I am a very lucky girl!

Yesterday was a very good day. Work wasn't bad, had a short afternoon, and came home to find goodies galore!

My Beer and Fiber Swap box arrived, with several bottles of Russian River and New Belgium beers. Sadly, the Lost Coast Downtown Brown did not survive the trip. And the yarn! Katrina really overdid things. Socks that Rock in Monsoon, hand-dyed Lamb's Pride, and a skein of unknown yarn of beautiful jewel tones. Oh, and some felt coasters, too!

My haul in the beer and fiber swap

The unknown yarn got a bath when the downtown brown broke. I rinsed it out, and wound it onto the swift to dry.

I'd just settled down to research cupcake recipes, when the doorbell rang. Our new mail carrier had an armful of goodies for me! We have:

Triple chocolate soap from Turtle Cove


Boysenberry sock yarn from Turtle Cove - love the colors!!


Deltafine lotions, soapsicle, and clove lip balm. Please note that there is only one lip balm in the picture. The other now lives in my purse.


Finally, we have my booty! Patina from the Yarn Pirate.

Anyway, I was happy to get so much stuff in the mail. Yes, I am a kid.

In other news, finished turtle-Stephen. He and penguin-Stephen are now in new homes, with HS girls. I finished the turtle this morning. Skipped the I-cord attachment, and just sewed. Easier and faster, and I was running out of time. Started another penguin this afternoon. My sister-in-law wants a redwing. I don't think so. May make her husband a penguin, as theirs is a mixed marriage, and I am on his side. Especially now. Go Pens! I am looking forward to getting back to Firebird, as well. And I want to get back to my Baudelaire socks, especially now that I know magic loop. Perhaps I can try two at once.....

Finished! Cell phone picture.

Oh, made 3 dozen cupcakes before work today. Took 2 dozen to the party for the kids, and had another dozen to share with non-school folk. Met my sister-in-law around lunchtime, so she could pick up the pressure washer that I couriered from Waynesburg, and gave her a plateful of cupcakes. Just basic chocolate and vanilla, nothing special. Those will wait until the weekend.

Had a nice time at the party, though. The girls liked their gifts, the cupcakes went over very well (I love walking out with empty containers!), and one very sweet girl gave me a hug. Today was a good day as well, even if I did swear a lot at other drivers.

I am very sleepy. Woke up at 4 two days in a row, and did not get my morning nap either day. Yesterday I was hoping to start the cupcakes, but Zuzu would not permit it. She wanted to snuggle. So I knitted. Today she wanted to snuggle as well, but I needed to bake cupcakes, so she settled in for a nap on the couch, under a blanket. Went to knitting group last night, learned to single crochet, and ate seaweed. Was able to carpool with Jen, which was nice. Stopped at Target on the way home for some cupcake carriers, as handles make a big difference. Was too exhausted to bake last night, so it had to be this morning. Yummy stuff.


Don't worry, Zuzu got her love even if we didn't snuggle this morning

Anyway, I have a few errands to run, plus a headache, so maybe I will just stay in and go to bed early. I don't really need to buy anything, right? I can grocery shop another time. Besides, my kitty is meowing and wants more attention.

Oh, and as far as the book meme goes, I would suggest Christopher Moore. When I think of it, I will post three sentences from "Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove."

I don't want to work, I want to pet my yarn all day

First, thanks to EvilJulie, who showed me that you can add pictures to the Rav progress bars. And she probably doesn't even know that she was such a help...

Back from the Waynesburg Sheep and Fiber Festival. Lots of fun. Picked up a decent bit of yarn.

This is the haul:

Clockwise from the huge grey hank in the upper left: Grey 2-ply mohair homespun (nearly a pound!) from Sheepstone Natural Fibers in Darlington, PA, spun by Kris Savage; Red/burgundy/deep wine-nearly black wool, silk and viscose blend from Crabapple Llamas and Fibers in Latrobe, PA; green semi-solid superwash sock yarn from Knit Picker (not sure of location); multicolored variegate superwash sock yarn from Knit Picker; blue-green hand-dyed handspun merino from an unknown vendor.

Jessica and I had a really nice time. We left Saturday after lunch, stopped at IKEA and DSW on the way down (I bought a French press, plastic bag closures, and a small frying pan - no new furniture for me), and briefly popped into the festival around 5:30. The weather was bad, it was incredibly windy (tents were blowing over!) and many vendors were packing up. Jessica bought some gorgeous blue mohair/wool yarn for a bag, some pretty green alpaca for socks, and a hank of ivory silk light fingering weight. So soft! We dropped by Mike's brother's house, unloaded our stuff, and headed out to the only sit-down restaurant in Waynesburg for dinner - Bob Evans.

Went back to the house after dinner, and hung out with my sister-in-law and niece. And knitted. Worked on Stephen (the turtle). Finished the top and bottom of Stephen's shell, and started the "shell attachment panel." Forgot to bring Firebird, which was fine, as I didn't have time to work on it, anyway. Almost watched P.S. I Love You, as my niece and her friend had it on in the other room. Seemed like a decent chick flick; at least I appreciated the soundtrack. Camera Obscura, Pogues, Nellie McKay, I forget who else - oh, wait, of those, only Nellie actually appears on the soundtrack album. I won't be buying that one, don't think. Stayed up later than usual, but hey, I could sleep in, right? Um, no. Woke up at 6. Convinced myself to stay in bed until 7, and then went downstairs to knit. Rest of the house started moving sometime after 8.

Went back to the festival today, after a breakfast of cinnamon rolls. Word to the wise, let them warm up for a few hours before baking if they have been refrigerated. Or just make them fresh. I feel like I should have taken over my sister-in-law's kitchen and started from scratch this morning, as they would have turned out better. They weren't bad, just not as good as usual.

Anyway, I did my yarn purchasing today. Weather was somewhat better, although it was still windy. Love-love-love my huge hank of handspun mohair. Originally thought it might be a sweater; right now I think it might be a shawl. I need to figure out the yardage. Zuzu loves it, too.

Zuzu getting to know her mohair pal

Speaking of Zuzu, she and I were outside the other day. I noticed that when the sun shines on her fur, if you look closely, she looks like she's covered in rainbow glitter. Her fur apparently acts like a bunch of prisms and refracts light into many colors. She's my technicolor kitty! Not sure why it took me so long to notice that, but hey, I can be oblivious.

Oh well. I should head up to bed. But first, Emmms tagged me for a book meme. She is just a wild tagger lately! So here goes:

The rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

1. It was hard to pick the book that was nearest. There are at least five within an arm's reach. First one I grabbed was Mary Higgins Clark's Daddy's Little Girl. I almost feel like I should explain. A librarian foisted it upon me, and I haven't returned it yet. Haven't read Higgins Clark since high school, when she seemed very formulaic. Read one, you've read them all. At least that was my impression when I was 17. But it was closest, so here goes:

"I'd like that. I was kind of expecting that I'd get a postcard from Houston or L.A."
"I never send postcards."

Kinda blah. Let's grab another. No, no details of what to use for a basic rolled-brim hat from Knitting for Peace. How about Where the Girls Are by Susan Douglas? Ahh, the start of a chapter called "Genies and Witches." Sounds promising. Let's investigate:

The Journal continued, "They have rights and opportunities today the likes of which the Western world has never seen . . . .Indeed, women today are in many respects much better off than men." In its special supplement of October 1962 entitled "The American Female," Harper's maintained that American women were "repelled by the slogans of old-fashioned feminism.
But Harper's also thought it saw a trend in 1962 and named it "crypto-feminism."

Somewhat better, but still not great. Probably the best I can do before bed is from The Best of World Cafe, an interview with David Bowie:

Well the genesis of that song--- I had, I've had sort of an off-and-on long-standing thing about Tibet and its accompanying philosophy, Buddhism. And I studied off and on for three years in the sixties when I was younger and it really meant a lot to me, especially what I gleaned from the philosophy of Buddhism. And I guess over the last couple of years, my memories of that period, and also pangs of guilt for not having paid more attention to the plight of Tibet and to the Chinese, was sort of brought into focus with the lectures and speeches that the Dalai Lama is giving particularly, over the last couple of years.

Oh well. I am sleepy, and not in the mood to tag anyone (and too tired to post links to books, too). So if you are compelled, tag yourself!

Finally, kudos to Andrew for pointing me to his blog post that features Cary Grant knitting. Love the picture. Good night!

Arsetickled Numpty

Thanks to Emmms for the post title. She used the phrase on Rav, and I loved it, so have co-opted it here, just because.

As usual, it has been a busy week. Last weekend, went to my first Kirtlandia Society meeting in months. Fascinating lecture (as usual), this time on the Firelands Ground Sloth bones, which shows signs of human butchering even though it was carbon dated to pre-Clovis times, and there has been no other evidence to date of ground sloths being hunted/utilized by humans. It will be interesting to see the results of future studies on the bones.

Sunday, spent some time with Jennifer, and watched the Pens game. Made a penguin.

Stephen the penguin

Enjoyed the pattern, and will make another (to be named Geno). Will use a different, fluffier yarn for the belly next time. Stephen Colbert thinks that more animals should be named after him, so here's a penguin for the cause.

Here's also a turtle for the cause. Tanya thinks he should be called Dilly, but I will name him Stephen as well, just because.

Stephen the Turtle, in progress. Body is done, and working on one leg.

Stephen the turtle's shell will be a sweater. Very cute pattern.

Both animals will be gifted to the HS girls that I teach to knit (party on Tuesday!), so they may be renamed.

Have been working a bit on Firebird here and there. Have done a few more pattern repeats. I think I like blogging while watching the Pens game - I can touch type (at least mostly) so I can watch the game and keep rambling on..... Anyway, here is Firebird, so far:

Firebird; feel free to click on it to see the detail...

Just a few observations from the last week. Finally noticed the speakers in the corners of the front doors in my car - you know, where the little triangular windows used to be in old cars? Yeah. Took 12,000 miles to notice them. Also saw a woman in a dress that was startlingly reminiscent of a construction barrel. Wouldn't have noticed that fact except that she was standing just behind one. Made a mental note never to wear an orange and yellow striped dress, as I myself am rather short and stout. Also haven't seen quite as many right-leaning drivers lately. For a while, it seemed like at least 25% of male drivers on the road leaned toward the middle of their car. I don't know why, and the posture makes me hurt. Half of the time, the guys are on their cell phones, but not always. Do you get a better view from the middle? I am just curious.

Let's see... Monday was knitting. Small group of us; several people were sick and stayed home. Still a nice evening. Tuesday watched the Pens game at home while Mike went to the SAAZ meeting. He won the club's Homebrewer of the Year award. Speaking of his brewing, he had two beers advance to the second/final round of the National Homebrew Competition - his Munich Helles and Classic American Pilsner. Yay, Mike! Our friend Mark advanced his Scotch ale with habanero peppers.

Crap, Flyers powerplay. As Mike posted to his message board, he has been saying for the entire series: Fuck Filthadelphia! although Monk's Cafe is really great.

Wednesday (was that just yesterday?) had a long day at my morning client and spent the afternoon visiting University Circle. Went to the art museum to see the Arms and Armor exhibit - very cool, but they should give you magnifying glasses or binoculars, as there's so much detail that you can't get close enough to see. Spent the rest of the afternoon watching ducks at the Natural History museum. Dammit, Flyers just scored again. Was very inspired by the ducks (oops, needed to proofread that one!) - lots of gorgeous colors and patterns. I may have to design some knitting patterns based on various duck species. Yes, I am a dork. That likes ducks.

Anyway, this is the first evening Mike and I are spending together all week. We are both going to the DNA lecture tomorrow night at the museum, though, which should be interesting. Will work on my museum scarf, which is also a swatch for a sweater. This is the yarn I mentioned before; I do like it quite a bit. The pattern is used in the sweater body, and there are lots of cables and whatnot for elaboration. Only thing that worries me is that the pattern calls for size 8 and 6 needles, with the gauge swatch being on the larger needles. Well, I am a tight knitter, and get gauge on the smaller needles. I will need to check for errata to see if the gauge is really for the smaller needles.....

Plan on working on this only at the museum. We'll see how long that lasts. Although I will be there three times this week, and at least once more next week. Although first time I was working on larger needles, and needed to rip it out. Actually, frogged a second time, as my first smaller needles were still too big.

What else? I should focus on the game. The Pens need my love and attention - they are currently down by two. (edit - 3. Yikes!)

Oh, should include the token beautiful kitty photo.

She was looking so lovely one morning, soaking up the sunshine, and I couldn't resist.

Finally, my mom gave me her Wizard Snoopy. It was love at first sight. I have loved him since she bought him, I don't even remember how many years ago. Anyway, I guess she finally decided that he was meant to be with me, because she sent him home with me when I last saw her. He dances to his theme, and his crystal ball lights up. I will end this post with my favorite puppy:

I love Snoopy!