Can't You See I'm Knitting Here?!

I've moved

2010-07-10T19:27:00.000-05:00

Can't seem to limit myself to knititng so I've moved to: http://kantankerouskate.blogspot.com/

End of Vacation

2009-05-29T21:44:00.002-05:00

Seriously, how fast does vacation fly by? I have more vacation days than my entire immediate family and nearly every other human except those working for the federal government (they get Columbus Day and Mickey Mouse's birthday as holidays you know). So I take my va-kay and hang out at home. Me and my dogs and my knitting.

Here is what I can tell you about my at-home vacations:

I never get as much done as I plan to do before the vacation begins
I knit more than I probably should
I spend more time looking at yarn than your average 23 year old guy spends looking at porn

On the plus side on the particular at-home vacation:

I re-connected (I was going to say, "hooked up" but that sounds dirty) with a bunch of people I haven't seen in years
I now have two projects on the needles and two projects in que
I have a very clean house
I'm addicted to namaste yoga

So there you have it, my vacation in a nutshell.. Very long lunches (I set a new personal best of 7 hours) with old friends. Knitting. Planning knitting. None of the extremely productive things I had planned for my vacation. Thankfully, I have a week off in June. I'm sure I will accomplish many important things. Reach long-standing personal goals. And find new stuff to knit.

Summer Time (and the livin' is cheesy)

2009-05-22T20:44:00.002-05:00

Form a little conga line and chant, "I am on vay-kay-shun, I am on vay-kay-shun". Yes, I have the next nine days without work. No TSA lines. No quart bags of nail polish. No hotels. No insurance emergencies. WHOO HOO!!!! Yeah baby.

So tonight, being a supportive wife and all, I decided to mix myself a little vodka drink, pick up a stack of magazines, and go sit under a nice shady tree while my husband fought with dead branches and weeds. It's a nice bonding time. Me and the dogs all laid out under the tree cheering him on.

I have no plans for my time off except to have lunch with old friends. Get my nails done. Do a little gardening. (not in that order of course). Maybe build a handicap ramp for Maggie. My very old and arthritic dog.

And knitting of course. I have knitters elbow right now from knitting a sweater with Tessin. I adore this yarn. I saw it at String of Purls in Omaha and fell in love. But every pattern I saw was for baby blankets. So I decided the hell with it, I've got 10 skeins, I'm making me a sweater. Ouch. It's a great yarn but not very springy so it's a bit like knitting with cotton which never works very well for me. But it's going to be a darn cute sweater. A nice pattern from Wendy Bernard that I found in Knitscene. It's just got me with the knitting elbow.

So a couple months ago I was having lunch with my friend Kate (yeah, it is easier to have friends with the exact same name as me) and she says, "You need to be on facebook". U-huh. Just like I need the newest Fergie CD or a tramp stamp. Not. "No really, all our old friends from jr. high and high school are there and you can re-connect with them." Kate has never really steered my wrong. She introduced me to peanut butter and bacon sandwiches after all. So I logged on to Facebook.

First let me tell you, it's no Ravelry. No one is talking about yarn. Or projects. Clearly Facebook is a strange and alien universe where no one is obsessed with fiber. And that is wrong, very wrong. But I have connected with the people that "knew me when" and I've got to admit it's been pretty darn fun. Of course no one who "knew me when" knows that I write an extremely sporadic but well-stalked knitting blog.

No offense, but how sad is it that this is my secret edgy life? Seriously.

&^%^&^())_

2009-05-17T18:48:00.002-05:00

Damn it. I just wrote a really nice little entry about reality t.v. and how an intervention might be in my future and then it got lost in cyberfog. Damn it.

So muttering bad words I will try to recreate my previous writing although I don't know if I'm going to be able to remember all my pithy comments verbatim.

Last week I was in Denver on business. Tuesday night after work I stopped at the liquor for a bottle of chardonnay and at Mad Greens for a salad (Ty Cobb with lo-fat ranch), returned to my hotel room, put up my feet and turned on the t.v. Four hours later, feeling like I needed a shower, I turned off the t.v. and went to bed. I set a new personal best for wasteful t.v. watching. I watched three hours of "The Biggest Loser" season finale (ten minutes of content stretched into three hours of show); "Dancing With The Stars" to see who got whacked this week; "The Real Housewives of NY" season finale; and finally "The Real Housewives of NJ". That's a lot of channel flipping my friends. Not for amateurs. I actually went to bed that night feeling a little grossed out that I had actually watched all night. Thank goodness for knitting so that I can kid myself that I was being a little productive by knitting myself a sweater while watching.

You would think I would have learned my lesson, but Wednesday night I ended up right back in that chair watching the season finale of "America's Next Top Model" followed by "Who Wants to Be a Supermodel". Seriously I might need an intervention.

If you are thinking about becoming a reality t.v. addict but don't have 6 hours of quality sitting on your ass time, I highly recommend "Paranormal States" on A&E. This is seriously the campiest (not intentionally) show on t.v. In a recent episode Chip Coffey (the all time best gay t.v. psychic in the world) takes out a little spritzer bottle of holy water and starts pumping away while the rest of the team chants prayers to St. Michael. Seriously. Reality t.v. 'cause you just can't make this shit up.

Next time: knitters elbow and facebook.

This Week's Absurdity

2009-04-03T06:58:00.002-05:00

So yesterday I had the "Today" show on while getting ready for work and they were showing a segment on planning your own funeral. Meredith was interviewing two women who wrote a book, "Grave Expectations" because they felt that the funerals they had been to recently were dull. Hey, I'm all for putting the fun back in funeral but one of their suggestions really threw me. Gift bags. Huh? Gift bags at a funeral? Have we really become so materialistic that we expect swag at funerals?

What the hell what you put in a funeral swag bag? I want the goodies handed out at my funeral to reflect my personality so I've come up with some ideas.

hand sanitizer
a ball of nice wool yarn
WWKY bracelets (What Would Kate Yell, do they not make these? They should)
A small bottle of really good vodka or mediocre chardonnay
a small bird figurine denoting my irrational fear of flying animals
a t-shirt that reads, "I didn't off Kate" (now that I'm a non-smoker we don't know for sure how I'll go)

I see by an RC comment that my family is lurking out there. I'm sure they'll have their own suggestions. Funeral gift bags, as my grandpa King woulda said, "sheesh".

So Now I'm on Facebook

2009-03-31T20:38:00.003-05:00

Last Tuesday I had lunch with my oldest friend, Kate. Yes, we have the same name. It was very confusing to people when we were 9 but we've worked it out over the last 35 years and we are good with it. Take a moment to process and join us again. Ready? Okay, so we had lunch and she told me that she is on facebook and that I should join to because many of our friends from high school are there and I would find it interesting. 'kay.

So I have joined facebook and I have to tell you I'm struggling. Without hiding behind the pretense of a "knitting" blog or community I've really got nothing but random thoughts, most of which would offend at least half the population. So far I've mouthed off about how I don't think smoking is the scourge of society and how we need to stop picking on people who aren't a size 6. So I'm figuring give this facebook thing 6 months (at the outside) and I'll be asked to leave.

So what about the knitting? I'm knitting. I'm knitting plenty baby. I'm working on yet another pair of clog slippers. I'm knitting a sweater for my niece for her birthday. I'm knitting a couple of sweaters for me.

Not one of my "friends" on facebook seem to be all that interested in yarn and knitting. And I must admit, I look at this as a character flaw. I mean seriously, do they not enjoy fondling yarn? HAVE THEY FREAKING TRIED IT?

How can they really be friends? Really.

Home Improvement

2009-03-28T08:25:00.002-05:00

I've been spiffing up the old homestead this week. My parents are coming to stay for a couple of days next week and I'm hosting a jewelry party next Friday so I figured I better do a couple of the projects I've been putting off.

I painted the main floor powder room, replaced the big dull contractor's mirror with a new oval mirror with a silver frame, and installed a new faucet. A few new towels and a rug and voila a new bathroom.

Giving me the motivation for completing this might be the only good thing about this whole home party thing. Last time I hosted a home party was like 1985. I hate home parties. I don't like attending them, I don't like hosting them. Most of the party presenters I've encountered are either of the scary "don't drink their kool-aid" or sad, "I'm a housewife who needs to make a buck" variety. The presenter that is coming next week seems to be unusually middle of the road and un-offensive or I never would have gotten sucked in to this in the first place.

Here is the thing, the hosting instruction manual starts with "invite 40 friends". Huh? I don't know that I've ever had 40 women friends. Not even in high school. I'm no shrinking violet but seriously with a job, a family, etc. I don't have time for 40 friends. I barely have time for the 5 friends I do have. When I do have strictly social time, I mostly spend it with my sister. Is this odd? Do most 44 year old women have 40 friends they hang with? Is this the same personality flaw that keeps me from committing to a knitting night group?

Then there is the having people in my house and wishing that my dog hadn't chewed the corners of the sofa cushions when she was a puppy. Plus I have to stow all my knitting somewhere while people are here. I have approximately a gazillion projects going right now and I have to stow the baskets somewhere because I'm having a home party.

Plus, what if no one buys a darn thing? What if they just drink all the wine and forget to buy jewelry and the unusually nice presenter turns into cult-member crazy high pressure sales person, thus alienating the few friends I do have? Then I'm really behind in the 40 friends count!

So Much Mucus

2009-02-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

You know the really sad part, it I think I might have named a past post, So Much Mucus. That is my very snotty life I guess.

I am still trying to get rid of the last of my hideous mucus from the cold from hell. Which I would not have if my son was not kissing girls and bringing home, "girl germs no backs". Don't get me wrong I think his girl friend is adorable, and may well be better than he deserves, but I still don't want to have a mucus-y cold.

I have been continuing on my hat project, but I'm now concerned that the black with rainbow theme could be construed as juvenile, or gay. I'm okay with whimsically young at heart OR gay, but my male friend, Jeff in Denver, may not as he is neither whimsical nor gay.

So this month, February the shortest month of the year, I am in Connecticut one week and Denver another. So half of the month I will be on the road, This means of course that I will be blogging from the road and when I am unable to blog, Maxine Louise, basset hound from hell, will be blog-dogging in my absence.

So who else is watching, "Top Chef"? I just do not get the Leah/Hosea thing. My friend Becky would say, "Isn't it nice when dorks find each other?" but these two are driving me nuts. And can Leah please stop talking baby-talk? Seriously who does this? She keeps talking about how her mother doesn't want her to look like an idiot on t.v. and then baby-talks. Huh?

I missed all the great Super Bowl commercials, so if anyone can point me to a great resource to watch them online, please send me a link. I was flipping channels and I have to admit I watched a whole lot of the "Puppy Bowl".

So those are all my random mucus-y thoughts. When I am less mucus-y I will elaborate on my travels, dogs, fight with the State of Minnesota, random illness stuff, and knitting. But right now, in my current mucus-y state, this is all I've got.

So Let's Catch Up, Shall We?

2009-01-28T20:53:00.003-06:00

Wow. When we last met, I was just changing jobs, trying to lose some weight, etc. Here are the highlights. I promise to go into detail in later postings.

I started walking about 18 months ago, but last August I decided I needed to take it to the next level and (cue scary music) joined a gym. I have been working my ass off and have not lost a single solitary pound. Last week, my endocrinologist (or more accurately her handy maternity-leave substitute) took my scale away and told me to stay off of it for the next couple of months. Meanwhile I have spent the last several months driving everyone around me crazy talking about endorphins and lean proteins. I'm not sure but I think I'm allowed to legally shoot the next person who tells me that muscle weighs more than fat.

My job is going great although I'm not selling as much as I had hoped. My manager is helping me out by adding Colorado to my territory but that means I am in Denver 1 week each month. Great for business not so much the mother, daughter, sister, wife gig. But count on travel stories in our future.

My kid is 16. He is driving, shaving, and kissing girls. He is taller than me. Sometimes he has nothing to say to me, sometimes he tells me so much that I am looking for the "eject" button. I cried in the Target parking lot the day I had to buy him his first electric razor. He likes me to travel because then he has a car to use. Basically, he'd trade me for a used Honda.

Miss Moo, my beloved basset hound, is just as insane as ever and we are still best girl friends. She still thinks that this is her blog and since most people identify it with her, I can't really blame her.

I do still knit constantly. I can't be held accountable if some miscellaneous knitting talk slips in here. Right now I'm working on an ear flap hat for my snowboarder friend/colleague in Denver. My son says that all my hats are cool looking but not warm enough so I'm making this one a little large and then felting it a tiny bit so that it will be warmer. I've got plenty of time since I'm not back to Denver for three weeks, plus I'm just lying around trying to get rid of this cold.

I should have called the Guinness Book people first thing this morning because I'm pretty sure I could have gotten the record for blowing my nose the in one day. I'm at about 8 million times now. My nose feels like it might fall off. I'm taking a conservative approach to treatment as I am not all that crazy about taking drugs so I'm on a strict chardonnay and dark chocolate plan. I don't know what it is doing medically, but I feel better.

Don't Fence Me In

2009-01-28T20:40:00.002-06:00

I haven't written for a long time for a few reasons.

When I found out my extended family was reading my blog the pressure was on.
I don't think I'm really a proficient enough knitter to be a "knitting blogger".

Don't knitting bloggers have to go on to write pattern books? Doesn't that involve math? Why would I want to do that?

See, the pressure is enormous. I really miss the writing part though. The random thoughts out into cyberspace. I miss that. So I'm picking up the laptop again. I'm back on the damn horse. I'm thinkin' outloud.

Here is what I'm thinking today.

My throat is scratchy. I think I've caught my teenager's cold.
If my teenager hadn't started kissing girls he wouldn't have colds all the time.
Where am I going to buy wine now that "World Market" is closing in Minnesota?
Do you remember when A&E was ballet and foreign films? Now it's "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and a show about a hillbilly family that run an exterminator business.

Do you see why I can't be fenced in?

I Meet Crazy Aunt Purl

2007-10-26T06:59:00.000-05:00

I've never attended a book signing before and after my sister's disaster with a local romance writer (ask her about it sometime) I was not interested in attending one ever. And it seems a little like legal stalking, but I had to make an exception.

I've gotta tell you that I was pretty weirded out about going to a book signing for someone I've been e-mailing with for the last couple of years. But in the end, I wanted to meet Crazy Aunt Purl in person and I'm awfully glad I did because she is just as funny in person as she is online. If you are one of the ten people who haven't read her "knitting" blog, by all means take some time right now to do so. We'll wait. There is a button just to the right of this post. She is the only one I know whose knitting blog contains less actual knitting than this one, so even my family members reading this will enjoy it. Especially the females.

Having never attended a book signing I was unaware of the protocol involved. Now being a veteran attendee I feel as though I can give unsolicited advice to any of you that might be thinking about attending a book signing in the near future:

Do not go straight from a work event that involved adult beverages and no food
Do not wear high heels because you are coming straight from work even your most comfy pair
Do take half a day off so that you can stake out a good seat aprox. 4 hours before the book signing (I did not do this and yet still do not regret it, but apparently this is what the veteran book signing people and author stalkers do)
Do not piss off the 22-year-old from the book store who controls the line. Even though it is clear from his introduction that he has not read the book or understood anything about the author. Even though he is wearing a velvet jacket and has long unwashed hair and braces on his teeth.
Do not piss off those around you when dissed by the velvet jacket wearing line control guy whom you have told that you could well do a complete Marie Osmond right there while waiting in the heat because your blood sugar is dropping due to #1.

Actually I think the three women around me thought I was funny and in the end Velvet Jacket realized that he should probably let the people who had attended the entire reading standing up get into line before he had a whole pack of crabby, low-blood sugar women (some of whom are packing pointy sticks) on his hands. I don't like to be a credit hog, but I do think that my argument that the people who had been sitting there since 3:00 with their big knitting baskets might just be the people with the most time on their hands, may have turned the line tide.

Anyhow, I got Laurie to sign my book. When she saw what I wanted her to write she exclaimed, "You are THAT Kate?!" and jumped up to give me a hug. And remind me that she does indeed have an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Gilligans Island, but will only use this knowledge for good.

Update

2007-10-23T21:08:00.000-05:00

I've put a link in yesterday's post to see RC on t.v. Apparently he was on the local ABC affiliate today and was interviewed by two newspapers too. Can an RC drinking game be far behind? I don't think so.

Various & Sundry

2007-10-22T18:37:00.000-05:00

This weekend was terrific. I bowled for Shriner's Childrens Hospitals on Saturday without completely humiliating myself. Any time I can engage in anything that takes physical coordination without falling, tripping, slipping or generally looking foolish, I count it in the win column. Many don't think of bowling as a sport, but I'm all for calling it a sport. In fact, I'm all for anything I can do while drinking beer and still call a sport. So bowling, bocce ball, golf, fishing, right up there with my favorite sports of all time. My right leg is super sore still, but I had a great time. (Yes, I'm old and falling apart. Bowling hurts for two days afterwards. Sad but true).

Speaking of sports, as a long time Sox fan, I'm really really happy about them getting in the Series again. I didn't think I'd ever actually see them win a World Series in my lifetime, but now there is a real chance they could win two in my lifetime!!! Downside is the playing in Colorado thing. Games that happen in Mountain time are generally going to last past my bedtime. This could be problematic.

Of course the World Series is a great time to knit. Or crochet. I don't know what has gotten into me, but I'm crocheting a couple of afghans right now.

Today's most exciting news? RC was on the news today. You may be asking the first thing I asked when I found out my brother was going to be on the news, "Oh good God, what did he do?" He didn't drive his boat down mainstreet wearing nothing but a smile while smoking a cigar, did he? He didn't do his famous Fat Bald Guy dance in front a fire after drinking and fall in, did he? (As RC always says, "What's funnier than a fat guy dancing the robot? A BALD fat guy dancing the robot.")
"No, no, no," my sister replied, "The quints in St. Cloud."
"Oh God, he's the father and his wife murdered him."
"NO!" my sister is just way over me now, "The mom works for him."

This was interesting since he's always telling me how all his employees in his small town are 112- year-old women. Now this quint story is sounding interesting! Turns out that at least one employee is of childbearing years and they interviewed him about it on the news. He's very smart, articulate, and he showed well on t.v. Plus he was wearing his pumpkin halloween tie so he was looking pretty dapper too. If they post the video on the KARE 11 website, I'll link it here.

This is totally going to blow his image as a guy imitating the flying monkeys from "Wizard of Oz" while wearing a felted bag on his head. Sorry RC. Feel free to make outrageous comments to restore your street cred in knitting blog land. Okay, let's face it. Being the bad boy of my knitting blog makes you a pretty lame bad boy anyway.

Susan and the Turkey (or how I came to knit socks)

2007-10-20T07:37:00.000-05:00

It's been well documented here that I have absolutely no interest in knitting socks. I wear high heels nearly every day. I'm not really the colorful sock type. I don't have a handknit sock kinda life. I loathe double pointed needles. I hate knitting two of anything. Sleeves drive me crazy because I have to knit two.

So why did I knit socks? Because my sister, Susan, wanted to knit socks. Susan is a quilter who occasionally veers off the piecing path to knit, crochet, and scrapbook. There is a woman in her (now our) office that I talked into trying knitting a few years ago and has become a very prolific sock knitter. I don't know if this woman even owns socks she didn't knit herself at this point. My sister has been fascinated by these cute colorful socks and told me several times she'd like to learn. I thought taking a class together would be a great way to spend time together and I knew that sock knitting would be the best way to tempt my sister into taking a class with me.

We will be lucky if they invite us back to take a class again. Mostly because we are nuts. It was really the turkey's fault that we were standing in the parking lot the first night laughing like escaped mental patients. Let me say first that until a couple years ago I had never even seen a wild turkey let alone wild turkeys walking along city streets. Okay, suburban streets but still. Lately I keep seeing turkeys. Not like, I'm seeing dancing purple elephants, but turkeys. Real turkeys.

Amazing Threads, my favorite knit shop ever, is in a complex of new office condo/townhouses. You've probably seen them, they are springing up everywhere. Buy your office/store space instead of leasing without having to be Trump buying a gigantic office tower? So I'm pulling into the complex the first night and I am struck by the sight of a cop with his lights flashing parked next to (you guessed it) a wild turkey. I drove around the corner and parked in front of the shop, which faces the other direction so there was no way to see the turkey being pulled over! Upon entering the shop I saw my sister shopping for her yarn and needles for the class and told her that I had just seen a turkey pulled over. She immediately thought I had been drinking.

The class was great, we learned to cast on and start knitting on two circular needles. I've got to admit I've tried to teach myself this technique before unsuccessfully and once I saw how the technique works it was one of those "duh" moments (how could I not have gotten this before?). We were relatively well behaved. I didn't even let on that I came into the class pretty sure that sock knitting was a big waste of time.

After class we walked out to our cars and stood talking, my sister standing with her back to the street. Over her shoulder I see the turkey walking along the boulevard!! Interrupting my sister mid-sentence, I exclaim loudly, "There it is!", startling her into grabbing my arm and replying, "What, what, where, where?!" Of course by this time the turkey is behind a bush and she once again thinks I'm nuts. I told her to wait and watch.

Quietly, like kids in a game of hide-and-seek, we waited and watched. When the turkey appears from behind the bush I point, "See, see I told you there was a turkey". To which my sister replied loudly and quickly (and I believe these words will be forever entered into family lore), "Shoot it!!"

What?! Shoot it? With the shotgun in my knitting bag? Oh yeah, that's right I don't own a shotgun and if I did I would be highly unlikely to have it in my sock knitting bag. When she realized the absurdity of what she had just said, she got the giggles. Which gave me the giggles. Which made us both have to pee. Which made us laugh harder. So here we are standing in front of the knitting shop laughing like loons, telling each other to stop because we are going to have an accident. I'm surprised they want us back at the shop. Ever.

So that is how I came to knit socks and nearly embarrassed myself at my favorite yarn shop to the point of not being able to go back there. (I mean seriously I do spend plenty of money there and Bobbie is really nice and laid back but I've gotta believe she would frown on people peeing their pants in front of her store.) The whole thing is (and I don't get to say this very often in my family) ALL MY SISTER'S FAULT.

Never Say Never

2007-10-18T07:25:00.000-05:00

Hello. I'm back. I think. After 2 years of being absolutely miserable in my professional life, I've returned to the company I left in 2005. I'd been there for 16 years before leaving. I learned a ton in the two years of misery but I'm glad to be back. I'm hoping that I've overall gotten my groove back and can once again blog on a regular basis! (BTW, I think I'm working in the same building as Chaos' mom but so far no actual spotting has occurred.)

This should tell you just how wacky my life has been lately. I broke my hard and fast no sock knitting policy.
My first socks! Knit with Shi Bui on two circular needles from KnitPicks. The yarn was wonderful to knit with. This doesn't make me a convert by any means. I'm still unconvinced that I want to spend a ton of time knitting socks, but I must say they do make a nice airplane project. I'm not giving you the whole leg shot because I haven't seen a leg shot of socks that didn't make the wearer's calves look enormous and my psyche is not up to huge calves right now.

Yes, I do have one remaining source of angst. My weight. Since January I've gained 15 pounds. I tried Weight Watchers, lost 7 pounds and realized I don't want to live in a cookie-free world the rest of my life. So I'm on an exercise program. It's only week 3 so no earth-shattering results yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Tomorrow: How I came to knit a pair of socks and learned the importance of "packin' heat" in your knitting bag.

So much to say and none of it knitting

2007-07-24T19:55:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm knitting, I'm knitting like a fiend! I'm working on a ski sweater for my son, a sweater for my niece, and planning mittens for practically everyone. I've solved my "I hate knitting sleeves" (honest to God, you finish one and you have to do another EXACTLY the same) thing by knitting sleeveless stuff.

So in my last (long ago) entry, I told you about the great time we had with my family at the reunion. Notice how many of the women jumped on the comment bandwagon to note that they are not the planner?

After sending visiting relatives on their way, we settled in to enjoy our time off. You don't have to leave home to enjoy vacation! Here are some of the ways we enjoyed our time as a family:

Waiting for the Best Buy repairman to come fix my husband's giant t.v. He subscribes to the MLB channels so that he can watch aproximately 7 gazillion baseball games a week in high def.
Listening to my husband whine about being unable to watch 7 gazillion baseball games on his 52" t.v. because the Best Buy guy can't get here until Friday.
After the temp spikes into the 90s we all stand over the air conditioning vents and agree, "nope that's just plain air, not cold air".
Wait for the air conditioner repairman to come out. He was early, told us that rabbits had chewed through the wiring (yeah Maxine is quite the rabbit hunter), and hurried away because his family was spending their summer vacation in the Dells.
Play nine holes of golf one everning as a family.
Husband falls in a hole on the seventh tee box, twists his ankle and can't finish. 14-year old accuses father of "faking it" because he was losing.
Husband has a torn something or other and is still in the air cast three weeks later.
Husband whines about how hard it is to be laid up with an injured ankle and no giant t.v.
Best Buy guy arrives to fix t.v. I barely refrain from kissing him on the lips I am so glad to see him. He is the only thing that can stop the whining.

See, you can have plenty of good wholesome family fun on vacation at home. Or try the Dells.

It's Genetic

2007-07-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a really long time since I posted, but I am now bowing to the peer pressure of my family. You can't really say no to a great 9-year-old who is a budding fiber fanatic, now can you?

Last weekend we had a family reunion. We are primarily a mild-mannered, fly-by-the -seat-of-our-pants kind of family. There was no seeking out long lost relatives. It was not 150 people meeting each other for the first time. When I got the first e-mails about planning back in February, my response was, "I cannot possibly care about who is bringing the rolls to an event that is scheduled 5 months from now." This attitude was not entirely embraced by the planners amongst us (namely my sister and cousin) Somehow, perhaps as a result of my attitude, I ended up hosting part of the event.

I have to say, in retrospect, the whole event was a blast. And not just because there was knitting and crocheting involved. Yes, as it turns out, my cousin (not the planner cousin) Pam's daughter (the aforementioned 9-year-old) is a crocheter and knitter. On Sunday, my part of the hosting, in addition to brunch there was a whole lot of knitting/crocheting going on. Here is Megan working on a long jacket of her own design:
Yes, that is the Schmooley Dog, Maxine in the background thinking "I thought I was the starring Blog-Dog" I'm sorry Max, but you do a lot less knitting and writing than most people think! Megan flew along with her crocheting and many of the adult women (including her mother who got skipped by the family fiber gene) were envious of her skills with a crochet hook.

My sister, (some of you remember her from long ago comments and the party in her cupboard over the fridge) was also a crocheting maniac, whipping up crazy flip flops for the girls at the party.
So in addition to the eating and drinking there was craftin' goin' on. And I was reminded that I come from an entire family of strong, smart, funny, opinionated women and men that love us. And put up with us daily. Life is really good.

Dazed and Confused

2007-05-07T19:01:00.000-05:00

and severely reprimanded by my little sister, I venture back to the blogesphere. A bit chastened, but (of this I am certain) no wiser. I haven't had much to write about that would be of interest. I hate whining and I have been particularly whiney of late. I've determined that life is too short to loathe your job and I must find a new one. I've been very Grave-sy of late and who the hell wants to listen to me whine about my health. I quit smoking and gained 15 pounds. Oh yes, everyone wants to listen to me rant about the injustice of going from a size 8 to a size 10. Every time I want to spend time with my son, he has something better to do in the way of friends, activities etc. Yes, I'm sure you want me to write a lot about how popular and well-adjusted my teenager is.

Okay I can tell you this little tidbit. SHHHH!!! I'm a cheater-cheater-cheater-boots. Yes. I have been knitting with. . . . A MACHINE. Only on the very boring bits of endless stockinette. Only with the slippery irritating microfiber and the carpal tunnel inducing cotton. But still. I know I'm cheating. I've left the purist world to knit on a used "Incredible Sweater Machine" I picked up for $50 on e-bay.

In two days I leave for a business trip to (you can't get there from here) Montana. I'm sure that will be worth a story or two.

Button Up Your Overcoat

2007-04-11T07:52:00.000-05:00

'Cos it's snowing again! It's snowed twice since we put the spring weed n' feed down on the lawn. In typical bureaucratic fashion, this week is the week that my town cleans the streets so gosh darn it the streets will be clean! Instead of a salt or sand truck, the street cleaner just passed by, looking silly with the falling snow. Did I mention I've got a big deal thing going on tomorrow? Did I mention executives from places like Houston are flying here today. Welcome to Minnesota folks. Don't worry the weather will change tomorrow. In April we never know whether to wear our parkas or shorts. Sometimes you need both withing 48 hours of each other. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Last weekend I decided to pull an old UFO out of the closet and finish it. It was on the cover of Vogue knitting a couple years ago, an orange seed stitch cardigan knit in Brown Sheep Burly Spun. None of my LYSs carry this yarn so I had to special order it. It was the most I'd ever spent on yarn at the time and I was excited about knitting the sweater in my choice of color not dictated by what was on hand at the store. I think I abandoned it because of the sorta crappy instructions for shaping the sleeve caps. I had to make notes now to do it correctly and I'm sure that it would have scared the crap out of me three years ago.

My biggest concern about the sweater from day one was finding the super cool buttons that were pictured on the cover. I also knew that if I found them, they'd probably cost $3-$5 apiece, officially making this the most expensive sweater I've ever knit. But Saturday I scored big! The local Hancock Fabrics is shutting their doors. I'm sad about this, but I was a happy shopper on Saturday as their special of the day was all buttons, 70% off. Being kind of a button-a-holic anyway (I have my grandma's old buttons, I save all buttons, etc.) I was thrilled.

The big purply blue button in the middle is for the sweater in question (obviously there are more than one) but if they are practically givin' em away I'm buying more. I'll hopefully post a picture of the finished sweater this weekend.

You've all probably noticed that RC is living up to his standards. Yes, my immediate family are a family of hunters. He owns a ton of non-feral cats and two dogs in real life so before you light up your torches and grab your pitchforks. . . . . You weren't really expecting unshaved legs and tree hugging here though, were you?

OMG

2007-04-09T18:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, if you are easily offended, look away. This morning in our staff meeting there was a lot of discussion about an event that we are hosting this week. I've been in charge of the planning and execution of the event, so I was a little worried that someone was going to try tossing something new on my plate concerning this soiree. I was right to worry. My boss, really the nicest guy in the world, says "why don't we all wear ribbons on our lapels so that people know that they can come to us for questions." Sounded like a great idea and once again leaving the filter between my brain and mouth off, I said "sure, I can do that!".

Later this afternoon I realized I've never made one of these ribbons. I googled charity ribbon and came across a site that had me in stitches the remainder of the day (PREPARE TO BE OFFENDED NOW). I'm all for supporting charities, causes, having opinions but honest to God, I had no idea that just about every cause now has a ribbon. Here are some examples that had me laughing like an idiot at my desk (I'm sure people heard me laughing alone in my office and are figuring that I have finally gone around the bend).

Did you know?

Orange ribbons are for feral cats? I don't know if they are for or against exactly. . .
Silver ribbons-elderly abuse. That's all it says elderly abuse. I've gotta say I am against elderly abuse although my dad would argue this (he can dish it out but he can't take it now that he's old)
Teal is for a variety of things including sexual assault and food allergies. So now if I see someone wearing a teal ribbon I'm going to wonder if they are the victim of a horrible and violent crime, or just lactose intolerant (not that lactose intolerance sounds like a picnic or anything)
Purple represents domestic violence (against), religious tolerance (for), and Pagan Pride. I did not know that there are a lot of Pagan Pride activists out there, but I certainly am hoping for an invite to their next big rally.
My personal favorite: Black: mourning, melanoma, anti-gangs, anti-terrorism in Spain, narcolepsy, POW-MIAs, primary billiary cirrhosis, and Amish support.

Number 5 has left my husband in a quandry. He's for Amish Gangs with narcolepsy.

Spring Cleaning

2007-04-01T21:20:00.000-05:00

Spring is time for really tearing things apart and giving them a good cleaning. Just make sure you put things back together when you are done.

She looks a little sad because we woke her up with the camera. The hole in the side of her bed? She chewed it. She is nothing if not adaptable.

Gee, Look At Me! I'm a Diplomat!

2007-03-28T18:53:00.000-05:00

Those who know me well are cringing at the thought of anyone, or any organization, relying on my skills in diplomacy for anything. But it seems that once children become teenagers, your life as a parent immediately changes. If you are the parent who happens to be the opposite sex of the child, then you become the diplomat. Somehow since puberty kicked in (I waged a two year stop-the-puberty campaign that ultimately failed miserably. Okay the campaign consisted of me stating to anyone who would listen, "I'm on a stop -the-puberty campaign", but still.) the father and son who have been best pals for years have been clashing more frequently.

Today's argument: The cell phone. First I should tell you that my husband was very against the cell phone. Not my son's cell phone, but his own. He hates carrying it. He forgets to turn it on and he still doesn't really know how to use it. He has killed three cell phones in four years by 1)forgetting it was in the pocket of his hoodie and throwing the hoodie in the wash, 2)losing it, 3)leaving it in a canvas bag on the floor of a baseball dugout during a tournament. One of his players spilled a sports drink on the bag rendering the cell phone useless.

My son on the other hand loves his phone. He saved up for a new fancy phone and paid for it himself. He bought a special "jacket" for it. He may be the Speilberg of cell phone movies. He always has it with him. He sends me text, picture, and video messages just so I know he loves mom. He has never lost a cell phone. Ironically I carry the replacement insurance on his cell phone rather than his father's cell phone.

I called home this afternoon to talk to the crabbiest Dad on earth. When I asked him what was wrong he told me that our son had lost his cell phone. He was extremely put out that he had to contact our cell phone provider to put a hold on the phone so that, as he put it, "some kid at school doesn't find it and put 10,000 minutes on it that we have to pay for". I pointed out that it is probably in our son's locker at school and that while our teenager has been surprisingly responsible about his phone, HE has lost, ruined, etc. not one but several phones. This did not improve his mood and he went from being crabbiest Dad on earth to crabbiest husband on earth.

Thank goodness for knitting. And wine.

Lots 'O Yarn

2007-03-26T19:33:00.000-05:00

I've been waiting by the mailbox like Ralphie looking for his secret decoder ring. And today, after 4 days at home knitting and hanging out, while I was at work the mailman brought everything I'd been waiting for.

On the left, my knit picks yarn for my Spooky Train from plastic canvas. I haven't done this in years and then it was coasters and easy stuff, nothing three dimensional. It's taken my two hours to cut out the engine. Good thing I've got 7 months until Halloween. The center is cotton chenille for a new pattern I've got in my head. On the right is cotton blend I bought on e-bay. A yarn bonanza.

Have to go vote for DWTS (I'm totally addicted). Drink more Ovaltine (or was it Drink Your Ovaltine? I always forget. RC will know).

Really Bad Blogger

2007-03-26T06:41:00.000-05:00

Sorry. I just haven't felt it lately. I've been knitting I just haven't been writing about it. I've been on a big towel kick lately. I made my parents a towel while visiting them and they were so appreciative that I decided to make them a couple more. So this weekend I made this:

I don't use my swift exclusively for hanging things, I sometimes even use it to wind yarn.
I've also caught the washrag bug again and have been making washrags that match the towels. The matching towel has already taken up residence at my sister's (my mother told me that she was not interested in anything lime green).
I figure if you are going to go bright, it might as well be in a dishrag. Especially now when I have a bit of the spring cleaning bug. I've been shining things up around here like crazy.

Today is the first day of school after spring break. I should have invited the marching band over to wake my son up, but I'm not sure that would do it. He got a new bigger more comfy bed over spring break and he's been sleeping in until 10 every morning. His cat is a co-conspirator, he has no interest in my son ever getting out of bed. I better go roust them out of bed.

On the Road

2007-03-16T07:18:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging from South Dakota today as my son and I hit the road to visit grandma & grandpa. I didn't want him spending his entire spring break laying around the house playing video games so we have come here and he's laying around the house playing video games with his grandfather. Surely you can see the obvious benefits of intergenerational video gaming. It involves me saying things like, "put down your grandfather I don't care if he's hogging all the purple coins". Maybe a video game where the characters can't use "the dark force" to pick each other up would be a better choice next time.

Yesterday we spent a good portion of the afternoon working on this:

Mom and dad are working on this crazy plastic canvas Easter train. At Christmas time they made all of us "kids" a set of plastic canvas birdhouse ornaments. Confident in their newly found plastic canvas skills they decided that the little ones would enjoy the train decoration at Easter. They have it all cut out and stitched so I just worked on the finishing stuff with them yesterday. I haven't done stuff like this in years, but it was a lot of fun. It reminded me that I really enjoy crafts. I don't think of knitting as "crafty" but I know some do. Once I started knitting, I kind of abandoned my craftiness. (I've got a closet of craftiness too by the way) I might just borrow this book and make the halloween train to add to our halloween decorating this year.

Besides working with my parents and getting a chance to hang out, it was the chance for me to make an important discovery. There is a second shop in town selling yarn. We are heading to bustling downtown Watertown SD today to check it out. I already stopped in at the LYS and loaded up on the cool colors of Sugar n' Cream they carry so I'm ready to hit another yarn shop.

On the road back to Minneapolis today we'll be hitting the Montevideo LYS. They are the only store outside of Michigan that carries the merino from Stonehedge Fiber Mill. The wonderful soft merino I love. This time I'm ready for their cash only policy and will be taking home several skeins. All this family togetherness is making me want to go off somewhere by myself and knit.

Drastic Measures

2007-03-09T19:47:00.000-06:00

It is time for drastic action. I have a lot of yarn. Really. A few weeks ago I took one of my bins marked, "full skeins for felting" out of the stash closet to post on the blog and someone left a comment about my "little" stash. It was cute. Like the one little bin was my whole stash. Sweet really. Here is part of my stash.

It's getting ridiculous. In addition to the full size closet devoted to yarn, I have baskets of yarn all over the house. I have yarn that I cannot for the life of me remember why I bought it or what I was going to do with it. I have yarn that I know exactly what I bought it for and after it has been ignored in the stash closet for a couple of years, I am coming to the sad realization that I probably will not knit a Clapotis with the beautiful Lion & Lamb. Not because I don't want a clapotis, but I've discovered I'm allergic to Kate Gilbert patterns. Although this one doesn't have a line that reads, "Row 78 repeat row 12". (This is why I don't have a Sunrise Circle Jacket). I love her stuff, I just can't knit it.

ANYWAY, as my current yarn yearnings are exceeding the space to put more yarn, I am taking drastic action. Tomorrow my husband, the ebay king, is helping me sell some yarn. So I will have room for more yarn. Details tomorrow. I hope my husband has an AED stashed somewhere in the house in case I have a coronary parting with some of this.

Kate's Cockamamie Medical Theories

2007-03-07T20:10:00.000-06:00

I have been knitting. Really. But as you may know I have opinions on nearly everything so today I present my cockamamie medical theories. I have no science or empirical evidence behind these theories, they are simply mine.

Everyone is on Prilosec, Nexium, etc. because everyone is addicted to highly caffienated, over-roasted Mc-coffee. I'm not naming names. We all have our favorite poison. I just don't think it's any coincidence that a few years after the $4.00 a cup coffee chain sprang up on every corner in America, we all have acid stomachs. I'm just sayin'. Kate's cockamamie health theory: try banning the char-roasted after noon.
Heart disease is the #1 killer of women (not my theory). We have a whole generation of women, primarily older boomers, who grew up after the invention of electric appliances and before Title IX. They've never sweat or really worked hard. They wouldn't have dreamed of playing competitive sports even if there had been organized competitive sports to play. Their husband's have done the heavy work. My grandmother didn't own an automatic washer until the 1970's and then it was a little thing that washed and spun the majority of the water out so that she could lug it out back and hang it from the line. She never had an ounce of body fat. My mother thinks exercise is fine unless her heart beats too fast or she "glows" and then she's done. No offense mom. Kate's cockamamie health theory: sweat once in while for God's sake. If you can do it without buying a bunch of fancy workout clothes and subjecting yourself to some overly perky fitness instructor, even better.
You feel better if you drink some water everyday, get 8 hours of sleep at night, are regular, and eat and drink in moderation. Laughing everyday is important. I think all of this makes your skin looks better too.

Okay, three of my cockamamie medical theories are probably enough for one day.

Too Much Snow if You're Long and Low

2007-03-02T08:44:00.000-06:00

It's a snow day! My office is closed, the school is closed and we have about 14" of new snow on the ground. Grocery Guy delivered last night, I've got plenty of yarn and a fire, we are all prepared to be snowbound. Everyone is happy, except for this one. This is too much snow if you're a dog that's long and low. Maxine & Maggie go out the back door to do their "business". This is primarily because the BHFH is a runner and we have to let her out into the fenced backyard. My son and I shoveled a path out the door and down the deck last night, but this morning another four inches had fallen and the snow had drifted. So I had to get back out there first thing this morning so that she could get out the door.

The giant mound on the right is the grill. I figure as long as it's not bitter cold, I can fire it up all year long. Of course, getting to it will now be an issue. On your left you will notice that the snow has piled up in my window box to the point that it is blocking the kitchen window. I'm going to have to get out there and clear that off.

Last Friday the backyard was brown grass. No snow, just brown grass. Between last weekend's 10 inches and yesterday's 14, the landscape around here has changed dramatically. The mailbox post is completely covered. The mounds at the end of the driveway are over my head. The drifts in the backyard are up to my thighs. So imagine how difficult it is to get around in this if your legs are only 6 inches long. We've shoveled a path but she has to leap up and down to make any progress. She comes in from outside, collapses by the fire, and power-naps. After shoveling for an hour or so this morning, I might just join her.

Snowy Weekend Project

2007-02-26T06:29:00.000-06:00

Yes, it has finally snowed here in Minneapolis. We had about a foot in our neighborhood over the weekend. But the plows and the salt trucks have been out. The driveway is shoveled. 12" of snow qualifies as no big deal around here especially when it happens on the weekend.

A snow storm is a perfect reason to stay inside and knit. So I made this:

Sorry for the crappy picture but I stayed up past my bedtime watching the Oscars. I need to finish the turtleneck and put a small bit of ribbing around the sleeves, but I'm nearly done. I started out with the Fitted Tank pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas and modified it a little bit due to gauge problems, my desire to knit in the round, and I wanted it to be a turtleneck. Other than that, it's the same pattern. Someday I'll faithfully follow a pattern again. Not today, but someday.

The best thing about this is the yarn. It is Shepherd's Wool from Stonehedge Fiber Mill and it is the best. Soft with a little bit of sheen and great stitch definition. 250 yards a hank for $8.50 so this tank only took 2 skeins. Here's the issue, I bought it back in August at a little shop in Montevideo MN. They didn't take credit cards and as I use my check card for everything, I don't carry a lot of cash. So I was only able to buy two skeins. I need more of this yarn, but I'm not driving to Montevideo to buy it. I'm sending an e-mail to Stonehedge to see if they'll ship and I'm even considering a color that isn't brown or blue. Yes, really.

Just a little rant on why the hell the Oscars have to be on Sunday. I can't stay up until 11:30 on a Sunday. We sat down as a family and had a nice dinner and then settled in to watch. By 9:00 we had all run out of steam and they hadn't given out a single significant award! I can't stay up so that they can have interpretive dance about the nominated movies!!! After 9:30 (my son had bailed by this time) I kept drifting off to sleep. I even missed roll call of the dead. This is getting ridiculous. How is a normal family supposed to celebrate Oscar night? How are we supposed to stay awake to make fun of bad dresses? What if there is a Richard Gere "Free Tibet" moment after I've drifted off to sleep? Saturday, they need to move this to Saturday.

I Blame Big Bird

2007-02-22T06:23:00.000-06:00

Okay, you've all heard enough about my knitting for now, I need a little ranting space. Something is bothering me. It's not earth shattering. It won't change the fate of mankind (okay darn it, it will a little) but it's bugging me.

When I was a kid I can remember going to the Children's Theater to see Huck Finn, James & The Giant Peach and I think Charlotte's Web (honestly, could this be a sadder story to subject children to?). I saw Romeo & Juliet and A Christmas Carol. No, I wasn't seeing Albee or Brecht as a child but at least they were real plays or based on works of literature. Apparently that has all changed.

I feel sorry for Children's Theaters all over the country because what is now considered theater is very different. When did theater for kids become "Elmo Live"! or "Go Diego Go, Live" basically whatever cartoon kids character you want LIVE. I've been to one of these productions. Once was enough. The house lights are on, the kids are loud, the story is thin and there are vendors hawking Officially Licensed merchandise.

We wonder when kids get older why they are talking on their cell phones in movie theaters and breaking up their styrofoam drink cups during Shakespeare. (I had this happen to me in college during a monologue and the urge to jump off the stage and whack the teenager upside the head was nearly overwhelming).

Gee, I wonder. Do you think it's because we are raising our kids to be culturally illiterate? Theater to them is now an officially licensed light-up plastic toy and a glow in the dark t-shirt? I blame Big Bird. I think Sesame Street was the first production to go "Live" and it's been downhill ever since. Damn Big Bird.

Three Day Weekend

2007-02-20T06:32:00.000-06:00

I love a good three day weekend. This one was particularly great. Saturday my sister, the quilter, gave me this:

Cute huh? She figured it would be just the right size for me to haul a project around. She is correct, but I also think it's a perfect size for packing my low-cal frozen lunch and water each day. The idea of cutting big pieces of fabric into little pieces (perfect little pieces no less) and sewing them precisely back together has no appeal to me as a process, but I love the end result. So thanks Sis!

In other family news, for those of you who keep track of my crazy family, it was my little brother's 33rd birthday this weekend! You know my little brother as RC or Roger Clinton. He lurks here nearly every day, so take time to wish him a Happy Belated Birthday if you can.

Saturday morning I finished the knitting on this:

I now have aproximately one bazillion ends to weave in and blocking to do. But I'm pretty sure I'll wear this so it meets my definition of a successful sweater endeavor. I am especially pleased as it was working without a net. No pattern, just knittin'.

Sunday I went to the Knit Out at the MOA. It was pretty much a bust as it was laid out really poorly but I did buy this book and had Annie sign it. The whole Annie family was there as they'd arrived here in Minnesota ahead of their personal possessions so they were all at the mall. I was glad to meet her as I've missed her everytime she's been spotted at my favorite places to hang out, buy yarn and knit. She was very sweet and gracious considering she'd just moved across the country.

Yesterday was spent shopping with my son for clothes. He's quite the clothes horse so I gave him a budgeted amount of money and off we went. He did really well staying within the budget and a good time was had by all.

So, all in all a good weekend. Now, I gotta get back to work.

Sleeves Suck and Quirkiness

2007-02-16T06:38:00.000-06:00

I'm working my way slowly down the sleeve of my saved sweater. It's incredibly boring. Every so often I have to pick up the sweater and remind myself that I'm in the home stretch. Almost done. I've got two inches 'til I hit the ribbing. I'm hoping that I will have a completed sweater this weekend. But sleeves suck. I never seem to enjoy knitting them.

Yesterday I received a package from Jimmy Beans. No, not yarn. I'm being a good girl and knitting from my stash. But I did order some patterns. This because I have some DK in my stash that I want to knit. I love the "Knitting Pure & Simple" patterns. They are well written, simple top-down patterns that result in nice wearable garments. This because my two nieces are very into dance and gymnastics and leg warmers seem a perfect gift. This because I've loved the look of it since I first laid eyes on it. It was in an ad in one of the many magazines and I really love the wide ribbing and the fit on the arms and neck. I don't know about you, but I'm 42 years old, bras aren't optional so I like this tank. I will need to buy 3 or 4 hanks of yarn for this tank, but I still have money left on my Christmas Yarn Cafe gift card so I don't think it counts as a purchase.

I was officially tagged by Mrs. MJW to respond to 10 Quirky Things About Me. Only 10? I've got a lot more quirks than that. I'm not usually a big meme kind of gal, but this is the very first time anyone has tagged me by name. So I must respond.

10 Quirky Things About Me

I'm a bit phobic about germs. I need to have hand wipes in my purse at all times. I'm actually a little peeved at Bath & Bodyworks for discontinuing their antibacterial wipes. I know they are smaller and 10x more expensive than the ones I can get at Target, but I liked them. I Clorox wipe my office on a regular basis. I can't use the communal microwave at the office without wiping down the keypad with antibacterial wipes.
I can't bring myself to wear socks that aren't black, brown or white. White is only for tennis shoes of course. This stands in the way of my total participation in the knitting blogesphere as so many knit bloggers are also sock addicts.
I have a terrible speech habit of using the phrase, "quite honestly". As if I'm lying most of the time so I have to preface this sentence with, "quite honestly". It drives me nuts and I can't seem to break the habit.
If I decide I'm interested in something I go completely overboard. I have to have all the equipment and the right clothes for it. I am no good at the whole moderation thing. Lately I've been working out and yesterday I caught myself looking at overpriced "workout" clothes. As if the t-shirts and sweats I've been wearing have somehow adversely impacted my workouts. It's been like this with knitting for about 5 years now. Thank God there aren't expensive special shoes for knitting. I'd have 4 pair.
I can fall asleep anywhere. Sitting on a plane, laying on the sofa, outside on the patio. I love a good little nap. Not more than 30 minutes though or I'm cranky and sleepy all day long.
I hate spending time on my hair. I'd love to have long beautiful hair but I resent the 5 lousy minutes I have to spend with a blow dryer on my short hair. I always hate my hair but I'm pretty much completely unwilling to do anything about it.
I'm a worrier. I worry about my friends and family. I'm always saying things like "wash your hands, you don't know what you might have picked up at the mall" and "did you remember your jacket?". This is mildly tolerated by my son. Less so by my friends and parents.
I have an irrational fear of flying animals. Any kind of flying animal. When I was a group rep we used to go to trade shows and the Mutual of Omaha people would be there with wild animals. I could pet a bear, a lion or a snake, but the tethered eagle scared me to death. I couldn't get near it. Even canaries scare the snot out of me. Don't even mention bats.
I'm a neatnik. I can't stand stuff sitting around looking at me. We are picker uppers around here. Being someplace cluttered or messy makes me nervous. I want to pick up. Lately, I have stuck to my vow of not taking apart my sister's stove top and cleaning it more than a couple times of year. I think she appreciates me not taking things apart every time I visit. (PLEASE NOTE I AM NOT SAYING MY SISTER IS NOT NEAT HERE. SHES AN AMAZING HOUSEKEEPER. I LOVE AND ADMIRE HER. SHE IS SMARTER AND MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN I. SHE CAN ALSO KICK MY ASS.)
I have a deep and abiding distrust of the perky. People who are always sunshiny and happy are strange. I think they are either completely insincere or a little dim-witted.

I'm tagging Renee, Chris, Julie, Guinifer and Annie.

Save The Sweater, Save My Sanity

2007-02-14T06:36:00.000-06:00

Okay, it doesn't have the same ring as "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World", but my sanity is pretty important to me. Recently, I was faced with the prospect of frogging two half-done sweaters. Upon further inspection I decided that I might be able to save one sweater by extending the bottom ribbing to make it more interesting. So this weekend, that is exactly what I did.

There was nothing wrong with this sweater that made me want to rip it out. No glaring errors or mistakes in gauge, it was just boring. Then I remembered a sweater I bought a couple years ago. Kind of retro with a fair isle yoke, but it had a wide band of ribbing on the bottom that made it sorta cool. So with that as inspiration I kept knitting. I'm glad I did. After trying it on in progress several times, I think I'm going to wear this sweater a lot.

In other knitting news, I'm working on a cover for my heating pad. I know that probably sounds nuts, but I just bought a new one and I can't stand the icky cheap fabric that they use to make the covers.

Shoe Shopping

2007-02-11T06:54:00.000-06:00

Today is my 1st Blogiversary. Laura left me my first ever non-spam comment the following week. Yay Laura! Thanks.

Yesterday my sister, my niece (who will be 5 in May) and I went shoe shopping. I only have a son, so I was unaware of the joys of having a daughter who likes to shop. My sister is practical so she by and large stays out of the mall, but I would be in real trouble if I had a full-time shopping pal. There is probably a reason that I was not blessed with a daughter.

DSW Shoe Warehouse was having a big sale. A BIG sale. My sister needed shoes for the school's fancy schmancy fundraising dinner so we really were there with a purpose in mind. But with so many shoes 50% or even 70% off things got out of hand. As a nearly professional shoe shopper I feel that I should categorize the emotional stages of shoe shopping for you before you run out to the nearest shoe sale yourself.

Browsing. You walk in the store, look around. Of course there are some cute canvas, ankle-tie espadrilles right in front, but come on it's February. It's 3 degrees outside and a slushy mess.
First sighting. You come across a tall rack of boots and pick up a pair of brown, suede, pull-on, stretchy boots with fashionable toes and heels that aren't too high. Upon further inspection you discover that at 40% off these boots are only $40. OH MY GOD!
Frenzy. 20 minutes later you are wishing that you hadn't brought your purse. It's getting in the way as you scurry from aisle to aisle accumulating pairs of sale shoes that you must have.
Insanity. I have a pair of strappy, purple, shiny, leather sandals with rhinestone heels in one hand and a pair of 4" teal blue imitation-ostrich pumps in the other. I have my eye on furry lime green clogs with giant wedge heels. I work for an insurance firm. The Ward Cleavers there would have coronaries if I wore any of this. I don't have outfits for any of this. If I buy these things I will never wear them.
Jaded. 40% off? Are you kidding me? I've got a pair of Steve Madden pumps in my pile over there that are 70% off and will only cost me $20.98. 40% off? I spit on 40% off. I need more.

Once you reach jaded you'll be okay. You will end up buying things you'll actually wear. You won't spend the grocery money on pink lucite wedgies. The problem is that most people don't ride out the insanity to get to jaded. They panic and run from the store without purchasing anything or find themselves buying a single pair of sensible shoes. They will regret this later. Ride it out, you'll come back to your senses.

The insanity lasts a lot longer if you have a blonde, green-eyed 4 year old with long curly hair modeling all the shoes for you. Finding shiny shoes and saying "OOH, Kafryn, look at these!" By the way, the first pair of brown stretchy boots didn't make the final cut when we culled the pile down to the budget. But between the two of us we bought 12 pair of shoes. I kinda want to go back for those boots. Maybe I'll take my niece.

Dear Aunt Kate

2007-02-08T06:01:00.000-06:00

Dear Kate,

Thank you for the i-tunes giftcard and the slippers that almost fit me and fit Benny. Love Joe

Okay, let's spot the subtle message here. The slippers I knit for my nephew's birthday don't fit. I'm back to square 1 on the slipper knitting. I'm thinking that I will knit the slippers and leave it to Joe and his mom to do the actual felting. That was they will be able to felt them to the perfect size.

Luckily I always have feltable yarn in the stash.Here it is, in the box labeled "Full Skeins Feltable Wool". This is not to be confused with the bin labeled "Left Over Feltable Wool" or the "Noro" bin. When knitting frustrates me or I'm pressed for time or generally feeling harried, I always seem to fall back on knitting felted accessories.

Guilty Pleasure

2007-02-06T20:53:00.000-06:00

I did really well on my college entry exams. I'm not the smart one in the family. But I'm the clever (read smart ass) one in the family. The point being that I'm brighter than this next admission would indicate. I'm totally addicted to "The Real Housewives of Orange County". First I've got to tell you I actually know a woman in the OC and she is totally nothing like these women. (Okay, it's MFF's sister and she is SO not these women) These women (except Jeana, I love her) are shallow and not the brightest bulbs on the tree. They are so obsessed with money and possessions its ridiculous, but I'm addicted. Okay Jeana is shallow and obsessed with money and possessions, but she makes the money so she should get to spend it. Plus she's a baseball mom.

So, this is my guilty pleasure. It's like reality t.v. porn. It's the lowest form of reality t.v. and I still want to watch it. The only way this could get better is if Jo and Laurie tried to knit. Of course they might end up stabbing each other with the needles, but still.

I wonder what, "The Real Housewives of Hennepin County" would be like? So that's what I'm doing tonight. I'm knitting Tubey and watching RHOOC. It's bad, it's wrong, but I'm 'fessing up to it. The first step is admitting you have a problem.

Super Sunday

2007-02-05T06:59:00.000-06:00

It was a super Sunday. I went yarn shopping, found some bargains, and finally decided on a project.

I watched a little bit of the "Knitty Gritty" marathon yesterday. I was hoping to see someone I recognized from blogland. I haven't had a chance to watch much "Knitty Gritty" in the past as it's on during the weekday and I'm at the office. If this is your favorite show, let me apologize right now. Don't get me wrong. I'm so glad that there is a show just about knitting. And I'm glad that the production values and sets are more interesting than the run-of-the-mill, but honest to God I just can't take much of this show.

The strained, "I'm so hip, I knit, so therefore knitting must be hip" message is constant and unrelenting. From Vickie Howell's uber-hip, I don't care hair (which I'm sorry looks like she did it herself with kitchen shears. After a bottle of wine. Or two.) to her saying things like, ". . . but if you knit continental, rock on with your bad self" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Most of the guests that are demonstrating projects seem nervous and a little put-off by Vickie's never-ending, "hip-to-be-perky" -ness. I mean isn't enough to worry about knitting on t.v. without having to worry about being cool enough for Vickie? I mean do they make normal people get $600 haircuts and tatoos before they appear on the show? I salute everyone who is brave enough to appear on the show, I just wish it was more watchable. So there you go, I'm a horrible critical person. I'm not fit to carry Vickie's knitting bag. Let me have it.

I did decide that after swatching my Knit Picks alpaca silk to the point that I'm worried that it's just going to grow legs and run off screaming, "enough already, make up your mind! stop swatching and frogging!" I am going to be the last person on earth to knit Tubey. I've wanted to knit this forever, but I haven't had just the right yarn. The alpaca silk is definitely the right yarn. And I have to give it high marks for resilience. I've swatched and frogged, swatched and frogged and it still looks and feels great. I started Tubey last night during the Super Bowl and I wish I could just sit and knit today. By the fire. It's -16 outside and it would be a perfect day to stay home and knit. But I'm off to work. Have a great day. Stay warm.

My New Healthy Lifestyle is Killing Me

2007-01-31T18:56:00.000-06:00

I really tried to take a picture of my three-hour hair, but I look like absolute hell. My new healthy lifestyle is killing me. My friend's doctor told her, "how you take care of yourself in your 40's will dictate how you live in your 60's". I have no empirical evidence to support this statement, but it seems reasonably sound. I haven't heard any doctors say that your 40s should be a time to smoke, drink, eat what you want, etc. (If you have a doctor that will tell me this, please e-mail. My health plan is pretty liberal on which doctors I see and I'm open to change) So since December 1st I have:

Given up smoking just because I don't want to die an untimely death. My family was surprised by this decision as it breaks with tradition. Most of my family members wait until they have a heart attack or stroke before quitting.
Started eating breakfast at home. I've been eating yogurt and a little cereal rather than going through the McDonald's drive through for breakfast.
Bringing Lean Cuisine to the office for lunch. This is mostly because I'm sick to death of paying $7 a day for mediocre (I'm being kind here) cafeteria food at the office.
I've stopped drinking caffeine after noon. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I don't think it's any coincidence that everyone needs Prilosec now that there is a Starbucks on every corner. I can do a double shot of espresso at 9 o'clock at night and fall asleep at 10, don't get me wrong but my stomach lining was screaming for mercy.

In the words of my boss, "Holy Hannah why don't you warn us ahead of time when you are going to try this stuff!?" Let me tell you all the gains I've made through my sacrifices:

I have gained 9 pounds.
I am a big bloated mess.
I have zits. Every day a new one.
I want a nap by 3:00 every afternoon because I'm off the vital 'eines (nicotine & caffeine). I fall asleep on the couch about 9 pm.
We have a new phrase at the office, "Lean Cuisine will make you mean"

So today, I got out of bed early, put on my sweats and left the house at 6:30. To work out. My calves are killing me. I'm just saying right now, you will have to pry the wine bottle out of my cold dead hands. There are some things I'm just not giving up.

Faux Finished

2007-01-30T06:02:00.000-06:00

First let me apologize for the pictures. I don't take good pictures. Mostly because I just don't take the time to bother taking good pictures. And I think I could use a new digital camera. Anyhow, I've got pictures.

Here is the little hat I made with Misti alpaca as a swatch for this faux cable stitch. I like the faux. When faux finishing walls was all the rage, I was right there. Armed with plastic bags, sponges, and damp rags, glazed with gusto. Some of them looked awesome, some turned out to be "do overs". I love faux jewels too. Give me big ol' sparkly czs anytime. I have an aunt who loves them because lab created jewels don't mess with the enviroment. I just like them because I'm cheap and practical. I'd rather have new granite countertops than a big diamond ring. And now, of course, my hair is now faux. Maybe a picture of that tomorrow. I hate posting pictures of myself.

Faux cables are a good thing. Since it is just basically 2x2 rib with the knits twisted every three rows, it can be substituted for any other 2x2 rib. At least I think it can. I can't think of a reason it can't. The back side looks like plain old ribbing so it would probably be a good scarf pattern too. I will recover from the current faux obsession eventually. I got over the towel thing and the tweed stitch. Someday I might even get over Fuzzyfeet. Or not.

And finally, pictures of my organizing work this weekend.

Yeah, I know this doesn't look like hours worth of work, but there are 10 boxes of magazines. I may need a knitting magazine/book intervention.

This Week's Obsession

2007-01-29T06:34:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago I spent all my knitting time with tweed stitch. Tangled up in multiple skeins of yarn, I made slippers, coasters, dishcloths all in tweed stitch. This seems to be the only way for me to truly embrace and learn a stitch by memory.

This weekend was a twisted stitch that looks like a baby cable when you are done. I started with a ball of Peaches 'n Cream at the salon on Friday. Saturday I started and finished an alpaca hat for my neice in the faux baby cable. Now I'm working on a sweater for her that uses the pattern stitch for ribbing.

I have pictures of all of this for you but they are stuck in my camera because the batteries died. I also took pictures of my newly organized work room. I spent most of the day yesterday re-organizing. I wish I could tell you that I'm just so organized and on top of things around here that I did this proactively. No, this was prompted by the fact that I was losing things in the piles of yarn, magazines, unfiled patterns, etc. So all is well in the work room now. Pictures tomorrow.

The salon appointment did actually take the entire three hours. I guess I'd have to just book a full day session if I had long hair. I'm really happy with the overhaul. The double/triple process on the color was totally worth it but it's a good thing that I've been brown bagging it lately. The colorist told me that I can single process next time and maintain the look. Good thing too. I was the only one knitting in the salon and was getting "the look" from some of the other patrons, but Jillian the colorist was very excited to see me knitting. As it happens, she had purchased a kit and DVD at JoAnn the previous weekend and spent an afternoon teaching herself to knit. She was understandably pretty proud of herself. I love meeting a new convert!

New Look, Same Old Blog

2007-01-26T08:42:00.000-06:00

I've switched the "new & improved" blogger. I haven't played around with it enough to decide whether or not I like it yet and I don't have time this morning. So, consider this fair warning, the new look could change from day to day. Feel free to weigh in on the readability of the colors.

I took a couple of days off work since I've been feeling crappy and my son doesn't have school today. Not that at 14 he really needs me hovering, but it's still nice. Luckily he doesn't need me to hover because I have a 3 hour hair overhaul scheduled for this morning. I was shocked and a little insulted to find out that the salon scheduled me for 3 hours to get a six week tint touch-up, some highlights/lowlights and a trim.

This being my schedule for the day, I woke up this morning thinking about what I need to take with me in the way of knitting. I mean, if I'm going to be sitting around "processing" I've got to have knitting with me. Last time I got this done I was without knitting and had to read "Town & Country" for an hour. Not that I am not fascinated by the engagements, homes and tasteful soirees of the northeastern horsey set, but honest to God I have to have my knitting. (Who are these people and moreover, who cares?)

I'm working on the Somewhat Cowl in this cashmere but I'm worried about taking my beloved cashmere to the salon. What if something spills on it? I wouldn't wear cashmere to get my hair colored, why would I tote it along with me?

I've got two sleeves on one big needle, but they are at the big and ungainly point. I of course have a pair of fuzzy feet on the needles, but what if they go too fast?

I'm thinking I have to take some cotton and refine this:
Not the best picture, but the beta version of my retro diner towel. Gotta run to my hair appointment. Hopefully the 3 hours will be worth it.

Stop Stop the Muffin Top

2007-01-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

You have to practice this to achieve the desired cadence. So I'm interrupting my usual knitting broadcast to give you this unsolicited advice and public service announcement on a pervasive problem. Muffin Top.

Post-holiday, I'm betting just about everyone can find themselves battling the muffin top. My swing from crazy-overactive hyper-drive metabolism to slow-motion metabolism (don't worry me and Dr. Rebecca are all over this one), combined with quit smoking snacks have resulted in a 9 pound weight gain.

Listen, I'm not saying that 9 pounds is anything. I'm unconcerned. I'm still in the actuarial table as not even qualifying for being considered overweight. I've never had issues with my weight and I'm not here to say I have any inkling of what it is like to constantly battle real weight issues.

So, I'm not qualified to lecture anyone on weight. I'm here to talk about muffin top, which you can get if you are a size 2!!! For those who stay away from the television and pop magazines and conversations, muffin top is that little roll over the top of your pants. I've been battling the muffin top and here is my secret to getting rid of it. I bought bigger pants.

Yep. I bought one size bigger. It's comfy. My butt, partially due to the weight gain, seems plenty big enough to hold the bigger pants on to my person while the bigger waist band doesn't create the muffin top. And I've stopped worrying about the 9 pounds! This new plan to enhance my body image and make me more comfortable may lead down a dangerous road, but I'm embracing it for now.

So stop worrying about standing up really straight so that the muffin top will disappear. Don't wonder during endless meetings whether or not the table is hiding the muffin top. Grab your credit card and march to your nearest retailer chanting, "Stop, Stop, the Muffin Top" in a sing song voice, and buy yourself a bigger pair of pants.

Let the Swatching Begin!

2007-01-23T07:02:00.000-06:00

Okay. I may have some winners on my hands. If you haven't shopped at the Garter Belt, let me tell ya, you are missing out.

They have patterns designed by independent knitters, not knitters who have been commissioned by the yarn company to design a sweater that will sell skeins of yarn.
The patterns are wearable and functional. I love the free patterns at the online mags, don't get me wrong, but I'm 42 years old. My need/desire for kitchy wristbands, dolls, and to-go-coffee cozies is pretty limited.
The patterns range from fitted sexy tanks to weekend sweaters to sweaters a teenage boy would actually wear.
You buy the patterns online and download them via PDF. This is how all online pattern purchases should be.

So that's my rant on the Garter Belt. This weekend I ordered these: Hyde Park Pullover because it is a textured turtleneck, knit in the round from the top down with worsted weight yarn thus meeting all of my criteria. I also bought this Adirondack pullover. It says unisex and quite honestly after gaining 9 pounds (a combo of my Graves disease getting over medicated and quitting smoking) I could use a nice big comfy sweater that doesn't show my now pervasive muffin top. (I've discovered another clever cure for muffin top that I will share tomorrow). The Adirondack is knit top-down in the round as well.

I'm going to buy this one as well, because it has a nice size range and might be a good sweater to knit for my nephews.

So I best get swatchin'. But I'm awfully busy making more towels. Here is my "diner towel" so far. Trek this is for you.

As you can see, although still struggling with the schneezle weezles, (yeah it's a medical term) Al is feeling well enough to resume his duties as head yarn inspector.

Feeling Better

2007-01-21T21:11:00.000-06:00

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. Al is doing much better. Giving him his antibiotic has become like wrestling an alligator and he is eating like a trucker.

Earlier today I visited my favorite LYS, Yarn Cafe and met Idymosquito in person!! She asked about Al right away and I was happy to report his improved health. Its so great to meet another blogger in person. Idymosquito is currently blogless but I don't think you have to maintain a blog to be a blogger. Reading, commenting, etc. counts too. MFF and I had coffee and chatted for awhile and then it was time to get home for football.

I've ignored football all season because the Vikings were so terrible that after the first couple of weeks, I just couldn't watch any more. So today I had to catch up by watching the division championships. The weird light saber noise that CBS uses every time their graphic shows is going to drive me insane. I'm watching upstairs now because the sound of it over high def surround sound speakers was killing me.

Sitting around watching football is a great opportunity to get some knitting done. As I've done two grandma towels this week, I started a third. (Sorry the second one I gave to my sister without taking a picture). I've had it in my head to make one using a pattern that looks like a retro "diner towel". You know, the clean white with a bright primary stripe? I'll post a picture when I'm done and maybe the pattern if it works out. So far so good.

In my continued search for a sweater pattern, I purchased a couple patterns from the Garter Belt this morning. I'm going to swatch before I reveal my choices. So while I search I've continued to knit my old faithful, Fuzzy Feet. This pair was done in a combo of fuschia Malabrigo and Noro Kureyon #102. I did them in tweed stitch and the result is a retina-burning pair of mighty fine slippers. (If I do say so myself)

Sick Kitty

2007-01-19T06:08:00.000-06:00

Albert (you can call me Al) has a terrible cold in his snoof. It's very tough to be a kitty-kitty-cat with a cold in his snoof. I know it's hard to remember that I too have a cat, because he doesn't leave the second floor (which is a huge step from all those months that he wouldn't leave my son's room), but I do. And he is sick.

And when you are sick, sometimes you just need to be left alone. So this is a nice place to be alone if you are a kitty-kitty-cat who has a cold in his snoof and doesn't trust basset hounds.

He went to the vet today. He's on medicine and he's been hydrated (don't ask, needles were involved and he did not enjoy it at all. Plus he's leaky now) and they say he'll be just fine. He doesn't want to eat because he can't smell the food. This has led to the entire family dancing around with little bowls (my fiestaware bowls. Only the little tiny ones mom, don't worry, not bowls you'd ever use) of various kinds of cat food, people food, and warm milk trying to tempt him. Did I mention he would like to be left alone?

Thanks to everyone who has given me sweater ideas. I'm very curious about Idymosquito, as it seems she works at my favorite LYS. She appears to be blogless. The people at Knit Cafe are so great. I've often wondered if any of them are bloggers that I read. Or if any of them read this blog. It appears that one of them does, I wish I knew which one! Idymosquito, I'm going to ask for you by alias next time I'm in the shop. Which will probably be Sunday.

Taking care of sick kitty-kitty-cats bores me.

The Search Continues

2007-01-18T06:05:00.000-06:00

You guys are great. Thanks for the ideas. I'm giving serious consideration to Rogue. Eris is out because for some reason the last couple of sweaters I've done are cardigans and I don't want to make another cardigan right now. If I did, I have the pattern for this which might fit the bill. "Heather", Kay's suggestion might be a possibility but I have no hard evidence that it is knit in the round.

Someone suggested Knitting Pure and Simple patterns, which I love. I have several. They are all simple and top down, but they are all endless amounts of stockinette. The Garter Belt has some great top-down patterns. I have most of Wendy's but again a lot of stockinette.

I feel like I'm ready for a little bit of a challenge. Not something that is going to make me crazy with tons of stitch markers and yarn overs that I forget to do (okay, I'm not looking to do lace). I'm not talking about detailed fair isle or anything but maybe something with some cables or color.

I'm going to continue the search, but I'm starting to think I may have to make something up myself.

In Search of The Right Sweater

2007-01-17T07:02:00.000-06:00

I'm not saying that I'm looking for the perfect sweater because the gals over at Mason Dixon Knits claim that they have the pattern for the perfect sweater. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty swell sweater, but not perfect for me. I need a pattern. I've been searching through magazines and books and I can't find it. Here is what I'm looking for:

In the round either top down or bottom up, but no side seams.
I think it may be a turtleneck because I love turtlenecks.
It is not endless, mind-numbing inches of stockinette stitch. There is a pattern involved.
There could possibly be cables but not a ton of cables because I want to use my knitpicks Andean Silk and I only have 13 balls.
It needs to be worsted weight as I have lots of stash in worsted.
Most of the really cool kinda cabley patterns I've found are in DK or sport weight yarn.
I know I could adapt them to a different gauge but that is too much math.
It needs to look cool but not belly baring (I've gained 9 pounds quitting smoking)
It might be tweed stitch as I am currently obsessed with tweed stitch.
If it's tweed stitch I'm using my stash of brown Galway and Kureyon because I love the subtle stripey-ness of it.

So the search continues. It's like needing a dress for a wedding. You can picture in your head exactly what it will look like. You search every store fruitlessly for the dress in your head. The sweater in my head is perfect, I just can't find the pattern. I suppose I could use my Barbara Walker and Maggie Righetti books to draft the perfect pattern myself. But the math.

Happy New Year

2007-01-16T07:36:00.000-06:00

I suppose I should address the fact that I have been away for so long, but denial is my friend so I'm not even going to mention it.

I hope you all had a happy holiday. My strategy of only knitting accessories and small items for gifts worked. I had a relatively stress-free holiday.

Since we last spoke, I've half knit and ripped out two sweaters. In frustration, I've turned to my old friend fuzzy feet and tried a couple of different variations. They are gifts so I can't post pictures until next week.

Last night, while watching the Golden Globes, I knit this:

It's a variation on a web project from Knitscene magazine. Let's face it. I'm much too lazy to spend time on embroidery for a kitchen towel. Thus the adaptation. I really love towels that button for the kitchen. They are hard to find these days. I have a couple that I bought at a church bazaar but they are holiday themed. So I'm pretty darned happy with this. Literally took me one night to make and I've already started another. I used one ball of Sugar 'n Cream in brown and part of another ball in a creamy tweedy sort of color. I think this would be really cute done in white with bright stripes in kind of a diner theme.

Hope you are all well, sorry for my lack of blogging and commenting.

Last Minute Christmas Gift Mayhem

2006-12-22T06:53:00.000-06:00

No Chris, not gifts for Mayhem, I'm creating mayhem by thinking I can whip up last minute gifts.

I spent last weekend in South Dakota with my parents. Watertown is really hopping these days and they have recently opened a Starbucks. I'm a Caribou Coffee gal myself, but the absence of really good strong coffee in Watertown has been a whine of mine for quite some time. So imagine my joy in a Starbucks with a drive-thru only 6 blocks from mom and dad's!

Saturday morning I drove through said Starbucks for a medium (yes medium dammit, I told you I'm a Caribou girl) carmel latte. Feeling nearly giddy with the joy of intense caffeine, I swung by the LYS on my way home. Don't get me started on how clueless they are at this shop, it's really just a corner of their "art" gallery. While there I purchased some of that new Paton's SWS. It was right there on the floor next to some Mountain Colors. Don't worry, the acrylic and $1.27 a skein dishcloth cotton was safely put away up off the floor in neat bins!

I've been tempted by the SWS before but stayed away from it because it seems kind of expensive for Patons. But I have to tell you, it's soft, shiny, has good stitch definition and the stripes are very well defined rather than blurry or muddy. All in all it's pretty great stuff. I decided since I've been on a Fuzzy Feet roll lately (can't post pictures, they are gifts) I would knit a pair for my son's stocking with the SWS.

Here is the post felting picture:

Did I mention that my son and I wear the exact same size shoe these days? So I made the Fuzzy Feet the exact same size I made my own. Let me show you a picture of my Fuzzy Feet for reference.
My slipper is the large one. Here I was feeling so pleased with myself that I had whipped up these slippers in less than 24 hours. They would be perfect, if only my son was 4 instead of 14. This is Christmas karma. This is the knitting gods spitting in my smug face. This is Patons SWS on one lousy cycle of the wash machine. So get smug about your Christmas knitting with caution and watch that wash cycle while felting.

Thank You Kaye

2006-12-15T07:50:00.000-06:00

First my apologies for not blogging. My only excuse is that I quit smoking two weeks ago. My computer is in the one room in the entire house that I smoked in. So, in my quest to stay off the evil weed (tobacco people, tobacco) I haven't been sitting at the computer much. Lame excuse, but it's all I have.

But I had to blog about this:

It is the contents of my package from Kaye. We were partnered in the Handmade Gift swap. You can't see it well in my crappy picture but she made me a beautiful bag in my favorite colors! I'm using it today as I'm going to visit my parents in South Dakota for the weekend. I love the colors, I love the lining! Thank you so much Kaye.

Now I only have to worry about my package getting to Kaye. I've never sent anything out of the country before. It's hard to think of Manitoba as another country. Winnipeg is 457 miles away. Closer to Minneapolis than many, many U.S. cities. And they talk like us there. Texas, now that seems like another country. But oddly enough Manitoba and Minnesota are neighbors in other countries.

I'm off for a few days of hanging out with the folks and business travel. Thanks again Kaye. I can only hope you like my package as well.

Slippers

2006-12-04T06:10:00.000-06:00

I've been pretty productive knitting-wise this weekend. I've been working on slippers. Two pair down, a few more to go.

The pink pair on the left were done with Galway and felted in a single cycle. The green and turquoise pair were done in Cascade 220 and took two trips through the machine to felt. I did the two tone because the recipient likes both green and blue and I was using partial skeins. It's less "ballet" slipper than the pink, but I like how it turned out. I have to find some buttons and attach elastic, but for the most part they are done. The pattern has women's sizes too and after the Christmas knitting is done, I might just make myself a pair.

I don't want to mess around with trying to fit slipper bottoms to these. I can't find a U.S. source of the Regia iron on "paw" bottoms and I'm doubtful that a German shop can get them to me before Christmas. So here is the solution I've come up with. I'm giving them a bottle of cushy, flexible fabric paint. Once they have determined that the slippers fit (their mothers might have to give them another run through the wash) they can write their name on the bottom of the slippers with the fabric paint. That should make them non-slip and they have the chance to participate in the slipper making.

So You Want Some Knitting Content?

2006-12-01T05:51:00.000-06:00

Okay, okay, I reviewed my posts over the last month and noticed that for a knitting blog, there has been relatively little talk of knitting. I have been knitting. I have "second everything" syndrome. It's not just for socks anymore.

I'm still working on this:

Not a great picture, but it's 6 a.m. I haven't had enough caffeine yet. I finished the collar and button band. As it is 2x2 rib it's gonna take some serious blocking, but I really like the short row "collar" around the neck. The sleeve is taking forever. I keep trying it on and it doesn't seem to get any longer so I magic loop some more and try it on again. How am I going to stand a second sleeve? I'm using my new Knit Picks options needle set I received for my birthday from the boys and I really like it.

Of course there is Christmas knitting. One mary jane ballet slipper for my niece. I am using Galway and a Fiber Trends pattern. But now I have to make another one. They are quick though.

I've also been finishing something for Kaye, my Handmade Gift Swap partner. I have to get stuff in the mail to her today, but I can show you what I sent after she receives it. Kaye, I'm warning you right now there is more gift stuff than handmade in the package. I've been a slow knitter lately.

So there it is. My knitting. I'm still doing it but with work and Thanksgiving and my house conspiring to make me nuts, I haven't been all that prolific with the FOs lately.

The Appliance Dead Pool (or The Great Appliance Conspiracy of 2006)

2006-11-29T17:24:00.000-06:00

Some well known facts about your household appliances:

Household appliances speak to each other in a buzzy, mechanical language that has yet to be translated by humans.
Through this method of communication they coordinate their own deaths.
When one appliance dies, two more are sure to follow.
They know when you have a little extra cash on hand that you'd like to spend on something fun like a vacation or some cashmere. (This is why we all have a yarn stash)
Your furnace will only die on an extremely cold day.
Refridgerators only die when they are full, never when they contain only condiments, two beers, and a fuzzy square of cheese.
Your car is in on the whole conspiracy too.

Our last home was more than 50 years old. In the 10 years we lived there we replaced the stove, refridgerator, built-in microwave, washer, water heater, water softner, and furnace. We always had an appliance dead pool going, betting on which appliances were going to die next.

Our current home is only 7 years old. We replaced the stove and dishwasher just because we wanted to. Buying appliances because you want to, not because you have to, is a beautiful thing. We figured our days of the appliance dead pool were over. We have a practically new house! What could go wrong?! Our general appliance complacency has come back to bite us in the behind this last couple of weeks.

Three weeks ago the friendly folks at Sears called to say that our dishwasher warranty was due to expire, would we like to renew for three years at the low, low price of $149? My husband, who hates service plans and extended warranties, said no. He thinks these plans are "selling to people's fear of bad things happening to them." As I've spent my entire adult life in the insurance business, I'm not sure how I feel about his philosophy, but marriage is all about compromise, right?

Anyway, last week the dishwasher (triggered by my husband's refusal) died. Three years old. Stainless steel inside and out. Wonderfully quiet. Dead. Of course in dying it leaked water between our laminate wood floor and the crap ass vinyl floor underneath the laminate. Now we have to hire a floor guy to come out and replace the warped boards. Our friendly Sears repairman (now billing full price) arrived and diagnosed the problem, a blown motor. He replaced the motor and $350 later, we have a working dishwasher.

This morning my husband got out of the shower and declared we were once again living under an appliance curse. The hot water heater was on the fritz. His blue lips should have been proof enough, but I had to run downstairs to see for myself. Praying that there was no leak as we have the same laminate hardwood all over the basement, I checked it out. No leak but no pilot light either. I had a huge meeting today with a company I'm trying to sell our consulting services to. Of course. I ended up throwing on sweats, putting my toiletries in my backpack, grabbing my suit and going to the office to shower.

Luckily our water heater is on our utility company service plan that we pay for every month. The water heater was not a total loss and a couple of parts later (and no bill thankfully) we are back to indoor plumbing.

Please see #3 above. We are living on borrowed time. The temperature has dropped 30 degrees in the last twenty-four hours. Smart money in the dead pool has the furnace.

"My First Sweater"

2006-11-27T19:45:00.000-06:00

3 or 4 years ago, when I first started knitting, I took a class at Amazing Threads called My First Sweater. It was a drop shoulder, stockinette stitch sweater with a very simple garter stitch neck. As is my usual M.O. I knitted like a fiend on it, outpaced the rest of the class and stopped going to class before the end. I missed the important final class on how to sew the damn thing together. It has sat in my stash, in pieces, ever since. I think it's Cascade 220. It's a beautiful chocolate brown (I would never recommend doing your first sweater in anything this dark, it's too hard to read your stitches).

I've made many sweaters since then, but without fail I've used a three-needle bind off to finish the shoulders. I've sewn the shoulders of My First Sweater three times and each time has looked worse than the last. Finally this weekend in a burst of "I'm gonna put that damn sweater together once and for all!" I did what would have been unthinkable at one time. I undid the bound off shoulders and did a three-needle bind off. The mere thought of such an action would have put me into a cold sweat two years ago. I'm not saying it was without trepidation, but I'm feelin' pretty knitterly right about now my friends.

After being rolled into a ball, in a drawer for three years or more, I have to re-block the whole thing before I sew the sleeves and seam it, but I think My First Sweater will actually be worn soon.

In other news, remember back to August when I started fair isle hats for the nieces and nephews? Well I ran out of steam on those, only the boys are getting fair isle hats, the girls are getting felted ballerina slippers. They will probably like them better anyway. On Thanksgiving night, my five year old godson nephew Ben asked me to follow him to his room. He has perhaps the biggest eyes of any child ever and I have no defenses against them. He has also lost all four front teeth, two on the bottom, two on the top, resulting in a very endearing lisp. He looks at me with his big eyes and lisps, "Auntie Kate what I really, really want for Christmas is something (imagine this pronounced thomthing and he's lookin' at me with the eyes) you knit for me. Thomthing warm for winter like a hat or mittens. That's what I really, really want."

I ask you, does this kid have my number or what?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T06:54:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. I love Thanksgiving. We always have a big family dinner with sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws and outlaws. My sister and cousin take turns hosting. I've been out of the rotation for years because my house was too small to have 25 or 30 people for dinner. When we moved, I laid low but eventually my sister and cousin looked around my house and said, "why aren't you taking a turn?" So at some point I was put on the rotation.

I'm very thankful today that I don't have to cook. My sister and her husband, both wonderful cooks, are hosting dinner. Last year my sister decided that she wanted to spend the day with her in-laws as it wasn't fair to her husband that they always spend the holiday with her family. My cousin hosted an "orphans" Thanksgiving with friends, and my brother had to work. So I hosted my parents and in-laws here. Much like my approach to socks (I don't knit socks), I just don't cook. It's not that I can't cook, I just don't. So last year was my second attempt at turkey.

My first attempt was two years ago and a royal pain when my sister and my cousin's husband arrived and decided "She's doing it all wrong". They took over the kitchen and in between criticizing my appliances (brand new and stainless! what's not to like?) my cookware, and my skills, managed to save the family from my incompetence. I was driven to a corner clutching a bottle of wine and muttering curse words under my breath. Happy Holidays!

First let me say as a germ-a-phobe and semi-food-phobe, turkey scares the crap out of me. Every year at this time the morning news shows and food t.v. talk about how dangerous undercooked turkey can be. And the stuffing!! Forget about actually stuffing the stuffing in the bird, it should be cooked in a clean room offsite, as far away from the salmonella-carrying turkey as humanly possible. This slows my turkey cooking down considerably as, armed with Clorox clean-ups, I follow myself around disinfecting as I go. My bird might end up dry, but no one is getting food poisoning on my watch! Up to my elbows in a sink full of cool water, I wrestled a not totally thawed turkey into submission. Nearly in tears as I tried to remove the handy packet of organs and neck from the wrong side of the turkey. Yes, indeed I was trying to pull them out the little turkey ass.

In the end last year, my complete lack of knowledge regarding turkey anatomy aside, the dinner was a success. It was only a half hour off schedule. I only had to make aproximately three thousand calls to MFF (acting as my personal turkey hotline) and only drank three glasses of wine while cooking. Everyone had a swell time and no one was stricken with food borne illness.

Did I mention that this year one of the many things I'm thankful for is that I'm not cooking dinner?

P.S. a family gathering like this, involving wine, can only result in some great Roger Clinton stories and pictures for the blog next week!

Today's Home Ec

2006-11-19T07:03:00.000-06:00

No knitting progress to report because I am crocheting. Yep, I promised my son, the blanket hoarder, a chocolate brown afghan for his room. So I'm crocheting a quickie. It's done with three strands of Jiffy held together. I know it's acrylic that you can buy at a craft store, but for afghans washable is best.

Afghans need to be there when you are sick. They need to be dragged up and down the stairs by kids. Dogs and cats lay on afghans. They need to be washable. Really washable. And you need to throw them in the dryer too.

I actually like Jiffy. I like the mohairy look of it and the soft feel. I hate that the skeins are wound by evil trolls who knot up the middle of each skein. I've spent as much time untangling yarn as I have crocheting the damn blanket. If you use Jiffy for anything I recommend doing so with an ample supply of wine and chocolate.

My son is addicted to blankets and afghans. He has a pile of them. He uses them nearly every day. He has one that I crocheted for him 7 or 8 years ago that is an absolute mess but he refuses to give it up. I have fixed it countless times. Now that he is in the eighth grade and has taken the mandatory Family and Consumer Sciences (yes, this is the new politically correct, gender neutral name for good ol' Home Ec) he has taken to re-sewing the afghan himself. He was really going for a spot on the Honor Roll this quarter and at mid-quarter, FCS was standing in his way. So he started working on extra credit projects. He made himself a pair of fleece sleep pants and a plastic canvas thing that resulted in an A+ in the dreaded FCS. You cannot imagine my relief that helping him in FCS has been teaching him how to use a sewing machine as opposed to cooking. Last year FCS was cooking. He brought home muffins that weighed about 4 pounds each and could break a tooth. I am no help in cooking as I don't cook, but ask me to fire up the sewing machine and I'm there baby!

Armed with his A+, there is no way that I am going to be able to convince him that learning to crochet and finishing this afghan would be infinitely more personally satisfying. So I'm stuck untangling Jiffy. Pass the wine.

Thanks

2006-11-15T06:58:00.000-06:00

Thank you for all your kind comments, it makes me feel much better about my blog. No new knitting news, nothing earth shattering going on around here, but maybe I can catch up on things in general.

I've been on the road a bit lately. Flying is a whole new experience now what with exploding hair gel. Ever since 9/11 there has been a lot of yelling at airports. Not screaming matches ala Diannah Ross, but general instructions being yelled. I wonder if the reservation agents and TSA people realized all the yelling they'd be doing when they accepted their positions. So in case you haven't flown lately and are getting ready to fly somewhere for the holidays, here is a rundown on the state of the airports. At least as I have found them.

I always fly on an e-ticket and I love being able to check in online. Now that my toiletries are considered a danger, I'm checking my bags. Me and everyone else. The electronic kiosks at Mpls/St. Paul airport have been turned into manned electronic kiosks with check in areas for baggage. When I reached the kiosk area I was greeted by a friendly, yelling Northwest Airlines reservation agent yelling instructions about where to go if you are checking bags versus where to go if you are not. I invaribly end up in line behind two senior citizens flying off to see the grandkids. They can't manage the touchscreen check in and take four times longer than anyone else to complete the transaction.

Bags checked, I stand near the doors and assess the security line situation. Unlike most airports, MSP has 5 or 6 different security lines. So I have to determine which one seems to be moving the fastest. Back in the days that I was flying all the time I had "elite" status with NW resulting in automatic upgrades, so I could get into the first class only security line which usually saved time. There were fewer people in the first class line, plus they were people who traveled often and knew the drill so there was a lot less yelling.

I picked a line and began to run the TSA security gauntlet. The first station is the people who never yell. Mainly because they don't speak any English. They check your boarding pass against your drivers license, look at you and squint, then make an illegible mark on your boarding pass. They will grunt at you to indicate you've passed this first all important security check.

The TSA security gauntlet has a whole new station of zip lock bag ladies. Begin the yelling. Waving zip locks over their heads they shout the instructions that will protect us all from potentially life threatening exploding toiletries and beverages. No more than 3 ounces per jar/tube, all must be contained in zip lock bags (imagine zip lock bags can protect us from exploding toothpaste!) No water, no coffee. If you didn't prepack with zip locks they will provide them to you. Anything over 3 ounces must be disposed of. Of course I am behind a woman wearing aprox $50,000 worth of heavy gold jewelry, dressed in a brightly colored velour track suit and ostrich cowboy boots. She is very unhappy that she will have to throw away Lancome face cream that retails for over $100 a jar. Now she'll look wrinkly as well as dressed badly.

Next comes the actual security line with the TSA agents whose job it is to yell about laptops. The champion laptop yellers are at Chicago's Midway airport. These women can yell long and loud. Laptops must come out of your bag and be placed in a separate bin. Throw your cell phone, sunglasses, book, bag, coat and shoes in another bin. Jewelry can generally go through the machine on your person unless you are wearing aproximately $50,000 worth or are wearing a huge belt buckle bearing the Smith and Wesson logo. If you are wearing both, please just turn around and go home to get therapy before you fly. If you choose to ignore this warning, please God don't be in the seat next to me. While you cannot bring an un-zip locked tube of tooth paste through to the plane, feel free to bring your knitting. Addi turbos are a-okay. They will come in handy if you end up next to the ostrich boot woman (did I mention she bathed in Calvin Klein's Obsession?) on the plane and have the urge to hang yourself from the overhead bins.

Once through the metal detector you can have a choice of being wanded or you may have your bags swabbed for gunpowder residue! Being swabbed is preferrable to being wanded. At least you know where your bag is. If you are a woman, being wanded involves waiting for the next available TSA wand woman (so you don't feel harrassed while being wanded by a man. I have felt harrassed since the cabbie dropped me off at the airport) while watching the conveyor frantically to make sure your bag doesn't get stolen.

Now you are free to board your plane. Or sit on the dirty carpet at the gate (there are 250 people on your flight and 80 chairs at the gate) waiting to board. When they call first class everyone will lurch to the gate hauling their zip locks. There are 16 seats in first class and 75 people lined up when they call boarding for first class. Figure that.

Gone are the days of sitting in first class sharing a bag of candy orange slices with the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves (he is pretty cute and single btw), I'm now in the middle seat in coach stuck between guy who has asked for a seatbelt extension and close-talker-guy who has decided to take off his shoes. Behind me are seniors who talk very loudly. Perhaps they have been rendered deaf by being yelled at so many times before boarding. Now the flight attendants can tell everyone to put their seats up and turn off their blackberries and cell phones. We are off! There are no peanuts, pretzels, magazines or horrible food to distribute anymore so the flight attendants can now gather to complain about the airline, the passengers, the gate agents, and how much their feet hurt.

When the plane lands and they tell you that you can fire up your cell phones, please participate in the "I'm so important that the Stock Exchange has probably crashed while I was out of touch for one hour" ritual of firing up your cell phone. If it doesn't start immediately buzzing with messages, frantically dial someone to tell them you have landed. It could be your mother on the other end of the phone, but make it look like you are speaking to the chairman of a Fortune 100 company.

I travel for business so my journey ends at the cab stand. If you are traveling for pleasure (can travel be a pleasure these days?) you must go to the airport holding pen to try to find your loved ones. The holding pens vary from airport to airport, but are designed to keep dangerous non-flyers from infiltrating the system. Personally I think the most dangerous person in the airport is whomever just sat next to the ostrich boot woman, who has spent the entire flight whining about her lost Lancome. I hope your loved ones have their cell phones with them because calling them and trying to explain your general location is the only way they will find you.

Fun huh? Glamorous! It's a party in the sky! Don't you wish you traveled for business? Maybe next time I'll tell you about how much I love staying in hotels! Bring your Clorox cleanup wipes.

In The Words of Pink

2006-11-14T06:49:00.000-06:00

I'm not dead. I just seem to have lost my zest for blogging lately. What with work keeping me busy and stressed out, stuff to do with the family and around the house, I just haven't had it in me. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the big controversy about aggregators using content and putting ads on it. When I discovered that my blog was not even captured by any aggregators, I started to realize that only a few people read this thing anyway and I felt a bit defeated. I know that is a little like chasing a robber down the street because he broke into the house next door while shouting "hey, what's the matter, isn't my house good enough to rob?!" but I'm weird that way.

So, I'm back. I don't know if I'm back daily but I think I can manage three times a week. I have been knitting. I finished this:

It's for my friend's baby. Born in September, family schedules haven't allowed us to get together yet, but I'm hoping soon. First of course, I'll have to get rid of the three freaking cold sores on my mouth, but soon. The pattern was free on Jimmy Beans. It is made with two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherds Worsted. I added the little flower on the hat to make it more girly.

I've also been working on this, also in Lornas Laces. Which, if I haven't mentioned it before, I love. It's the softest washable wool I've ever used and it really is washable.
This particular color is Mother Lode. I found it on sale, sale, sale at Little Knits. I don't know if I would have picked the color if not for the sale, but as it turns out I love it. The pattern is one of Wendy's (Knit and Tonic Wendy) that I bought at the Garter Belt. Her patterns are terrific. Wearable, mostly top down, and easy. Not mind-numbingly, death march knitting easy, but just easy enough to make yourself a cute little cardigan and watch "Dancing with the Stars".

So there you go, I'm alive and knitting. I'll be back. Soon.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T06:36:00.000-06:00

From Maggie and Maxine

The boys have decorated the house. This weekend we were at Target where I was eyeing some tasteful grapevine pumpkins with little white twinkle lights. I was promptly told that I get to decorate for Christmas, but Halloween is for my husband and son. Tasteful is not the goal. Well, they don't have to worry, there is nothing tasteful in their decorating.

Their favorite new decoration was obtained while I was away. It is a battery operated rock with a motion detector. When someone walks by it lights up and moans. Imagine my joy at finding this while walking up the walk to the door in the dark one night. By the time my shaking hand was able to unlock the front door, my son was down the stairs laughing so hard he was doubled over.

Son: "Mom, I could hear you scream all the way up in my room!"
Me: "mrrgfl"

Yeah, they are a funny bunch around here. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Chicago Bound

2006-10-25T08:11:00.000-05:00

I'm off to Chicago until the weekend. I'm attending a conference on the aging workforce. Sounds like fun, huh?

I will leave you with a picture of my new special knitting assistant.

Albert the cat has been bravely (okay timidly) venturing out of my son's room these days. Of course Maxine Louise the BHFH wants to play with him and he wants absolutely nothing to do with dogs. But we are making progress.

That cat better stay away from my yarn!

No Time For Knitting

2006-10-23T18:44:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to get myself organized so I haven't been blogging or doing much knitting. My apologies!

I spent the last three days getting organized. Friday I got all my summer clothes put away and hauled all the winter stuff out. My sweaters! I love my sweaters! This will be good news for all of us here in Minnesota who have been dealing with an early cold snap. Taking out all my warm clothing will certainly bring the mercury back to the 70's soon. It has been in the 30's and 40's most of the last couple weeks and the sun has been a no-show. This is too early for cold, even here on the frozen tundra and it's making people crabby. If it doesn't warm up again here soon, expect a February of crankiness and possible road rage. Of course road rage here consists primarily of rude gestures, but still. . .

This weekend was spent cleaning our garage. I know that there are men out there who take a great deal of pride in a perfect garage. My husband is not one of them. Our garage has been an absolute wreck for two years. I've left it to him to do whatever cleaning or organizing there is to do. He is generally very organized. So much so that at one point when he was laid off, he reorganized my cupboards, drawers and the credit cards in my purse. This lead to a heartful (and loud) discussion of when a man should go rummaging in his wife's purse (NEVER). Anyway, I pitched in and helped this time out. I found some interesting stuff:

Jack stands. We have never once, no matter how strapped for cash, worked on our own cars. Never. Now that he has a hybrid, my husband can't even get his oil changed anyplace but the dealership. When I lobbied for donating said jack stands to charity I was turned down.
Four 5 gallon buckets of floor adhesive, primer, etc. from when the house was built 7 years ago.
Five big, giant tubs of fabric and pillow forms from when I used to sew all the time.
My antique, mahogany, Georgian drop leaf table. Yikes!
A bucket of pieces of brick?

Why we were holding on to this stuff I'll never know. Thank goodness for dumpster service. In the end, I can actually drive my car into the garage and leave it there all night. I can get out of the car and walk in the side door without climbing over things too! Next week after the last of the stuff has been hauled to charity, we will be able to fit both cars in the garage. I know that many of you do this every day, but in our household, this is a major accomplishment!

My Celebrity Rant Plus Before & After

2006-10-17T07:26:00.000-05:00

Does anyone else find this phenomenon of celebrities visiting impoverished countries and coming home with a baby, strange? I understand there isn't a Barneys in Africa. Madonna couldn't buy the new Prada boots on her trip so she brought home a child? Did her daughter get a t-shirt that says, "My Mom Went to Africa and All I Got Was a Dumb Ol' Baby Brother"? Aren't there nice middle class folk using their savings to travel back and forth battling other countries' red tape for months or years waiting to adopt? I'm just saying. END OF RANT

So here is the before:

And the after felting:
This is my first felting project using Brown Sheep. Three strands are used throughout. I really liked this pattern. The lifted increases create a strong ridge that mimics the ridges found in a pumpkin. Looking at the sample picture, it appears they felted it more than I did mine, but I wanted to keep it a little larger. Overall, I'm pleased. The pattern is in the newest Magknits, uses four skeins of Brown Sheep or Cascade 220. I started this last Thursday night and as you know, I didn't get as much knitting time as I would have liked this weekend. I think it could be a weekend project.
Pumpkin? I thought I was mom's little pumpkin!! Anyone know how I get this fridge open?

Mysteries of Life

2006-10-17T06:58:00.000-05:00

My knitting life has been rather uneventful lately, I just haven't gotten all that much done. I should have a before and after on the felted pumpkin for you soon though.

I've spent the last three days driving back and forth to and from St. Cloud. It's about 60 miles north of here. Saturday I went up because my SIL (yes, RC's wife) had a Tastefully Simple party that I promised I would attend. My dislike of home parties is legendary amongst my friends and family so my attendance at one of these things is a gesture of love. Especially driving 60 miles to attend a dreaded home party. Luckily the Tastefully Simple party involves a lot of food and some wine. Plus my SIL's friend who is the rep doesn't pressure everyone else to throw a party. And she is relatively normal. Part of what I hate about home parties of any kind is an uber-perky sales person trying to get me to host a party of my own, or worse work for her giving home parties. "But you can get up to $100 of free merchandise!", howse about I give you $100 to leave me the hell alone?

Sunday the whole famdamily drove back to St. Cloud to set up a booth for a trade show. Being in the car for more than an hour makes my son squirrely. After a half hour stuck in "coming home from up north" Sunday afternoon traffic, listening to him sing commercials and make up songs, I nearly put him out on the side of the road.

Yesterday I drove BACK to St. Cloud for the trade show where I spent 8 hours on my feet in heels smiling at people who were only there for the free stuff. As my free stuff basically sucked, I practically had to be a carnival barker to get people into my booth. I've got a basket full of business cards and really sore feet to show for it. Yippee.

Last night we attended parent teacher conferences at the High School to find the answer to the burning question, why is my son getting a better grade in French than in English? English being his native tongue and all. The high school was built a zillion years ago and is a one story building laid out like a maze. Much of our two hours there was spent looking at the provided map and arguing about whether hallway F is really next to hallway G or inexplicably next to hallway A. After stumbling around lost, we discovered the answer to the French vs. English question and discovered that if he doesn't start paying more attention in Social Studies he will make a fine and funny feature on the Tonight Show's Jaywalking segment. He is, however, getting A's in math and gym.

So with all the driving and the smiling and the parenting I haven't gotten much knitting done.

A Rather Blustery Day

2006-10-13T06:45:00.000-05:00

I've been up on and off all night. The wind has been blowing so hard that the rocking chair on our deck has been rocking. Unfortunately the deck is attached to the wall by our bedroom so all night long it sounded like people were walking around on our deck. Of course our crack team of watch dogs was snoring soundly (while trying to push me off the bed and stealing the blankets) and I was wide awake. Finally at about 3:30, I woke my husband and made him check out the noises. This prompted instant action on the part of the watch dog team. They jumped up and moved to the warm spot on the bed he had left and went back to sleep. At least I got my blankets back. So if my writing seems groggy today, it is.

It should be a terrific day though. As the firm made our 3rd quarter financial goals the managing director has declared that we may wear "smart" outfits with jeans on Fridays for the remainder of the month. There has been considerable discussion around the office about a)what constitutes smart and who will be the judge; b)when we became English without anyone telling us. Okay our resident managing director's boss is English, an import from the London office, and he may be influencing things. Smart or professional I don't care, I'm just happy to get the chance to wear jeans. It's so much easier. There is much less outfit coordination involved in jeans. Men don't entirely understand this, but it's true. Everything goes with jeans. Including this:

It's my $9 cardigan! I finally got it blocked and sewed on a button. Plus it's certainly cold enough to wear it today so wear it I will. Just to refresh everyone's memory, I bought the yarn for this when visiting my parents in SD back in August. The JoAnn at their mall was going out of business and clearancing everything. The yarn was 80% off and cost a total of $9, hence the $9 cardigan. The yarn is bulky and has a little shine to it. I used this top down pattern from Knitting Pure & Simple bought from Jimmy Beans. I really like their patterns. Most are top down and they are well written and easy to follow.

Gotta run and load up on coffee. Tonight I have my first dance class. I haven't taken one in 15 years so I will probably be hobbling around stiff and sore tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Catching Up

2006-10-12T05:50:00.000-05:00

And I am. Catching up. Caught up. Tuesday in New Ulm I was sad to see Nadel Kunst is closed. If you remember my last trip to New Ulm, I met the shop owner Nutty Cindy and really liked her and the shop. I imagine it's hard to sustain a yarn shop in a town of 13,000 but Nutty Cindy seemed to be flourishing in June. I somehow imagine her at home in front of the fire knitting her inventory now. (Now that would be a stash!)

I did make a stop at Mary Lue's (sorry Chris I couldn't find Tangled Skeins) where I ran into a group of three ladies, all over 75 years old, who were out on a shopping excursion. It seems one of them is working on her first felted project and she's trying to get her pals hooked on felting too. I chatted with them over the bins of Brown Sheep and they were the coolest. I bought some Brown Sheep to make this, some clearance, clearance Katrina, and scored a couple of skeins of Kureyon in shades I don't already have.

Yesterday I really caught up. I took a day of vacation as I had the world's longest dentist appointment scheduled and thought I could make some progress on my deadline projects. I'm happy to say that I finished Grandma Purl's squares, blocked my Lizard Ridge squares that I'm donating to Stephania's Afghans for Afghans project, finished the spa wash cloth for my SP angel-ing, and got Chris' prize together for Look Back and Cringe! I picked up buttons for both the $9 cardigan and the baby sweater and finished a sleeve on the baby sweater. By the time the boys got home yesterday afternoon, the kitchen and living room looked like some crazy yarn studio. The winder and swift were attached to the kitchen counter and there was stuff blocking on just about every flat surface imaginable. Today I can go to the post office and get everything out in the mail. A huge relief.

I have until Saturday afternoon to finish the baby cardigan as Saturday I get to go meet the baby (finally!) on my way to St. Cloud. The finishing should not be a problem as I only have one sleeve to go. I am hoping I can finish it tonight.

I will have achieved project freedom. I still have sleeves to finish for my jean jacket vest, but I won't have any obligation knitting to do on tight deadlines. I'm going to say "no" to further deadline knitting until after the holidays. I do have some holiday knitting to do but nothing elaborate. Whew! I feel like the weight of world is off my shoulders.

Another Road Trip

2006-10-10T07:10:00.000-05:00

I'm hitting the road to New Ulm again. I'm sure I will have to hit a couple of shops on the way home. Post to come later.

Monday, Monday

2006-10-09T06:41:00.000-05:00

Just today I wish I worked for the government. My dad did for 30+ years and always had Columbus Day off. No one who lives here in Little Scandanavia actually believes Columbus discovered the U.S., but it's still a national holiday. Couldn't they re-designate this day for someone who accomplished something more significant for our country? Susan B. Anthony or Thomas Edison or Lewis & Clark or even Martin & Lewis Day? I don't mean to downplay the accomplishment of introducing small pox to the natives of the Cayman Islands, but it seems like there are a whole lot of people (and there are no national holidays designated for a woman) who have made a bigger contribution than Columbus.

Anyway, I could use another day to get some stuff done. I got some things done around the house this weekend. All four bathrooms are clean and dusting was done. I spent lots of quality time with my son. All the laundry is done. I finished a square for Grandma Purl and I hope to finish another tonight. But I still have a ton of deadline knitting to do and I have to get packages ready to mail. I'm still feeling behind.

Yesterday I visited Borders to see if I could find a copy of Wrap Style. I keep seeing posts of the Shetland Triangle and I think I have to try it. I like that it is worked from the wide end down to the point. I think this is one I can do. I was in front of the knitting magazines and made a comment about the cover of Knit Scene to the woman crouched next to me. Turns out she's a knitter too. So fifteen minutes of conversation later we had exchanged the names of our favorite pattern websites, yarn shops, and books. Talked about why our puppies want our yarn and gotten to know each other a bit. I've never had a hobby that seems to bond people like knitting does. The knitting community is a weird and wonderful thing.

I have to run. Monday morning sales meeting. Happy fill in the blank Day. Whose day should this be?

Thank Heavens for Crazy Friends

2006-10-07T07:39:00.000-05:00

I've been a bad blogger, but I've milked the birthday girl thing all week long. Obviously my friends and family know the way to my heart is with yarn. My sister took me out to lunch at PF Chang's and gave me a card with yarn money inside. My guys gave me a Knit Picks gift certificate and MFF (my friend Fritz) gave me this:

I, of course, pulled some needles out of my purse and started gauge swatching immediately. I'm getting about 6 stitches per inch on number 4 needles. Now I have to figure out what I'm going to make. Thank you Linda for helping MFF out with this purchase. You must have thought he was nuts (he is a little). Now I finally understand your comment Linda. I'll stop in next week. Poor MFF has been dragged to so many knit shops. He's my non-knitting, knitting pal. I don't really have other knitters to hang out with (which I know is my own damn fault) so it's nice to have a friend that understands and even encourages my obsession. His personal obsession is very expensive foreign sports cars so my yarn buying seems like an inexpensive hobby to him.

But before I start indulging myself with birthday present knitting, I have a lot of things to finish. Like this:

I gave up on all the Samantha lace and cuteness and decided to go simple for my friend's new baby. It's my absolute favorite Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. I love how soft it is. I love that it can be washed (perfect for baby stuff). I love the colors. I love knitting with it. I can't find it in any of the LYSs I've visited. I've been told by one shop owner that they are too unreliable as far as shipping and availability for shops to stock. (I take this with a grain of salt as this particular shop owner still won't stock Brown Sheep because of the wait she had on orders after their factory burned down a couple years ago. Hardly their fault I would say.) So I've bought all my Lorna's from Jimmy Beans and Little Knits. Little Knits is closing it out and not selling it anymore, but they have a few skeins left on sale, sale, sale. Every time I've ordered it from Jimmy Beans they have had to substitute colors for me, but they've been great to work with. So I'm hoping to finish this sweater this weekend and get it in the mail.

I feel so behind. I've got so much to finish and not enough time. And I really do have to get some stuff done in the yard before the weather turns on me and it's too late.

I'm out here. A little overwhelmed a lot behind, but I'm out here.

Don't Try This At Home

2006-10-03T19:00:00.000-05:00

We interrupt this family free-for-all to bring you some knitting. Or some unsolicited knitting advice, cos doesn't everyone love a little unsolicited advice? I know I do! Especially from the lunch room ladies!

Remember that garterlac dish rag I whipped out one Saturday morning not too long ago? Yeah, that made me cocky and too sure of my self. Too sure of myself.

I volunteered to be an angel for the One Skein Secret Pal exchange. I felt terrible that some people got nothing. I have to come up with a hand knit gift and quick. My SP lives in the south so a wool hat or some such thing would be useless to her. So I thought, what about a garterlac done in cotton chenille as a spa wash cloth? Some nice soap, etc. I'd be all set.

In retrospect I think the vareigation in the Peaches n' Cream helped me keep track of where I was at in the pattern when I did the dish cloth. I also think (and this is perhaps the most important factor) that doing in alone in a room was the key to my earlier success. Not so with the spa cloth. First, it's all one color. Second, I tried to do it while watching t.v. with a 14 year old and two dogs. Bad idea. I've ripped it out twice all ready. The cotton chenille is not loving the frogging.

Back to it. Wish me luck.

BTW, did you read my sister's comments? As if anything I've ever done that my parents don't already know about would shock them!

And He Confesses!!!

2006-10-02T21:11:00.000-05:00

So in case you didn't read my comments here is one from Anonymous:

And I would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for your meddling blogsters and your stupid dog too!!! Oh, wait, that was for when I was secretly revealed as Captain Cutler, The Black Night Ghost, or Miner 49er. Easy on the "respectable citizen" stuff, I have a reputation to keep poor. So it's true, I am RC. For you regular blog readers, I am Kate and Susan's blacksheep brother. The sibling who smokes cigars, gambles and swears. Well, the one who smokes cigars, gambles and swears but doesn't knit. At least Susan is respectable. Occasionally I've been known to wear a purse on my head and walk like the monkeys from Oz. On a more interesting note, today is Kate's birthday!!!! You can see from her pictures she has posted that she looks much younger than her 49 years. The next one will be THE BIG 50!! Happy Birthday big sister!!! Stay tuned for future comments, including "10 things you didn't know about Kate".He He He He He Dave

I'm a little afraid about the "10 Things You Didn't Know About Kate". Okay I'm very afraid. And I will have it known that I am actually 42 today. He's 10 years younger, so if I were 49, that would make his next birthday 40. So don't push my age along. And it just so happens I gave up cigars after a really bad incident involving duty-free Irish whiskey and cuban cigars. (there is no worse hangover. you're just praying to die)

So mystery solved but I may have opened a giant sized can of worms.

Presenting Roger Clinton

2006-10-01T18:13:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I started getting anonymous comments on the blog from someone who signed themselves Roger Clinton. This person was sarcastic and funny. Commented some on my knitting, but never on their own.

Nancy Drew Clue Alert: I don't think Roger is a knitter

Then a few weeks ago there was an incident at the Minnesota Zoo involving meerkats. 5 had to be euthanized after someone let their 9 year old into their habitat and the 9 year old was bitten. Roger Clinton commented on my blog referencing dead meerkats.

NDCA: Roger Clinton is from Minnesota

A light bulb went off and I suspected I might know the identity of Roger. But he is elusive and laid low after I said as much on the blog.

Then it came back to me. Last winter I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper after our latest school funding levy failed. I was really ticked off because I saw on the local news a bunch of 70 and 80-something women coming out of the polling place declaring they already paid too much taxes. This pissed me off. I know that they probably contributed very little to Social Security and that it takes 3 currently employed people to support one senior on Social Security. I have no problem paying my taxes to support them, but they can't give up Caribou Coffee once a week to improve my kid's school. ANYWAY. (I'm jumping off my soapbox now) Needless to say my letter was not well received by some of the senior citizens in my neighborhood. I got an e-mail of support though from the person I now suspect is Roger Clinton.

In the e-mail he said I should run for Governor and as my brother he will be happy to act as the family Billy Carter or Roger Clinton. Getting boozy at all the wrong times and embarrassing me publicly in the proud tradition of Roger Clinton.

NDCA: Roger Clinton is my little brother David.

Drumroll please. Presenting Roger Clinton:

Here is he is now, getting in shape for his role should I ever hold public office. Yes, that is a Lucy bag on his head. I knit it for my sister last winter. He is a more responsible citizen than he appears in this picture. (I wasn't going to show a picture where he actually LOOKS like a responsible citizen, how would that be any fun?) He holds a management position. He is a good dad. He follows all the DNR rules about how many fish you can catch. He has a near photographic memory that is very annoying at times because the things he chooses to remember are things like the entire script of Airplane, but all in all he's a good guy. Slippery though. The general consensus amongst the family is that he is indeed Roger Clinton but will probably never admit to it.

When everyone replied to my question yesterday that they have never received comments from Roger Clinton. My suspicions were confirmed. And when he threatened to out himself, I had to take immediate action. So HAH Roger Clinton. You're out there baby (and you're loving it!)

You Say It's Your Birthday

2006-09-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

It's not actually my birthday yet, but since my parents were in town we had a little birthday gathering last night. My parents, my MIL & FIL. Mom and Dad gave me yarn money. MIL/FIL gave me a new suit. A birthday suit, hooray! It's a long story, but my MIL worked for Daytons/Marshall Fields (now Macy's) for years and years. Part of her retirement is that she gets her employee discount for life. Since Macy's has ridden into town, they have declared that their sales associates will only wear black. When D/MF had to sell off all the brands that Macy's doesn't carry, they set aside all the black suits for sales associates to buy at a huge discount so that they could comply with the new all black all the time rule. One of her former co-workers called my MIL and told her about the black suit sale and told her she could get in on the deals as a retired associate. So she bought a black suit for herself and one for me! This is great because I wear suits 2-4 times a week at "the firm". So I have a beautiful new Anne Klein suit.

I haven't really knit at all this week and I realized this morning that I am literally drowning in UFOs. We are talking the little men descending from the craft to take me away and perform Martian experiments on me. I have my Sunrise Circle Jacket, a hooded tunic for my nephew, a Lizard Ridge square, a Grandma Purl square, the final poncho, a Fair Isle hat. So this weekend I am committed to finishing something, anything.

I just joined the Lizard Ridge KAL. Maybe this will be the KAL where I actually finish the project! I'm down to three finished squares because I just committed two to Stephania's LR Afghans for Afghans project. Thanks to Chris for directing me to the site. (BTW Chris, I still haven't received an e-mail with your address to send you your prize!)

In other news, I have a devious plan for outing Roger Clinton. It involves a picture of the suspected RC. I am waiting to receive the picture and then I will post. The picture is of the suspected RC and contains knitting. More later, but a note to all my blog friends, have you ever gotten a comment from Roger Clinton on your blog? This information will help me in my Nancy Drew efforts.

As much as I enjoy reading about knitting and writing about knitting. I better get to the actual knitting.

Away From Home

2006-09-28T06:09:00.000-05:00

I awoke to the sounds of NPR. For me, this qualifies as a rude awakening. I'm just not an NPR kinda girl. Not just in that I shave my legs on a regular basis. They editorialize every single story. If Katie Couric reported the news like they do on NPR she'd be fired. The story I woke up to was about Terrell Owens. Correction it was about how the story of Terrell Owens was "big news" and reporters were all over the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. They disdain sports anyway on NPR, but they were really disparaging in this particular report. Referring to TO as "a man who catches footballs for a living". Yes, I realize that being a wide receiver in the NFL isn't as nobel a profession as making peanuts as a posturing little stringer for NPR, but please. Okay, I think I'm done ranting.

I've done almost no knitting. I missed Project Runway last night and the Gilmore chicks season premier on Tuesday. I have nothing worthwhile to write about. Except, despite what he says, I think TO probably did try to kill himself and I hope that someone gets him help. 'Cos he's seemed a little nuts to me for quite some time. I don't know if I'd want my boss to be the warm and fuzzy Bill Parcells if I was feeling blue.

Quick Note

2006-09-26T07:05:00.000-05:00

I'm hitting the road today for work. You know how I love that. Yesterday I was at Needlework Unlimited and I noticed a flyer for the Minnesota Knit Out. It's in my neighborhood at Brookdale Mall. Yes, truly the Mall where the hookers shop (and I'm not talkin' crochet here people).

I try to shop at Brookdale but other than the Barnes & Noble and my pal Shawn's Subway, there isn't much for a forty-something. I'm on a Macy's boycott because I'm not over the loss of Daytons. (Yeah, I know that was two acquisitions ago, but I was really attached) If someone sees me walking into Forever 21, they should tackle me. I'm not 21 and 40-somethings that want to dress like they are 21 just look a little sad. There is even one store called K-something that has to be where the hookers shop. If all the hookers and drag queens in town get invited to Ascot to enjoy the races with the Queen, they definitely need to make a stop at K-whatever to buy shiny cheap satin dresses with big matching hats. Get some satin pumps dyed mint green to match. Oh, but if you need really expensive cool sneakers, there are about 4 or 5 stores that sell them. So as much as I try to boost my little town's economy, there isn't much for me to buy at Brookdale other than books at the B&N and hoodies at Steve & Barrys.

That being said, I'm really excited that knitters are coming to my neck of the woods. Some will have to pack their Louis Vuitton bags and venture north of 394 for the first time ever. Some will have to cross the river! I love my crazy little neighborhood where diversity rules and you can't go anywhere without running into someone you know. So I'm hoping to see you here on October 8th.

And The Winner Is. . .

2006-09-25T18:29:00.000-05:00

Using a random number generator, Chris is the winner of Look Back & Cringe. The prize yarn is in no way purple or black so I'm hoping she will still use it. I'm also some including some other stuff (also not purple or black) that hopefully she will use.

Finally, as a thank you or perhaps a punishment, I give you my own Look Back & Cringe photo
Forget the fact that I look like I would break in a strong wind, how much hair did I really need? I actually paid someone to do this to my hair. I wanted the big news anchor scoops to stay really big all day. No, those aren't two catepillars that crawled up over my eyes, they are my brows. I did fall for the Caroline Kennedy wedding dress that was in retrospect very conservative compared to the giant sleeved beaded numbers that were popular at the time. I had to have the pillbox veil with the giant pouf in the back though. You couldn't legally marry without the big pouf.

Thanks to everyone for having fun with my little contest.

End of Look Back and Cringe

2006-09-25T06:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the official end to Look Back and Cringe. If I missed your entry, let me know. I'll choose a winner via random number and post tonight.

Blatantly disregarding The Sheep's warning about knitting on cold medication, Ispent most of the weekend in bed with a fever, knitting and watching Gilmore Girls the Complete 6th season. One thing I can tell you, the cold medication really takes the edge of the frogging. I was trying to make a simple square for Grandma Purl. I wanted to make it washable because I generally believe that afghans should be washable (that's why I'm doing a giant Kureyon afghan for my first one?! what's wrong with me? No, really) and I wanted happy colors. I remembered that I had some Koigu in the stash that I bought just because of it's really happy colors. It seemed like the perfect choice for an afghan square. Since it's a simple square what better way to try out some of the patterns from Vogue Knitting's Stitchionary? Getting gauge so that this square is exactly 8 inches was a royal pain. After frogging twice, I think I have it.

Happy or what? I like the pattern, it's number 85 from the stitchionary, granite relief stitch. Even with all the frogging, I really like the Koigu too. It holds up great to frogging and I like the fabric it creates. Now I'm thinking about a Koigu sweater in this same pattern stitch. I'm envisioning something top down with slit sleeves and fitted. All the Koigu sweater patterns I found on the internet were well, fugly. Many were modular knitting and had this "look at what a clever knitter I am" look rather than being really wearable. We'll see. I did the preliminary math and a little sketch, but I was on cold medication.

I also did a couple of these:
Each time I do a square I'm sure that "this one is my favorite". Five down, 19 more to go.

Welcome Autumn

2006-09-23T07:01:00.000-05:00

I love fall. I like the leaves changing color and the crisp feeling in the air. I love getting my sweaters out of summer storage and putting away the summer stuff. I love buying really great apples and putting them in a big bowl on my kitchen table. It's the best time of year. Give me 50 and 60 degree weather all the time, I much prefer it to 80's and 90's.

However, it has drizzled here for days and days. Everything is gray and the damp cool weather has brought on a horrible allergy attack. I feel crappy. This is perfect knitting weather though and sitting around knitting is my only plan for today.

I am still working on squares for my Lizard Ridge afghan. I took Chris' advice and went to Webs to look at the discounted Kureyon. I still might order some, but with shipping it works out to be about the same price as anywhere else. They do have some great colors though. I want each square to be in a different colorway. I'm using my new handy dandy little notebook to keep track of the colors. When you pick up a skein at the LYS, each one looks different depending on how it was wound. If I don't record the color numbers, I am afraid I will end up duplicating. For example, everywhere I go I end up picking up color 165 and admiring it, only to realize I've already used it for a square.

Tomorrow is the end of Look Back and Cringe. Christina has posted a picture and reminded me of the fashion trend of layering socks. If this comes back it could be a great thing for all of you that are knitting a ton of socks.

Pull up a box of tissues, a good DVD, something hot to drink and knit through your allergies. Have a good weekend!

A Little Knitting

2006-09-22T05:39:00.000-05:00

I'm out here. Not much knitting to report, just a little. I've been working on the stockinette sleeves which is fairly boring knitting, and periodically I've been working on these:

They need washing and blocking, but my plan is to get four done and then block. I really love working on these. The knitting is fun and I never know what the yarn is going to do next. I missed the boat yesterday. I got the Herrschner's weekly yarn sale e-mail and Kureyon was on sale for less than $5 a skein. By the time I got to the site it was all gone! I have a feeling there are a whole lot of people knitting this afghan.

Look Back and Cringe update:
Kaye and I graduated from high school the same year, so her 80's experiences seem to be close to my own. The hair was certainly similar. I don't know about you, but I don't have time to stand around with a curling iron for an hour every morning, so the hairstyles can't come back.
Karen has posted pictures, but didn't leave me her blog address, so Karen K, please come back and share your blog so that we can all take a peek!

Like just about everyone else, my allergies are miserable and I don't have a ton of energy. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more knitting this weekend.

Aargh!

2006-09-19T06:58:00.000-05:00

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day. I'm very afraid that my husband and son are participating. Anyway.

No posts yesterday because my morning was interrupted by a sighting of the dreaded mouse. In my son's room. Yes, where the cat lives. Let's just say that Albert the cat is not a mouser.
Last night the internet connection was messed up, so my apologies for no post yesterday.

More Look Back and Cringe Posts:

Chris has some really good arguments against an 80's comeback.
I'm not positive, but I think I saw Beth on an episode of "Dallas".
Tiphanie reminded me that we weren't all teens and 20-somethings in the 80's. Some of us were Punky Brewster!
Katie was adorable! She did however remind me that overalls are not flattering on anyone who no longer wears diapers. I'm not wearing overalls again no matter what.

I had big problems with overalls and stirrup pants back in the 80's. They were made for people of normal proportions. I'm only 5'7", but most of it is legs. Stirrup pants cut into my feet while the crotch of the pants landed somewhere between my knees and where it was supposed to be. Which meant that I was constantly pulling them up which in turn cut into my feet even more. Stirrup pants were a vicious fashion circle for me. Overalls were always flood pants for me. Alternatively, I would adjust the shoulder straps as long as possible so that the bib was way down and again I had the hanging crotch. Real attractive. Of course we didn't call them overalls back then, they were bibs. As in, "what are you wearing to the hockey game tonight?" "I'm just wearing my bibs".

In knitting news, I've completely fallen for this. Who hasn't? I've told myself that I'm going to take it slow. It could take years because at $8.50 to $9.50 a skein, this is going to end up being a throw that costs well over $200. I've completed two squares and started on a third and I've come to the conclusion that even with all the new worsted weight self-striping yarns out there, you couldn't substitute. Part of the fun is that you never know what the Noro Kureyon is going to do next. (including when it's going to break in a very random fashion, but that's a whole 'nother post) It's like a great mystery novel, you really don't know how things are going to turn out until the very end. I'm addicted. It's just fun knitting. Like knitting should be!

Prize Peek

2006-09-15T05:20:00.000-05:00

I don't have much time today, I have to be somewhere very early this morning. I'm an early riser but a slow starter. I need time to ease into the world in the morning. So being made up and wearing a suit, arriving someplace at 7:00 a.m. is tough. Really tough. So here is a little peek at something I bought today as part of the prize for Look Back and Cringe.

I picked it up at Yarnzilla on my lunch hour today. It's Mt. Colors Bearfoot and the fabulous Linda assures me it's a new colorway that isn't easily found. I need the help of someone like Linda when it comes to sock yarn because, in case I haven't mentioned this before, I don't do socks. Linda is the best and someday she is even going to let me buy the cashmere I'm craving.

More on the Look Back and Cringe front:
Chris has gone so far as to link to pictures of herself. If back in the 80's you went to buy purple eyeshadow and the store was out, it was because Chris had bought it all. Proof positive her obsession with purple is hardly a new phenomenon.

Deepa is, sadly, blogless (but I heard through the grapevine, she's thinking about starting a blog) but she has posted a comment about her Indian "fusion fashion". Deepa, I still can't think about cowl necks even though I see patterns for knitted cowl necks all over the place.

Tam may be the bravest woman ever. She has not only posted pictures of her 80's fashions and a dizzying array of giant glasses, but she has posted a picture of herself just after giving birth. She looks like the happiest woman on earth in this picture, but let's face it we are not exactly at our glamorous best after pushing a person out of our bodies. Tam, I am not worthy.

Okay, I'm going to go be an early bird. Talk to you tomorrow.

Waiting for the Mailman

2006-09-14T06:40:00.000-05:00

I love shopping online. I love getting packages in the mail. I'm almost sure my mail carrier hates me because of it. Yesterday, I got this:

My notebooks from Myndology! They are going to be for knitting. The itsy bitsy one will fit into my purse. It has heavy paper that seems like a light cardstock. It's refillable too, so as long as I don't lose it, I can refill it.

Now I know that everybody else seems to use their Palm pilots or Blackberries for this kind of note taking stuff, but I don't have one. I had a Palm and it seemed that I mostly used it as an address book and to play Bejeweled on airplanes. It seems like too much expense for how I use it. It died. It was drowned by the cat. Not Albert, our now departed Schmed cat. It was sitting on the kitchen counter and Schmed decided to play soccer with it. It landed in his water dish and drowned. Palm pilots don't like water, or cats. I have a wet, messy, animal intensive home that leads to electronic accidents. So I'll stick to buying notebooks.

Since this is meant to be a knitting blog, I am actually knitting. I'm making sleeves for the jean jacket I bought way back in March while in Chicago. I lost the pattern so I had to use my Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns and math.

This is Schaefer Miss Priss in the colorway Isadora Duncan. It should look great with the jacket. I'm doing both sleeves at once because I hate finishing something only to have to start all over again. Have I mentioned I don't knit socks?

Apparently Schmed cat was not the only animal who enjoys a good game of soccer, Maxine is pretty sure she's going to be picked for the next women's Olympic team. She will not tear her shirt off after a win to expose her bra, she plays naked.

Keep Looking Back and Cringe-ing! Some of you have even hinted at posting pictures of your 80's fashions! I can't wait!

Look Back and Cringe Contest

2006-09-13T05:55:00.000-05:00

Everyone is saying that the 80's are making a big comeback in fashion. You'll have to drag me kicking and screaming back there. No long sweaters and leggings please. No ripped sweatshirts. Please, please no big giant hair with mall bangs. And I am absolutely not growing my eyebrows back out to look like giant Brooke Shields catepillar brows.

Being a banana clip away from a Styx concert got such a strong reaction from everyone (it even brought our pal Roger Clinton out of lurkdom into the comment light, hooray!) that you have inspired me to hold another contest.

What special outfit did you have in the 80's that make you resist going back to the 80's now? Was it the layers of purple eyeshadow? Was it your Madonna inspired headband? Was it the blouse with the giant sleeves? What is that special look that you so loved back then that makes you cringe now. I mean real embarrassment. Tell me why you don't want to do the 80's all over again on your blog. Be brave, this is no time for some wimpy "leave it in my comments" contest. We are talking the return of lycra leggings people, blog about it! The winner will get something special in the way of yarn.

I will confess, my 80's fashion transgressions were numerous. My absolute worst was a turquoise outfit that included rip-stop nylon pants. The pants had a ton of puffy pleats on the top and then tapered to very small ankles. These wonders were topped with a turquoise and white striped sailor shirt that had puffy sleeves. I wore this with my purple eye shadow, plastic turquoise button earrings (the bigger the better) and (gasp) RED ballet flats (white socks of course). I loved this outfit. I bought it myself with money I earned working at the insurance office after school (yes, I've been a big old insurance geek since I was 17). Oh God, I felt cute in this outfit. Oh does the thought make me cringe now!!

Obviously the benefits of going back are numerous.

We all await the death of the muffin top and the tramp stamp with eager anticipation.
If we can fashionably go back to butt covering sweaters, we can put away our "Firm" steps and get off the stairmaster.
If I never see another chubby teenager's belly hanging out of a crop top or a too tight shirt, it will be too soon (as my friend Dan says, there is such a thing as too much self esteem in children)
Maybe stores will start selling t-shirts in real sizes again. I have to buy large or even xl sometimes at places like Old Navy and The Gap. I'm a size 6/8 and have virtually no chest. I don't know what you do if you're an average size like 12/14 and actually have a chest. I guess you just can't buy Old Navy t-shirts most of the time.
I will be the first one at the flat-iron bonfire. I will be swinging it over my head by the cord screaming, "I have curly hair and I'm proud of it!"
Maybe we can find clothes that don't look like you're on your way to party with Paris Hilton. I need some coverage people!! I work at a "firm". Yes, people refer to my company as "the firm" and they wear ties. I can't dress like I'm headed off to a taping of TRL.
Flat shoes. I miss flats. I miss comfy toes. I have seen a lot of rounded toes in shoes stores lately and this is a sign. I love how my legs look in pointy-toed stilleto heels, but my hamstrings are now aproximately one fourth their original length.

There will be negatives to going back to some version of 80's fashions:

Spandex, need I say more?
Those butt covering sweaters take a whole lot of yarn. A whole lot. And knitting another 8-10 inches on the bottom of sweaters is going to take time.

So let's all look back and cringe together shall we? Contest will run through Sunday September 24th, winner announced on Monday September 25th.

"I'm plenty fashionable already. Does the return of the 80's mean the return of real dogs? Not just teeny-tiny purse-sized dogs that are worn as an accessory? I'm all for that!"

Okay Maybe I'm Just Mean

2006-09-12T07:30:00.000-05:00

I got the Patternworks catalog in the mail today. I love getting yarn catalogs. I like looking at the new yarns, I like comparing colors and fibers. But I've got a question, maybe I'm just mean, but is it 1986 in New Hampshire? Have you gotten this catalog? Have you noticed that the models have feathered hair and are wearing really high-waisted, pleated wool pants? This isn't true of all of the pictures (most of which are provided by the yarn companies I'm quite sure) but the Yarns by Patternworks all feature models living in a time warp. No kidding these models are a banana clip away from a Styx concert.

Something really cool I found online today. I was reading Twin Cities Business today at work and there was an article about a company called Myndology. They sell the absolute coolest notebooks, little ring bound note cards, etc. I, of course, thought knitting. I thought about all the little notes I make for myself and then proceed to lose. So I went online and ordered a disc-bound journal and a 2"x3" disc bound note book. With the disc bound you can take the little notes out and add them to the journal. Cool, huh? I also wrote to the company saying that they should be selling these in LYS's. Check out Myndology if you are a notebook nut like me.

I didn't get to knit at all last night, but I crashed early and feel better than I have in days!! I'm loving this cool fall weather and it's making me think wool and sweaters and more wool.

Have Yourself a Realistic Little Christmas. . .

2006-09-11T05:54:00.001-05:00

Okay I've made a decision. This stressing myself out with Christmas projects in September is ridiculous. The notion that everyone in my life needs handknit gifts is crazy. Realistically my nieces and nephews would rather have toys and electronics than a handknit sweater from Auntie Kate. I'm going to stick to making smaller projects for my mom & dad and my in-laws. I will finish the fair isle hats for the kids, I will probably finish the sweater I already have on the needles for my nephew Joe. That's it.

As for the Samantha sweater, I'm going to give it another try but if I just can't do it with my eyesight, I'll have to pick something simple, top down, in worsted weight yarn. Maybe this.

Lately my knitting has been stressing me out and that's bad. Knitting is supposed to be my stress relief not a whole new source of stress. No one knows what causes Graves disease, but they think stress is a factor. My eye isn't correcting itself like the doctors hoped and I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I'm going start working on eliminating stress from my life and being realistic about this Christmas knitting stuff is a start. Saturday morning when I grabbed my needles and a ball of Sugar 'n Cream and whipped out that dishcloth, knitting was fun. I've been making my knitting a giant to-do list and that has to stop. Nudge me if I turn my knitting into anything but fun, okay?

Off Track

2006-09-09T12:03:00.000-05:00

I couldn't do it anymore. I was struggling with my eyes and I couldn't do lace on number 4 needles without good eyesight. So I succumbed to the garterlac (sp?) fever going around (Trek is the Typhoid Mary of garterlac fever) and knit this.

I now understand why these are so addictive. I love that I can do them in wild colors because after all they are dishrags, it's not as if they have to coodinate with anything. It would seem a perfect first entrelac project as after the first couple of squares the lightbulb went off in my head and I got it without having to look at the pattern all the time. (Why can't I do this with two crummy repeating YO's?)

Thanks for everyone's well wishes on my eyes. They are much better today. It comes and goes for no apparent reason. I've gotta run. I'm multi-tasking right now. Blogging, watching Trading Spaces re-runs, cleaning my bathroom, and washing that gray right outa my hair.

From Tinking to Full Out Frogging

2006-09-08T06:57:00.000-05:00

This little tiny lace panel on the Samantha sweater is completely kicking my ass. I've tinked back 7 or 8 times. Its an easy pattern, I just keep forgetting to YO and it looks horrible.

So I'm going to frog it all back and re-knit it. I've had more time for knitting than I thought I would as my eye is acting up and I missed work because of it. I'm very frustrated by my complete inability to keep track of this. There isn't a chart, probably because most people wouldn't need one to do alternating yo's up the side of a button band. It's a four row repeating pattern that you knit 12 times. I was using check marks on the pattern. It worked fine for a while, but apparently knitting ADD kicked in and I blew it. Over and over again.

Any advice?

My 100th Post!

2006-09-07T06:15:00.000-05:00

As this is my 100th post, it seems important that I stick with a recurring theme. This is Trekking with Maxine Louise, BHFH, beloved blog-dog.

Deb, do you recognize this? You helped me pick it out at Coldwater. I bought these for my OS Secret Pal. The bag was on the desk and apparently she jumped up and took off with the bag. What do you do in a situation like this? Do I try to untangle this mess? Do I just write the whole thing off? I don't even knit socks for heaven sake!

Thanks for sticking with me and my dog for these past six months through 100 posts. Some of them were even about knitting.

Dreams Do Come True

2006-09-06T06:07:00.000-05:00

I could get into the whole spooky Irish women dreaming thing, but I won't. I'll just say, last Tuesday's dream has come true, my friends had their first baby two weeks early on Monday. I knit like a fiend all day on Monday in a feeble attempt to finish the baby sweater, but only have the back done.

See the sweet little section that looks like smocking? It's all slipped stitches, but looks like something far more complicated. I have to do the short row neck shaping. The instructions in the pattern completely freaked me out, but I swatched it yesterday and I think I'm okay. The problem is I don't see myself getting a lot of time to knit in the next couple of days. Part of me wishes I'd chosen a simpler pattern in worsted weight. This one has a full skirt, is knit in pieces and on number 4 needles. I know it will be worth it when it's done, but right now I'm worried about finishing it before the kid is too big to wear it.

I could have knit more last weekend, but I was busy painting and doing a little minor redecorating in the living room. The living room had been dominated by our old 43" "big screen" t.v. and a giant oak cabinet that surrounded it. I couldn't rearrange the furniture too much because of it and I was sick of living room being dominated by a t.v. The offending t.v. has been moved into my son's room, the giant cabinet broken up into manageable pieces, and my living room looks bigger and warmer and wonderful. I love it. It will be the perfect place to knit by the fire and listen to music. My son is very happy with the huge t.v. which is a good thing because my husband and son have vowed they are never moving it again.

Yesterday was restful and quiet. However, there are some in this house that are against the boy going back to school. Someone was lonely and restless and a little cranky. I'm not naming names but she has really big ears.

Was that the door? Is that my boy coming home?

School Starts

2006-09-05T06:15:00.000-05:00

Promptly at 6:04 a.m., I heard my son's shower fire up. His backpack is packed and by the door. He laid out what he was going to wear, last night. His wallet has ones in it for the snack and juice machines. He is reluctantly ready. I'm so ready.

It is traditional that I stay home the first day of school. I took the whole week off his first year at kindergarten. That first day was tough for me. I took him to school and the parents stayed for the first hour. When the parents were dismissed, kids cried and clung to their mommies. Not mine. "See ya mom" was all I got. I went home and cried. At the end of the day, I was waiting at the bus stop with our dog Sam fifteen minutes before the bus was due. When the bus finally pulled up and opened it's doors, my son never got off the bus. I could see him on the bus, he just didn't get off. Not knowing exactly where the next stop was, Sam and I chased the bus as it pulled off. Waving my hands in the air, chasing the big yellow bus, I was in a panic thinking give me my baby back! Sam happily ran along beside me, barking. We ran all the way to the next stop where I got on the bus and retrieved my son. He hasn't really taken the bus much ever since.

It is also tradition that I take a picture of him on the porch getting ready to leave. I bought batteries for the camera but in all the rearranging and painting that went on over the weekend (details later), I can't find them now. So while he eats breakfast and watches the morning news, I'll be running around looking for batteries.

At 7:25, his dad will take him to school and I will begin the happy dance of back to school joy. No more coming home to empty soda cans and teenagers sprawled all over the living room. No more 47 calls on Thursday (his laundry day) that go something like, "do red underwear go into the underwear load or the red load?". No more coming home after a hard day to hear, "I'm bored, can we go out to dinner and shopping tonight?". I'm gonna miss all that.

To all the moms out there, enjoy the first day back to school. Do your own happy dance of back to school joy. Do it in your p.j.s with the family pets looking at you as if you've lost your mind. Then pour yourself a cup of coffee and sit down to knit. In a really quiet house.

Time Is Not On My Side

2006-08-31T05:36:00.000-05:00

I didn't get to knit night last night. My steering committee meeting ran for over two hours so by the time I got home I knew there was no way I could get to St. Paul (all the way across the river doncha know) and have any time to knit. So I missed it. I'm hoping that next week's steering committee meeting will be another night so that I can make it next week.

I stayed home after my meeting and watched "Project Runway" with my husband and son. I won't say what happened just in case you didn't get to see it (you made it to knit night for example) and need to watch one of 12 zillion re-runs this week.

Last night I had a dream that my friends who are due to have their first baby next month, had their baby. This would be bad. Not because the baby would be a couple weeks early, that's usually no big deal these days, but because I haven't finished the Samantha sweater for the baby. Yes, I can make anything about me. So this weekend I'm definitely going to have to finish it. I was encouraged to make this pattern by reading on someone else's blog how quickly it went. I struggle with Kate Gilbert's patterns though and it's not going as quickly as I would like. I love Kate's designs, don't get me wrong, but the way they are written doesn't seem to work for me. They are written row by row. I'm more of a "repeat rows 1 and 2 for 3 inches" kinda gal. So when I see the pattern is 8 pages long and says things like, "Rows 15-56, Repeat rows 11-14 11 more times". Clickety-clack. I don't want to count 56 rows. I don't even want to count 5 rows 11 times. (I'm not even sure, looking at this, that the math works out but this is right from the pattern) I'll screw it up. I promise you I will. Personally this has Hawkeye and Trapper defusing a bomb written all over it, but first cut the blue wire. . .

So my dream that the baby is here shook me up. I have to finish a sweater for this kid this weekend. I also have to paint the living room this weekend. And make sure my son is ready to go back to school (hooray!). Meantime, I'm on the road for work and will be back tomorrow afternoon.

It's Not the Wine, It's the Smoking

2006-08-30T07:39:00.000-05:00

Ugh. I stayed up past my bedtime last night. I drank four glasses of wine in 6 hours so I wasn't drunk but I also smoked about 487 cigarettes and so I feel pretty groggily today. I didn't sleep, I kept waking up wondering if I said or did anything inappropriate. This is why I rarely have more then a glass or two of wine in public. Okay that sounds terrible. That sounds like I'm sitting at home at night slugging back the wine like Allison on Melrose Place. Except she was always drinking vodka. I'm really glad she got her t.v. life together and now is the sarcastic wife of John Belushi's brother. Plus I think that nice girl from Father of the Bride is now her sister or something, and she doesn't work for Amanda, so with all that going for her she's off the Phillips Vodka straight from the bottle. I don't do any of this. I never worked for Amanda and didn't even really like Billy.

ANYWAY, my friend Cary was in town from Chicago and 5 of us were out to dinner and had some wine on the patio where I can smoke. Bad idea. Please God do not comment that smoking is bad for you, etc. I know that. Every smoker knows that. We all wish we could quit. No, not true, we all wish we wanted to quit. So please don't pile on my groggilyness with a lecture on the ill effects of smoking, I know them. I'm living them today. MFF joined us about 8:30 or 9:00 bringing me smoking reinforcements. He is a bad influence and an enabler. But a really good friend.

I have a desk day at work today so that should be good for groggily. I have a steering committee meeting at 6 tonight and then I am going to try to get to Nina's as fast as I can because Chris is going to be there. We keep missing each other everywhere in life and have not actually met in person. I cannot believe that someone that I correspond with nearly every day, feel like I know, is someone I haven't actually met. So I'm mainlining coffee right now and I'm going to get ungroggily so that I can go to knit night and see Renee and meet Chris. I'll be the one with the buggy eyes, cigarette hang over and probably be fairly rumpled. You'll be able to spot me right away.

Eye, yi, yi! And other random meanderings

2006-08-29T05:50:00.000-05:00

I try not to whine about my stupid problems with Graves but yesterday really sucked. One of the characteristics of Graves that differentiates it from other thyroid disease is it does strange things to your eyes. In my case just my right eye, which is unusual (of course I have to have an unusual disease in an unusual way!) but correctable. After I finish treatment. If it doesn't correct itself. I feel like I look weird all the time and that is usually the worst of it. Yesterday my good eye went buggy and I couldn't see very well. The medication for this is basically a medicated Vaseline that you squirt in your eye so as to make your blurry eyes even blurrier. So yesterday I spent the entire afternoon and evening sitting on the couch. I couldn't read. I could see the big t.v. well enough, so I watched t.v. with my son and knit. Thankfully I was knitting the sleeves of the $9 cardigan so I could have done that in the dark.

Today I am sending my final SP and OSSP packages. My Secret Pal has resolved to try felting so I'm hoping that my final gift will inspire her.

It's a Lucy bag. Practically obligatory here in MN, I'm not sure why. I've filled it with Cascade 220 and enough Twisted Sisters hand dyed cotton to Picovoli (in case the whole felting thing doesn't work out for her) I have a pin in the shape of an Orchid that I'm going to attach to the front. Even if she doesn't carry the Lucy as a handbag, it makes a great project bag. I hope she likes it. She has been so much fun to buy things for and I'm glad I can finally reveal myself. The cloak and dagger knitting thing has been killing me!

The Noro Kureyon scarf is for my One Skein pal. It's cheating because it uses two skeins, but I don't care. It was fun to make and I hope she likes it. She has two sons who play sports so I'm thinking a scarf will be welcome come football season. I also got her a big funky skein of chunky yarn, a skein of Trekking and a skein of Noro. My one skein pal doesn't blog very actively, so it's hard to know if she has liked anything I've sent, but I'm hoping that something in my packages has been fun or useful.

I also included a package of colored pencils in each package. Two reasons for this. One, they are nice for designing; two, I always crave new school supplies in August.

For years and years we are programmed to buy school supplies and new clothes in August. All of the sudden we are adults and cut off. I've never made the adjustment. I want fresh, untouched notebooks, sharp pencils, a new box of 64 crayons, for God's sake I want a protracter (I can't recall ever using one, but dammit, I want one!). And clothes. I want woolly sweaters and corduroy pants even though it will be too hot to wear them for a couple of months. I want new tennies for gym class and a pair of brown "good" shoes for everywhere else. I want Levi's cords and a really big comb to stick in my back pocket. Oops, I just had a late 70's flashback there, please forgive me. Okay, I don't want that, but I certainly want fall clothes. I want to fall asleep worrying about whether or not my best friend Becky will be in any of my classes and hoping like hell she will have the same lunch hour as me. Anyone else go through this in August?

Weekend Fun

2006-08-28T06:59:00.000-05:00

Not a lot of knitting to report. I am working on the sleeves of the $9 cardi and it should be done this week. I had an enjoyable and productive weekend though. Thanks for all the suggestions for making my life as an Indexer easier and more productive. No, Renee, it does not surprise me at all that you are doing this too. Thanks Helen, but I think I will pass on the dewey decimal system in my own home (this would take it to a scary cat lady place I don't want to go) and try Chris' suggestion for KnitAble. The cat drowned my Palm in his water dish a couple years ago and I never replaced it, but it comes in a Window version that I am going to try.

My husband says the mouse is dead but I'm still creeped out, so Saturday I took apart my kitchen and put it back together. I spent 4 hours scrubbing and rearranging furniture. I washed the windows, dusted the blinds, washed the floors. No mice and no mice evidence so I feel a lot better. Plus, I really like how the dining area looks now.

The cupboard on the wall was my grandmother's. Not a family heirloom or an antique, but I always remember it in her dining area. The finish was in pretty bad shape so I painted it red a couple of years ago. It's a great place to store all my cookbooks. I don't cook, but it's nice to be able to read about it now and again. And no, my chairs don't match. This was not an accident, it was an on purpose. The guy at the furniture store thought I was nuts. The table expands into a big square with the leaf. I love being able to have 8 people around the table at once. If I'm going to torture people with my cooking, I can at least make them comfortable, right?

Sunday I met my friend Kim for lunch and shopping. She returns to school tomorrow to begin another year of teaching. This week will be a whole lot of meetings and preparation for students to return the following week. We'll need liquid sustenance the weekend after Labor Day when she will have been through the dreaded first week of school. She was carrying her beer goggles bag I made. She tells me that she gets compliments on it everywhere she goes and I now almost believe her. We had a sales person at the Aldo following us around trying to convince me to make her one too.

Last night we watched the Emmys and I knit. Simple relaxing weekend. Got some stuff done, had some fun. I like simple relaxing weekends.

In Which I Become an Indexer

2006-08-27T07:17:00.000-05:00

My husband collects comics. Avidly. They have their own room. They have little sleeves and acid-free cardboard to protect them. There is a system. By all rights, at 41 years old he should still be living in his mother's basement. Working at the comic shop and hitting comic cons on the weekend. He has friends like this. I scare them.

As a comic collector he gets magazines that no one has ever heard of except other comic collectors. Years ago he shared a letter to the editor in one of these magazines. It was written by a guy who obviously had no life outside his collection. It was all about how he could readily name each Herald of Galactus* and in which issue they first appeared because of his index. He built an index of all his comics. He gave examples of how useful his index was and at the end of each sentence proclaimed, "I'm an Indexer". My husband and I thought this was a real hoot and concocted a vivid picture of the indexer. We've referred to any obsessive, may live in his mom's basement kind of person, as an Indexer ever since.

Today, I became an Indexer.

Here's the thing. Besides being an incurable yarn stasher, I'm also a pattern hoarder, magazine buyer, book nut. I've always been a book nut but now I buy knitting books. Between books, magazines, and patterns I download/buy on the internet, I've literally got hundreds of patterns. I have to find some way to keep track of them so I've built an Excel spreadsheet to index them. I honestly considered buying MS Access to database them properly, but this seemed like going over the edge into a completely crazy, obsessed knitter place I'm unwilling to go at this moment. (Don't rule this out in the future however, I could go around the bend at any time) Now in the back of my mind I'm thinking about how I should index my stash too. I'm an Indexer. Heaven help me.

*This is a comic reference so completely obscure to anyone but Marvel collectors that I am frightened that I too can name several Heralds. Obviously I have let my husband influence me in strange and scary ways.

The Christmas Rush

2006-08-24T20:25:00.000-05:00

I'm freaking out about Christmas. Mainly because I've veered off the gift path by knitting the $9 cardigan. I have a lot to do. There are the fair isle hats to finish. There are bags, sweaters, and felted slippers. If I really think about it hard there could well be a cashmere scarf. I'm getting that freaked-out, I don't have enough time feeling and it is not yet September 1st.

Labor Day weekend should be good. I can do a lot of knitting in three days. Right? This weekend I'm going to finish the little scarf/shawl for my MIL and get my final gifts to my pals sent. I am also going to finish the cardigan. It's cropped so I only have a couple inches of the body to finish and the sleeves.
I'm a little worried. I know I don't have enough yarn to make this with the long sleeves in the pattern, but I'm running through the yarn pretty quickly. In my mind I'm going from 3/4 sleeves, to elbow length, to short. We'll see what how much yarn I have. The sleeves will be a mystery until I get started on them.

I didn't knit in my first steering committee meeting. I was busy trying to dry off. Just as I left the house last night it started pouring. The wind drove the rain sideways and I got drenched on the way to and from the car. So after my whole chest-puffed-out "I'm a prominent citizen" feelings yesterday, when I arrived to the meeting I was just some drippy drowned rat. Mother Nature making sure I don't get too big for my britches.

From The Top

2006-08-23T06:52:00.000-05:00

I'm crazy about the whole idea of top down sweaters. I'm working on a cardigan from Knitting Pure & Simple right now (the $9 sweater) and it's just cool. It just seems easier than anything else I've ever tried. If I can cobble together the time to actually read Barbara Walker's book I know I can figure out how to make top down sweaters for everyone. I haven't had time to do more than skim the book, so in the meantime, I ordered a bunch of Knitting Pure & Simple patterns from Jimmy Bean's.

I know I'm throwing myself completely off schedule with the Christmas gift knitting, but I can't help myself. And it's going really fast. Lookit

Yeah, the yarn is pooling, but I don't mind, I kind of like it. If I convince myself that I can part with this when it's complete, gift it to my sister, then I'm not really that far off track. Yeah, that's it. This is a gift. Crap. She reads the blog, now I'll really have to give it to her. And my SIL will want one too. This sweater could end up being the next poncho in my life.

For those of you who don't know the poncho story. I made a poncho for my friend Fritz's (MFF) grand-daughter.

Cute, right? It was easy and I really liked the way it turned out. I thought, I'll make another one for my niece. When I gave it to her for her birthday, my other nieces all decided they wanted one too. The fun pattern turned into a knitting death march as I made boring stockinette ponchos for little girls. One after the other. I don't know when I'll be able to stand even looking at another poncho. I'm hoping that the top down sweaters don't end up being my new poncho.

I was going to try to go to knit night tonight, but last night I got a call from the Superintendent of schools. My son's face when he heard me say, "hello Superintendent Lester, how are you?" was classic. I'm going to have to investigate what he thinks he could have done (during summer break no less) that would cause a call from the head of the school distrist, but imagine his relief when he realized that the call had nothing to do with him. Anyway, they are looking for someone to sit on a 4 member steering committee who is known in the community (?!?) and my name "kept coming up". So I agreed, but this means going to some meetings this week. I'm very flattered that they've asked. Do you think I can knit in committee meetings?

Yarn Stashin' on The Road

2006-08-22T06:56:00.000-05:00

I'm back safe and sound and yarn-enriched. Yes, I made a couple of stops while on the road. My first stop was in Montevideo MN at Donna's Delights. It's a cute little yarn shop typical of small town yarn shops, Lion Brand next to the cashmere. She has sheep and sells yarn from their wool. She had some very cute mitten kits out that include her own wool too. I bought a couple skeins of this:

It is from Stone Hedge Fiber Mill and it is the softest stuff ever. It's beautiful. Unfortunately Donna doesn't take credit cards, I only had $20 cash on me, so I could only get two skeins. I may have to send her a check and buy the other skeins.

Montevideo is only the halfway point so I kept traveling to Watertown. Friday night we went out for our traditional chislik and beer followed by dinner at Mr. T's in the Watertown mall. No one seems to have heard of chislik, I think it is a Dakota thing. Now all of you tree-hugging "I won't eat anything that has a face" types need to scroll down. (I'm married to one of these. It's okay, but I like eating meat, sorry) Chislik is deep fried lamb chunks. It is much, much better than it sounds. I'm sure they only use lambs with crappy coats so no yarn opportunities were sacrificed in the making of my chislik. At dinner we talked about how the JoAnn in the mall is closing down and they are selling everything for as low as 80% off. Joann?! JoAnn has yarn. 80% off? Let's go. I bought the book "Hip Knits" for $3.00 and I got 11 skeins of this:

I'm making a top down cropped cardigan with it. It was really the only yarn they had left with enough of one dye lot to make anything. My mom and I spent a while standing in front of the yarn bins looking at dye lots and balancing balls of yarn in our arms. If they are practically giving away yarn, it's worth it. The cardi should be cute with jeans and I only paid $9 for the 11 skeins of yarn. I love a bargain!!!!

Saturday morning I went searching desperately for some decent caffeine source and found the Past Times Cafe. My parents haven't tried it yet because my dad says it looks like a sh)&*^& hole from the outside, but the inside is gorgeous. Restored old building with tin ceilings that are about 20 feet tall, big old woodwork, the real deal. Fortified by espresso, I went to the Knit Nook. I gotta say the owners of this shop are totally out of the loop. The shop is an art store/framing shop/yarn store and it's obvious that they are more interested in pictures of waterfowl in flight than yarn. They had bin after bin of the wildest new colors of Sugar 'n Cream. I picked out five skeins and brought it to the counter.

Knit Nook Owner: I see you found the new colors.

Me: Yep! They are great!

KNO: Yeah, I don't know why but they came out with all these new colors so I ordered a bunch.

Me: Mason Dixon Knitting.

KNO: Huh? What's that?

Me: The book, Mason Dixon Knitting. It's full of patterns using this yarn and everyone is knitting dish cloths and bibs like crazy.

KNO: Who's everyone? I've never heard of this.

Me: It's all over the web. Check out Mason Dixon Knitting online.

KNO: I don't really get the time to go on the computer.

Okay, so here is someone who is not going to be able to pick the BHFH out of a doggy line-up!

So Tired

2006-08-20T20:00:00.000-05:00

You cannot possibly imagine how tiring hanging out with 4 people in their 60's can be. I'm wiped out. I had a great time with mom, dad, and my two aunts. There was a lot of eating, laughing, and gambling involved. I'm exhausted. I did knit and score some yarn.

I'll write about it in detail later, but right now, I just need to get some sleep.

Off to So Dak

2006-08-18T05:41:00.000-05:00

I'm headed out to visit the parents in South Dakota this weekend. The Codington County Historical Society is hosting their annual house tour. I had a great time last year so I'm going back. Both of my dad's sisters will be there too so it should be fun.

Monday at our weekly sales meeting one of the other sales people asked me if there was any way I'd consider driving out to Willmar for a meeting today. As it is halfway to my parents house, I was immediately onboard. Sure, I'd love to, sign me up!

The boys will be staying at home and finishing the school shopping. I'm hoping that they will buy at least one shirt for school that doesn't say anything, but I'm not optimistic. The teenager's current favorite shirt says, "friends don't let friends wear mullets". This is the general tone of his entire wardrobe. It's just as well they are doing this shopping themselves. It would be an exercise in frustration for me to be in on this particular excursion to the Sprawl of America.

South Dakota is just not the most wired state in the U.S. There are 770,000 people living in the entire state. That's about a third of the population of the Twin Cities. In the whole state! 320,000 live in either Rapid City or Sioux Falls. That leave another 450,000 scattered in little towns and on farms all over the rest of the state. The wireless companies haven't found it necessary or financially viable to wire the whole place up. In Watertown my cell phone only works outside. I'm thinking finding WiFi anyplace for my laptop is going to be tough. In short, I may be out of touch for the next couple of days. I'm sure I will bring back pictures of small town weirdness though, so stay tuned.

My First Knit Night & Life with a Famous Blog-Dog

2006-08-17T06:11:00.000-05:00

First things first. Since Renee won my sock contest (why I don't knit socks, convince me) I e-mailed her and asked for her address. She responded, why don't we just get together and knit? My response was, absolutely! She invited me to her regular Wednesday knit night at Nina's in St. Paul.

If you aren't from the Twin Cities, you must understand that they aren't really twins at all. The Mississippi River divides the two cities and if you grow up on the east side you stay, if you grow up a westsider, you stay there. I don't honestly know how my family ended up on the west side of the river where everyone is Scandinavian. Stoic. Quiet. My family is loud and opinionated and mostly raving democrats. They should have made the trip all the way across the river. But they hit the northwestern 'burbs of Mpls and stayed there. I know people here in Minneapolis that go to St. Paul once a year for the state fair and that's it. I know Mpls people who went to St. Paul to visit the Science Museum in fifth grade and haven't crossed the river since. I have always had clients and prospective clients in St. Paul so it is NBD to me, I'm there a few times every month, but you have to understand if you don't live here, it's a big deal for most.

So I went to Nina's tonight with a little apprehension. I've never attended a knit night before. The only other knit night I've been invited to was one in a very high end 'burb and I just knew I would have nothing in common with anyone, so I didn't go. (Kate, you should come to the knit night in Edina and we can all laugh at your mini van and your clearance rack outfits! Yeah, that would be great! How about, no.) After reading Renee's blog the last few months, I knew I would have things in common with her and her friends, but still. This is an established group, would a newcomer really be welcome? They were fantastic. Funny, smart, opinionated women. I had a blast. And they invited me back. I will definitely go.

Renee (who I liked as much as I knew I would) and Deb (who seems to be a fabulous knitter and very cool) had both read my blog. Connie, the third member of their established group that could attend tonight (she's is hilarious by the way) had to be told, "it's the blog with the Basset Hound From Hell". This, as you know, is not the first time this has happened. Living with a very famous blog dog, is getting difficult. She does very little of the knitting or writing and she is a credit hog. She is expecting extra chew treats. She is giving me 'tude during photo shoots. She has mentioned a personal assistant. She has mentioned getting together with Chaos and starting their own new world order. Be afraid, be very afraid.