Muzzles for people and a sweater quest update

Yes, I am fat. No, I'm not really happy about that, but the planet really likes me, so I deal. I've never been slender, although I have been fit. Sadly, to keep most of the fat away, I need to exercise about eight hours a day. I am not independently wealthy, nor a celebrity of any kind, and I like sleep, so I just don't have the time required for that. So sue me. Or better yet, give me a few million dollars so I don't have to work and can spend eight hours exercising every day.

Anyway, today I was showing someone my sweater in progress, and was told, "I don't mean to be rude, but shouldn't you be knitting a bigger size?" Ouch. That hurts. Really. You may not intend to be rude, but yes, actually, you are. Especially since my sweater piece is:
crackers) the back, which doesn't have extra bits to stretch around
argyle) not blocked
plastic cutlery) ribbed, which means especially stretchy

I am also knitting the largest size the pattern offers, and on a needle size that is larger than the pattern suggests. So yeah, your comment stung. My self-esteem is low enough, and really didn't need that hit.

Anyway, I now have a retort to use the next time someone says something like that. (And there will be a next time. There always is.) "Sounds like you need a larger muzzle."

* * * * * * *

So today sucked, although it was saved somewhat by a skein of a cashmere silk blend that was on sale, but the colors are not my colors so the yarn will probably end up in a swap or something. Or maybe it will make a gift. My mom would look good in those colors. Oh well. Yarn is good. Cashmere-silk yarn that is discounted 40% is even better.

And speaking of yarn, this past weekend was Rhinebeck! It was wonderful to see several of the friends who live in my computer, although many people were missed. I had a decent haul, including a skein of angora-wool "sock yarn" that I really don't think will become socks. Snagged some Bugga (thanks to Cyd and Golriz for standing in line!) and some STR, too.


Someday I may take real pictures, but meh, whatever. Cell phone pics work for this, right?

In knitting news, I finished my Issara in the hotel lobby on Friday night, and wore it Saturday with stitch holders keeping it closed. It's a bit more snug than I'd like for a coat, but it is wool so it should grow. (And yes, my gauge was a bit small, but I had already gone up a needle size and didn't want to make a coat with a loose fabric. Maybe this will convince someone that I need money so I can stop working and lose weight...)



My May post included all of the sweaters up to that point. Sweater #2 is still in the same place (needs blocked, seamed and buttons), Sweater #3 is done aside from buttons and ear stuffing, and now has pins marking where the buttons should go, so that won't take much longer, Sweater #4 has one of the seams done and just needs the second seam, the collar and buttons, and Sweater #5 is still hanging out, stalled because of spit splicing. I still have hope for the year, though.

Sweater #6, Shalom, Y'all, is completely done, including buttons! I have been wearing it, but don't have a picture with buttons.



Sweater #7, Wrenna, is also done, and I am wearing it right now. Sewed on the second clasp and learned that I need to pull up the sweater sleeves and pull down my shirt sleeves at Rhinebeck. Bought the yarn in Minneapolis. I love Mountain Colors!



Sweater #8 is the above-mentioned Issara, and I love it. May need to knit another one eventually.

Sweater #9 is the supposedly too-small one. Spoke. I did not read the pattern before I started, and the sweater is taking forever. If I had read the pattern I would have found something else to cast on, as k1p1 is boring as all get out and takes forever. The yarn is lovely, but is too delicate for pin-tensioned knitting, so my ribbing goes very slowly as my technique is terrible. Oh well. Eventually.

Sweater #10 is Lia, and would have been done by now if I had paid more attention to the sizing and not looked at the wrong numbers when I split for the arms. Need to rip back, but that shouldn't take too long. Bulky yarn and big needles FTW! My picture doesn't look like much other than a kitty bed, as Zuzu decided that it was time for me to stop knitting. If I hadn't screwed up I may have had another sweater to wear at Rhinebeck. Oh well. Next year.



Sweater #11 will be a test knit for someone (in blue, not green!), and i am not sure what sweater #12 will be yet. Probably something in bulky yarn, as I'll need something quick so I can finish everything else...

Also seamed a blanket for Mary somewhere in there, and knit a few squares for it, too.



Realized I never shared a picture of Gretchen's bag, so here it is, pre-felting:



Also knit two and a half baby bibs. Need to finish the third so I can get my needles back so I can make fingerless gloves for a friend's kid who needs some yarny love. She's a new big sister, and needs some attention of her own.



Even if I fail at my sweater quest, I have used an awful lot of yarn this year. And what else is Christmas break for but knitting? Kinda looking forward to starting the 52-pair-plunge, but am tempted to make another sweater or six.

Anyway, Mike is home now, so I ought to go upstairs to sleep. Tomorrow will be a better day. I hope.

P.S. I forgot the gratuitous Zuzu picture. Here you go!

Rhinebeck and other AWESOME October happenings

WOW. That word pretty much sums up Rhinebeck (otherwise known as New York Sheep and Wool, one of the biggest fiber festivals in the country). That, and AWESOME. And yes, it deserves all caps. It was a wonderful time, hanging out with some of the people who live in my computer. Mary and I left Friday morning with eleven dozen cupcakes (Pumpkin Spice with cream cheese frosting, Mexican Chocolate with Kahlua glaze and chocolate ganache frosting, Vanilla with just plain vanilla frosting, Ho-Ho filled with vanilla cream and frosted with chocolate buttercream and Nutella, need I say more?) and 2.5 gallons of beer (well, 2 gallons of beer, half a gallon of cider). We arrived around 7, connected with my last-minute roommate Hopi, and figured out where we were going for dinner. Ktb and her mom made reservations at a fabulous place called Gigi Trattatoria. There were supposed to be eleven of us, but Cyd's train was delayed, so Pixisis was anxiously awaiting a phone call to get her. The call came just after dinner. Bowen was there, up from Philadelphia, with a stop on the way to pick up Silver. Also in that car was Monica from Portland (yes, Portland, Oregon), who had flown in a day or so earlier. And we can't forget the wonderful Dan, aka Brewergnome! Definitely an enjoyable meal.

Saturday was the festival! We found Melcentrica in the lobby at breakfast - we ID'd her because she, Mary and I were all wearing the same shirt. (Cyd wore hers, too, but we met her Friday night at the hotel. Our room was party central, as I had the cupcakes and beer.) Then it was off, across the Kingston Bridge, to the Rhinebeck fairgrounds!

We met at Completely Pointless and Arbitrary central - the Tsock Tsarina's booth! She and Jennifer (as well as Glenna and the Tserf) were incredibly busy, but they always had a moment for a hug or a cupcake. Jesh was pricing her gorgeous spindles, and by the afternoon they were nearly gone. (I did get to snag a tasty peanut butter cookie, though!) We also met Franklin on the way there. He is as charming and wonderful as expected, and Mary gave him her well-received Delores creation. Once at the booth, I overheard someone talking about beer (they were pondering and did purchase the Oktoberfest in Chocolate Stout, as did I - Mike will someday have beer socks to wear to festivals), and wouldn't you know that it was Holly! After much squeeing and hugs, she introduced her husband and we made arrangements to hang out at the hotel after that evening's Ravelry party.

Made a few purchases, too - Nine Tailors and Imbas as well as Oktoberfest, and some beautiful Gnomespun yarn, and a Yarn Fairy skein of Holiday Yarns. Wandered off to the Ravelry meetup. Showed up a bit late (that was typical of the weekend), but met Ravelry leadership Jess, Casey and Mary-Heather, as well as a few others of the Rav family. (And shared cupcakes.) I didn't really take many pictures; I let others do that for me. Lots of those pictures can be found here, if you have any interest.

Picked up a bit of other yarn along the way, but really ended up investing in roving. Yes, I don't know how to spin yet, but if all goes well that will be remedied on Wednesday. I could not resist one bit of Corriedale. Oh, the colors! Beautiful blues and purples. I carried it around for something like 2o minutes before deciding that I needed to take it home. Picked up some incredibly soft undyed Merino as well - grabbed a bit for the amazing dyer Jen, then couldn't resist buying one for myself. Snagged 2oz of llama as well, and 8oz of Acacia, one of the lovely Burgis Brooks alpacas. She wasn't there, but Manny and Tito were. Mary brought home some of Manny's yarn, since Tito was only available as a blend. So yes, I have a lot of spinning to do, especially since Kelly sent me some roving from an Alpaca farm open house in North Carolina.

Anyway, Saturday was quite a day. We went to the Ravelry party, and showed up about 30 seconds after they ran out of goodie bags. It's estimated that there were 650 people there. Lots of fun (lots of door prizes - Mary won some beautiful Briar Rose yarn, and Kathe won Small Bob!), although it was quite cold. I was most amused by Hurricane Kitty beer. Because Kitties cause hurricanes all the time, you know. After the party, we congregated back at the room for more cupcakes and beer.

Sunday morning, Mary and I took off after breakfast. We delivered Hopi to her ride home, and followed some back roads to find the Fork in the Road. Then it was off to Kerhonkson to see the World's Largest Garden Gnome! I do have a picture of him, but haven't uploaded it yet. We'd pondered going to Hershey, but after getting stuck in construction in Scranton, I doubted that we'd get to Chocolate World before they closed (although looking now we might have made it). So it was an easy ride home - we just followed I-80, arriving home around 9:30.

Anyway, Rhinebeck was an adventure, and we're already making plans for next year.

It was a busy week before Rhinebeck, though. Gretchen showed up on the 11th, and we spent most of Saturday at the Rock Hall. After that was lunch at Melt, then visiting with Jessica and Mary after the Miss Chickpea knit-out that Gretch and I missed. Sunday we had plans to play in the leaves and maize maze in Peninsula and see Wade Chapel. Since Gretchen is unlike most of our houseguests in that she is ready to go before noon without prodding, I revised our agenda to start in University Circle. After two quick cupcake drops (yes, four dozen cupcakes is a bit much for four people), we were at Wade Chapel. Gretchen has always loved Tiffany, so we spent a decent bit of time admiring his genius and talking to the docent. We wandered up to the Garfield Monument, too, and braved vertigo to walk up and down the steps. Then it was off to the Art museum! Hadn't been since the galleries reopened. Definitely a good setup for their legendary collection. I'd nearly convinced Gretch to stop in at the Natural History museum (she knows how I am, and generally avoids such places with me) to see their wildlife area, but it was still before noon, so we wandered off to find lunch and such.

Mike had just eaten his leftovers, so there was no point in stopping at the Lizard near home. Gretch wanted to investigate an Archivers, and there was one in Montrose, so we stopped by for a pre-lunch visit. I put my blinders on and got out my knitting so as to avoid picking up yet another hobby. Anyway, no Fairlawn Lizard, as I try to avoid unfiltered Akron water. We were inspired to try Vegiterranean, but alas, they were closed on Sunday. On the way to the Peninsula Lizard (sense a theme here?), I got a panicked call from Mike: "Come home now. Zuzu got outside and I can't find her." We won't talk about the how, but he knows he was not a good indoor-cat parent.

Drove home, getting increasingly worried as the "I found her" phone call did not come, and started wandering around looking for our kitty. Mike was back behind the house. I walked around the pond, and asked everyone I saw if they'd seen Zuzu. Set some kids to search as well. No luck. I'd finally nearly given up for the moment, and was heading back towards to house for a blood-sugar boost, when I halfheartedly called for Zuzu. She bolts from her hiding spot in the thick weeds in the empty lot next to us (which is where Mike started looking) and plops down in our mulch. She'd been about 20 feet away, if that. I scooped her up and brought her inside. Whew. After Zuzu was found, we were off to the local Lizard for a late lunch, and then took Gretchen to the airport. Lovely kitty is now curled up on Mike's lap, covered with a sweatshirt, all adventures forgotten.

Monday afternoon my mom showed up. It was time for the North Coast Tour de Stitch yet again! Monday we hit Inn Stitches in Canton, Crafty Ewe in Broadview Heights, and Just Stitching in Strongsville. Tuesday we picked up Megan and visited the shops in Vermilion, Toledo and Findlay. Sadly, the planned yarn shop visits didn't work - one wasn't where we thought it was supposed to be, another was only a mail drop, and the third was going out of business and had been picked over pretty well. It was still a nice day, though. Wednesday brought a trip to the Red Apple in Madison, and we stopped at Wade Chapel on the way home. We spent about an hour soaking it in. Mommie was quite impressed, and thinks my dad should see it as well.

Wednesday night was Frightened Rabbit at Music Saves, which was a fantastic performance. Discovered that the video feature on my camera no longer works, but at least I have the audio to my favorite song of theirs - The Twist.

Thursday was work, then cupcake time! (After a failed trip to get new phones and dinner. Apparently Thursday night is a busy time both at the Independence Lizard and Verizon store.) Woke up around 3am Friday to finish before Mary and I took off to Rhinebeck. And that brings us to the beginning of the story.

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Time for the nostalgia bit of this post. (Because it certainly isn't long enough already.) Got to talking to my friend Ed at the Frightened Rabbit show, and found out that the Friday following (Rhinebeck departure day) was his anniversary (Happy anniversary - hope you guys had fun!). Which is near ours. How exactly near? Not sure. He got me thinking about our wedding, and why we don't know the exact date we got married. Yes, we have a piece of paper with the details, but we haven't dragged it out for a while. So here's the story:

Mike and I got together in October 1999. Well, we spent time together before that (college from December 1995-April 1996, then that summer of 1999), but it was decided in October that yes, this could be something serious. My grandmother got sick about the same time (she and I were supposed to go to Hawaii that October but she got sick so my mom and I went), and although she recovered for a while, she went into the hospital on Memorial Day weekend and didn't come home. March 2000 I moved home from Cincinnati, as I could afford either a car payment or rent at my current job, but not both. Since Cincinnati and I didn't get along, I gave up rent and moved home. June 2000, I am grandmotherless, living with my parents, working a temp job, and having nightmares because I was grieving. Figured out that I didn't have nearly as many nightmares when I had a kitty sleeping with me, so I started staying with Mike a lot more. No, we weren't living together, because I still got my mail at my parents' house.

Fast forward to late September 2003. Temp job turned into a permanent position, our friend and Mike's coworker has met and married a woman in Cleveland. Our options are either stay in Pittsburgh and either Mike or Tom finds a new job, or move to the Cleveland area and I am the only one out of work. So that is the plan. We like our life together, and have a committed relationship and a nice family with Zuzu. Mike tells his very religious mother that he and I will get married before we move into a new house together. Well. News to me! Anyway, I can kinda deal with the idea of a piece of paper justifying our relationship, especially if it will end the stress of family visits, so we decide to get married. We're scheduled to move to Cleveland in August 2004, we're partial to October, and we don't want the drama llama visit that seems to happen with any overly planned wedding, so we decide it's a go for October.

My dad was Psycho Penn State Fan at that point, with season tickets and tailgating themes for each home game. (He has since recovered a bit.) We looked at their schedule (which I just pulled up to research the dates), and October 18 was a bye week. So we started planning our party. We got the license, and made an appointment with a magistrate for Friday night, and dinner reservations for afterward. The ceremony was supposed to be small, with just close friends (one each) and family.

Gretchen flew in on Thursday (I think?), Mike had a bachelor party of keggerator cleaning and beer drinking with a few friends, Gretch and I create vast quantities of food. I think we were on the way back from picking up the one storebought cake (from Eadie's Kitchen, definitely recommended!) when I realized that the license needed to be at the magistrate's office before 4:30. We were 20 minutes in the wrong direction, so we called Mike. He and Tom hit the road, Tom in bare feet, with license in hand as well as a phone book and a cell phone, calling the office to say they were on the way. They were repeatedly told, "We close at 4:30." They finally find the place and pull up. 4:31. Tom runs up to the door (having put his shoes on while in the car.) The door is locked. NOOOOO!!!

Being as we did not want the sort of drama that occurred at my sister's wedding (a story in itself, though I will say that I had four people walk up to me and apologize for their behavior), we were upset for just a bit, then stopped at Cold Stone (which was still a new franchise then) for ice cream. That was our drama - and it ended with everyone having ice cream.

We all still went out to dinner, and had the party on the 18th, we just didn't get married. It was the running joke at the party that we missed our wedding, so therefore it was a pre-wedding reception. It was great fun, lots of friends that we rarely see showed up (like Kelly from NC, and Erica from Vegas), there was plenty of food (three pans even went to a women's shelter the next day) and beer.

The next Friday, the 24th, we took the afternoon off, and stopped in at the church next door to where I worked, and got married. Nothing fancy, no rings, no pictures, but we have the piece of paper that caused our car insurance to decrease.

To add to the date confusion, Mike's family had a party/reception for us, too. His parents are very anti-alcohol, so they weren't invited to our party due to all of the beer. His oldest brother's wife, a sweet and generous soul, wanted to have another party for us. It ended up being a weekend in early November, with no easy point of reference to find the date. At any rate, we have a week-long anniversary, with flexible starts and ends, as we have a hard time remembering the actual dates.

So there you have it. The story of our bungled wedding. We're celebrating our anniversary today (the 26th, I think), because we can. Anniversary pirogies and a Steelers game. Good stuff. We're still together, still happy, and still ringless (we still don't have serious ones, though I did get a dragon one with flashing eyes and a pair of adjustable ladybugs that we wore for about 30 minutes until they pinched too much). So thanks, Ed, for reminding me of the subject, and playing one of our songs today. This is why I got confused when talking about the dates.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Rhinebeck visit and nostalgia! Will post pictures of the goodies at some point.

Oh, the places I'll go?

I am a road trip junkie. I am jonesing for a fix. I have this weekend free. Where should I go? I would like to go no further than 800 miles from Cleveland, as that is two tanks of gas, and that's about as much as I'd like to spend. I can also drive all day Friday, spend the day at my destination on Saturday, then drive back on Sunday. So.... Where should I go? Any suggestions are appreciated. Current thoughts: Mammoth Cave, KY; Minneapolis, MN, just driving west until I can't drive anymore.....

On a side note, Zuzu has an addiction problem. I am growing some kitty grass (oats and barley) for her, and lately she has been staring at the container hoping for a fix. This morning, she did not want breakfast, but she wanted kitty grass. I was trying to sleep, but she would not let me snooze. Finally, she climbed onto the table (she is not allowed on tables) to get to the kitty grass container. She pulled the whole seed bed out of the container and made a bit of a mess. I put the grass on the tall counter behind the sink, and it was out of sight, out of mind. Once she couldn't see her kitty grass anymore, she ate her breakfast.

Also, bought more cheap yarn last night. Three sweaters' worth of yarn for $60. Can't beat it. Will link to prospective patterns in the near future.

Oh well, work is calling, so off I go.

It's true - pictures get more attention than words

In response to the comments from my last post:

Mary, if I ever get off my butt and make some T-shirts, you will get one. I'll have to bring you cookies at some point, too. Also, glad you took a kitteh. I hope Bobble comes out from under the fridge!

ChickenLil, yes, you are a slacker! :-) I tagged Ktb with the meme you tagged me for. I could probably come up with 7 more random things, but I am a slacker, too, and don't feel like going back to see what I posted originally. So I'm going to ignore the circular tagging, at least for now.

Emmms, the sock yarn is JL Yarn's Salvia. No idea what they are calling the colorways, but I call them autumn/harvest and winey. And the "Sun Tea" yarn was dyed with grape kool-aid. The colors split when you leave it alone for a while. Not sure if you're familiar with Sun Tea, but that's when you throw teabags in a clear glass container filled with water, cover it, and let it sit in the sun all day. So no, I don't drink purple tea. Or kool-aid.

And finally, Ktb, thanks for the compliment on the yarn. I am still thrilled that you adopted Miss Marple, too. I think I have a new career, as a kitteh pusher.

Anyway, consider the contest from the last post closed - Mary is the only winner, as she is the only one that read to the end and mentioned cookies. I might consider sending cookies to Ktb, but we'll see.

Speaking of contests, there's one you should know of. Brittany is running a contest to celebrate the opening of her Amia Yarn Company, and giving away some beautiful yarn. Love the butterscotch! May also need to pick up a yarn bowl. Anyway, enter!

So what has happened around here lately? The Indians broke their 10-game losing streak on Stitch and Pitch night! My mom visited last weekend, and we didn't actually do all that much. We spent Friday evening hanging out on the deck (with Zuzu in her harness), Saturday we visited a cross stitch shop in Akron, my favorite garden store in Fairlawn (The Precocious Dandelion), and then went to the Rock Hall, after stopping at home to visit Zuzu and wait out the rain. We'd hoped to visit Wade Chapel on Sunday, but it rained all morning, so I made sugar-free cinnamon rolls instead. Mom was quite happy to have cinnamon rolls with frosting that she could eat. I'm not all that thrilled with the Splenda taste, but hey, Mom deserves Happy Birthday Cinnamon Rolls, too.

Monday was knitting, as always a nice time. Tuesday was SAAZ Night Out at 69 Taps. Fun evening, although the frosty glasses were freezer-burnt and the Oberon was old. Skipped WOW on Wednesday, since Mike left me again this weekend. I ended up with a surprise afternoon off, so I played with the kittens and watched Jen dye yarn. I have been trying to spend time with the kittens before the Forever Friends Foundation takes them away. Of the five kittens, Mary adopted one yesterday, and Jen is going to keep at least one, possibly two.

Mike went to Athens on Friday for Ohio Beer Week. I was very jealous that he could have as many Burrito Buggy burritos as he wanted, and I could not. Friday evening, Jen and I had some much-needed yarn therapy, and visited a family that is moving overseas and selling a yarn shop's worth of yarn. We each walked out with enough yarn for several projects - and we hope to go back today. I have looked at my Ravelry queue, and will get yarn for several sweaters.

Yesterday was another Adventure in Yarn Dyeing. Valerie sent me a HUGE box of handspun yarn for dyeing and felting. I have some Jacquard Acid Dyes on order, but they haven't arrived yet, so the dyeing experiments involved kool-aid and Wilton's cake dyes. Mary and Jen came over to play. Quite a fun afternoon, and the perfect day for it. Afterwards, we ordered pizza and played with the kittens before Mary took one home.

Yarn from Valerie. Zuzu is included to provide scale.

Dyed handspun. Kool-aid on the left, Wilton gel on the right

I will be making a bag or kitty bed from the dyed yarn, to see how it felts. Yarn has been wound into a giant ball, and I cast on in the round, but haven't really started knitting yet. I have too many projects going on right now!

Oh! I should talk about some of the other wonderful things that showed up in the mail this week. Got some goodies in a sock-knitters' swap, as well as a surprise from Norway. (I am really getting to know our mail carrier.)

Beautiful zebra mittens from Elin, to match Zelda, the zebra hat she sent me earlier this year.

Swap goodies from Sherry. Love the sock yarn, and looking forward to testing the Paula Deen cookbook!

Have a road rage story to share. Was merging onto the express lanes of 271N. There was a guy, also merging, behind me, that wanted to go faster than I did. One would think that since there was no one in the left lane, he would have merged into the right lane behind me and then immediately moved into the left lane to pass. No. He stayed in the on/off lane, on the right. I had cruise control on, and did not change my speed. Apparently I was supposed to move into the left lane to allow him to merge, because he sped up just before the off lane ended, and stuck his hand out of the window to flip me off. Could I have changed lanes? Of course. Should I have moved into the left so that the angry guy could pass me on the right? You tell me.

What else? Have been hanging out around the house today, knitting, even. We had planned to visit a friend in Kent, but scheduling has been an issue. Waiting on a callback about the yarn, and will hopefully later tonight. I have not yet taken pictures of the yarn that I bought, but I will... I am lacking lots of pictures. Maybe that is how I will spend the afternoon. Or trying a strawberry cake experiment. We'll see. I should post this so I can get moving on to something else...

I will leave you with today's token cute Zuzu picture. No, that is not my leg.

Stretchy Zuzu

Wildlife interactions

This morning, I looked outside to survey the landscape, take pleasure in the post-rain green, and I saw a rabbit. Haven't seen very many rabbits in our yard in the past, and I think I discovered the reason.

I was watching the rabbit graze on the selection of weeds in the brush just beyond the yard, when I noticed a small bird marching around in the same section of plants. The bird was not very big, smaller than the small rabbit's head, even. I look at the walk, the white belly, and realize that it must be a baby killdeer. Baby bird uses the distracting tactic of pretending to have a broken wing, and walks up to the bunny. Rabbit starts moving away, but apparently not far or fast enough, because next thing I see is the bird, with wing askew, running behind the hopping bunny. So that, my friends, is why we rarely have rabbits in our yard - the birds scare them away.

Anyway, it was a busy week for having little planned. Monday was the big event. (Thanks to Mary for posting a picture of the frosted cupcakes.) Tuesday I schlepped leftover cupcakes all around the east side of Cleveland (to Rebecca, in Mentor, to share with her knitting group; to Chagrin Falls to share with my friend Cathy, since we were scheduled for lunch anyway; to Shaker Heights to drop some off for the nieces, since Grandpa didn't share Tuesday's cupcakes; to Macedonia for Jen and Nick, because they missed Monday due to family obligations), stopped by the library to pick up a book and donated blood while there. Jen and Nick came over for dinner to help eat the non-cupcake leftovers (yay!), Mike poured me a beer, and I crashed hard on the couch. Monday was a very long day - 3am to 11pm, approximately, and Tuesday morning started at 6 (the post-kitty-feeding nap ended about then). Sleep was necessary. Wednesday was a long day - had an afternoon meeting at my morning client, and there were a few computer issues afterwards. They called me in from the parking lot.... Thursday was spent preparing for the server migration that didn't happen, and a good thing, too, because Friday was filled with other crises that couldn't have been ignored for user support.

Anyway, when I finally escaped work yesterday afternoon, I was very cranky. Jen sent me a note earlier in the day, asking if I wanted to visit the Pea. Of course! What better way to rid yourself of nasty work vibes than some yarn therapy, especially sale yarn therapy? I picked up Malabrigo in Vaa and Velvet Grapes, enough of each color to make the Hemlock Ring blanket. Theoretically, they will be the family Christmas gifts this year. I have enough Indigo for a blanket already, so one more colorway to go. Maybe. Actually, I already have yarn for another alpaca blanket, so perhaps my parents will get the alpaca (since one has already been made for my sister), and Mike's side of the family will get the Hemlock Rings. It's a beautiful design, and looks incredible in Malabrigo. (If you're on Ravelry, definitely take a look at the projects out there!) Apparently it's a relatively quick knit, not all that difficult, and looks impressive. And there are fewer of them to make, so they stand a chance of being completed before Christmas.

Oh, and to alert you to a tragedy in the yarn world - Malabrigo had a fire in their mill. We learned of it yesterday, when I unloaded 12 skeins from my basket, and the friendly Chickpea employees shared the news. I had to sit down. Hope they get everything back in progress soon.
Jen and I had thought about driving down to Medina to visit Studio Knit, but I'd called, as I am searching for some Malabrigo Silky and laceweight (for me and Elin), and they did not have what we wanted. Also, by the time we were finished at the Pea, we had only an hour to drive to Medina and shop. And 15-20 minutes is not enough time to explore a new yarn shop.

Anyway, that was the week. Not much knitting news. Worked on the "Museum" scarf in the car a bit here and there, finished Geno the Penguin (pictures to come later), and thought about starting the Great A'Tuin. Haven't wound the yarn yet, as I want to finish a few projects first. I have a few too many things on the needles to start more. I should finish the clogs, as they will go very fast - one pair that needs finished, then only one more pair to make as a gift, and then one for me. I could probably finish them this weekend. Maybe that should be the goal. I have a few more baby gifts to do - I think I will make toys, as they don't get outgrown before they are gifted. I need to finish my sweater - now I have the needle back, I can finish the sleeves and collar.

So, game plan: Work on clogs this weekend (and finish!). Work on sweater after that (until finished!). Baby gifts for two neighbors, and several friends (quick toy knits!). Finish Firebird. Start A'Tuin. Return to Baudelaire socks. Make Hemlock Blankets. Knock my Ravelry queue from seven pages into something smaller. (Yeah, right!)

Anyway, I should get moving - time to make the weekend productive! I am a sole away from having a pair of clogs finished. Will post pictures sometime soon.

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!

Lazy Sunday

Remembered one of the things that I've wanted to post but had forgotten. Gretchen sent me a note the other day to tell me that a Greek friend of ours had contacted her via Facebook. When I think of Lambros, I think of a beautiful spring day (Memorial Day weekend?) when we were bored and wanted to leave Athens. Lambros had a car. A white Ford Escort if I remember correctly. The three of us piled into the car, and Lambros started driving. Drove south with no real destination in mind, and ended up in Kentucky. Visited the Hillbilly Flea Market (we had to - who can pass up a place like that?), bought a few knickknacks. Still have one of the funky triangular silvered bowls that I bought, as well as the Easter Island head vases. Turned around, started back home. Again, such a beautiful day. Not sure who started it, but we stuck our feet out of the window. Three people in the car, and at one point there were five feet sticking out of the various car windows. Which is when we passed a state trooper. Of course we get pulled over. Trooper comes over to the window, spits, and starts drawling about seeing "elbows and assholes sticking out everywhere." As there's no real law against what we were doing, he can't give us a ticket. He continued lecturing, and told us that when we get tired, we should stop and stretch. He returned to his car for the obligatory paperwork, so we exited ours, and started picking wildflowers. Ahhhhh, the memories.

Today is very much a catch-up day at home. Mike is finishing the taxes (apparently we weren't completely done before, but we will be today), it's laundry day as well as grocery day (home by 10am - yay), and I should probably straighten up the kitchen a bit.

Made more cinnamon rolls yesterday. And cakewaffles. Good stuff. Jennifer came over for breakfast; even though she couldn't go to Knitter's Fantasy with us, she wanted to visit with the girls a bit. Tanya, Patti, Elizabeth, Megan and I all drove to Youngstown and wandered around the Yarn Market. Ran into Jeanne there - she was wearing a gorgeous sweater she made. (Hers is longer than the one pictured - and much prettier, in my mind. The images on the website don't impress me, but Jeanne's did.)

Saturday's cinnamon rolls, pre-frosting

And of course the question is, "What did you buy at the Yarn Market?" Bought some TOFUtsies in green and white, some Aussi sock in Oak Moss (green), Wildfoote in Desert Grass, Trekking in a blue-green variegate, and some really neat laceweight - Habu with metals. I bought some copper bamboo, and stainless steel wool. I really liked the sample swatch they had knitted up in the stainless steel silk (but liked the color of the wool better), as it held its shape. It was a simple garter stitch piece, but would stretch to be either a long, narrow piece or a short, wide piece. You could flare the ends or sides to make it wavy. Very neat.

Habu yarn - copper bamboo and stainless steel wool

I am far too easily distracted. Started this post three loads of laundry ago. It is now snowing. Please make it go away. Drama llamas are running rampant all over Rav. I really need to stop following links to the melodrama. It's not worth the time or concern.

Oh, took a picture of our finches yesterday. Wish Mike's dad had email so he could see it - he's the one that made the feeder that my nephew calls "Florida Yard Art." It's made from a garage sale ice bucket and serving platter, plus some wire screen. He makes them with teapots and other vessels, but I like mine the best.

Zuzu's appetizers

Our kitty has been snuggled with Mike all day, snoozing on his lap. I should get back to the knitting. Or curl up with a good book.

Losing it

So I have been losing things lately. DPNs (not just the missing 8s, which of course turned up as soon as I brought the replacements home, but individual needles, so I'll have sets of 4 rather than 5, stuff like that.), an Amazon certificate that I set aside for safekeeping, stuff like that. Maybe I am also losing my mind.

Have been too busy to knit very much lately. Even at work today, I've been too busy. (Imagine that, working at work!) It's about an hour before I leave, and I haven't touched all of the stuff I brought with me. Worked on a hat last night at a lecture. Very intense stuff. The speaker was great, but she kept me awake longer than I wanted. The Explorer lectures are usually about an hour, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A. She spoke for nearly 2 hours, answered a few questions, and it was off to the book signing. Looking forward to reading the book, but expect to cry quite a bit. It's awful what humans can do to other humans. I guess I did get home about the time I would if I'd worked, but I expected to be home earlier.

Made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast this morning. Yum. Zuzu wanted my milk. (Gotta have milk with pancakes, right?) She kept trying to get close to the glass. At one point, I leaned back and held the glass in an outstretched arm, thinking that she'd have to leave my lap to try to get to it. Oh no, little kitty climbed up my chest and across my arm to get to the milk. It was as if she realized that if I couldn't move my arm, she had a good chance of getting the milk. She was right. I let her have a pawful for her effort. She's not supposed to have dairy because of the calcium, but a drop or two of milk can't hurt too much, right? There wasn't much in the glass, and she was so intent on drinking some, I couldn't turn her away.

Very foggy on the way to work. Was very foggy on the way home yesterday, too. It was hard to see our house, even.

Accomplished very little last weekend, of course. Vegging is quite the thing to do when there's so much snow. Most of it has melted now, just in time for us to get more. Hopefully not much.

Went to the North Coast Knitting Guild's meeting on Monday with the SNB. Learned about some decorative cast-on techniques, and got my picot in a twist. Took a Fair Isle class on Wednesday. Learned the difference between Fair Isle and Intarsia, and also learned what I'd been doing wrong when doing Fair Isle. Whoops. Most of what I'd done got felted anyway. Or was included in socks for Mike, and he doesn't care. But I know better now.

Worked on my sister's blanket a bit, too. I am 3/8 done. Have done no knitting today, even though I had high hopes of knitting a lot. Again, it's terrible how I've had to work at work. There's been a lot of work going on during the week, too. I don't want to talk about a certain brand of server. And if you have a problem that is important enough to require me to drive over to you, don't leave. Please. Enough venting.

Thursday was Member's Night at the Museum. Always a good time, talking to the curators and running around the offices and whatnot.

Oh, and won tickets to the Bang and the Clatter's production of Essential Self-Defense on Sunday. Should be interesting, assuming I can convince myself to leave the house.

Looking forward to having a small birthday party for my knitting group next week. It should be just the core group, those who have been part of the group for most of its existence. Looking forward to making lots of cakes, too. Cheesecake, chocolate cake, butter cake, and a few other kinds. I haven't decided on all of the recipes yet. Yum. Will include some cake in a swap package, too. (Which reminds me, I'll need to pick up a few more things to include in that, as well.)

Oh well. I should pack up to go home now. Perhaps I will finish my Fibonacci gauge swatch tonight, now that I found my size 8 DPNs. Although I'll probably start them over, since I think I can make the smaller size rather than the larger ones. Really looking forward to making that sweater.

One more thing - Won't You Be My Neighbor Days are coming up. Be sure to wear your favorite sweater on March 20! I will need to sew the buttons on my cardigan and wear it.

Listening to the SXSW coverage on NPR's website. The weather was so bad last weekend that even the radio station cancelled shows, so I missed my Sunday morning rituals. And to think I'd wanted to go grocery shopping. Save that for tomorrow, I guess.

Finished "The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld" the other day. Very quick read.

Haven't had time to watch much of anything lately.

Early morning at Zuzu's house

Everyone knows that Zuzu wakes me at 4am for her breakfast. Usually I can go back to sleep on the couch, and she snuggles with me after she eats. Today, Mike has a yeast starter on a stir plate in the kitchen, and it is making enough noise that I can't sleep downstairs. Went back to bed. Zuzu would have none of that. Meow, meow, meow, you shouldn't be up here says the kitty. Finally I gave in.

So it is 5:30 on a Sunday morning, and I am awake. Laptop balanced on one knee and a pillow, purring kitty on my lap. She loves blankets!

Joni Mitchell is on NPR. Found the program online, if anyone is interested.

Was thinking about our relationship yesterday. Called Mike, and our friend Chris answered. Mike was driving, and he is not a cell phone driver, so Chris took the call. They were off to Ogrefest. I'd forgotten their plans, and just gone to work. And no, I didn't need to talk to Mike. Chris did a good job of relaying the info. I'm not going to make Mike be a cell phone driver unless he wants to be... We're both independent people, and aren't threatened by the other doing their own things.

Anyway, I had a quiet evening at home yesterday. Watched "Muppets Take Manhattan", wound yarn and knitted. And went to bed at 9:30, because Zuzu wouldn't leave me alone downstairs. I have two pairs of clogs ready for felting - maybe today. Have a start on another pair. Knitted most of a hat on Friday - just need to do the crown now. I should start a list of people who want hats, as they are great museum/travel knitting. Plain stockinette is great for knitting in the dark. So... anyone want a hat? I will be using extra skeins leftover from clog making. Scary news? I ordered more yarn for clogs last night. I am running out.

I am going to start the fingerless gloves that serve as a gauge swatch for my next sweater. I do not want to wait anymore. Just need to sew the petals on Nina's daisy hat, do the crown of the pink hat (I can do those things this morning, probably before Mike wakes up), and focus on my Baudelaire socks. And clogs. But a glove should be do-able in an afternoon, so it won't distract too much. Really.

Oh! My camera came back on Friday! I can start taking pictures again! I haven't tried it yet, though, and can't move right now, due to a case of the cat. She's so snuggly!

Anyway, I should start knitting. I want to send out some packages on Tuesday, and hopefully one of those packages will be for Nina.....

Afterglow, exhaustion, and catnip pants

Went to Pittsburgh yesterday for the 4th Annual Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. Such fun! Five of us crowded into Jen's Civic Hatchback for the drive to the South Hills. What fun! What yarn! What a long weekend! Worked all day on Friday, 8:30 am - 10:00 pm. Woke up at 4:00 on Saturday, then worked from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm (well, knitted my murder weapon while working on Saturday), then off to the beer festival until 10:30 pm, and up at 4:00 am on Sunday. I love my schedule. If only I could schedule more time for sleep.

Mike, I don't think you read this, but if you do, you can stop reading now. Not that you will care, but still. You don't need to know. You can find out in bits and pieces.

Details of the day:

Sunday morning, Zuzu woke me at 4:00 am, as usual. I gave her breakfast, and went about my morning routine, even though I was exhausted, since I didn't get home until 11:00 pm Saturday night. (Winter Warmer was fun, as usual.)

The day began relatively well, with the making of cakewaffles. For those of you who are not yet aware of the glories of cakewaffles, they are nearly-instant cakes, cooked in a waffle iron. Yum! Cakewaffle sandwiches (two cakewaffles with frosting in the middle) are much tidier than cake, especially when one is without plates and utensils. Made coffee and cakewaffles for the group, and had extras to bring along.

Rebecca was first to arrive, soon followed by Jen. Vicky and Melita arrived shortly thereafter. Vicky brought me some of her niece's handspun yarn, which is a gorgeous shade of brown, and oh-so-soft. And intriguing to Zuzu. We enjoyed breakfast, and were on our way.

Although the weather looked nasty, the roads were fine, once we were out of our neighborhood. The drive was uneventful, once we found our directions.

First thing after we got to the festival, we met a HUGE Angora bunny. Such a nice lazy lump, just laying still, enjoying all the petting. Very soft. And $150, for a small one. Which isn't really all that bad, but none of us took one home. I wonder how Zuzu would like having a rabbit in her house. Especially since the rabbit would grow to be larger and furrier than she is.

I had my eye on some of that booth's hand-dyed yarn, but finally passed. We wandered around a while before purchasing anything. So many choices! If there were fewer choices, I may have purchased more, especially from a vendor towards the back. They had a *huge* space, and tons of yarn. I eventually purchased one skein of sock yarn there, a blue-green-black variegated superwash wool blend with silk and viscose. Thought about getting more yarn for a sweater, but couldn't decide on what kind or what color - too many choices.

Spent a good deal of time debating some olive green cashmere laceweight. I kept going back to pet it. I finally did take it home with me. When I was making that purchase, I noticed another skein of green and white alpaca blend laceweight that became an impulse buy. Please note that I have never worked in laceweight, never really even considered it all that much, as I am not a girly-girl and don't really understand the need for shawls. I mean, they're pretty, but they're not really me. If I want to be warm, I will wear something practical, even if it isn't pretty. Well, the idea of pretty won me over yesterday, so I now have two skeins of laceweight. Now I just need to figure out what to make. Or maybe I will just snuggle with the yarn.

Walked past a vendor selling handspun. Nice fibers, but one skein in particular caught my eye. Thought about purchasing it, but after talking to the vendor, walked away with some natural fiber and a dye kit. I am going to try handpainting yarn. Should be interesting. I love me some autumn colors, so we'll see how it turns out.

Finally, a cabled cardigan caught my eye. Lovely green yarn, a hemp blend. The yarn was reasonably priced, and the pattern was gorgeous, so I walked away with a sweater-to-be. Other highlights: Vicky bought yarn for a cabled blanket. Jen found some yarn made out of corn. Melita found a beautiful variegate - I almost bought some, too. On the way out, we checked our raffle tickets. Rebecca won $5 in Vendor Bucks. She chose the vendor that sold me my sweater, and selected some roving.

After we'd finished, we drove up to the Galleria (cha-cha-cha!) for lunch. Wandered through the mall, which had changed a lot since the last time I'd been there. Ended up eating at Panera, and stopped at Starbucks before the drive home. We were all exhausted. When we left Pittsburgh, the sun was shining. As soon as we got to Ohio, the snow started. Luckily the roads were clear.

We were home around 5:00. And very tired. I was quite happy that my house was the central location, so I didn't have to drive anywhere else. Tried to take a nap, but that didn't work, so I made dinner, stared blankly at the TV for a while, and went to bed. On the trip, I finished Kel's clogs, so they are ready for felting.

Today was an adventure, as well. They are calling for nasty weather tomorrow. I am spending the night away from home, so I can be an emergency babysitter if my nieces' school is closed. I should really go to bed. I don't know why I am still awake. Baked quiches tonight for a luncheon at the museum. Jen and Nick came over to watch some show with Mike. And have dinner. We had salad and quiche. It was yummy. I should go to bed. Yes, I should go to bed.

The things that make me laugh

One of the groups I read on Rav has a thread where group members are posting pictures of their real-life selves. So I went through some old photo albums to find some pics of me to share. I laughed my butt off. There's the college graduation zebra ensemble (I was so fashionable!), various party pictures, pics from my Big Road Trip, playground pictures, and so on. Scanned some this morning, and sent a few along to some of the involved parties. Posted a few on Rav. If you think you may be one of the involved parties, or you can make me trust you, I might send a few along your way. Just ask. It can't hurt to ask.

I miss my grandma. Still. Always will, I guess.

Nearly finished putting dreadlocks on a baby hat. Getting ready for Hat Attack. Must bring yarn to work on Saturday. I wonder if I will kill before I get killed. Murder by Hat.

The yarn is in for Mike's hat, so I can finally finish that. And pick up some sock yarn, because I am an addict. I wonder if they would bring me my yarn in the parking lot so that I am not tempted. We are off to Pittsburgh on Sunday for the Knit and Crochet festival. I should save my money so I can spend it there. That's once a year; the local yarn store is there every day.

I have an RMA number for The Server That Makes Me Cry. The tech that called today said that it seemed like it had missed a step during manufacture. My inner 8-year-old replied, "No Duh." My outer self replied, "Is that so?" while bashing head into the steering wheel. I guess I should be happy that they're acknowledging that a mistake was made.

I need to get a whistler for my teakettle. But tea is steeping right now, so that is good.

Thought I saw Crazy Buick Lady today, but it was a case of mistaken car.

Oh, wanted to share how suggestible I can be. Another Raveler mentioned "You Give Love a Bad Name" by JoBoJo&Co, and I immediately started meowing the song to Zuzu. I don't know if she liked it, but she meowed along.

I still do not understand basketball. Double Bubbles? Bubble gum? Huh. But hey, the Pens are on now, in HD. Woo!

Zuzu has very good hearing. I opened her treat bag, and she came running downstairs. Put more treats in her new toy, and she is now pushing it across the living room floor. Anyway, time to watch the Pens.

Cruel to be kind...or right to be wrong...and beware the cars of orange

My dad was rear-ended yesterday. 1989 Chevy Van vs. Honda CRV. The CRV lost, although my dad saw it coming and was smart enough to turn the wheel so that he didn't smash into the guy in front of him. As he put it, he was "creamed." The driver's seat is broken. Dad was heading to the ER yesterday, to get everything checked out, and document any issues. Hopefully he won't have much pain as a result - the good karma of avoiding the driver in front of him should prevent pain, right?

Orange cars want me to rear-end them. An orange Vibe made a right turn on red just before I got to the intersection when I was on the way home last night. While I was impressed by the chameleon neon detailing (inside and under the car, and the colors changed!), I wanted to follow the kid home just to scare him.

Then this morning, an orange Element pulled out of a gas station right in front of me. I will do my best to avoid any more orange cars.

Anyway, I am happy that I was wrong. My camera has been dying, as readers of this page will probably know. Sorny has issued a recall for defective cameras with the same issue that I have,
but I was convinced that the model I own was not one of them. I checked this morning, and I really have one of the covered models. So I will be calling Sorny this afternoon to ship it back and have it fixed. Yay! No new camera expense for me! Although Mike (the big meanie that he is) said that I could spend my half of the tax rebate now, and get a new camera. I think I will spend about a third of it and get a sock club subscription, and more sock yarn. Tell me that I don't need these socks....

What else? Zuzu needs lots of love, as usual. I have been Raveling more than I have been knitting, but will try to get more accomplished today. Trying to decide whether or not to join Hat Attack, which is like Sock Wars, except with hats. I am a pacifist, you know, and don't like killing things...............................Okay, I will join. There is Scarves of the Living Dead group, so after I am killed (because you know, I will be - only one person can win) I can continue to knit as a zombie. That clinched it for me. Mmmmmm yarn brains.

I did finish the snowman hat, and gave it to Danielle for Jaden. She says he likes saying "snowman" so even if he won't wear it he will like to look at it. I think it turned out really cute. Another knitter at work took a few pictures, so when she figures out how to download and email images, she'll send them to me for upload.

Oh, I need to figure out my square for the Pratchagan. Must not forget.

Okay, I should really get knitting now. It's slow on Ravelry now, so I should be able to tear myself away. It really is an addiction, you know.

The craziness never ends

Mike actually left the house for five days in a row. No, wait, it was six. I think.

Friday - he brewed at a friend's house, while I went to a lecture about the tree kangaroo
Saturday - he went to North End; I met him there after work
Sunday - he played games with some friends
Monday - he visited a friend while I was at knitting with that friend's wife
Tuesday - SAAZ night out at 69 Taps in Akron
Wednesday - he went to North End while I watched the Muppet Movie

And if he was that busy, you know I was busier. Last week, I'd played with brand new server guts. This week, the server is still not running, due to licensing issues. The manufacturer never applied for the codes for the licenses that were purchased. And they are now trying to figure the whole thing out.

I haven't finished anything for a while. I finished the knitting bits of my dad's clogs, so they just need to be seamed and felted. Still making baby hats. Still haven't actually finished any. Need to buy yarn to finish Mike's hat. I had enough yarn when it was short. But he wanted it longer, so I frogged back, and have now run out of yarn. I need to visit a yarn shop to find more. But I'm not allowed to buy more yarn. Maybe I should make him do it. I am a sucker for sock yarn. If I go in for just one skein of his hat yarn, I am likely to leave with at least one skein of sock yarn, too. Last time it was Paca-Peds, which is alpaca (imagine that!). I should not spend money on yarn until I have used at least some of what I have. Oh, I started another pair of clogs too, but haven't gotten very far. I think I've given up on the knit-a-mile challenge, at least for now. I haven't been keeping track, but I know I'm waaay down. I will try to catch up this weekend. I would really like to start on my next sweater.

Anyway, I should get moving. Work calls, and as much as I try to ignore it, not working doesn't pay the bills. (I tell Zuzu something like that every now and then - if she'd earn enough money for her food, I could stay home with her every day. She hasn't gotten the hint and gotten a job. Although then *she'd* have to leave the house, which neither of us would like.)

Driving in a winter wonderland

It's finally officially December. Well, it was the other day, when I heard "Christmas at Ground Zero" by Weird Al on the radio. But it's really *really* December, since we're getting a ton of snow. Left work an hour early to try to beat the weather. Didn't work. Make the left turn out of the parking lot and onto the road, and slid into the curb on the far side of the road. Luckily I don't think anything was damaged, I was just scared. Traffic slowed down a bit after that, thank goodness. Nothing like driving on an ice rink, especially a busy one. And I did not see a salt truck until I reached Summit county.

Anyway, made it home after an hour of stress. Poured a pint of chocolate stout; Mike tells me I should kick it tonight. He was surprised that I got a full pint out of it. We'll see how much is left. If I get a second full pint out, I'll leave the rest until tomorrow.

Work itself was relatively uneventful, although I had to gather all of the projectors and lock them away in the office for break. I am always amazed by how lazy people are at that school. I sometimes feel like I am the only one who uses the stairs. I use the elevator when going more than two floors, but it sees like all of the students take the elevator for just one floor. Oh well.

I'm probably behind on the holiday knitting, but feel like I'm doing okay. Oh yeah, I was going to felt the first pair of women's clogs tonight. But Mike is brewing, and needed help, so I haven't yet. The night is still young, even though it feels like it's getting late.

Excitement of the day: I got two packages in the mail. My Mama Blue sock yarn showed up (sooo gorgeous! and sooo soft!), as did my Mr. Bento. I will now be able to bring hot food with me for lunch. Which is good, as I don't always get the chance to stop working to pick up food. My friend Danielle reminded me of the existence of Thermoses, when she and I had coffee at 3:00 the other day and I ordered lunch, since it was the first chance I'd had to do so. Mr. Bento is better - I can bring much more than just soup!

What else? Zuzu just had her dinner. She got bad news the other day - she is due for an exam in January. Poor kitty will not be happy about that. But really, she's back to our old playful kitty. She's been grabbing my bum a lot since I've gotten home. Meow! *pawpawpaw* Feed me! Our dinner will be cooking soon. I think I will make cookies tonight. Just because I can. Also, there is a cookie exchange for the Women's Committee next week. I should practice, so I know that I can make good cookies for that. Yeah, that's it. What kind of cookies should I make?

A fellow Raveler posted the image below. I cannot stop giggling about it. The kitteh just looks so sincere. I want to share it with everyone I know, and everyone else that I don't know.



So Friday... Went to a CMNH lecture, learned a lot about Maya salt-making and snorkeling archaeologists, talked to another knitter and pushed Ravelry. I am a bad influence. It was a nice evening, though. Started a hat, as I wanted some mindless stockinette for the lecture. Otherwise, I have been working whole big bunches. Hence the few posts. Not much to say about work. It's work.

Anyway, our dinner is now ready. I really need to remember to remove my glasses before draining pasta. It's a lot easier to do it when I can see what I'm doing. Time to watch John Cusack!