Trouble With A Capital “T”

 

 

And I’m in it.

Yesterday Mom and Dad came and dragged my grinchtastic ass out of the house to try to instill some “Christmas spririt” in me after my bah-humbug episode last weekend.  I wasn’t entirely up to it after a tiring week, but I don’t spend enough time with the fam and R. Darling was working anyway, so I knew it would make them happy. 

We went to the Allied Arts Holiday Festival of the Arts to see what the local artisans have been crafting up and then over to the Pacific Arts Holiday Market which we didn’t even know existed, but is apparently in its 11th year here.  There’s always a lot of interesting things to see because we live in a very crunchy (read: granola, read: nouveau hippie, read: tree hugging free spirits – not that there’s anything wrong with that) sort of burg filled with lots of green sorts of folks and artists that make interesting variations of traditional arts as well as some whimsical and occasionally frightening items that you would never see anywhere else.  There are definite uniqueities here (new word, hee).

Imagine my surprise, after rounding a corner of white trashy bead work and potholders, to find a booth with the most gorgeous handspun staring right back at me.  Spincycle whispering softly: Here I am.  You know you want to stop.  Astonished, I stopped in my tracks and mumbled to Mom and Dad that they’d better move on without me.  “Oh, does that mean you want to spend some time here?” Dad says.  “Um yeah”, I mumble, already mesmerized and drooling uncontrollably.  How could I not know they were here?  How did I miss such magic in my own town?  Even Glampyre knows they exist, and Interweave too.

OMG.  I am in Trouble with a capital T.  In a daze I dropped a fat load of cash on 3 skeins of this and the pattern for this.  My mouth is going dry right now thinking about it.  And I want more.  NOW.  Oh why did I have to discover handspun?  Because now I need to find about 4 more jobs, one of them possibly in a seedy dark bar where they “tip” really well, forget about my mocha habit, and eating for that matter, to find the money to feed this new habit.  I’m a handspun junkie now.  Life will never be the same.

 

But could you resist this either?

 

 

It’s Beginning To Look Something Like Christmas…..

 

 

For the last 4 days I’ve done nothing but shuffle around the house with my box of kleenex and pocketful of cough drops, drinking cups of tea and exhausting my Christmas movie supply.  My boss brought some nasty bug to work last Wednesday where it got busy with the other bugs in our humid laboratory, and proceeded to launch a full on sneak attack on my normally iron-clad immune system.  So I didn’t make it to the Deception Pass Dash yesterday to cheer on Mr. CrazyPants (R. Darling), which I felt pretty bad about, but he managed to complete the grueling 5.8 mile race in high winds and miserable conditions where many others dropped out.  Hooray for Crazy!!  I’m proud of you honey :)

Saturday we had a little taste of the holidays as we woke up to a dusting of snow and a day filled with soft white flurries.  For once the snow came on a weekend when we didn’t have to drive anywhere so I could just smile and enjoy the fluffy white marshmallow world outside.  Nothing inspires the latent photographer in me more than a fresh snowfall.  So I dragged my photography assistant (R. Darling) outside with me to snap a few photos of one of my recent FO’s while the light was nice.

 

 

 

For knitty specifics, you can visit this previous post

 

I love how these photos turned out.  If you look closely, you can see R. Darling and me reflected in the ornament.  I guess we should have smiled for the camera! 

In typical Pacific Northwest fashion, the snow disappeared by Sunday afternoon and now we are back to the rain and wind that characterize winter here in our little corner of the world.  Between sniffles and hacking up a lung once or twice, I was able to finish the Valley Yarns’ Falling Leaves Scarf that I’ve been working on since last weekend.  That was a relief because I expected it to take me much longer to knock that one out and with it behind me now, the future of The List doesn’t seem nearly as bleak.  It’s not blocked yet, but I hope to do that soon with my nifty little Knitter’s Block.  I’ll let you know how that works out.  But for now here’s the Frosty Falling Leaves in its unblocked glory:

 

 

 

I started the Holiday 2007 IK Clutch yesterday and it’s going fairly quickly, so that’s encouraging.  I also expected this one to take me some time but I think the most complicated part will be hand sewing in the lining and zipper and that shouldn’t be too bad since I’m starting on this one early in the month.  Then a couple more Fetchings and a hat and I should be set for smooth gift giving. 

 

 BTW:  Whatever idiot made up that law of the universe that says you will have some kind of nasty skin eruption the day you are scheduled for a dentist appointment, needs a severe spanking.  I can just hear the dental hygienist behind his magnifying glasses, staring at my volcano sized pores and saying to himself, “Eeeewwww.  Gross.  Hasn’t she ever heard of Benzoyl Peroxide?”   

 

So…….how was your day?

 

Friday Fill-In: November 30, 2007

 

Sunset on Bowman Bay – November 24,2007 

 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Friday Fill-In #48
(answer yours here)

1. When my blog is broken, there’s no one to fix it but me!
2. I saw the most amazing man in my bed this morning!
3. The Golden Compass is the new movie I’m most looking forward to seeing.
4. Work: Necessary and always entertaining at the lab.
5. Of all the new tv shows, I enjoy Pushing Daisies! Pushing Daisies! Pushing Daisies! the most.
6. If only I had cleaned the house before the phone guy came over, I would have felt a little less like a disgusting pig.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to sleep, tomorrow my plans include moping around sucking on cough drops and drinking tea and Sunday, I want to knit & cheer on my hubby at The Deception Pass Dash if I’m feeling better!

 

The List

Nope. This is not a joke.
I do actually own SpongeBob Squarepants Christmas stationery.

 

Every holiday season I make The List. It’s always on Christmas paper and it’s always categorized.  Yes, I’m list-obsesessed.  Yes, it might be just a bitty bit creepy how obsessed I am with lists.  But apparently, I’ve got lots of company.

I’m one of those people who shops all year long and buys things that would be the perfect something for someone as soon as I spot them, most especially if they happen to be on sale (thrifty, I am). Then I ferret them away into little niches and closets around the house and have me a grand old time looking for them when the holidays finally come around again.  Imagine an ultra-caffeinated squirrel in your side yard who spends all autumn digging little holes for its acorns and then, when winter appears, can’t find the damn things. 

So The List usually kicks off with the names of people I’ve purchased gifts for, what I purchased and how much it cost.  Then The List expands to the “Must Make” part of the list.  “Must Make” is further broken down into: “Finished”, “Need to Make”, “Should Make” and “Maybe-Kinda-Sorta-Will-Make-If-I-Have-Enough-Time”.  Let’s be honest though.  In zero hour, just before Santa arrives on the rooftop expecting his cookies and milk, a lot of stuff gets shuffled into that last category which magically transforms into the “Oh-shit-I-didn’t-finish-that-gift-in-time-must-now-buy-you-the-perfect-something” column.  Ah, the magic of Christmas!

 Seriously though.  I adore Christmas.  It’s my favorite time of year and I love making gifts for people.  And man do I have my work cut out for me this year!

 

Christmas Knitting 2007

 

Need To Make:

• Pattern: Fetching

  • For MC – Green Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere

  • For SIL M. – Orchid Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere

  • For SIL L. – Green Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere

  • For EB – Lt. Pink Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere

• Pattern: IK Holiday 2007 – Little Green Clutch (p.38)

  • For FIL’s g-friend J – Black Tilli Tomas Disco Lights

• Pattern: Valley Yarns’ Falling Leaves Scarf

  • For S. – Stockbridge in Natural

Should Make:

• Pattern:  Sheldon

  • For Niece A – in Green Apple & Grass Knitpicks Shine Sport

  • For Niece T – in Cherry and Blush Knitpicks Shine Sport

• Pattern: Fetching

  • For Parents’ neighbor B – She wants acrylic!

• Pattern: Cabled Earflap Hat

  • For MIL – in Plum Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky

Maybe-Kinda-Sorta-Will-Make-If-I-Have-Enough-Time

• Pattern: Dashing

  • For Dad

 

There it is.  In a nutshell.  There’s more, but it’s secrety squirrel so you’ll have to wait until Christmas!

 

Pools & Packages

Show off!  R. Darling practicing his rolls in the pool

 

Yesterday R. Darling and I went to the pool for some kayak practice.  I can’t say that I was keen on the whole thing (being wet and strapped into a kayak isn’t really conducive to getting in some knitting time) but I went along.  Recently I’ve started to panic a little when having to wet exit the kayak, and R. Darling thought that practicing comfort in the water might help with the anxiety.  So yesterday I spent an awful lot of time like this:

 

 

This is actually R. Darling in his boat, but you get the idea.  And apparently the inside of my right ear is a cozy little spot because this morning I woke up at 4:30 AM with my ear throbbing and I’m afraid some nasty little water gremlin must have crawled inside and is now having a sweet little pajama-jammy-jam inside my ear canal.  The nurse at the doctor’s office thinks that I might have some excess sinus pressure in there that is not equalizing properly, but I know better.  Let’s just hope the water gremlin does his little “walk of shame” out of my ear pretty soon and things can go back to normal.   Much as I love sitting on my ass all day, as per R. Darling’s orders, I’m not real fond of a throbbing inner ear.  Kinda sucks the fun right out of everything.

But here’s something that always cheers me up:  a package!!  I received my SITM sock swap package last Wednesday and it was filled with all kinds of fantastic things!  Hooray!!  Thank you so much AJ for such a wonderful package and such pretty pink socks!  AJ was the hostess of the SITM swap and I’m not sure how I ended up with the hostess as my secret pal, but it has really been fun corresponding with her during the last couple months.  Thanks for a great swap AJ!  And here’s the goods…..

 

This is what I saw when I opened the box.  A handmade knitting needle cozy in the perfect colors!  So cool!

 

Underneath, some beautiful Koigu!  Mmmmm…… Koiguuuuu.  Never tried it, but sooooo excited to!

 

She also sent a drop spindle, a book on spinning and a bunch of pretty green roving.  I’ve been curious about spinning but just didn’t know where to start, so this will be really fun to get to try!  Can’t wait!

 

And last but not least, a few pics of my new fantastic pink socks that fit perfectly!  Thanks so much for everything AJ!  You’ve been an awesome pal :)

 

 

Thankful!

Sneaking in some Thanksgiving Day knitting – Nov. 22, 2007

Thinking about Thanksgiving, and feeling the urge to post something meaningful here, I cast about the mighty intraweb on Wednesday searching for something different than the usual memes about what my favorite Thanksgiving dish is (turkey or pie – it’s a tie), whether I have to travel to get to the celebration (a little), do I shop the day after (NO!), or what my favorite Thanksgiving tradition is (don’t really have any).  Of course I could post about the things that I’m thankful for, but they are so many and so widely similar to everyone else’s that I just didn’t feel inspired.  Let’s just say that I feel overall, extremely thankful for all that I have (or don’t have) and all the people that I care about (and hopefully, care about me too).  And I did spend a lot of time reflecting on that yesterday cozied up on the couch with R. Darling after the festivities. 

But, being as this is a blog and I’m a bloggy sort of peep now, I looked harder for something special and unique.  And I think I finally found it at Citizen of the Month*:

Thank Your First Commenter Day! 

What a lovely way to give back to the blogging community, and those people who keep you blogging day in and day out (because lord knows, I’d have quit a long freakin’ time ago if it wasn’t for all of you commenters – and you know who you are – who take the time to stop by and listen to my nonsense and share a piece of yourself). 

So a big Thanksgiving Thank You Shout Out goes to my very first commenter ever Robin M. of Yarn Crawl!  This is what she wrote on my post:

 

“Wow, what a nice story! I enjoyed reading it and I do believe in soulmates too.”

 

I can’t describe the feeling it gave me to find that comment waiting for me on what had been, until that February day, a commentless blog.  It was kinda like that time my junior year in high school when I got invited to this richy-rich-future-cheerleader girl’s 16th birthday party even though I was definitely a dork and definitely not in her usual crowd.  I didn’t know why she’d singled me out for an invite (well, I wasn’t exactly singled out – there must have been 75 people there), unless maybe she had a moment of pity for the nerd contigent, but for just a single precious moment I didn’t feel like such a loser.  So thank you Robin for the big invite to the knitting blogosphere!  I can never thank you enough for taking the time to leave that first comment and every comment you’ve left since then.  You’ll never know how much it meant; how much it means to me still. 

And thank you to everyone else who has taken the time to stop by here and share a thought or a laugh!  I get a warm and fuzzy feeling from each and every one of your comments.  You all mean a great deal to me and I hope that each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have so much to be thankful for, from this year into the next!  Best wishes from me to you!

 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 

* Citizen of the Month is also hosting an online Arts and Crafts Fair!  Check it out – it looks cool!!

 

It’s A Nice Day For A Peppermint Mocha

And oh yes, I am singing that title in my head to Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”…..
‘Cause that’s how I roll.

I finished the first knitted Christmas gift on my list today!   A pair of Fetching fingerless mitts for my closest college friend living far far away.  These will get wrapped up with a handmade tag and sent off just as soon as I collect the rest of the gifts to go in the package (ornaments for her kids and a Barnes & Noble card for her hubby).  It’s so good to be able to cross something off the list! 

Knitty Nonsense for those who care:

•  Pattern:  Fetching from Knitty – Summer 2006

• Needles:  Size 6 metal dpn’s

• Yarn:  Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere in Spring Grass colorway; approximately 2.25 balls

• Recipient:  Christmas gift for a very close college friend

• Begin Date:  November 7, 2007

• End Date:  November 18, 2007

• Thoughts:  I wasn’t sure about using this yarn at first.  It produced a very thick, velvety fabric that I thought fit a little too snugly.  But I took them in to the office and had the boss’s wife try them on and she thought they were perfect.  I guess I just have big hands!  The cashmere was a little bit splitty if I wasn’t careful, and slippery on the dpn’s (but I don’t usually use metal so that could explain it), but overall it worked up really nicely and I think these will be a great Christmas gift.

And yup.  That really is a peppermint mocha.

 

Friday Fill-In: November 16, 2007

A photo of me and my poochie about a year after my adoption

Today is National Adoption Day!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Friday Fill-In #46
(answer yours here)

1. The things I give thanks for this Thanksgiving are my husband, my family, my health, and a warm comfortable home.

2. My Thanksgiving traditions include making 2 pumpkin pies the night before; 1 for serving at dinnertime and 1 for breakfast on Thanksgiving day!  And usually, the day after Thanksgiving, I “allow” myself to watch my first Christmas movie of the season.

3. The best part about Thanksgiving is sharing the day with my family.

4. My favorite Thanksgiving food is …..Hmmm. That one’s tough because I’m usually the cook and by the time I get to eat, nothing sounds good at all!  But I’d have to say white turkey meat with gravy and pumpkin pie with a buttload of whipped cream.

5. Not having the turkey ready on time was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me on Thanksgiving.  Not really that big of a deal, but I don’t really have any embarrassing stories that I can remember.

6. After the meal, I would love to take a tasty nap!  But I usually end up packaging food for people to take home and loading the dishwasher.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to going to see Fred Claus in the movie theater, tomorrow my plans include convincing hubby to watch Meet The Robinson’s with me and Sunday, I want to make some good progress on my Christmas knitting while hubby’s out kayaking!

 

Well At Least There’s This

Some of you may remember that little secrety sumpin’ sumpin’ I was working on for a while.  The Something Exciting which will now be better known as “Petal“.  I have to admit, it was a bit of a surprise to find it all complete and ready for purchase when I was browsing Ravelry this afternoon.  My heart sank just a little.  Like when you find out a week after the fact that your boyfriend went out to dinner with a girl-that’s-a-friend (who you think might be more-than-a-friend) and somehow neglected to share that information until you asked a bunch of snoopy questions and pried it out of him. 

I guess I had a lot of expectations about the process that I didn’t realize I was holding on to.  Some altruistic sense of wanting to help another knitter, albeit someone who doesn’t need my help, and being on the cusp of something new and exciting.  Maybe even a little asterisk in the bottom right hand corner that says something like, “Test knitters using Berocco Nostalgia found that yardage needed to complete this project was in fact doubled.”  In the end, I wasn’t helpful at all and the worst part about it is, I now am the proud owner of my very first Fuggle (non-magic knit) as a result.  Oy.  I haven’t even bothered to take a photo of it yet so pictures may not ever be forthcoming.  Just take a look at Stefanie’s if you’re curious because it looks positively lovely on her!  Sorry, I know you were excited to finally see it.  Maybe, if I don’t frog it in the near future I’ll take one for posterity and share it with you so you can enjoy my very first Fuggle as much as I have (not).

Lest you think I am badmouthing the designer or her process, I feel compelled to assert that I don’t have any negative feelings whatsoever towards her or how everything worked out.  It was my own damn fault for having such high expectations for whatever it was that I thought I was doing and I just can’t explain why I feel so melancholy about the whole thing.  I’m really happy for her that she got the pattern completed and it appears that she had a whole community college class test knit it for her, so I’m sure that was extremely helpful.  And I wish her tons of success with both the pattern and her book that will be coming out in the future!  Hooray for Glampyre!  Thanks for letting me test knit for you even though I suck!

But at least there’s this~

Twinkle Toes in STR Midsummer Night for SITM Pal #2

I finally finished my second pair of socks for my second pal for the Sock It To Me Sock Swap.  These will get blocked tonight and then hopefully I’ll be able to mail them out over the weekend.  Then it’s time for some serious Christmas knitting.  Stay off the Naughty List kids or you may find a Fuggle in your stocking!

 

Happy Yarn-o-ween!

Not many tricks, but certainly lots of treats!

Tilli Tomas Disco Lights in Black

For the “Little Green Clutch” from the 2007 Holiday issue of IK.  This will most likely be a Christmas gift for FIL’s girlfriend.

 

Knit Picks Cadena in Cranberry

For a secrety squirrel Christmas gift-to-be!

 

Knit Picks Shine Sport in Coral, Cherry, Blush, Green Apple & Grass

These are for this super cute pattern which will be Christmas gifties for my 1 year old and 8 year old nieces.  I couldn’t decide what colors so I bought a few since Knit Picks is so super cheap.  And I may just happen to get carried away and *oops* make an extra red and pink one for myself ;)

 

Knit Picks Bare Superwash

For some future Kool-Aid dyeing messing around & general kitchen disastrousness….

Hope you are all getting treated on Halloween too!  Happy Yarn-o-ween!!

Edited to Add:  Finally, after stalking my prey for-freaking-ever, I was able to snag a skein of Vesper Sock Yarn from Knitterly Things!  Woot!!  AquaMelon, you will be mine!

 

Block Party

Let’s face it.  At least half of us never get around to finishing our knits.  *twitches sheepishly* Guilty!  My latest issue is blocking.  I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing, and as much information as I’ve been able to spin out of the various knitters I’ve talked to, or books that I’ve read, I still am not convinced that I’m doing it right.  Like almost anything to do with knitting, everyone has their own way of doing it and no method seems to be any better than the next.  Mostly I’ve gotten by with a haphazard half-assed attempt at wet blocking on towels on top of the washing machine.  Oh, and that time last winter when I had lace scarves pinned out on both sides of the guest bed for a couple weeks straight.  What with all the dips from the buttons on the mattress, it’s a wonder they didn’t come out all warped like a damp old Zeppelin LP.  And it was a b*tch besides. 

But Fiberistas Beware:  There’s a new toy in town!

Check it out:  The Knitter’s Block from Cocoknits (though I purchased mine through Knitwhits).  I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, but it just sounded like such an amazing alternative for the wet towels on top of the dryer thing I’ve been doing.  You can rearrange the “puzzle” pieces to make shapes of varying sizes and you can even lay them out in a 12″ x 108″ piece that would be a perfect alternative to the old pin the scarf on the mattress trick.  I had considered blocking boards before that I’d seen on WEBS or in various catalogs, but my main problem with those was the limited variety of sizes that could be accommodated.  Sure, they’d be kickin’ for a sweater, but what about a long ass scarf?  The only benefit those boards have over this system might be the grid which would come in handy if you were blocking something to a specific measurement.  But I think the versatility in shapes/sizes of the Knitter’s Block will make up for the lack of a grid.  Besides, I can always do it the “old-fashioned” way and bust out the measuring tape.

So, (hopefully) no more fighting with my fiendish knits!  I’ll be a blocking banshee next time I’ve got a knit to wrestle into submission. 

 

The Marathoner and The Celebrity’s Son

 Or:
What I did on my summer vacation

My husband came home one night in June with this bright idea to train for a half-marathon with some co-workers.  Not being one to do something half-assed, that half-marathon turned into a marathon quicker than you can say “welcome-knee-injury-with-foot-pain-come-on-in, never mind the fact that he hadn’t run in over 3 years and was having trouble running a couple laps at the track those first few nights.   Don’t get me wrong.  He wasn’t out of shape.  He just wasn’t in running shape. 

At first his training schedule was barely a ripple in our domestic life.  A few extra minutes in the evenings he’d be off doing his thing and I’d putter around the house.  Didn’t take long for that to change.  Soon, it was an hour each night and then a long run each week working up from 4 miles to a final grueling training run of 20.5 miles.  Sometime in July we bought Bluebell.  Since I wanted to keep R. Darling company as his runs got longer and longer, but I can’t run anymore (thanks a lot craptastic knees!) and the robot knee is still cranky, a bicycle seemed like the best option. Pretty soon I was logging in almost as many miles as he was. 

Here’s me on Bluebell wishing I could multi-task

Some days I didn’t want to go.  Others, maybe I kept him going with the promise of a Robek’s smoothie on that day’s finish line.  In the end, don’t let anyone ever tell you that “being there” for someone isn’t that big of a deal.  It takes time and sacrifice and a whole lot of cheerleading.  But when your spouse has a dream and you help them achieve it, that’s a little bit of relationship magic right there.   

By the end of 13 weeks worth of training, and plagued with injuries, my husband completed his first marathon.  On a cold miserable day the first weekend in October, he crossed the finish line looking none the worse for wear after 26.2 miles in soaring winds and threatening rain.  Congratulations honey!  I’m so proud of you!

Marathon Day – Just as bad as it looks…..

26.2 miles and feelin’ no pain (yet)!

And lest you think there’s nothing about knitting in here, I’ll leave you with something interesting.  I’ve discovered that knitters and “knitter-friendlies” surface in the darndest places.  During all this running business, my husband found a store in town that sells shoes to runners by examining their old shoes, diagnosing their body mechanics based on the wear of those shoes, and helping them find the right ones to keep their alignment as it should be.  When I needed new workout shoes, we headed there for some expertise and ended up chatting with a very nice fellow who helped fit me for my shoes.  In the process of idle chit-chat, he revealed that working at the running store was only his part-time job but that he loved running and talking to other runners which made it really fun for him. 

Out loud, I likened his situation to how I would feel if I could work part-time at a knitting shop (oh joy!).  He asked me if I was a knitter and after responding wholeheartedly “yes!”, he told me to check out the site y2knit.net  Apparently, his mom is the brains behind the site and she puts together all kinds of retreats and events for knitters and is a bit of a knitting celebrity (though I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know much about her, but I have heard of her book YNotKnit).  Her sister is also apparently a well known knitwear designer in San Francisco.  It kind of made my day to run into someone whose mom probably has knitterazzi following her every move, and the fact that her son works in a running store, in my town, just made me smile with wonder.  Knitters and knitter-friendlies in the darndest places!  Who knows who I’ll run into next……

P.S. 

That crazy marathoner guy I married is already planning his next marathon.  Oy!