Knit'nat

I'm Still Standing...

...though perhaps not better than I've ever been*.  Things are still plugging along; what can I say?  School is out, the boys are home for the summer, doing what boys do.  I am still stealing my neighbor's wireless, which is rather difficult sometimes because I can only get it outside or if I'm near a window, and the front window works best, but requires me to use the back of the couch as the laptop support.  Can I tell you how difficult this is? 

Since we last spoke, I've completed the Norwegian Woods Shawl, started a scarf from Victorian Lace Today, fallen in love with that scarf to the point that I would TOTALLY call off work to knit if I had a sick day (which I don't, so that's good), worked a few rows on the Goddess Anniversary ohmygoshwillitneverend Shawl, agreed to knit a baby sweater shop sample for Natural Stitches, taken the kids to Cedar Point (yes I rode most of the rides, including coasters), and on July 6, my first son will be 16, at which point I expect to totally go gray. 

I have many pictures to share with you but tonight is not the night, I am feeling woozy and need to get to bed, it has been a rather long day. 

Before I go, though, I have to mention it.  Michael Jackson, dead at the age of 50.  We all knew it was coming but who would have expected it so soon.  The radio program I listen to in the morning was talking about how this has become a media circus, just as it did when Heath Ledger passed away.  I am going to show my age here, but I remember when Elvis died (we were vacationing in Vermont and my dad saw it on the front page of the daily newspaper there).  My mom bought every paper she could find during that vacation, because it was Elvis.  I liken the passing of Michael Jackson to the passing of Elvis; for he is the king of pop, one of the biggest stars of my generation.  My kids think Michael Jackson was weird and, granted, he was a bit out there..but I tell them how in the 1980's, he was The Big Thing.  The glove.  Moon walking.  Billie Jean.  Thriller.  Beat it.  I remember that I wore out one Thriller album and had to buy another one. 

I'm sorry to see him gone, but I'm glad to have been around when his music was IT.  RIP, MJ. And may you find the Neverland you were looking for. 

*with apologies to Elton John**.

**who I totally thought would have died before Michael Jackson. 

There Are No Words.

 

 

 

 

Thievery

Someone in my neighborhood has an unsecured wireless network...and that means WOOHOO!  It's spotty but we'll see how this goes. 

Yes, I will occasionally resort to thievery.  And no, Jenn, I will not grow up.

So last night was Hurricane Knitting -- what a blast.  I have been able to move forward in my fears and knit lace while surrounded by this crazy bunch, and am happy to say that I'm on the last repeat of the 3rd chart of the Norwegian Woods Shawl.  I've bought some beads and am ready to be done with this thing. 

I've also got an upstream sock, a la Cat Bordhi, on the needles.  Don't panic, but I'm using some Yarn Pirate yarn that's been marinating in my stash for about a year (or maybe longer!  I'm not sure!). 

I'd better cut this short so that I can get it posted before that spotty internet service goes down again.

Oh, and Misa?  The Pence Jugs?  I have actually given both of them away -- the first one to my pal Melissa, the 2nd one landed in my friend Jamie's hands tonight.  So I have to knit another one.  (Seriously, they're entertaining little knits and really hold change, and I had mine hanging from a key ring, but now Jamie has it hanging from a key ring). 

It's Been a While

It's been a while since I've posted, yes, I know.  We are having a few financial issues and have decided that the Internet is something we can live without, for the most part.  I am currently blogging at my local Panera, so I will try to be quick here.

I have finished the Wicked sweater, and made a Pence Jug.  Details are in my Ravelry profile.  The pence jug is one of those potato chip patterns, as Franklin so adaptly put it.  I made one, and now I want to make more.  I want to find other pence jug patterns.  I believe I have an addiction.  I've also started a pair of upstream socks from the Cat Bordhi New Pathways book. 

Thanks to Sarah, I've read the entire Twilight series.  Great literary works they were not, but very easy reads they were.  And yes, they were entertaining.

I'm working very diligently on the Norwegian Woods Shawl, and have a few pattern repeats to go before I've finished.  I have something like 340 stitches on the needles right now, so a row back and forth takes me a bit of time. 

I went to Maryland Sheep & Wool last weekend with my buddies Kim and Melissa, and had a blast.  It was just the time away that I needed to feel refreshed and renewed and all of that.  I didn't make any monumental purchases (okay, Signature needles and 2500 yards of laceweight for $30 may qualify as monumental), but I stayed well within my budget and was very happy with myself.

The job search continues...wish me luck as I continue with that.

As a parting gift, some pictures:

Matthew sings Abba.

Melissa (and part of Kim) at Guido's After Party.

Self portrait in the Wicked sweater (before completion)

Jen getting sucked into the Twilight movie, courtesy of Sarah (who claims she doesn't have an addiction, but we are beginning to wonder).

The Twilight Zone

(Note:  I started this on 3/29).

It's all Sarah's fault, really.

You see, at our last meeting of the Hurricane Knitters, she bought some books.  Once we got her to 'fess up to what books she was reading, she admitted to having read the first in the series, even though she was buying it.  So I asked if I could borrow it.  I'm a voracious reader, but depending on how life is treating me, I may read a little more slowly.  I've been known to read several books at a time, and read my favorites over and over.  Anyway, I took it home that Wednesday, started it at 10 p.m. on Thursday, and finished it on Saturday (after having to put it in my closet so that I could get my morning chores done).  The next Thursday, we rented the movie and had pizza/movie night at our house.  The boys loved the movie, but I wasn't so enamored of it because movies are never as good as the books. 

So now, I am torn between running out to buy the 2nd book (I've picked it up and put it back twice in the last week) or waiting for April 15, when I will see Sarah again, to borrow it from her. 

In other news:

Work still sucks.  I haven't heard a word from the job I applied for a week and a half ago.  I'm thinking it may be time to sacrifice something.  My neighbor laughingly suggested sacrificing a goat in the front yard.  I'm thinking this has some possiblity.  (Just kidding.)

icked is moving right along.  I'm halfway through with the raglan increases.  I am using Brooks Farm Macero (mas acero) for this and I LOVE the yarn.  I was worried that I would have stigmata hands, but there seems to be no bleeding of color at all as I knit with it.

Back at the beginning of the month, my very good Blogosphere friend Stick mentioned she needed some help, and being the nutcase that I am, I volunteered.  I received the box of bits and pieces of sweaters a couple of weeks ago, and today pulled them out for a serious look-see.  I had to go to the library to borrow the Knit Cafe book so that I could check out the finishing instructions for Slouchy.  Let me tell you, complete. lack. of. direction.  Stick had one sleeve half seamed to the body, and after checking it out, I undid her work and proceeded to start the seaming.  After being about 3/4 of the way done with the sleeve, Milo decided he needed to help.  Cats + seaming sweaters = mess.

4/11 - continuing the post.

We had what I call (or someone else calls, and I stole the term from her) a "come to Jesus" meeting at work on April 1.  Basically, while it is fine for the smokers to take breaks to smoke, it is not fine for the nonsmokers to take a break and use the Internet to look at Ravelry, or the Yarn Harlot, or anything else.  I was reprimanded for looking at emails, for looking at shopping sites (um, hello, when I order the office supplies from Office Max it just might show up as a fracking shopping site), and for looking at "porn" (the word Harlot, obviously, flags it as "porn").  I explained that I was happily following the company policy of "if you wouldn't post it above the water cooler, don't look at it" -- but that didn't go very well. 

I have also been "flying under the radar" for a few weeks.  My son, love him as I do, went a little overboard with text messaging, to the tune of $180 on top of our regular phone bill, so we were a little shorthanded with money and the phones were off (they're back on now).  We're still a little shorthanded with money, and have had to shut off the cable, so my access to the Internet is rather limited, especially since the Powers that Be at work have decided that Internet Use is Bad. 

I still haven't heard from the job that I applied for back in March, and I'm certain that a lack of telephone service didn't help at all, but it is what it is.  I am still looking for part time jobs after work, or a replacement job where I'll make at least as much money and have benefits.  If anybody knows of anything good, you know where to find me.

I am nearly finished with Stick's slouchy cardigan (I have to attach the hood).  The pattern for it was from "Greetings from the Knit Cafe" -- I do not recommend this book at all.  Very, very little guidance on finishing anything, and the instructions for sweaters, if you have a right and a left side, are "knit the same except reversing the pattern".  Ugh.  :P  I think I did okay, though, and hope to have a modeled shot to show you in the near future. 

So thus, I am now returning to The Twilight Zone. (this is a madhouse, it feels like being stoned.*)

*Golden Earring.

The Need for Speed

Or shall I say, the need to test my speed.

I've been agonizing over that application I dropped off the other day.  I wrote that I could type 70+ wpm on it.  Then I got to thinking "what if I can't??".  (I'm having some insecurity issues.  I'm also ready to just go work at Sheetz, but that's another story). 

So anyway, I Googled an online typing test.

I think I'm okay saying 70+ wpm (click to embiggen):

 

It Worked for Weirdy Pants...

Hi!

I'm here, I'm alive.  Short update:

• I'm back to the gym with a vengeance.
• I've finished Hey, Teach v. 2.
• I've cast on for Wicked.
• I'm not done with the shawls I have on the needles.
• YES, I had the pleasure to escort Franklin during his visit to da burgh.
• I hate the home show.

But the big news...

Today I applied for a job that starts at $19+ an hour.  I thought I made a good impression because I had the application filled out when I went in (it was an open "casting call" kind of thing) and then followed instructions to the letter.  I was smiling and friendly and am able to meet the requirements of the job.  ONLY DRAWBACK:  Hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Anyway, if my friends out there who read this (and even if you read this on occasion and you're not my friend, if you could wish some good Karma my way) -- as I was saying, if you all could please send some positive thoughts my direction with regard to this job, I would be VERY appreciative.  It worked for Jenn, so I'm hoping it will work for me!

(Next time, a real post.  I promise.)

Burning Question

I have a mind for useless information.  Zip codes, phone numbers, etc.  One thing that has stuck in my mind is a question I was asked during the interview for this job (yes, the job that I now complain of very frequently).  It was the only time I have ever been asked this question, and it pops up and rolls around in my head every once in a while (kind of like a cold sore - never really going away, always lurking beneath the surface to rear its ugly head).  But it's a good question, so I shouldn't really put that nasty spin on it.

Actually, it was two separate questions:

What are your hobbies?

What have you learned from them?

The first part of the question was easy.  I love to knit.  I love to go offroading in my Jeep.  I love to cook and bake.

The second part of the question I had to stop and think about.  What have I learned from my hobbies?  What does knitting teach me?  How about offroading?  Or cooking, for that matter?

Cooking - mistakes can sometimes be disastrous but they can sometimes be recovered and in the recovery process, perhaps you find something new or better, or easier and faster.  Plus cooking feeds my family.  Plus there are always new things to explore (and that, actually, applies to all of my hobbies -- there are always new things to explore).

Offroading - having been perched precariously on top of rocks or door-deep in mud, offroading has taught me that it is okay to go outside of my comfort zone. 

Knitting - teaches me that endurance and perseverance pays off, mistakes can be corrected (or covered up!), and that it only takes one thread (pun intended) to form a common bond. 

Knitting has opened up worlds for me.  Most of my "inner circle" of friends are Knitters.  I've been to places I wouldn't have otherwise gone, with the hope of finding the perfect yarn.  There is humor (Franklin, and the Yarn Harlot, to name two).  There is comaraderie (knit nights, Maryland Sheep & Wool, Rhinebeck, my LYS).  There is learning (oh, there is learning).  There is patience.  There is solitude, and there is gratification.  But mostly, for me, it is the friends.  How empty my life would be without my friends - and I'd like to thank you all for being here and putting up with me. 

Enough of the waxing poetic!  How about some fiber content?

I finally(!!) finished those last 5 rows of Chart B on the Norwegian Woods Shawl.  I am now on to Chart C, which is an awful lot of yarn overs.  No, I didn't start Chart C yet...I looked at it, said uhhhhh, and put it away for a day or two.  Maybe this weekend.  We shall see.  In the meantime, you can see what I've accomplished:

   

I'm also on to the front of the bodice of the Hey, Teach sweater, which I have dubbed Lesson Two, as this is the second time I'm knitting the pattern.

      For those of you familiar with the pattern, yes, I am rebelling by having knit the sleeves before the bodice fronts, and by knitting the bodice fronts at the same time (this is a bit of an undertaking, keeping straight which side is which, but I am not regretting this choice...yet.). 

So tell me...what have your hobbies taught you?

 

Not a Cop-Out Post

Not a cop-out post, but not a timely post, either.

Oh few and faithful readers, a bad blogger, I am. 

Back in January, my secret pal (known to me only as Holybobbles), sent me a lovely package.  It included hand cream, salted caramels from Trader Joe's, another list-type notepad, a keychain, and (most wonderfully), a journal with handmade paper and some delicious yarn.  I thanked her profusely via email, but never quite got around to posting the pic of the goods, until today:

 

Then on Saturday, I received another lovely package from Holybobbles! It contained this heart tin...

   

...which contained this candy!

It also contained some great socks for Valentine's day, a card, and a lovely handmade dishcloth with a sheep on it!  Holybobbles, those are some awesome bobbles on that sheep! 

 

On Saturday, I got to visit some friends, and get a baby fix:

  How can you not love that hair??

On Sunday, I visited the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, for the dual purpose of buying yarn from Creatively Dyed, and seeing Amy, who was working the Bloomin' Yarns booth.  Mission accomplished on both counts.  I did not take pictures of the yarn (yet), but promise to do so soon.  It was my first visit ever to the knit & crochet festival, and will likely be my last.  I am not sure if it's because I'm spoiled by the other outdoor festivals I've been to (MSWF, Rhinebeck, Great Lakes Fiber Festival) or if it was just SO cramped and SO small and $15 was an awful lot to spend, but I think I'll be bypassing the festival from here on out.  I wouldn't say it was a bad experience, really...but not one I'm willing to undergo again.

Tonight is my usual stitch & bitch group, Hurricane Knitters.  I am looking forward to this, as I need to get out of the testosterone kingdom my house and away from the drama kingdom work.

Yesterday, I took the kids for their annual visit to the pediatrician.  They had just moved their offices to a new medical facility.  I think the new offices are lovely.  There are murals on the walls; every exam room represents a different country.  Here are France and Egypt:

   

The artist is Michele Ambrozic.  (See more of the doctor's office art here).

Okay, I think that's about all I've got to say.

Cop Out Post

Yes, this post is a cop-out.  I owe pictures, especially of the packages that my secret pal has sent me.  I am also owing some knitting content and pictures.  But I'm copping out because my mind is fried.

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE. (I added a - sign for the ones I didn't like)
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total.

How many have you read?  38


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien x 
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte x
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling x+
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte x
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell x + (read it 3x)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott x +
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (I've read a lot of Sir William, but not all of his work.)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien x
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger x
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell x
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck x
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll x +
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame x +
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy x +
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x +
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis x +
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen 
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x -
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres x
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden x + (x2)
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne x +
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x+
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez x
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan x
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Supposed to read this one for English in 9th grade) (long story)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck x
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov x
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold x
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville x
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker x -
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker x
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White x +
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery x
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare x
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl x +
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo