The Big Purple Monster

I started the SuperBulky Throw for Jennifer and I'll tell you: this reminds me of everything that I hate about knitting afghans.

1. Long repetious knitting


2. No real pattern

1. Yarn that only grows heavier and hotter the longer you knit.


2. Mindless, Mindless, Mindless

If it weren't for the pretty yarn, I would put this down and never look back.

Horrible thought. . .I'm making one for Jennifer in lavendar and one for Andrea in Green...



Jesus preserve me..

This HAS to Hurt...

This has to hurt. . .

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Didn't anyone on the Clinton team think to get a signed support release from this little girl or her parents???


...."Umm...given the two of you, I choose the OTHER guy..."

Just a thought.

Blind as a Bat...

I spent Memorial Day in Albany in a snit...Let me tell you why.

As I mentioned in Wow...an Update, I haven't had air conditioning at all in my car. I don't really use my air conditioning, but it's too hot not to have air. So, I drove back to Albany on Friday, thinking to myself "It is WAYYY to expensive to waste gas like this", but when faced with air vs. no air, air wins. Plus, it was a holiday weekend, so I hoped that my car could be fixed over the holiday weekend and I could go back to work on Tuesday.

So hopeful. How silly.

So I made made my way back to Albany (6 hours on the road, in the heat...ARRGHH) and decided that there were a few objectives that I would accomplish:

1. Get car fixed.
2. Avoid most people I know. Gas costs too much.
3. Find the remainder of my stash.
4. Fix all electronic things that needed to be fixed.
5. Enjoy family.

Simple list, right? Ha ha ha. Let's that see how that worked out:

1. Get car fixed.

Kelvin, my wonderful car dealer (and I actually mean that) arrived at 9 AM Saturday to pick up my baby. He took her right over to the mechanic, who determined that I had a huge rock in the air conditioning system, which is why I don't have air. So, they ordered the part and waited for it to arrive on Monday. Wrong Part. I emailed my supervisor to let him know I wouldn't be in on Tuesday and they reordered the part. On Tuesday they got the part and realized that the part they ordered was correct, but now something else was wrong.

I emailed my supervisor again to let him know that I would be back on Wednesday. Checked my email on Wednesday and either he's in a snit or just being shitty, but he didn't send the notice out to let everyone know I was out again (yeah, I coulda sent it, but that's his job, not mine). Anyway, I waited around on Wednesday to find out if my car would get fixed. . .as of 5:15 PM, my car is on my way back to me.

FINALLY!!!

Kelvin arrives, in my car, with the air conditioning blasting. . .Ladies and Gentlemen, air conditioning is not an option in Florida during the summer. From 6PM to midnight, I kept it on. . .it was just that hot!

2. Avoid most people I know. Gas costs too much.

This was easier than I thought it would be. The only person who knew I was coming to town, besides my parents, was Stephanie. Well, when I arrived Friday, I misplaced my phone and didn't get a chance to call her. On Saturday, I found my phone, put it on the charger, and left to go shopping with Mom...and had an episode. I spent Saturday and Sunday in the bed, completely scuppering the weekend plans that I had with Mom. I spent 45 minutes at the storage unit trying to find my stash (more later), overexerting myself, and ended up right back in bed.

Did I mention that the ringer on my BlackBerry barely rings? I can't hear it most of the time, so I missed calls like crazy...



3. Find the remainder of my stash.

Aside from the air conditioning, this was the true purpose of my trip to Albany. . .having Ravelry simply reminded me that I had oodles and oodles of yarn, but I left my stash when I moved initially. So, I told Mom that we would be spending quality time in her storage unit trying to find my yarn. Let's see:

• So, we spent about 30 minutes at the storage unit on Saturday, before I crawled into the bed.
• On Monday, I crawled into the attic to check everything up there (just goes to show, if you leave your stash with non-knitters, they just won't take care of it), but no sign of the stash.
• I spent 45 minutes at the storage unit again with Diwata (my cousin) in order to thoroughly search. Still nothing.
• Checked the outside storage unit at the house. Nothing
• Checked the garage and the bedroom closet...Nope, nothing.

At this point, I had pretty much accepted that my beautiful stash, full of Cascade 220 Yarns, had gone missing. Giant Moths had carried it off. So I sat down in my bedroom and sighed.

Then I saw it. . .and wondered what it was.


There it sat, on the floor of my bedroom, where I'd slept for the past 3 nights. What was it? So I opened it.


Yup. . .had it been a snake, it would have bit me.

Hello Lover! (best Sarah Jessica Parker looking at Manolos voice)


Better believe that all this beautiful yarn was categorized and entered in Ravelry before I left Albany.



Fix all electronic things that needed to be fixed.

Fixed the following while I was home:

• DVD Player in Great Room
• Web Cam on Desktop
• Printer on Mom's Laptop
• Mom's GPS system
• Mom's Online Banking

Not as much as usual.

Enjoy family

Yup, barbeque, family, good times.

I have to admit, this definitely ranks as one of my better Memorial Days.



Victoria

The Yarn Tasting

Last night's Yarn tasting at A Yarn Outlet was absolutely wonderful. Let me warn you now, I packed my camera, put my camera in the car, and was so excited by the Prism Yarns in front of me that the camera never made it out of the car.

Anyway, I was the first person to arrive, b/c we were warned the week before that 10 people had RSVP'd and the store has an extremely tight fit. I arrived at 6 PM (The tasting was going to start at 7PM) and walked in to find Deb (the owner) on the phone looking really worried. The Prism table, however, was already setup with the Yarns on it, in the Clearance room. So I took a look around, quickly scoped out the yarns I would dive for when the entire shindig got underway, and went back into the main room.

Around 6:45 everyone started showing up and looking over the yarns and at 7PM the event was underway. I immediately moved toward this gorgeous ribbon yarn (Galaxy), only to be beaten by a woman standing right next to the table. GRR!!! She was very nice about it and promised to pass the skein to me as soon as she was through with it.

I spent most of the night trying to avoid the sock yarn (obviously), but everything else was either too novelty for me, had a bad hand, or was beautiful, but no one could determine a use for the yarn. So all in all, we loved the Yarn Tasting, but I think we might have had one too many yarn snobs there. Everyone was thinking that there was just too much novelty yarn.

Today's Big Event

Today is the Yarn Tasting at A Yarn Outlet and I am super excited! Not that I can buy anything (completely and utterly broke and still have to get my car fixed), but that I get to play with brand-new yarn for FREE!!!

I forgot to pack any needles besides my size 1 DPNS, but I'm going home this weekend and I plan on boxing up every bit of my stash to bring home.

SueAnn, my coworker sent me a hilarious YouTube video and when it was over I clicked on the one next to it. You guys have to see this one:



Sadly enough, this was even more funny to me when I realize that 1/3 of the songs that I like are not because of the lyrics (which usually suck), but b/c of the beat, just like this poor family.

Wow...an update

This is absolutely amazing to me...I'm updating my blog AGAIN! Must be because of Ravelry and everyone who might (emphasis on might) read it.

Anyway, an update on Andrea's Second Sock...

I started the baby cable ribbing last night and managed to knit three rows before getting too sleepy to continue. Quality knitting will be done tonight and tomorrow at the hairdresser’s.

Today was a case of the good, the bad, and the straight ugly...times two. Let's recap shall we?

The Good
Got off work at 12:30 PM. I love my job for this. They understand that it's SOOO hot that no one is going to work after 12 noon. Of course, they're couching it in terms of "energy efficiency" and "energy savings", but we all know what's up.

And I’m not complaining.

The Bad

Have you ever seen the Florida Driver's License?? Well, UGLY is an understatement. Of course, they snapped my lovely Georgia license. I never had a preference for driver’s licenses, but everything on my GA license was clear and easy to read. Can the Florida State Patrol read this license at night?
(on the upside, every single person at the Driver’s license bureau was so nice and friendly. I’m actually planning to write the state commissioner and tell him that, while the state license is ugly-as-sin, the people working for him are incredibly nice).

The Ugly

Ok, so May in Florida is the warm-up to Summer. The snow birds are leaving, the weather is above 80 degrees all the time, and wearing shorts to work is considered absolutely acceptable. Problem is, the air conditioning in my car isn’t working. So I made an appointment at Honda to get the car checked out...$69.99 to look??? Are you kidding???
So I take the car to Pep Boys. $39.99 for the AC check...in order to find out that my 2004 Honda Accord will need $800-$900 of work in order to get the Air Conditioning that I don't use. ARRGGHHH!!! Stash Enhancement will have to wait.

And Again, here we go...

The Good

I received an email for a Senseo machine last week. Usually I ignore these emails, but this time, I decided to answer the email. Turns out, it really did come from the Seseo company. So I had a lovely box waiting by my front door when I got home.


Inside was this:


So of course I've started pricing Tea pods (don't really drink coffee except on weekends). I can't wait to use this and I've alreay told everyone about my new wonderful toy (even though I haven't used it yet).

The Bad

I hate chicken stock from a can. I use it when absolutely necessary, but otherwise I make my own. Much healthier, tastes better, and I know everything that went in it. Problem is, now the entire house smells like onions. Onions are one of my fav vegetables, but I don't like the entire apartment smelling like them...and I can't open any windows because it's 85 degrees outside.

The Ugly

I have to get a relaxer tomorrow...and I have yet to meet a hairdresser who doesn't end up burning my scalp. I have a very sensitive scalp, so I'm not looking forward to this.

Jeez, that's one long day.

Reasons why I Love Ravelry

I love Ravelry! No, I LOVE RAVELRY! Ravelry makes my entire knitting life so much easier. For weeks I've been searching for the perfect yarn to make Clapotis with. Before Ravelry, I would have spent months trying to determine what I was going to use to substitute for the Lorna's Laces Multi called for in the pattern.

Then I rediscovered Ravelry.

I received my Ravelry invitation in November 07. I remembered signing up to join, then promptly forgot about Ravelry until my invitation showed up...So I signed in and looked around. Promptly ignored it for a few more weeks. Then, around February when the first of 50 million heat waves started hitting Florida, I logged in again.

I log in everyday now.

I've looked at everyone's Clapotis and discovered new and beautiful yarns. I've found new projects to start. More importantly, I've found entire new communities and people, KNITTING communities, to join.

My soul sings....I'm on Ravelry now. Still haven't narrowed down which yarn I will use for my Clapotis. I will say this though: meeting people on Ravelry and reading their blogs has given me a reason, for the first time in my life, to blog everyday.

Update on Andrea's Sock

I finished the first sock last week during the Woolgather's session at A Yarn Outlet (my local LYS). Feeling good about the project, I immediately cast on for the second sock.

Then it hit.

SSS is an ugly thing.
(Second Sock Syndrome for the uninitiated).

I went through the week looking at my knitting bag, occasionally thinking to myself, "If I go ahead and finish, I can start casting on for my next project" (Clapotis).

Then I would walk by my lonely and unloved (I mean Andrea's lonely and unloved) sock and tell myself that I would have it finished by the next Woolgather's.

Yesterday was Woolgatherer's. The sock was not complete. I had not knit a single stitch.

As a matter of fact, when I got to AYO, I checked the clearance boxes (nothing new), commented on other's WIPs, adn looked sadly at my sock. Still no desire to knit. Finally, I realized why. I HATED the toes! I knit sock from the toe up most of the time and I used a Figure 8 cast on for the toe, which always leaves little "ears" on the toes of my socks.

Ears are ugly.


So I frogged the sock (not that there was much there) and started over using a short row toe. I love the short row toe...pretty, elegant, no ears...
and once you finish the toe, if you play your cards right, you're also done with 1/3 of the foot.

Good times...Good times.

Bad News

Today I found out that CCC is going to buy a portal. Normally, this would be great news: they need a portal, I need a new project to keep my life interesting. However, this isn't good for so many reasons:

1. This set wants everything RIGHT NOW YESTERDAY
2. The GM will be here everyday in order to oversee everything.
3. I might actually have to do work.

On the flip side, new project!

--Mariposa

My Harry Potter Alter Ego is...

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Sirius Black

You are a gifted wizard and very loyal to your allegiance. Whilst you have a big heart and care very much about those around you, you can be a little arrogant and reckless at times.

Sirius?!?!?!

Ok, crazy people...