see...
(He sees the picture and laughs)
Me: Let's try again ok?
Shayne: OK

Me: That's much better! You're like an actor, look at all the faces you made (he reviews the shots)
Shayne: Do another!
Me: OK

Me: That's a funny one. What was that?
Shayne: His head comes off see.
He hands me a little blue head and walks away.
Photo shoot over

Oh, wait, I forgot, the photo shoots are never over with my family!
(Cousin Alexis and Mother Joan)

Tea Party

2007-01-04T20:28:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry but I think youtube is the bestest thing ever for this very reason - - now you don't have to say "I guess you had to be there" anymore, you can see it for yourself!

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2007!

2007-01-01T18:05:00.000-05:00

Ahh, new year, fresh starts, more chances to do things differently and/or better.

I'm posting this just the way it is because it is hysterical! Why? Because the next sentence was going to be the beginning of me promising to be a better blogger, knitter, stash-user-upper, person, etc. etc.
Oh well, I guess some things never change!

My very merry family

2006-12-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

Is it any wonder why I love these people?

First off, mom bought all of us matching PJ's because she was so excited to find them in all of our sizes (this is not a normal thing in my house thank God!).

Then, we find out that Mom put Dad in charge of grabbing some stocking stuffers(bad idea). At first I didn't understand why I had received a bag of golf tees but when I saw this I understood who was behind the madness.

Luke got this....

I think it's safe to say this is one of my favorite video's ever! (Don't worry, he didn't really, he was just teasing my brother...)

Dag-nabit! Youtube won't upload the video correctly so I'll have to try again another time. Doesn't really matter since it f'ed up the layout anyway :-(

I just don't understand why my extended family thinks we're odd.

As for some knitted items, I got these done for my cousin's girlfriends. Now I'm working on one for mom at her request, then I'll make one for me. They really are a great quick n' easy project if you need one.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

2006-12-25T11:09:00.000-05:00

Do your part for world peace

2006-12-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this earlier today but don't worry it's totally worth making the time to help lend a hand for world peace.

(You don't get the pun yet, but you will!)

SURPRISE

I'll let you just read for yourself, and don't fret, they even have a blog!

(Thanks JJ for the find!)

Decadent

2006-12-21T19:47:00.000-05:00

I came home to find a little box waiting for me and of course, dopey me pondered for far too long, "did I order someone a Christmas present and forget?"
No silly, your SP sent you a gift!

The box included a set of very pretty coasters, a wonderful cranberry cinnamon candle (I love spicy candles) and a tin of the fanciest darn holiday tea I ever did see!

I've never seen this before but not only was I and my tea connoisseur mother impressed, but even my I-don't-do-tea father asked for a looksy - - what was so intriguing? The tea bags are little silk sachets! Is that not the coolest thing ever? OK, it's very possible that I'm just not in the know, and this is standard practice in "good tea" world but I've never seen such a thing. I almost hate to throw the bag out when I'm done. OMG, I'm turning into my great-grandmother!!! Please, stop me before I start saving old wrapping paper "because it's too nice to rip."

Mmmmmmmm, yummy spicy clovey, citrusy tea for mom and me. Not only was it yummy but it made the house smell great. Once again pal you sent a wonderful package, thank you and happy holidays!

Oh, this? It's the last mug standing from a very old set that my folks had when I was a kid. Each mug had a different bunch of wild flowers on it and for some reason I always loved looking at each of them to check out all the different flowers. I had completely forgotten about the set until about a week ago when this one resurfaced from the abyss. I felt like Sarah in the Labyrinth when she ended up in the junkyard where all your lost stuff goes :-)

****I upgraded to the Beta Blogger but they're still working out the kinks. Example, the spell check is much better and faster, it hightligts all the incorrect words and gives you a dropdown menu to pick from - however, the corrections don't always stick.
Also, bloglines is having a little trouble keeping up so it doesn't always show that there is a new post. Plus it's had one of those lovely red exclamation marks next to the updated blogs for the last few days. However, pictures upload faster and it can handle more than 3 at a time where the old one always chocked up on me if I did more than two.
None, of this really matters, just thought I'd let you all know some of the beta issues in case you're pondering it or wondering why my blog is doing some weird stuff. ****

Doneish

2006-12-18T23:00:00.000-05:00

The Revenge Baby Blanket
I know, it's an odd name for a baby blanket, eh? Basically, my friend named it as such because her mom asked if I could make a quick gift for a baby shower she had to go to. The mother of the showeree had made a snyde comment to her about her gift plan being "nice... and easy" and we don't take under-handed bitchy comments lying down now do we?!? I whipped this up over the past week, but due to the tight deadline (Christmas time, I agreed, at Christmas time?), I couldn't make it quite as big as I had hoped. Even so it's large enough and I have to say, I'm pretty fond of the way the homespun works up when knit in the round. I have a pattern for a grown-up size blank knit almost exactly the same way as this one so I can't wait to see how that one comes out.

And I gotta give a shout out to Knitty for offering a last minute, super quick Christmas gift pattern. I'm even able to use up some stash yarn that was left over from the yoga bag! I'm hoping to get a couple of these done this week for some of the chicks in my family but I have a back up plan just in case it doesn't work out. I vow not to stay up until 3am knitting again --- unless it's for fun, not sport.

So much to blog about, so little time

2006-12-14T19:20:00.000-05:00

OK let's play a quick game of catch up shall we?

First off Jana, (whom I'm sure you know by now) was kind enough to loan me her precious wool winder and swift last week. That's her showing Chris and I how to use it in the middle of the restaurant, yes, we used the swift too. Shame? What's that? No, I don't think I have any, why do you ask?

So after knitting I took it home and promptly wound pretty much everything available.
Was that enough? No of course not!
So onto Ebay I went and purchased my very own winder!!! I don't have a swift but I'm not too worried about that since hardly any of the stuff I have left to wind is in hanks.

Mine, mine all mine!!!!
Birthday yarn!
Our LSY sends you a $15 coupon for you to spend on yarn in your birthday month, plus I got a gift certificate from Chris so looky what I got. It's Miracle by Classic Elite 50/50 alpaca & tencel. I kept seeing tencel mentioned around the knitting world but I wasn't sure what it was. I started to asked my ladies when we were at Stitches and some woman piped in to explain that it was a plant fiber(fiber whores are so easy to spot). I just had to get some because it's so very, very soft. I haven't had a chance to knit it yet but I plan to make a scarf with it for my Grey's Anatomy KAL since I'm very over-due on making something grey :-)

So besides all the yarny, yarn, yarn stuff a few other things have been ahappenin'. For starters, I have joined you all in the 21st century and gotten myself Tivo!!!

I just can't believe the love and I know I haven't learned how to do half the stuff it's capable of yet.

Oh, and Dad has decorated the house...

I know, subtle ain't it? I wouldn't have it any other way - - ok, maybe I would give low-key and tasteful a try some time but really, isn't this so much more fun?

Last GYS Swap Package

2006-12-01T01:02:00.000-05:00

This fantabulous package arrived from my 3rd and final swap buddy in South Africa. Look at all the snazzy stuff she sent! Local newspaper, a craft magazine, keyring, postcards, beads, jewelry, CD with SA music and why yes, that is ostrich jerky from Woolworths! Thank you once again Kim, I loved it all!

The bestest folks ever!!!

2006-11-27T00:09:00.000-05:00

Oh boy am I behind once again. You can tell how badly behind I am by the date - - see this post says it's Nov. 27 (which is when I first started it) but today is actually Dec. 5th! oops

I'm very, very sleepy and my wrist is acting up again but I just couldn't let another day go by without publicly thanking all my friends for throwing me a kick-ass surprise 30th birthday last weekend!

They tricked me into thinking I was going to an all girls bookclub (reviving an old group) but instead it was a sneak attack by a roomful of my favorite folks (and lots of drinks)!

I had an amazing time and was so happy that all of my friends got to meet one another since they are all constantly hearing about each other. Everyone seemed to have a great time -- just check out a sample of the a plethora of photos that were taken (damn it that some won't upload!). I wish I could share more but either I looked completely awful or one or more people in the picture was doing some borderline inappropriate.

Once again, thanks to JJ & Terry for hosting and throwing the shin-dig and all of the behind the scenes helpers (like Natalie and her husband Augie who drove me there and then pretended to need to go to the liquor store because they needed to stall me a little).

You guys have no idea how much it means to me to have you all there, oh crap, now I'm getting all teary eyed- shit, shit, shit. OK, I love you guys are you happy now, I said it!

XOXOX
Tracy

Adam and Jana's husband Vinny - I can't even begin to explain the cow costume story right now
JJ's husband Terry (who's a physical therapist) wrote a story for me about Idgy and his bum leg - - -I will most definitely share a picture form it when the blog will allow me to add more pictures
All the ladies - - I think it speaks for itself
Jana and I enjoying ourselves (they gave me a boa and a crown and we made good use of them)
Chris, myself and Jana still having a grand old time
Nikki, me, Terry and JJ with Terry posing in a t-shirt Nikki had made up for us with an old prom photo on it
All my loot - -don't get me started on how great it all is!!!

Food, glorious food! And crafts, glorious crafts!

2006-11-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

Look at all the yummies I made on Friday!
First off, that orange rectangle on the left is the most fabulous pumpkin cake-like thingie that my SP sent me the recipe and fixin's for (I forget it's proper name right now). I had originally planned to make it and bring it with me to my friend's book club (more on that in another post) but some big mice (family) got into and made it unpresentable. Oh well, more for me :-)
If it's ok with my SP I'll add the recipe later, but I can understand if she wants to keep it a secret so she can impress folks.

Now I will share my most stupidest moment of the day.
So here I am perusing the directions and pulling things out of the cabinet because I like everything on the table from the giddy-up. I see that it calls for pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, clove etc. etc. (don't get ahead of me if you already see where this is going). So I grab everything except the pumpkin pie spice because, well why would I have that on hand? I can't figure out what could possibly be in it that isn't already listed on the recipe and of course mom's not home to ask, so I have to fend for myself which basically means make a run to the store.

Once there, I read the ingredients and it includes all of the other spices I had already pulled out of the cabinet - but I'm still not getting it. I figure it must be the sulfite balancers or some such nonsense that will make all the difference to the recipe. I head home with my magic spice and find mom is also now home. I ask her what she thinks could be in pumpkin pie spice and without looking at the recipe lists all the above ingredients. I smartly reply "yes, you would think so, but it calls for this in addition to those items."

Or does it?

Now all of the pieces fall into place.
"Ah crap!" I say.
"What is it?" my mom asks.
"Yeah, I bet it said 'or'".
"Hmmm?"
"Or. I bet it says pumpkin pie spice OR these 45 ingredients."
"Oh" says mom.
"duh" says I.

Moral of the story. READ, don't peruse directions. It could save you an unecessary trip to the store.

That being my biggest problem is really quite good considering that I also decided to try my hand at making bread from scratch. I found two recipes on the Farmgirl Fare website that I wanted to try. The first was for Beyond Easy Cheddar Dill Beer Bread, which truly lived up to it's name - and the second was for Oatmeal Toasting Bread. I made the beer bread in the morning on Thursday and brought it with me for Thanksgiving dinner, but in my rushing, failed to capture it on film. However it seemed to be a hit and I plan to make it again, but I'll play with the ingredients a bit as suggested by Farmgirl- maybe sour cream and scallions or something fun like that.

As for the Oatmeal Toasting Bread, it came out great if I do say so myself. While it took much longer than I anticipated with all the rising time (didn't know I would have to let it rise twice) having that much time between rounds allowed for me to make everything else on my to-do list so I was quite happy.

While I was making a mess of the kitchen, I decided to also make JJ some mini birthday cupcakes - look how pretty they were. I say "were" not because they were consumed, but because once at her house they were placed near the hot stove and all the icing melted off. Well actually I was intrigued to see that it was the chocolate frosting that really didn't handle the heat too well but the vanilla looked relatively good considering all things. I wish I had taken a picture so you could see the before and after.

And to address the crafty side of things, I also took a shot at dollar-bill origami and made a little box and a ring to go with JJ's birthday present from me and Nikki. You gotta love the world wide web, you can find directions on how to do just about everything on there!

Keeping the mailman busy!

2006-11-25T01:27:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't heard, I have become a bit of a swap addict. It started with a couple of simple knitting swaps but them I found Gimmie Your Stuff and picked up 3 new swap friends from around the world (yay!). Earlier last week I sent out my packages and have already received two of mine!

The first to arrive was from my new friend Adeline in Singapore. She sent all sorts of yummy treats, including a new favorite of mine, Haw Flake. Of course due to the packaging I wasn't sure if it was candy or fireworks at first but I put it in my mouth anyway and it turned out to be quite tasty. I'm assuming it's some type of dried fruit???
Also included in the package was some wonderful aloe face wash which I've been using since I received it, some fun homemade jewelry, bracelets, beads, stickers, rainbow colored yarn etc. etc. It was a great package and I'm so excited to have made a new friend and swap pal. Thanks again Ade and happy holidays!

Then I received a package from Claire in Scotland who is also a crafty kinda chica and who likes to knit! She sent me some pamphlets about Scotland, pretty little beads, cookies (also big yum!), stickers, pencil with Nessie on it, cute little change purse, Christmas decoration, beautiful handmade paper and a rockin' disco scarf -- cousin of the disco tie ;-)

Big thanks goes out to you too Moosh!

Perty ain't it?

Once everyone recieves their packages, I'll post pictures of what I sent out - for now you'll have to just use your imagination!

There's a reason it's called a dirt mall

2006-11-24T23:36:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a very busy week and it's not even Thanksgiving's fault!

I'll try to catch you up more with pictures than words, since from what I hear the exchange rate is a thousand to one ;-)

Last Saturday I went on a mini road trip to the flea market. It was a gray and dreary day and the ground was soggy from previous rains but the temperature was fairly mild and I enjoyed myself immensely. I don't get to go there to often, but I definitely plan to make more time for it in the future. I am a true people watching connoisseur. My favorite subjects can usually be found in great numbers at the flea market - other good places to people watch: train stations, buses, renaissance fairs, concerts, family functions. I am also a major pack-rat who tends to fall for the unusual, odd, campy and old. My favorite finds will include a mixture of these genres.

Sadly, I didn't take too many pictures because I'm not so brave with the camera when I'm alone in a setting like that, however I got a few shots to give you an idea of the surroundings. I also have a few pictures of some of my many treasures...

I wish I had a panoramic camera so you could see how far it stretches. Also, there are 3 (4?) buildings which house permanent units for the hardcore flea marketers
you can sell ANYTHING and eventually someone will come along to buy it

The day is coming to an end
As I was wandering around I came across a pile of old cookbooks that caught my eye. It was the uber brown and shiny turkey on the cover that first lured me over to the table but it was the next book that made me break out the singles...
Why yes, that is a jello mold with olives, tomatoes, lima beans and mandarin oranges suspended in it! Olives and Jello?
No, maybe you didn't hear me, I said OLIVES & JELLO!!!
After I got it home I even checked the recipe thinking maybe it was a beef consume mold (gross but somehow slightly less awful) but no, it actually called for "fruit flavored gelatin" - sadly, no specific "fruit" was suggested however :-(
My favorite moment was while I was flipping through the book laughing and gagging at the same time the 96 year old gentleman selling it commented to me on how the books had such tasty recipes inside. I tried to joke about the jello mold possibly not being an appropriate hostess gift but I fear I may have inadvertently made fun of his wife's holiday tradition (Aunt Bethany's jello with cat food comes to mind) So I decided that in the end "yes, yes, I see that", was the best response possible.

My brother noticed that first book also has an entire chapter dedicated to cooking with frankfurters which appalled him at first but like watching a car accident, sometimes you can't help but want to take a quick glance. You'd be surprised at how much you can do with them. Especially if you have some mayo, onions and of course more olives, on hand, Please believe me, I am not joking about this, some things are too sacred to joke about (like hotdogs).
Lastly, I found the gem for only 50 cents can you believe it!?! I'm sure I could have haggled with the woman but it just didn't seem right. This is art we're talking about after-all and I figure when I take it to the Antique Roadshow and get 80 grand for it I don't want to feel bad for cheating the woman out of a quarter. Actually I won't be cashing in this badboy, this fine item is earmarked for a friend who shares a taste for the distasteful. Hope it's enjoyed!

Tomorrow hopefully I'll finally find time to post about my first international swap package and all the baking that's been goin' down. I don't like to post unless I can share the pictures - you know how it is.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2006-11-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

Later or tomorrow expect a crazy long post about all the excellent mail I've been receiving!

My what a lovely bag you have

2006-11-19T17:01:00.000-05:00

Why thank you I made it myself!

That's right, this Sunday was "make your own handbag day". Amy, one of the regular knitting chicks, found out about this great place where you can get together with your friends and pick your own fabric to sew your own bag - kinda like "Build A Bear" for grown-ups.

Although the selection wasn't all that large, it was still enough to make it really difficult to settle on just one thing. So I didn't, instead I made mine reversible! My only problem was that at the end they added a ribbon around one side (ok, they helped a little) but when it was sewed on it was stitched through the purse so the black thread shows on the other side. I was not so thrilled because it was such a pretty purse and now it had a blemish, but then I remembered the ultimate miracle cure...
Stitch Witchery
If you're not familiar with it it's only the best invention ever for all your sewing needs (mishaps)! Basically it's this fusible iron-on webbing that glues your material together. Usually I use it for hems that have fallen and I'm too lazy or uncoordinated to fix, but it's also great for attaching things like this. You just rip off a strip, put it between the fabric, cover with a towel, spritz with water, iron and voila, all better for under 2 bucks!

Enough about that, on to the pictures....

purse in progress

now with the lining (finished photos to be added later - Blogger, you know the drill)

All done!

Thanks again to Amy for the fantastic idea! I can't wait to do it again!!!

Who's got the bestest SP? I do, I do!

2006-11-16T23:40:00.000-05:00

Looky what my pal sent me today....
Too pretty to rip open, but I did it anyway!
You may be wondering why I would be so excited about receiving a box containing pumpkin pie filling, chocolate chips and coffee but it actually does make sense and is part of a very clever theme: these are all a few of my pal's favorite things. These ingredients were to accompany the included recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin squares (yum!!) and the coffee is to enjoy with the squares. I can't wait to make these. I had to hide the bag of chips from myself and I'm hoping to make them either this weekend or for Thanksgiving. I doubt they'll be for Thanksgiving though because to be completely honest, I don't want to share with that many people - just the immediate family :-)

To top off it off she also sent me Knitting For Peace
which is a new book that includes patterns for different charities and their back-stories as well as stories about past knitting charities. The best thing is, I was recently checking this book out online because I thought it was such a great idea but I didn't think I should splurge on yet another knitting item.
I love the book and the thought that went into picking it out. Thanks so much SP!

Stitches, finally!

2006-11-12T23:04:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Baltimore convention center, the yarn capital of the world (for a few days)! Sadly,we were not permitted to take any photo's inside the convention center so you really miss out on how breathe-taking the whole thing really is. The best way I can describe the event is to say it was like being on acid inside Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The colors were so bold and the textures were so enticing that I was tempted to nibble on all the soft, delicious fibers. Really, there's not much more I can say about it, so let's just look at some pictures shall we?

The view of the city from our room:

Jana & Amy before we headed off to dinner (it was a wee bit chilly if you can't tell from the wind kissed faces):

Ahhh, the 3 of us inside Stitches (ok, they did allow some pictures):

And finally, what you've all been waiting for... The stash!
Sadly, I can't show you all of it because some items are presents (shhh). I also have a pattern on it's way to me since they sold out at one of the booths. Apparently a lot of vendors were caught off guard by the size of the convention in Baltimore vs the smaller version that was held in Atlantic City the last couple of years. Many said they had to have emergency shipments sent in since their stock was so thoroughly picked over.

What do we have here? A few circulars, some knitterly post-it notes, wool wash, super soft lace yarn (I've been waiting to give it a shot for quite some time now); some Socks That Rock yarn, because it was just too tempting not to see if it really does rock; Noro Aurora because well because it was shiny and I'm easily distracted by shiny things; and the creme de la creme (is that how you spell it?), Stitchy McYarnpant's new book signed by Stitchy herself! The best part was that I picked up the book to just leaf through it and the woman running the booth said I could have it signed if I want, and I must have said something along the lines of "whahuh, by who?" and then Stitchy steps out from behind a wall and says "by me" with a big ol' smile. Yeah! My only regret is not getting her to sign a book for my SP. I almost did but then wasn't sure if she would want it or already had it or who knows what. So, if you read this sometime after January pal, I'm sorry I didn't get you a copy of the book, but hopefully what I did get you will make up for it ;-)

Where will I be this weekend?

2006-11-03T13:12:00.000-05:00

(This is a teeny tiny aerial shot from last year in AC - - the one I sadly missed.)

At Stitches east of course!!! I am so friggin excited! I'm heading down with 2 of my knitting partners in crime, including Jana who was gracious enough to offer to drive because, and I quote "my car is the biggest and therefore-MORE YARN!" I must say, Jana is a thinker.
OK, I need to go work on my wish list and look into all the stuff to do in Baltimore. Our plans loosely go like this: yarn, lunch, yarn, super-yummy dinner & drinks, possibly some knitting, sleep (dreaming of yarn I suspect) and return home (where we can roll naked in our new stash if one so desires). Not a bad way to spend the weekend, eh?

Today's Sky

2006-10-28T15:39:00.000-04:00

It's been raining on and off all day but is still quite warm. The wind is blowing like mad. It will settle for a little while and then suddenly blow all the blinds in. I wish you could catch a whiff of the heavily scented autumn air, it's one of my most favorite smells ever. Sadly, this video doesn't do the angry sky justice at all.

(it's not showing just yet, but it should soon)

Thank You!

2006-10-26T20:54:00.000-04:00

After I returned home from a long day in the city, I was totally surprised to find a box from my SP waiting for me! The swap officially started on October 15th and runs through January so I wasn't expecting anything until November at the earliest. What a tricky pal I have to send me stuff so early.

I wanted to blog about it last night but I couldn't get on to the site at all, not even to read anyone else's blog. Did anyone else have that issue? Sorry, I get easily sidetracked, back to the booty....

So look, my pal even made my gifts match the season/upcoming holiday! She sent me some soft thick burnt orange colored yarn, Halloween themed Jelly Belly candy assortment (YUM & half gone already) and none other than the infamous light up knitting needles, even they matched in their pumpkin orangeness! Since I first discovered these in one of my knitting magazines I've been wondering about them and now I finally get to try them out for myself. And yes, I will be bringing them to my next knitting group so everyone can play too.

My pal also included a card mentioning that I could use the needles for knitting in the movie theater - - it was meant to be a joke, because she's right, it's a bit absurd to use them there. What she doesn't know is that I once did knit in the movies, but in my defense it was just the knit stitch and I did it on bamboo circulars so as to not disturb those around me. Bright glowing plastic needles clicking in the dark would probably not only distract the person whose doing the knitting but all those around you, so I vow never to bring them there. However, later tonight I will be playing with them in the dark, I promise :-)

(It's hard to take a picture of light. I actually got one of them glowing in the dark, but of course it won't upload. So you'll just have to use your imagination.)
Thanks once again SP for my great gifts, I'll be sure to keep you posted on how the needles work out.

"This show was taped live, before a studio audience"

2006-10-26T20:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went into NYC with some of my family to see Montel Williams (my aunt got us free tickets). Re-capping the whole adventure would just wear me out, so I'm not even going to bother. I will tell you about my funny grandma moment though.
On the train ride in I was knitting (of course) and finally working on finishing my second Fetching glove. My grandmother asked me what I was making so I should her the completed one, but she informed me that it didn't have any fingers. I tried to explain that it's supposed to be like that but she wasn't understanding why I would want finger-less gloves. She finally said if I like them that's fine "but don't bother making me any of these things". Moral of the story, Fetching isn't for everyone.

Montel
My aunt, cousin, grandma and me (Mom's taking the picture).
As we were leaving I caught a glimpse of this from the cab and was able to get my camera out just in time. I don't know why, but I find cults to be so interesting.

Gimmie Your Stuff!

2006-10-21T00:59:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited about finding this swap. I know, I know, another ? But believe it or not this is something I was actually looking for but never thought I'd come across. (Of course, don't expect me to put it together myself or anything adventurous like that!)

Anyway, you get to swap all sorts of goodies, really anything you and your partner agree on, with people all over the world. How cool is that?!? Sadly, I'm already mostly excited about taste-testing everyone's candy (Nikki & I went nuts over all the fun snacks to try in Ireland. Geez, come to think of it, I never did get those pictures up here. That's terrible Tracy, just terrible!)

If you also want to participate just click on the link in my sidebar and fill out the form. Then post a list of things you would like to give or get and then let the magic begin.......

Things I'd be willing to trade and/or would like to receive...

yarn & other knitting items
crafty stuff: fabric, buttons, stickers, what-ever else you can think of
postcards
magazines/newspapers
candy (of course)
other interesting food stuffs (unusual flavored chips, jams, gum, coffees/teas etc.)
knick-knacks (little items that serve no purpose but are interesting to look at)
I have a few books I'd part with if that's your thing
soaps/lotions
jewelry
I also like vintage stuff including pictures (I don't know if I could really offer anything like that but I could look into it)

I like surprises and pretty much anything I can't get here would be interesting to me. I didn't look into what can and can't be sent here yet so that may limit things a bit. Also, from scanning other participants blogs a few things to consider: how much we're willing to spend on items and shipping fees and how much shopping we're willing to do. Don't forget, one persons trash is another person's treasure - gently used items can be fun too.

2006-10-20T23:20:00.000-04:00

The Little Girl Giant

Found this on Rikki's blog (from Gimmie Your Stuff) and also fell in love. It's something about her face.
...And yet, she kinda scares me a little. I don't know what it is but I can't help but stare at her.

Bunny Blanket

2006-10-20T00:18:00.000-04:00

Here is my most recent FO, a blanky for a stuffed bunny (it was a special request). That's all I'm going to say about that. If I can get a picture of the two of them together I will, otherwise you'll just have to use your imagination.
I know I messed up the pattern and yes I could have fixed it but I actually thought it kinda looked cool that way. Plus, it's for a stuffed bunny. I don't think the bunny is all that picky.

Funky Scarf!

2006-10-19T23:55:00.000-04:00

Here's some better pictures of the funky scarf, I'll let you figure out which ones are meant to show off the color and which are there to show the detail....

My beautiful scarf plus goodies which included snowflake bath fizzies (I love me some bath time!) and a little notebook/pen set which is perfectly purse size.
Thanks again Cathy, you rock!

Funktified!

2006-10-17T10:08:00.000-04:00

New pad visit continued, AKA random things to mention regarding last weekend's trip. First off, as knitters you can appreciate my joy when I spotted not one but two items I made for the couple... Green scarf on the coat rack was for hubby last Christmas and the blue & pink blanket was a housewarming gift for wifey when she first moved into her old apartment - and yes those colors matched the place!

Here's JJ modeling how to use the blanket after she caught me taking pictures of her coat rack.
Sunday afternoon we took a walk around her new town and found a yarn shop/ antique store (what a fabulous idea!). I was so excited to find that they had 3 different yarns in the window that would have been perfect for my funky scarf exchange pal but sadly, the store was closed :-(

Ahh, last Tuesday Chris helped me with the whole knitting two socks on two circulars thing because I just couldn't get it started (it was too tight for me to get the needle through). Today, the socks look exactly as you see them here. They are on my to-do list :-)
Before I sent my funky scarf off I wanted to add some beading to help jazz it up a bit. I kept playing with different things to do to it but I was stumped. I brought it to knitting where some of the gals helped me layout a few pattern options which seemed very promising. But when I got home I realized none of them would work because the V's on each end of the scarf faced in different directions which meant it wouldn't looked balanced. I decided to just add a few clusters on each of the three corners and call it a night (I'll make myself nuts with stuff like that).
Then on Friday I got my funky scarf packed up and sent out to my pal (I accidentally had the stitch markers under the paper for the photo shoot- duh. And don't even get me started on how I had to re-wrap it because I couldn't fit it in the box and I ended up totally messing up the tissue paper). Anyway, she got it yesterday and seemed very happy with it which makes me happy.
And then today I came home from knitting to find MY funky scarf waiting for me!
It's absolutely beautiful and totally my style. The colors are warm reds, oranges, browns and green (Where was this yarn when I was looking for something to use for my pal?). I took a few pictures but of course blogger said I can't share them with you yet. I think it's being picky because it knows I need to take the pictures in natural light in order to properly show it off. Hopefully tomorrow I can re-shoot it and then finally post some pictures.
Thank you Cathy once again it's truly fabulous!

Doing nothing is something for me

2006-10-10T23:55:00.000-04:00

So once again I find myself a bit behind. I get the pictures up lickity split but the writing part, not so much. Tonight I will be very brief. Last weekend I went to visit my favorite couple in their at their new pad and also got to hang with Nikki and Irene - Nikki one of my bff's and Irene one of Terry's who we got to know and love through JJ & Terry's wedding happenings. We got our drink on early in the day which included a cheese spread, wine and champange! Then we went out where we managed to repeatedly publicly humiliate ourselves by allowing perfect strangers to over hear unlady-like talk at top volume. I love those kind of nights!
(me and JJ on her new front stoop. It was a little chilly so I was able to test run my new scarf. YAY!)
(The food barely hit the table when I pulled out the camera, yet you can already see where everyone started digging in--- a sure sign of good eats!)

(On the way to the bar, believe it or not, this is just how silly we be!)

(The whole gang - Terry, JJ, Irene, Nikki and me)

Oh, and I started my second MDS on the train ride up there but I don't have a picture yet. But, as we were all relaxing about the house, I was working on it and Terry pointed out that my knitting gets very intense and fast the more we talk about politics. I thought that was quite a funny (and accurate) observation.

{Stinky, stinky blogger won't let me finish uploading my pics. Now I remember why I never finished this post! I had a couple of knitting related things to also mention but I guess they'll just have to wait}

Crapola, I left it in draft once again!

2006-10-05T23:28:00.000-04:00

I'm a dope. I uploaded these pictures meaning to blog later and totally forgot I had them in here until about 3 seconds before I was about to upload the same pictures again. Aduh.
Well anyway, here is my green kitty that I made for the first half of this months dishcloth KAL. Green was not the suggested color but I like to live on the edge. Not really, the reason I made her in green is because with this KAL they give you a few rows of directions each day for about a week so that you don't know what you're knitting. I love the mystery of it. They do two a month and the first is always a picture which is my favorite. I did pick up some other yarn this weekend so maybe they'll be a black and/or orange kitty coming real soon.

Oh and this bad-boy is my second attempt at a pair of socks. I started it a few months ago but as the heat rose, my desire to knit wool socks fell. Now it's time again, plus, I'm using it as my something gray for the Grey's KAL. So many KAL's so little time. Next KAL to plan for is the Sci-Fi one which I'm pretty darn psyched about because I can't wait to start brainstorming on what to make. Oh, and there's also the Fiberflix KAL (Geez how many did I join?!?) for which I think I will attempt some lace. Thank goodness Stitches is right around the corner so I can stock up. Next thing I'll have to join is stashbuster I think ;-)

Atlantic City

2006-10-02T15:28:00.000-04:00

For Adam's birthday we went to AC on Saturday. Of course within the first five minutes all the guys ran off to the tables while the ladies headed over to the slot machines, ain't that always the way?
We taste-tested a bunch of the machines for fun but none of us would have thought that the penny slots would be the place to win big! OK, not huge, but $50 profit ain't so shabby, especially when you think it was all in pennies. Maybe it is a good thing they don't spit out change anymore (you print out a coupon now). We also learned the secret to winning, one person plays while the other 2 stand behind and cheer them on. The folks around us were getting a little annoyed but after two cosmo's each neither Chris
nor I seemed to care. A favorite quote from her, "Did I order a glass of cranberry juice?" (when the waitress came back with what was supposed to be Vodka and Cranberry juice)

Eventually we met up with the rest of our group and headed over to the Hardrock Cafe for some dinner where Adam was serenaded for his birthday.

After dinner we decided to take a stroll on the boardwalk and somehow Joe (Chris's hubby) talked us into trying out the Go Carts. Elise and I were both not so sure about this at first, but guess who ended up kicking butt? Oh yeah I did! Of course the guy working there ended up telling me to park in the wrong spot when I came in so I looked like a doof parked in the corner while everyone passed by me to neatly line up, but what-ever, I beat the boys and that's really all that matters right? (sorry about the blurry pic, I didn't have the camera on the right setting)

I took a lot of random shots on the boardwalk, but Chris posing with what not to wear nor ever knit, just screamed to be shared.

Oh, and here's a picture of my $4.00 bottle of water. Mind you it only held 12 ounces which is nothing, but it was made of thick glass and looked like a shampoo bottle so I guess it was worth it, right? It's all about the packaging. (Really, I was just so friggin' thirsty the bartender probably could have gotten me to pay double for it.)

And for the icing on the cake, while I was out on Saturday look what showed up. It's the rest of the spinning supplies!!! At some point this week I will be playing with this. First on the agenda is to finish off some UFO's to free up my needles. Oh, and I have to work on a couple of gifts but luckily they're small items.

SP 9 questionnaire

2006-10-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

Yup, I signed up again! So here it goes, the good old SP9 questionnaire:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I like lots of stuff, I'm not that picky. Anything soft; cotton, wool or silk blends, of course the fancy stuff is always fun. For me it's mostly about the colors or the project. I also like to try new things. The only yarn I'm not such a big fan of is fun fur. I tried to use it in a project once but it just wasn't doing it for me. Oh, and the 100% alpaca makes me itch (blends are ok) :-(

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
A few different things, I have the straight needles in a roll-up case (some of the fatties are in a needle bag), the circulars and double points are in a plastic box along with some other random knitting supplies. I like to keep them in the bag they came in so know what size everything is, but it's still a bit of a messy solution.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Some days beginner, randomly I'll feel advanced, but mostly just intermediate. I guess it's been around 3 or 4 years now, I taught myself out of a book and then I relied on the kindness of other knitters to help me through the tougher stuff.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Sort of. I do, but they also have a lot of gifts for other people listed. I'll have to condense my wishlist later.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
Cinnamon, spicy/woodsy, citrusy stuff and things like that. Not a fan of soapy or super flowery scents. I hate walking down the soap aisle in the foodstore ;-)

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Yes! Hard to pick a favorite. My favorite chocolate is Lyndt by far, but all chocolate, well all milk chocolate, is good (I especially like things in my chocolate like nuts and crunchies). I also love old school candies; candy buttons, pixie sticks, fire balls, red hots, candy cigarettes etc. etc.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I like all sorts of DIY stuff. My problem is lately I like reading and planning for it more than actually doing it. I have however just started to play around with spinning. We'll see how far I get with that ;-)

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes, my car stero does mp3's. I like a little bit of everything. Mostly rock (classic, hard etc.) and folk music, and a few favorites from Motown, jazz, metal, 80's pop and so forth.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I like deep bold colors- red, purple, blue green and earth tones- tans, browns, greens, rust. I'm not a big pastel person or much of a fan orange but even those have their place.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm living with my parents and my brother. I have five cocatiels (long story)

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I like scarves - I make more than I'll probably ever be able to wear but they're so much fun! I'm not a hat person but I am trying to find one that doesn't totally make me look dorky. Mittens are ok but I prefer gloves and ponchos just never work out for me.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I really don't have any favorites, I do end up making a lot of scarves and blankets. I just started playing with socks and fingerless gloves. I suffer terribly from second sock syndrome so my next plan is to learn that fancy-dancy double circular method or stick with singular items.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A few things, finishing up 1st sock of a pair, making the other Fetching glove, baby blanket for a stuffed bunny (don't ask) and about to start a dishcloth for the KAL. Oh, and I need to frog a sweater - yes, the whole thing, and restart it. I think I may not be so good at focusing on one thing at a time.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes, especially if they serve a purpose. I'm trying not to accumulate any more knick-knacks because I'm not good at parting with them when I run out of room.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Just starting to appreciate circulars (that was harder for me to get used to than double-pointed, go figure). I like bamboo and aluminum the best. Bamboo is good because it's quieter, therefore I can knit while watching TV wit non-knitters and I won't get the evil eye.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope and nope. I'm thinking a ball winder wouldn't be a bad thing to have.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Well, if you count having to re-do my sweater, then over a year. Otherwise it's the sock which is a couple of months old but I purposely put it off to the side because knitting wool socks in the summer seemed odd.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas and then Halloween but it's a close race. I'm a sucker for all holidays really.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Dust. (kidding)
I seem to collect a lot of yarn and books. I love old things, but I'm not a real collector of anything specific. I like randomly coming across stuff (old pictures are a fav, even if I don't know the people).

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I've been hunting for a deep v neck sweater pattern that can be knit in the round (the less seeming the better.) I've spotted a few Knitting Pure & Simple patterns that look good - a friend shared her copy of their v-neck pattern with me that I might be trying. I'll have to get back to you on the books, I know there's a few I'd like to check out. Needles are tough, I usually only know which ones I need when I have a pattern. Can't think of any yarns that are on my wishlist right now, but I'm sure there's a few. I subscribe to Interweave Knits and Knit Simple. I was also getting Knit n' Style but I won't be re-newing it because it just didn't do it for me.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
The magic loop method and knitting on two circulars. I need to get better at seeming and sewing but that just takes practice.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I'm just starting to get into socks. I don't know my foot measurements but I wear a size 7.5-8 shoe. Whatever the standard woman's size is works for me.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
11/22/76 (I'll live on the edge and give you the year too)

Yes, it sure does go in a lot of directions

2006-09-28T16:13:00.000-04:00

Let's see, what have I been doing this past week instead of blogging? Well, I joined the Greys Anatomy KAL as previously mentioned(2nd episode of the new season is on tonight!) and got started on my a multidirectional diagonal scarf. I was moving right along with no problems on Thursday and brought my knitting (of course) along to a friend's house for dinner and a movie on Friday. So I'm knitting and chatting with Chris, who has begun knitting recently and is taking to it like a duck to water. Anyway, there I am knitting along when I look down at my work. Hmmm. Somethings not quite right, but what is it? I pick it up and try leaning it to the left and then to the right "Chris, am I knitting off to the side?"

We decide that it's fine and I must just be going crossed eyed from all the diagonals. But no such luck. I must have missed one row of work causing me to start the next short row section on the wrong side... thus creating a 45 degree angle.

OK, so I guess I should look at my work a little more often huh? Rip, rip, rip and we're back on track.

Last night I finished the scarf against my right hands advice. I did something to my right ring finger apparently. Can you even get Knitters Finger? I noticed toward the end of the night on Tuesday (knitting group night) that it was a little sore where the needle was resting but I just figured I over-did it and all would be well after a little rest. Well of course I couldn't just leave well enough alone and give myself a couple days off from knitting, I was having way too much fun watching all of the colors progress (Noro Silk Garden - mmmmmm).

Well, by last night as I was finishing up the last little bit, I was in some serious pain (just 10 more decrease rows, their decreases for God's sake!). The pain isn't constant, just a random zing of "owww oww OMG OWWWW" when you least expect it. But I'm no quitter, I wrapped a piece of the scarf around my finger for a cushion and finished her off.

While I'm not normally a fringe person it seemed to need a little something so I caved. We'll see how long I keep it on there. Tonight, washing and blocking!

Yesterday, I also got half of my new spinning booty in the mail!

And since I have this from ye olde ren faire...

I can try spinning tonight instead of knitting and give my hand a break.

See, the fiber gods are always watching out!

Oh, did I not mention the spinning thing? Yeah, umm, I bought some roving (top?) on ebay because I wanted to play with some colors and try plying them together and all that good stuff. I know I shouldn't start down this path because knitting is a gateway drug. Knitting, turns into spinning, which leads to weaving and before you know it you've got a llama and a sheep roaming your back yard. I vow to try and cut myself off somewhere around a wheel, is that fair?

Prime Time... for knitting that is

2006-09-21T16:27:00.000-04:00

Oh happy, happy, joy, joy!!!

Grey's Anatomy is back on tonight which means I get to watch one of my favorite shows ever while just selfishly knitting myself a multidirectional diagonal scarf

(Yes, you're right Jana, the name is lacking something.)

Oh me, oh my all in one night I get; Grey's Anatomy, ER, My Name is Earl, and The Office (also interested in checking out Six Degrees). Time to whip out the video tapes so I can tape one channel while watching the other - -yes, I think I am the only person who doesn't have TiVo yet. Yet.

(had to remove the video of Meredith knitting in the bar because it messed up my layout. If I can figure out how to fix it, I will repost or at the very least give you the link)

**** In my search for a picture of the G.A. gal's knitting, I came across a picture of a button for the Grey's Anatomy knitalong. How happy I was at the find! I haven't yet been added to their list but I am going to be a bit presumptuous and assume that my FBI report comes back clear for joining the knitalong. Therefore I will be posting the button claiming to be a member, even though, technically it's not true yet. I know, I do live on the edge don't I?****

It's just like stepping back in time

2006-09-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

This weekend I went to the local Renaissance Faire with two fair maidens, Jana & Natalie. I won't bore you with how we ended up going to this mini-ren faire, but let me just say, the Lion's Club really knows how to throw an alcohol free bash!

From the first moment of entering the faire you know you are some place truly special. As we crossed the grounds we were instantly greeted by an authentic angel-man who graciously presented my bosom to all who passed by. When the website said "come leer at the buxom maidens" I hadn't realized it was an audience participation event.

Then as we toured the grounds we came upon this knight who took time from rescuing fair princesses from deadly dragons to snap a few photo's with us...

My apologies to Jana for making her pose with the knight, I didn't realized how terrifying the experience would be (seriously, it was creepy)...

We also managed to make time for Ye Olde fried mac & cheese, Ye Olde funnel cake, Ye Olde butterfly fries, and Ye Olde quesadella. See the pattern? If you just preface it with "Ye Olde" it really helps you feel like you've traveled through a portal in time doesn't it?

Next we took in a show. And what a show it was! I present to you Ye Olde Belly Dancers...

While they may not be in the best shape ever, they did give a good show and much fodder for laughter. The one with the sword on her head was really quite good, but I do wish we had asked her if she was really balancing the sword on her head or if she had a magnet system going on in her headband. I like to think that at least that was real at this faire.

Then we watched a few minutes of Daniel Greendragon (Was that his name?) do a magic show (pictures aren't uploading, I'll have to come back to that)
Later we saw this woman spinning and I got a bit over-excited and like a child said to Jana "Oh, I want to do that, I always wanted to learn how to do that!" I all but jumped up and down while tugging at her sleeve.

Then, just as we were leaving, my heart skipped a beat as I spotted out of the corner of my eye a knitting tent! And look, they had make your own drop spindle supplies! While I could easily find all the supplies needed to make one of these at Home Depot, let's be real, I'd never actually get around to doing it. Was it worth the dollar for the spindle and a dollar for the roving, hell yeah it was!

I am sorry to say that somehow Natalie managed to dodge my camera all day, even when I asked her to be in the picture with me and the knight-- which if memory serves she did agree to do at first. But, as we all recapped the days events on the ride home she did mention wanting to go to the real Ren Faire (my original destination) in full costume! Trust me, when that day comes there will be nowhere for her to hide.
Aside from the faire being totally lame for it's lack of authenticity, it was a blast. Next time though, I say we pre-game with a flask of mead in the parking lot!

(Please also visit Jana's blog for more details and pics on all the days happenings.)

Funky Enough?

2006-09-16T14:43:00.000-04:00

The other night I finished one of my two attempts at a funky scarf. It still needs to be washed and blocked but you get the general idea. I don't want to reveal too much information about my pal in case she's cruising blogs, but the two scarves below are my best attempts at suiting her likes and needs.

I like the second scarf because it's lighter and shinier, I think the ribbon yarn just has more personality. But I love the funky shape of the first scarf and the gradual color changes, even so, it seems a bit bland to me. I'm thinking it may just need some small beads to catch the light or some gold thread weaved through. Errr, I wish I could share my pals details so I could get a better idea of what to do, but I have faith. Eventually the right one will reveal itself, I guess it'll just be a fun surprise for me as well!

What does this picture have to do with my dilemma? Nothing at all, I just happened to spot a bee and a spider sharing some space on one of the blooming fall flowers and thought I'd share the moment with you.

RAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-15T13:48:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I heard my name called out over the radio and won myself a pair of tickets to see Aerosmith and Motley Crue (hell yeah!). Thursday night was finally magic night!

JJ & I had a bit of trouble getting in at first - - our tickets scanned as "refund", bad barcode apparently-- and we had to visit the box office and explain ourselves to a few different folks before we could get in. Eventually though, they allowed our entry and from there it was nothing but a fanfriggintastic time.

I won't bore you with all the details of us singing along and reminiscing about past road trips, ex-boyfriends and mix tapes. All you need to know is, no matter how old the guys in these bands may be, they are still some of the sexiest, bad-ass rockers you'll ever see!

Farewell Erin!

2006-09-13T09:02:00.000-04:00

Tuesday night was sadly Erin's last night with the group because today (Friday) she heads off to Spain for a year!

Chris made her that kick-ass yarn cake to give her one last good old fashioned American sugar rush before she boards the plane.

It's sad to see her go but I know she'll have an amazing time and I can't wait to start seeing pictures and hearing about all of her adventures abroad.

Once again, best wishes Erin and much love from you're knitting group, we'll miss you!

It's a bird, it's a plane.....

2006-09-12T22:43:00.000-04:00

Yup, it's planes.
Sunday afternoon beach time and there they are practicing to look like a flock of birds. Sometimes it's pretty darn interesting to live near the forts.

The water was pretty but the air was chilly. Summer is over :-(

My parents took me out for lunch the weekend of the storms to Max's after we all started reminiscing about all the places we used to play skee ball and eat hot dogs etc. on the board walk in Asbury and Long Branch when I was little. Max's had been right on the beach when I was a kid, but having burnt down numerous times (these are the pit-falls of owning a restaurant on a pile of dry wood) they decided to move in-land a few blocks instead of rebuilding yet again. I went for the fish sandwich since I am the only person in Jersey apparently who doesn't like crunchy hot-dog skin, but jus the same it was great to be there. Sometimes you have to take a moment to wander down memory lane no matter how small the memory.

Somehow I missed all the happenings just a couple of towns away. I knew that they tore down a bunch of houses and beach clubs etc. and started putting up condo's all along our shoreline thanks to Eminent Domain but what I didn't know was that one of the condo complexes was turned into a mini self-sustaining town.

So after our lunch outing my folks took me over to see this super creepy sudo city. It's all the stores that you've come to love in your local mall, only now you get to live above them! I don't know, maybe it's just me but I thought it was a yuppie version of Dawn of the Dead. But who am I to judge, maybe 20 years down the line these families will be reminiscing about when they used to live above Starbucks. Anything is possible.

~~~next blog will be all things knitty I promise~~~

"I'll strike down upon thee with great vengeance..."

2006-09-06T08:59:00.000-04:00

Two weekends ago (I know, I'm behind on my blogging) we had quite a few stormy days thanks to Tropical Storm Ernesto. When we got up on Saturday morning this was lodged in the yard....

Yup, a branch broke off and came straight down and hard enough to lodge itself vertically in the front lawn. I just thought it was really cool that God smitted our lawn. Sadly, it fell over later in the day due to more winds and rain.

(Ya know what else is interesting? I started this post just a few days after taking the pictures and yet somehow I managed to drag the simple process of finishing the post out for almost a week before getting it submitted. Today is actually 9/12. Dopey girl!)

Hello Secret Funky Friend!

2006-08-30T14:27:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you know I did try to email you a couple of times but I guess they didn't get to you. If you didn't get them (or even if you did) let me know and we'll figure a way around zee problem.

And to everyone else, pictures of my scarves in progress will be posted soon :-)

a duh

2006-08-24T09:38:00.000-04:00

I was playing around with my settings and apparently set my comments so that I had to review them before they were posted. But, I didn't put in an email to be notified at so I didn't realize I had any messages until today when I went to post a message and it told me that the site admin. had to verify it. Moral of the story; don't click on stuff unless you know what it is.

***Also, added the missing bird photo's as promised***