Mother's Day

I'm pretty sure this was my best Mother's Day ever. Typically I ask to be left to my own devices for Mother's Day. Last year I spent the day with Maribel and her mom. Previous years I have spent it with good DVDs, music or books and the house to myself.

This year was a little more focused. Saturday night Bel came over. We ate pizza, drank Coronas and dyed each other's hair. The men in the house stayed well out of the way. On Sunday I woke up and brought my breakfast upstairs. Avery made me tea and I watched a few episodes of the West Wing while reading the Sunday paper in bed. So far, so good. Rinaldo and Ian returned from OT around 11:30 and it was present time.

Rinaldo picked up some good stuff. A great CD box set:


...and the first season of a favorite show:


There was also a Starbucks card slipped into the Blondie set. Rinaldo knows how to keep me happy. The best gift was last though. Look at what Ian made me in school:

Money can't buy anything as beautiful as that.

We then went to Uno's for lunch. It was still early so the place was empty. We all enjoyed the food. Then Rinaldo dropped Avery and I at the movies. What does a good son do for his fangirl mom on Mother's Day? He takes her to see the best superhero movie ever, Iron Man. Man I loved that film and oh how I love Robert Downey. Avery didn't even complain about my drooling, lol.

Then the husband met us in Yonkers and took us home.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Habit Forming

The NY Times had an article this morning on creating new habits and why it's good for you. I need to create new habits. I suck at it overall. I once read that if you can do something continuously for 3 weeks it becomes a habit but I never seem to make it past a week.

At the moment this is about food, exercise, chores and learning something new. Every morning I wake up and say today is the day I count my WW points and get to the gym and everyday by lunchtime the motivation is totally gone. I need to get my ass in gear. My goal 18 months ago was to lose 100lbs by the time I was 40. I've lost 50 gained back 20,then lost 10 again. There's a little over 14 months until my 40th. Time is growing shorter.

I did no real housework this weekend. While in the short term that was pleasant in the long term it leads to an increasingly messy abode. I told Gina on Monday that I was going to focus on a room a night so by the weekend the house would be clean and I could relax and enjoy Mother's Day. How many rooms have I worked on? None, zip, zero.

I am pathetic.

I've also decided to learn something new. Work is a bit more stable at the moment but I've always wanted to have something outside of work that I was good at and could potentially make money at. Something that is not retail. I may be here for the rest of my life but I'd like to know it's by choice and not because I have to be. I'm going to take some online tutorials to see if I can learn that way but if I haven't made progress by September then I'll take classes here. Either way I need to find the discipline to get this done as well...

...I hate self-discipline, lol.

All of this leads to a meme oddly enough. mzundercover got me for this one and I found it's timing fortuitous:

Rules:
1. Link to the person(s) that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 non important quirks/things/habits about yourself.
4. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a post on their blog.

Quirks/Things/Habits

1- I'm afraid of heights but looking down doesn't bother me. It's looking up that freaks me out. I feel like I'm not on solid ground.

2- I have to sleep with a blanket all year long. No matter the weather. If its really hot I only cover my midsection.

3- I have vertigo going down staircases and escalators. I have to really focus on making each step as I go down,I feel like it's straight down, rather than feeling each step/ledge. It's improved a great deal since my first pregnancy. I think not seeing my feet helped a lot, lol.

4- I am obsessive about e-mail. I check it constantly. I am only happy if my inbox is empty by the end of the day. I have numerous folders that I file e-mails in once they are read, responded to or completed in one way or another. I have been informed my many, many people that this is somewhat freakish.

5- I cannot be productive between the hours of 9pm and 11pm. No matter what I promise myself I will do I simply find myself on the couch watching TV or reading. This has even started to extend to knitting. Oddly enough if I'm not tired I do sometimes get a second wind at 11. I'll write, clean or knit before bed if I'm up that late.

6- I'm not a big coffee drinker but when I go to work if I don't start my day with a small cup of coffee I find it harder to become focused. I read somewhere that caffeine does improve productivity and focus in some people. I guess I'm one of them.

Another quirk I have is my refusal to tag people for memes. So take it if you want it...

Have you seen it?

I seem to have lost my energy, my will, my initiative to do anything.

Did I leave it here:



Or maybe I dropped it here when I was basking in the sun reading?


Maybe I forgot it after drinking a bit of rum over here?


I think I still had it while exploring Nassau:


Maybe one of my friends took it by accident?


I don't want to do anything at the moment but sit and read. I've finished two books and nearly completed a third since I've been back. While this sounds good it's a problem when there's a house to be cleaned, laundry to be done, work to do at my job, and a sock to be finished.

I hope I find it soon...

No vacation shots, just a meme

My GH buddy Glo has tagged me and you know I love when someone helps me with fodder for the blog:

The Rules:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random things about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.


1 - A friend of mine once recommended the Robert Parker Spenser series to me. After reading the first one I spent the next 2 weeks reading the rest of the series. It had to be over 20 books at that point.

2- I have an aversion to anything with peanuts, not an allergy just a very strong hatred to the point of illness at times.

3- I got my first job in the same bookstore my Grandmother would take me to shop when I was little.

4- I once had a serious obsession about Montgomery Clift. I have seen just about every film he was every in and visited the building where he lived in Manhattan.

5- Maribel and I have been friends since we were 11 years old and our 6th grade teacher seated us next to each other.

edited later - Gina busted me I've said this before so as punishment here is a truly embarrassing fact about me: I had a huge collection of unicorn statues well into my teens (ok well into adulthood I just wasn't proud of it by that point, lol).

6- My Dad got me hooked on soap operas when I was obscenely young. He worked nights so we watched One Life to Live, General Hospital and Edge of Night.

7- My first two cats both had to be put to sleep the same day. They were both 19 years old.

You know how I roll on memes. If you want it consider yourself tagged.

I know, I know you all want cruise shots but I've been inundated with work this week and we had a hellish trip back to NYC on Monday so I'm still a bit fried. I promise I'll give you some cruise love next week.

Here's a preview. I am a serious Chai junky. I was starting to go into withdrawal but look what I found in Nassau on Sunday:



ahh joy...

Vacation is supposed to be relaxing!

I am more exhausted this week than I usually am during a work week. I took off the week to hang with the boys before my cruise. The weekend was just a little crazed, in a good way but exhausting nonetheless. Amanda, Tisha, Rinaldo and I did Comic Con on Friday which was a blast. We hung out with old friends:


I returned with Avery on Sunday for Kids Day. When we finished up on Sunday I had to rush back home drop Avery off and then Rinaldo and I returned to 42nd street to the BB King Blues Club to see Pat Benatar.

Best. Concert. Ever.

You know how you see someone who you were a fan of 25 years ago and they can't hit the high notes or they seem like their energy was left behind with their cocaine addiction? So not the case for Ms. Benatar. Her voice sounds even better than it did all those years ago, she still rocks out like she has all the energy in the world and the comfort between she and her husband, Neil Giraldo, on stage is adorable. Well worth the price of admission.

Monday, I took the boys on one of those double decker tour buses around lower Manhattan. When I was a kid my cousin Ingileif and her mom would come visit and do all this touristy stuff. I always got to tag along. I feel like I really appreciate my city because of it so I try to do some cheesy tourist type stuff with the boys whenever I can. It was fun.

Yesterday was a trip up to Yonkers for cruise shopping and then home to rest for a couple hours before heading downtown to knitting. See what I mean about the lack of relaxation going on? Today is my day to catch up on household stuff, laundry, cleaning etc. Plus, well blogging obviously. I have an article to type up. I also planned on working on the sadly neglected Knitting Blogger's Ring but Ring Surf did an upgrade and I can't get it working in any productive way. Risa and I are going to have to come up with a plan to keep the ring going.

Two weeks to the day I started it I finished Swallowtail:
and I didn't completely screw it up:
Oh, uh you noticed something different about mine did you? Well the oracle, aka Kathleen had said to me on her visit, "do you have enough yarn?" and the fact is I didn't. So I decided to forgo the peaked edging, which is in fact my least favorite part of the shawl[ette] anyway. I love the way it looks. It is small but it's as big as I expected. Which is perfect for my needs.

So early Friday morning I am flying off to Florida and getting on a boat with my girls. My dear husband will be holding down the homefront and I'll be back for dinner on Monday.

Try not to miss me too much;)

What a lovely weekend

It was by far the least productive but most relaxing weekend I've had in weeks. Saturday we lazed around in the morning, went out for lunch and sat in the park while Avery played soccer. Sunday morning was a flurry of activity as we tried to get a weekend's worth of housework done in a few hours since company was coming.

Kathleen came and spent the afternoon with me. I sent all the men away to the movies so we could enjoy adult (and female) conversation. It is amazingly restful just having the luxury of conversation with a dear friend. If only we could do it more often.

There was knitting done but I am not deft at lace knitting while talking so I didn't get far on swallowtail. I did think I was finished with the body of it last night before bed but I appear to have miscounted my repeats. I have one more repeat of the second chart to go before I get to the first border.

Maribel gave her Mom Ice Queen on Friday. Mami had her call me so she could thank me for it. Bel sent me some shots:


It looks great on her. At some point I'll make one for myself.

Back to work, it is Monday after all...

I gave up...

...on Jeannie. There was no way in hell she would be done in time. I dug into the basket of wonder and pulled out my swallowtail. I'm having a much, much more successful experience this time:



Sorry for the cellphone shot but that's how it goes. I've got 10 repeats of the main chart done, out of 14. She is just zipping along. My screw-ups have been minimal and easily fixed.

Crazy week = lazy weekend, I hope.

Have a great weekend!

I'm still not sure if dear Jeannie will be finished in time, but it looks bad. As far as I can figure it will take me 21 more chart repeats to reach a length of 66 inches. I only have 18 days before my trip and there's no way I can do a full chart's worth of rows in a day anyway. Still I'm hanging in since I've got nothing better to knit anyway, lol.

I've got nothing to show of interest so we'll go a bit random for Tuesday.

My friend Gary blogs really cool pictures. I love this week's. I really need to find out where the hell he found this car!

Have you guys seen this? It's actually available through an Etsy shop. If they have a gold bikini pattern please don't ever tell my husband.

I've been playing Desert Island Disks in my head for the last few days for some odd reason. I figured I should share it with someone. So here is my list. One thing everyone should realize, a very important component of enjoying music is my ability to sing along with it. I love classical but I rarely listen to it when I'm alone because well no lyrics = no singing. If I am on an island alone I will be belting out for all I'm worth. So that was one of my number one criteria for picking these albums.


Too Fast for Love - Motley CrueThe first album is the best, so raw and new.
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd There are Pink Floyd albums I like better but none that I listen to as often.
Last of the Independents - The PretendersThis is simply my favorite Pretenders album, older, wiser but no less bad ass.
A Night at the Opera - Queen A nearly perfect album from start to finish.
Bella Donna - Stevie Nicks She was never as good solo as she was on this album.
Parallel Lines - Blondie Punk Pop at it's best.
The Very Good Years - Frank Sinatra You gotta have some Frank wherever you go.
American Idiot - Green Day This was a tough choice between it and Dookie in the end this is a more cohesive album so it won out.
Can't Take Me Home - Pink There are much better individual songs on her later albums but I love listening to this one from beginning to end.
Big Chill Soundtrack - various artists This is my favorite album when I need a Motown fix.

I couldn't come up with any of my favorite rap albums to take because I can't sing them. If I were to say add some compilations to the list I would want a Freestyle mix and a hip hop/rap mix but no one album from any artist fit the bill for these. Also I couldn't pick one Liz Phair album. I would need to do a mix for her too.

What are your desert island discs?

TTGIF
thank the gods it's Friday

I didn't end up pinning Ice Queen out at all. It blocked quite nicely in the wet towel. The picot edging on one side is lovely the other less so but I knew that. Once you put it on it makes no difference. The nice end goes on the neck the other frames the face and it works just fine. It is a bit short but Maribel has deemed that Mami will love it so it's all good:



I started Jeannie for my trip but after a week this is all I have:



Will I get it done in time? Damned if I know. I have about three weeks. I have sped up on it a bit. Getting out my chart holder helped a lot. Balancing the charts on the train was a pain in the ass. Also its basically the same 4 stitches over and over in different order so you can get used to it quickly but it's basically k1 p1 which I am slow as molasses on no matter what the project. I'm still going to try though.

The week has been full of meetings and presentations. I am so glad it's finally over. Tomorrow Rinaldo works but I have to take the boys to a party for a friend's daughter at Build a Bear so that should be fun. I can get some knitting done on the train also.

I know what I'm doing tonight, what about you?

The Spinning Goth tagged me for the six word memoir meme that's going around:

Never tick off a Bronx girl.

I have to say this was really hard for me. I had to get Rinaldo to come up with it. I'm still counting it as a memoir, it's just ghostwritten lol. There's a funny story about this line. We went to a book signing for one of our favorite authors Greg Rucka. Rinaldo got the book Shooting at Midnight signed. It does indeed feature a Bronx Girl as the main character. When he signed Rinaldo's book that line was the inscription. I joked with him about how apropos it was since I was indeed a Bronx Girl and Rinaldo often suffered 'cause he ticked me off, lol.

I stole this from Susan because it was really cool:

What Classic Pin-Up Are You?

You're Betty Grable! Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

I love Betty Grable though I don't know how accurate it is.

Ice Queen is finished but I've been too lazy to pin it out. I'll try to get some shots tonight.

I still haven't put batteries in the camera. I can only charge the batteries when I have all 4, the charger is freaky that way, and at the moment I can only find two. Considering how much I cleaned last week I'm really at a loss as to where the hell the other two could be.

The week has been odd. There are a lot of things going on at work all of which lead to big changes in store. The decision making is way beyond our store level so we just get to sit around and fret about it. Change is always hard, anticipating unknown changes is the absolute worse. Believe me I am queen of the worst case scenerio.

This has kept me a bit preoccupied this week. I finished binding off one edge of Ice Queen and I'm hoping to do the other one this weekend. I tried to start the actual knitting on Jeannie but I screwed it up right away. I need to get my ass in gear if I want it ready for the cruise.

I have two articles overdue at Pink Raygun. I also need to catch up on the Knitting Blog Ring. I've neglected it horribly. This weekend seems to be all about catching up and catching my breath.

Have a great weekend!

I kept telling myself I would blog last week as soon as Ice Queen was finished. I figured it would be done by Wednesday. That didn't happen. In fact it's still not done. The pathetic thing is I'm still on the first cast off row. The picot bind off its super slow for me and frankly I appear to suck at it. Hopefully I'll finish it off tonight at knitting group. The batteries are dead in my camera so no progress shots, sorry.

My vacation last week was disturbingly productive. I donated two huge garbage bags full of my clothes. I cleaned out Avery and my closets which resulted in 3 garbages bags of crap tossed out. I straightened up my books. Sadly I only got rid of a handful of them but Rinaldo put up some book cases in the basement so there's more room for them now.

I'm starting back at work sick as a dog. It appears I'm not quite up to this level of cleaning. It's left me feeling quite bleh. I'm wondering if it's allergies since I noticed some green in the backyard. Either way, yuck.

Can I go back on vacation now?

Monday, Monday...

I can't complain today since:

A-I'm on vacation this week

B-my children aren't

and

C- I got this in the mail on Friday:
My Ravelry queue has grown an obscene amount since it arrived. Let's see there's Darcy, Dusk, Tess, Amory, Haven, Valient, Faith and Cherish (the site for it is down so no linkage, I'll come back and add them later). I'm going to keep Rowan in business for the next year. Sadly my Dark House body did not arrive with the book and I'm not melting away as I expected to when it arrived. I guess I will have to take care of that part myself...damn.

Since I wasn't quite ready to cast on for any of these lovely pieces I decided to spin some Dark House type colors. I went into the fiber stash (dear god yet another stash!) and found this:
the pictures do it no justice this is the closest to the actual colors

It's merino that I picked up for 50% off from Blue Moon at Rhinebeck. Hiro showed his appreciation for it as well:
I have some problems spinning merino. It's seems a bit delicate for me still. I tend to break it but I got better as I went along:

I have about 10oz of this, goddess only knows how long it will take me to spin it all but I'm in love with it so spin it I will.

Happy Monday!

A whole lot of nothin'

...that's not completely true I do have a progress pic on Ice Queen:

She's actually further along than that but I'm too lazy to take another picture. Just imagine an inch or two more on that and you have where I am now. The needlemaster needles are only problematic on the actually lace row which comes every 4th, it's not too painful. Hopefully my needles will arrive soon.

Since I don't have much to say I thought you would all get a kick out of a General Hospital scene from Wednesday. The characters are chasing a serial killer. While looking around they find the contents of Nadine's bag which included knitting. Maxie Jones grabs the knitting needles, a metal 13 or 15, and brandishes it as a weapon when she's caught by the killer.

I couldn't find a shorter clip so fast forward to minute 4:30 or so to get to the actual stabbing:



Happy Friday!

It's Wednesday...

I had planned to show you how ice queen is coming along but I accidentally left it at home, along with my lunch. I had taken it with me to Ian's school yesterday. He had a trip to the NY Hall of Science. We had to wait for one of the school buses to arrive. It ended up being an hour late. This meant that I got off to a good start before I ever left the school so I wasn't complaining. Let me tell you lace knitting on a school bus is a form of torture in some countries I'm sure. Particularly since I'm working on my old Needlemaster needles. It's like knitting sewing thread with two unsharpened pencils!

I think I discovered where my mojo went though. I can't locate my number 8 Knit Picks points. I have no idea where they are but I know that most of the projects at the top of my queue are done on 8s. I dug out my old Bates set so I could start Ice Queen. They're not ideal but they'll do until replacements arrive from Knit Picks.

I'm buying two set just to be safe.

Since I don't have Ice Queen shots for you. I'll share some Saturday Spinning instead.
This is Snow Squall, January's selection in the Spunky Fiber Club:

It's Icelandic wool which means I love it even though it's a bit rough. It amazed me how much it still felt like real animal hair though, more so than anything I've worked with before. It spun up nicely:

After a nice long bath in Finesse for course hair, a good beating on my kitchen counters and hanging out to dry. I balled it up:


It keeps getting better. I might actually be a real spinner at some point:D

Only two days left people, two long days...

Monday Morning you looked so fine...

I finished something!!! Aren't you impressed? Yes, yes I know it's only one sock but still at this point something is something don't you agree? RPM sure does look fine:

I'm very happy with it. I'm even happier about my mad kitchener skilz. Never in all my years of sock making have I kitchenered a toe without the instructions right in front of me. Yet here I was today, at my desk waiting for my computer to stop acting erratically, grafting the toe on my sock solo. That's right no net, nada, nothing. Just my mad skilz. I've told you before it's the little things that make me happy.

I also ordered yarn for Jeanie. I'm hoping to make it for Tisha's birthday cruise in April. I was going to go for Brooks Farms Acero but I saw someone had used Knit Picks Essential on Ravelry and it looked lovely. It happened to be on clearance at the moment so I went ahead and ordered.You just can't beat $18 over $51. I chose Riverbed Multi. I love brown/blue combos.

While I wait for my yarn to arrive I'm going to cast on for Ice Queen. Maribel's mom has a birthday coming up. I'm going to do it without beads. At some point I'll make one for myself with beads. I'll cast on for the second RPM too but I actually want to make Ice Queen so I need to ride that wave.

Happy Monday!

A while back I was sent a book to review here on the blog. I was touched that someone actually thought anyone cared that much about my opinion. I get free books at work all the time but getting one just because I'm a blogger made me just a bit giddy...but there was a problem.

The book is I [Heart] Felting.
I had Kathleen Taylor's first felting book Knit One Felt Too. I actually gave it away since there were really no projects I would have ever made. Upon looking at the new book I have to admit I don't [heart] felting.

There are a couple cute things in the book. My favorite is this bag:

...but while her yarn choices for most of the projects are extremely affordable, Knit Picks and Cascade being the main two, this bag is made with 5 skeins of Noro Iro. That makes it a $100 bag. It's not that cute.

I sort of like this sweater:
...but in a more academic way. The juxtaposition of felted and knit on a garment is different and interesting. I don't see myself making it or wearing it if I did.

The other projects did nothing for me at all. I think I am over felting or at least I only like it for bags. Everything else just looks odd to me. Now obviously Ms. Taylor is way more creative than I am since I've never designed anything intricate in my life so this is more about personal taste rather than a criticism of her work. If you like felting this is a good book for it. There are a variety of projects and the instructions are clear and straightforward. It's simply not my cup of tea.

I've been torn for the past week about whether or not to post this but in the end when a publisher sends out a review copy they are gambling with the opinion of the chosen reviewers. The fact that I received it for free doesn't mean I should not be honest.

I have given the book to someone who does [heart] felting. I'm sure she'll adore it.

Since some people are getting noticed by celebrities by talking them up I am starting a new campaign to get Nikki Sixx to comment on my blog. I will mention his name, Nikki Sixx, every time I post. No matter the subject. Even if it's just a random line like this:

NIKKI SIXX

Cara you should totally do this for Shaun. I'm sure he loves you just as much as that Robby dude supposedly loves Ann (how much do you think she paid him?).

Nikki Sixx

Partying on the Island...

On Saturday Maribel and I braved the cold and residual snow to head out to Long Island to celebrate the impending addition to Cara's family. Maribel found a friend the moment we came in:
Lucy is quite the charmer, thankfully she was a little big for Maribel's bag. So Ann gets to keep her...this time.

We rode on the LIRR with the sadly blogless Bronx expat Regina. Bel gave her an impromptu magic loop lesson on the train. Before the other guests arrived they got their knit on:
Amazingly Cara was actually surprised. As big an undertaking as it was Ann managed to keep it all under wraps. She was even able to get Cara's family there. We all waited outside for the full effect as she drove up:
The big knit hit of the party was Ann's blanket (I stole this shot from Ann, the one I took sucked):
For those wondering it's Curlicue in Knit One Crochet Too's Ty-Dy.

As always Ann was the hostess with the mostess. She did finally get to sit and rest after a few hours of doing her hostess duties:
There are some more photos here on my Flickr account if you are so inclined.

It's always a good time when I visit the LI gang. Once Kathleen arrived I was too busy to really take anymore pictures. I had to make sure the BFF was given enough attention. She's been feeling a bit jealous lately, lol.

I did actually do some knitting myself. Look it's a turned heel:
(obviously that's the monday morning cell phone shot)

Happy Monday!

Little things that make me happy, like...

...the lanyard on my Bose earphones.
...the fact that I could actually see last night's lunar eclipse
...I know this book will solve all of my problems and in fact, may bring about world peace.
...goth is all grown up and looks hot.
...Weight Watchers online, now I don't actually have to go to a meeting. I've lost 15 lbs so far.
...the existence of Fan Fiction. It makes me feel far less insane to know other people can be just as obsessive as me.
...the fact that my favorite geek sites are run by women.
...that one of those sites let me get my geek on by revisiting an old favorite and writing about it.
...and that I make somebody's day:


Gina bestowed this upon me an obscenely long time ago (in blog time anyway). It would be redundant to say that she absolutely makes my day as well. Our bitch-fests and two person support group for recovering goth girls make my work days way more fun.

I have to say above all my girls at work make my day. Dragging my ass in everyday is never a joy but having cool people to get through the day with helps a lot. So here's a little shout out to my bff Tisha and the fairly newly discovered Amanda. Working with extremely intelligent and fun women make the workplace oh so much nicer. Rinaldo calls us BOB a "batch of bitches" (although he doesn't really say that about Tisha, he likes her best, lol), and we like it that way.

There are numerous bloggers who make my day so it will be hard to pick but I would have to say Risa definitely does. Not as much for her knitting (although that's pretty cool too) but to see what those adventurous twins of hers have been up to. Quiet !=Good indeed but it is fun to read, lol.

Mamacate who so rarely posts anymore but I'm always glad to see when she has. Lack of quantity is always made up for by her quality. Her posts always leave me in a contemplative mood which is a good thing.

Shameka whose energy always does me in. She is so enthusiastic about her projects even if they're pissing her off. It's always fun to try to keep up with what she's working on this week.

As for non-knitting there's Glo whom I just discovered. I love that she's out there blogging about GH while I'm hiding away on a Ravelry board, lol! The fact that our opinions are very similar doesn't hurt.

Liz who blogs about all kinds of things that appeal to this nerdy woman.

What little things make you happy?

Pictures 009
Originally uploaded by amandalorimcgee

I gifted my friend Amanda with the handspun I finished last week. She's already made a hat with it, that bitch;)

I figured I could share that at least.

Personally I'm still plodding along. I worked a bit on the sock at knitting group last week but I'm not feeling it at all. It's not the sock but the knitting. I just don't have the urge.

I hung out with Gina the week before last. We had a great time doing our annual Dark Ladies day out. We hit a few yarn shops but nothing spoke to either of us. All we heard were crickets. Much like the lulls I go through in my reading I know that once I get my hands on the right project it will get me fired up again but until then nothin'.

Things are pretty mellow on the home front. Ian is continuing his fantastic progress this year. Avery's doing well. Work is fine, Rinaldo's fine. I guess everything is just kind of mellow. That's a good thing though so no complaints here.

Good life = boring blog.

Trying to kick my malaise to the curb...

Saturday was Imbolc. That is the pagan holiday to commemorate the end of winter and the beginning of spring. I decided to try to take that to heart and force myself out of this dazed hibernation I feel like I've been in.

First up. I ripped out the top of Avery's hat and added a few more repeats. It was a tad short for him:


Then in a particularly bizarre move for me I joined the Project Spectrum group on Ravelry. I'm not typically a color person but this year's theme of elements spoke to the pagan in me. It actually got me spinning again. November's Spunky Club fiber looks a bit more like cotton candy than fire:


...but there is a bit of red in there and pink is officially accepted for February and March. There is also some blue that was reminding me a great deal of smoke as I spun it:

...a closer look:

I also started organizing my stash. A lot of it simply doesn't speak to me any more. I've moved on from certain colors and fibers. I'm hoping as I catalog it and get it onto Ravelry I'll be able to figure out what could still be useful to me and what absolutely needs to go somewhere else.

Other than that the weekend was relaxing. Although I will say that Kathleen is a horrible influence. Heady with the idea of a tax refund check (smaller than expected but money nonetheless) we went out and bought our own Rock Band.

I may never leave the basement.

Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading to celebrate the Feast of Brigid

Her Kind

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light;
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.

I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves;
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.

- Anne Sexton

I feel so used. I'm a "B" (or part of one at least) in the ABC Along!

There's a million things I probably could have blogged about over the last few weeks but I am at a loss to remember them all. I know I spend a great day hanging with Kathleen and her family. No knitting was done but many embarrassing pictures were taken of me playing Rock Band. I've been catching up on the Knitting Blog's Ring in the evening instead of knitting. My brain is completely fried this rush. I can't even read a book. I've been working on the same one since Christmas break.

I did get my Sox Stix replacement, yay Lantern Moon! They even sent 2 since it must have been obvious I was a klutz:



On those rare occasions when knitting has occurred it has been on my RPMs. I managed to find my Knit Picks needles. You can see how little I've done:



I did bring the camera this morning to take better pictures and to show you Avery's hat but the batteries were dead. Par for the course on a Monday morning right?

Chante pointed out to me that Avery was captured on video, as was she. Check out this video podcast and you'll see Avery doing his own Rhinebeck video. If you really pay attention to the background you'll see Maribel and even me but only my back.

Happy Monday!

Carla made the mistake of giving me a place to put my soapbox. I may not be posting here but I'm posting somewhere, lol.

Why liberals are ticking me off...

If it's a drive by post it must be rush at work, right? I haven't knit much at all. In fact I seem to be having a really, really bad run of knitting karma.

I told you about the needle incident on Monday. Carma of Lantern Moon(who is the only good karma I've had this week) is sending me a replacement shortly. Thank you Lantern Moon for excellent customer service just as Sue told me. That's been the lone bright spot.

Yesterday I brought the robe I started for Ian from And So To Bed. I worked on it in the morning. It didn't fit in my bag so I was carrying my favorite little bag that I got from Book Expo. When I left I grabbed it but when I got to the train I realized I didn't have it. I assumed I left it here at work in the bathroom but I don't find it this morning. I've got no freakin' clue where I could have dropped it. I am so damn upset about it. Thankfully it only had a ball of yarn, a copy of the pattern (not the book), my needlemaster #7 and my favorite pen on earth!

It could have been worse, true, but I am seriously upset people, seriously upset.

This week kind of sucks...

I really had no intention of blogging this morning. I had no pictures, nothing exciting to report although I did actually cast on for a couple of things but then this happened on the train this morning:


Here's a slightly better shot of the damage:


My Lantern Moon Sox Stix snapped right in half, on the second row of my frakkin' sock! I don't have my emergency sock kit with me. I could only find 2 of my Knit Picks metal ones last night so I'm having a panic attack. What do mean I can't knit my socks!!!

I just need to share with someone who understands...

Goals for the New Year

I've been sitting on this post in my head for awhile letting it percolate a bit. I don't really do resolutions anymore. They're pretty pointless. I will do the occasional goal setting. Particularly in knitting terms which has had a far share of success for me but in my life New Year's is just another signpost in the passage of time.

This year however I have been inspired to do something a bit different. Cate's solstice post put into words what I have been feeling for the past few months. Life is chaotic by nature, life with children and family even more so. It's nice to say I'd like to be in control but frankly it's impossible. However I can choose how I deal with the things thrown at me. I can work at having more purpose day to day and actually live with intention as Cate so eloquently put it.

One of my co-workers was in this morning talking about the goals he's setting for himself and the program he's working on to get them done. I'm not that organized, nor disciplined and I don't even want to be but there are things I want to happen and I can work on making them happen. Even while accepting the fact that life is going to toss obstacles in the way and I can go around them, over them or switch paths as I choose to.

Another article that inspired me a bit was this one on being a bitch. I am well known amongst my friends and co-workers as being blunt. I'm the one who gets right to the point and I like being that way. I take this article as an affirmation of the validity of that aspect of my personality. I am a bitch and I am not in the least bit apologetic about it but as my boss once told me he knows I would never stab him in the back, I would stab him in the front right where he could see me. Yes, I took that as a compliment. I'll continue to call it as I see it and maybe hesitate even less than I do now. It has served me well so far and I think the times I've hesitated it's typically backfired later.

How well have I done with the intent thing so far? Not too bad. I can't go to the gym during rush because an hour is more than I can take for lunch but I'm attempting to take a walk for 20 minutes at some point of the day. It's better than nothing and it makes me more productive when I get back to work as well.

My knitting mojo is a bit low at the moment but January is always like that for me. I finished Avery's hat. I was going to do some swatching last night for Tomten and the Bedtime Robe for Ian but the yarn just sat next to me while I watched TV. It'll happen. I'm not worried about it.

I will be doing the knit from my stash thing again this year. It cleared quite a bit out of my stash last year. So between now and my birthday in June no yarn purchases unless they are needed to finish a project or if I have a gift card (which I do, lol) or credit or something. I was going to do the mission possible thing but there's that discipline and organization thing again, just not me.

We'll have to see how this new plan goes. We all know what the road to hell is paved in, don't we?

Blehh...

That's how I'm feeling today. I was sick last week but it really caught up with me on Friday. I called out and slept the day away. I had every intention of going in for a few hours on Saturday but I didn't wake up until 10:30 so I decided I must need more rest since I never sleep that late. I'm definitely better today but still a bit foggy and queasy. Poor Ian seems to have picked it up so he maxin' and relaxin' at home with Grandma.

I did manage to get those damn buttons on the booties. Please don't point out the different colored thread on the buttons. I'm calling it a design element ok?
They are so tiny. I did the larger size on a larger needles and still, tiny, but babies are tiny for at least a minute or two so I'm hopeful that she'll actually get to wear them once or twice.

Avery's hat has been going slowly. Not because of the pattern, I love the pattern. It's the lady hat that I love so much sans the lacey parts(scroll down it's number 3 the Man Hat) . It's simply that I screwed up at first. I read the pattern as Row 1 - cable Row 2 knit purl alternating and repeat from 1 but actually its Row 1, then 2,3,4 are the same. Yes, I should know better, yes I felt like an idiot. Whatever. I ripped and started again. Then I realized a ball of SWS was actually not enough so I kind of shoved it to the bottom of the bag. Rinaldo kindly ran me by Michael's this weekend and I picked up a second ball. So here we are today nearly at the decreases:

Since I have no issue begging for sympathy. This is the report I need to get through so I can send orders to publishers by 6 today:

...before I start however I need to get through all this crap:
I wish I was a praying woman I could use some divine intervention...

2007- Year End Wrap Up

Oddly enough I only bested last year by 1 item. Last year's final count was 30, this year was 31. I did 4 pairs of socks last year and I did four again this year. Funny how those things work out. I did amazingly get Cherie Amour done. Here's a shot taken by my good friend Amanda, be kind to subject and photographer, it was nearly midnight on Saturday. I'll spare you the shot that includes my head, believe me you should thank me:



I actually re-blocked it yesterday. It seems to have unblocked itself somewhat along the way. You couldn't see the lace in the bottom or the arms at all. In fact they contracted as the evening went along. There are many things I would change if I made another. I would eliminate the cuff on the sleeves. I think they would work better if they were bell sleeves. I would make them longer and I would make the bottom longer. I'm also still toying with crocheting an edge on the neckline to get rid of some of the rolling it has going on. All these flaws aside I love the sweater. It's super comfortable and I received lots of compliments on it. I think it will look even better if when I lose a few pounds.

I also managed to sneak in a pair of Saarjte's Booties. A co-worker of Rinaldo's had a new baby so I finally had an excuse to make them. They still need buttons because well I'm lazy but they are cute nonetheless. I'll take a picture as soon as I button them up.

Here's the complete list of finished items for 2007:

• Ian's Socks
• Red Scarf
• Ear Flap Hat
• Clapotis
• Wubbzie
• Placket Sweater
• Gyrid
• 2 Soldier Squares
• Soy Wool Stripes Hat
• Calorimetry
• Baby Kimono
• RPMs
• Baby Garter Cloche (2)
• Baby Kimono II
• Cabled Booties
• Anastasia Socks
• Mini Cables Soap Sack
• Mini Cables Washcloth
• Gryffindor Book Scarf
• Loksins
• Dalek
• Handspun Mitts
• SWS Wrist Warmers
• Calorimetry (SWS)
• Multidirectional Scarf
• Charade Socks
• Playground Mittens
• Saartje's Booties
• Cherie Amour
  

If you're curious to see them here's the link to my flickr set.

Wednesday as the start of the work week kind of works for me. It's already half over:D

Happy Wednesday!

2008 - Year End Wrap Up

My knitting output this year has been pathetic to say the least. Last year I finished 31 projects including 4 pairs of socks. This year a whopping:

10

Pretty sad huh?

I made

1 cabled hat
1 Ice Queen
1 Swallowtail Shawl
2 washclothes
1 beaded bracelet
baby kimono
2 pairs of booties
1 pair of rpms

What is sitting around waiting?

2 shawls
1 nutkin looking for a mate
2 socks at a time on a magic loop
1 cat (Edaniel to be exact)

The 2 socks on one circ are at the decreases after turning the heel. They should be done shortly. Edaniel is a gift for Avery's cousin and he's nearly done. I'm just working on his front paws and then his tail and head. One shawl will probably be frogged, the other I hope to continue.

I owe Avery and Ian hats and scarves and a new pair of mittens for Ian. I have tons of yarn for sweaters. Therefore I am declaring this year to be the year of the sweater. I hope to start Rinaldo's as soon as I finish off some of these smaller things. I am hoping to manage my time a bit better this year so I can continue to do things I enjoy, like knitting and blogging.

Here's to a better 2009!