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.

No Rice for the Zuzu

Post title: Was portioning rice into tupperware for freezing, and some fell on the floor. Zuzu dashed over to investigate, because it could be food (we were in the kitchen, after all). She sniffed the rice, but decided that it wasn't edible. No rice for the Zuzu.

She has been a naughty kitty lately, and has taken to waking me at 3am. She curls up on my chest, purrs, and paws my chin. Ohhhh, see how nice this snuggling is? We should go downstairs and snuggle more, after you give me breakfast, of course. Yeah. No go. She did that for two nights in a row. We set her feeder to give her some kibble at 2am, and that seems to help. She would have let me sleep in until probably 5 this morning, but I think I'm now conditioned to wake up at 4:30, so even if she doesn't wake me, I wake myself.

Speaking of the kitty, she has been birdwatching lately. Apparently it is a great season to have bird feeders, because the migratory birds are back, but their food is still somewhat scarce. We've had lots of finches, but Zuzu's attention is really drawn by the cardinals. (I think it's because they look more like a meal, rather than the finch-snacks. Not that it matters, because she stays indoors, and her only wild food consists of insects. But a kitty can dream, right?) We have a pair, and they may be looking to nest on the beams of our deck's roof.

Really need to get the She and Him CD. I have been singing various songs of theirs for the past few weeks. Would be great car music, so I could sing along without being overhead. (I think the woman in the office next to mine is a bit annoyed at hearing my voice. She works Saturdays for the quiet.)

So I was going to post Sunday, but got swept up in a kitchen frenzy. Baked bread, cinnamon rolls, red pepper cornbread, and spinach-artichoke dip. Is that all? Feels like there was more. Cinnamon rolls were lovely. I will have to make them again. Challah bread and red pepper cornbread are favorites from Still Life with Menu by Mollie Katzen. Good stuff.

cinnamon rolls pre-icing

challah bread

Mike had a few friends over to play games, and while they made a mess of the basement, I made a mess of the kitchen. I think they were happy for all of the food, though.

What should I have been doing rather than baking? Working on the SAAZ newsletter, finishing those last two pairs of clogs (though I did get one pair felted), making more baby gifts (I'd forgotten how many I need to make, and have gotten sidetracked), and doing laundry. Now nearly done with the first of the last pair of clogs, aside from my clogs-of-many-colors. Have started thinking about them, and what fun they could be.

This week was busy, as we had knitting group on Monday. Abuelo's is a pretty decent Mexican restaurant - and if you ask when you're being seated, they will bring you a vegetarian menu. Gotta love a place that will do that. Plus, I've found most Mexican places in the area to be very bland. Mike finally got the point that I didn't care for one place when I told him that it tasted like Taco Bell. Why spend $7 when I could have the same experience for $2? Anyway, brought him takeout from Abuelo's, and once he understood that yes, the food was his and was not my lunch, he enjoyed it. We will go back.

Finally did the SAAZ newsletter Tuesday, day of the meeting. Oops. Hey, life happens. It didn't really take long to throw everything together, as there weren't all that many contributions. Left out a few small things, but didn't want to search for pictures or clip art to fill the rest of the page.

Baked cupcakes Wednesday. Four dozen. Vanilla with vanilla buttercream frosting, and vegan chocolate mocha with mocha frosting. Surprisingly, I think I like the vanilla ones better than the chocolate. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a chocoholic, but for some reason I'm finding the vanilla ones really tasty.

Bobmas Eve cupcakes

Thursday was Bobmas Eve. If you have to ask, you won't understand. Just over a dozen of us met at Bob Evans for a celebration of Ravelry. It was a lot of fun - matching faces to Ravelry user names. General consensus is that we'll have to have another, sometime soon. Perhaps at a place that serves alcohol. (What can I say, we like to have margaritas/beer while we knit!) Cupcakes were appreciated, but I still went home with two dozen. Left most of them for coworkers this morning, and brought a few for the guy who is covering for me tomorrow.

Mike drove to Columbus this afternoon to drop off beer for the NHC. He kegged beer on Tuesday, and several turned out quite well. Hopefully he'll do well in competition, although you never know who your judges will be. (They even let me judge one year, and after watching Mike torment himself over his returned score sheets, I will never do that again. I don't want to have my name on something that can cause such misery.) Anyway, it is out of his hands now - beer has been delivered, and he is home.

I'm at work now, and it's finally turned into a quiet night. Had to do a lot of running around at first, then had to talk someone through accessing their email account for the first time, oh, and then needed to change a projector bulb. Fun stuff. Finished "Collapse" while waiting for the slowest computer in the world to boot up and open Outlook so I could print the schedule.

Tomorrow is Knitter's Fantasy, in Youngstown. So we are having the traditional turnpike-route departure, and gathering at my house for breakfast before hitting the road. Cakewaffles and cinnamon rolls, probably. Vicky gave me some Vietnamese cinnamon, and it was fabulous in Sunday's cinnamon rolls, so will try it again with the new recipe.

Another News Item: It is the end of an era. I received a new card from Discover, and they changed my account number. I have been able to recite that number for years. Really. I have had the card since college, and always used it for phone orders (really mostly just donating to public radio stations - I'd feel the need to call while in the car, and didn't want to fumble with my wallet, so I'd use the number I knew.). Anyway, I tried to use it online today, and it was declined - they deactivated it! New one is now activated and working, but now I have another number to learn.

Not sure if there's anything else I should share. Oh, made another afghan square last night and shipped it out this morning. Some of the squares may have been lost, so mine is an extra. I just wish I had extra time to include some goodies in the package!

Oh! Chocolate Skittles! Found some in the store here at work, and bought two bags to share tomorrow. They frighten me somewhat, although probably not as much as the ones I saw on their website - Ice Cream Skittles. (Was craving chocolate last week, and didn't bring any baked goodies, so I checked out the candy rack in the shop.) Was amazed by the variety of M&Ms, too. No longer is are M&Ms just plain or peanut - there are dark chocolate ones, wild cherry and raspberry packets. I tried the dark chocolate, but wasn't really all that impressed. Will stay away from the wild cherry and raspberry ones - they are scary. Oh well. On that note, it's back to busy-ness!

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.

Yet another challenge

Happy New Year. Although it feels like it should be early November. I'm still not ready, but am enjoying the days off.

I gave up on November's sockdown challenge, and didn't cast on for December's. I think I might do January's, though - I'd need to knit either a pattern with intarsia (knitting with two colors - think Mike's socks that won me free sock yarn) or by Cookie A. I've been wanting to do Pomatomus and Monkey for a while; either one would qualify. And I now have lots of sock yarn. (As if I didn't before.) So perhaps I will participate again.

Also discovered a new group - Stash Knit Down 2008. Their first challenge is to knit a mile. Between January 5 and February 19 (time frame of the FIRST Robotics Competition - the group moderator has an interest in that), the goal is to use up 1760 yards of stash yarn. And if my calculations are correct (which they may not be), I knitted three+ times that in December, working on all the clogs. I will have to keep track of that. And get back to the clogs, even though I am still thinking sweater. I think I will need the clog-yarn box to send my package to my secret groundhog bunny partner (we procrastinate too much to have secret Santas), so I should work on emptying it. Yes. That is what I should be doing today. Am I? No. Shame on me. Anyway, I think I can knit a mile in six weeks - could probably knit a mile every month if I tried hard enough. So it's yet another thing to keep track of. It's good that I love spreadsheets!

I am learning.... A 6-12-month-old baby's head is about the same diameter as a spindle of DVDs. And that is the size of the snowman hat. As Nancy's baby will be six months old in June, and that's probably not the best time of the year for a snowman hat, the hat should go to another, slightly older, baby. Any candidates out there? Of course, I could just send it to Nina for next year, right? I will do that if I don't discover any properly-aged babies. Or I could just use the snowman hat as a DVD-spindle cozy. Emerson Cod makes gun cozies; I can make DVD cozies, right?

Some friends came over last night for New Year's. Had fun, missed the ball drop because we were talking too much. Stayed up until 2AM. Zuzu wanted breakfast at 5AM, as usual, but then she and I crashed on the couch for a lot longer than usual. Kitty needed to catch up on her sleep, too. Made cakewaffles. With ice cream. Apparently you can make instant cake by cooking cake batter in a waffle iron. Yummy! Ahh, the things I learn on Ravelry. Like how to spend my day thinking about knitting and not actually doing it.

Anyway, I should probably pretend to be productive. Lots to do, and this is the last day off to do it. Weekend work kicks in again on the 11th, so more knitting is on the agenda then. Perhaps I will start a sweater before February...... Oh, how I want to start a sweater now......

(Oh, I ordered yarn from French Creek for a second sweater. Peggy didn't have the amounts of what I needed, so she is ordering more for me, at the year-end discounted price. I will have to shop there more often. Too bad Avon is so far away. But wait! I should not be shopping at all. Perhaps it is a good that it is such a distance.)