How I Spent my Saturday Night, Part I

Does this give you any idea what I did on Saturday?????

Did I mention this is one of those lefty, liberal leaning knit blogs with a trying-to-be-vegetarian-single-chick behind the wheel? Yes, I realize I work at a steakhouse, but in my head, it all makes sense. Knit on!

Ode to the Bookstore

So I went on a bazillion errands tonight after work, just what I wanted to do after the weekend I had of trying to act like I was 21 again.

Well, the end to my evening, the very last stop was at Border's. I had some books for this that I bought back in October of last year that I had to return seeing as this is not something I am interested in doing any time soon.

Seeing as I was a scoach over the ninety day limit for returns, I got store credit, and what does a knitter do when she suddenly has "free money" in a bookstore? I assure you the answer is not walk herself out the front door, get in her salt covered car, and go home to her dog.

Oh no, gentle knit blog readers and friends o'mine, the knitter heads to the knitting section of the mega-book store, sits her arse down on a stool, and starts going through all of the books! That my friends, is what a knitter does.

Funny thing happened though, while I was reading through the books - I realized that I no longer feel like a beginner. As I looked over all the books that had devoted more than two pages on how to cast on or do a purl stitch, all the patterns for a 2x2 rib scarf and roll brim hat, it occurred to me that I have moved beyond that (just a little). If I want to make a scarf, or a hat, I can do that all on my own, muchas gracias por favor.

Then it hit me that there are so many things in my life that I have gotten to this elemental level of proficiency (maybe I should take the GRE's, that was some wordy goodness right there!), and then I kind of give up on them. Take, for example, yoga. Love it, pretty good at it, do it whenever I feel like it, but not on a consistent basis. My writing, we wont even talk about it because I have renewed the same two books from the library for almost two months solid trying to get the quotations I want inserted into the manuscript. God knows I change careers like fertile women bear children.

But knitting is different, and as I walk away from the beginner books, I am struck by how wonderful it is to me that I have this thing, this talent, tool, skill, whatever you want to call it that brings me so much happiness and peace. It seems a shame that I can't use knitting to bring some of that peace and happiness to the world. That's why this is the book I bought. And you are all just going to have to wait to see what I'm going to do with it, because right now, mama still has a wee bit of a hangover and needs some sleep.

Happy knitting on the kniternet kiddies - keep it peaceful.

2 Sweatshirts, Hat and Scarf...

...that's what I wore to bed last night underneath three blankets!

Damn its cold here!

This freezing cold makes me feel good that I am knitting for the Red Scarf Project, how wonderful for those kids who are working so hard, to get something hand made to keep them warm. It kind of makes me wish I knit for myself more often, because I am walking around wearing a fuzzy fleece hat from the Gap (not someplace I shop - it was a gift) and a fleece scarf from Old Navy (also a gift). We wont mention the "gloves" I have to put on later. Suffice it to say, they aren't made of some wonderful alpaca or snuggly wool, oh no, my "gloves" are marketed under the term "magic," and they shrink back to the size of a five year old's hand when you take them off, how embarrassing to be a knitter and be seen in such things??

At any rate, I have managed to only be late to work once this week, and I claim no responsibility for the fact that when people in Albany, NY see a snowflake for the first time each winter, it causes them to forget how to drive and ends up taking me twice as long to get to work. Its a kind of math I just can't do in my head. Actually, I can't really do any math in my head, but that's another post...

As for this weekend, I am dating myself tonight. I am going to see this beautiful movie at this wonderful theater. There will be no popcorn, but perhaps some herbal tea and chewy candy of some sort. There will also be the last Red Scarf I am knitting, which has about another six inches or so left to be knit. All that knitting goodness needs to be sent out tomorrow, so I have a lot of ends to be woven in before I trampse over to the Post Office.

Tomorrow night, I have been invited to something wonderful - I'll tell you all about it later. And as for Sunday, four words for you: Restaurant Worker's Christmas Party.

If you don't know exactly what that means, be happy for yourself, and if you do know what that means, please feel sorry for me on Monday morning.

Happy knitting on the kniternet kiddies!

Guess What....

Chenille does not equal mohair!!!!

In a fit of "I want to make something cute and finish it quick" -ness, I cast on for this , but instead of using the Moonlight Mohair, I used the only thing in my stash I thought I had enough of: eight or so skeins of jewel tone green Lion Brand Chenille Thick-n-Quick.

Any other, smarter knitters out there know where this is going???

Now, I checked gauge for both stitch and row accuracy, and I was pretty much on target. I will admit that it came out a little larger than it should have, HOWEVER, I did not take into account the fact that chenille (especially three strands of it held together!) does not have the same weight or drape as mohair.

Basically, I have created a large, floppy green thing that I can throw around my shoulders, and still manage to keep my arse warm, and the top portion of my thighs as well. The problem my dear friends, is that my living room is already covered with little pieces of fuzzy green chenille from knitting this thing up - could you imagine what would happen if I frogged the stupid thing??

This is what I get for trying to make anything with the word "shrug" listed in the pattern - I don't like them, I think they look stupid most of the time, and up until about 1:24 pm on Saturday, I chose not to participate in them. The Knitting Goddess has layeth down her smack, and I must abide. Back to knitting Red Scarves, where I belong.

53 degrees!

It was 53 degrees in my bedroom this morning when I woke up - Fahrenheit, not Celsius!

That is just way too cold! Although I suppose if it was 53* Celsius, that would be way too hot maybe?? Any Canadians out there who can help me out with the conversion??

Granted, I keep my heat set on 64*, but still, VERY unreasonable!

This will be a shorty post today, running late for work as per usual (but at least I feel well enough to GO to work today, right?), and when I say "work," I mean job A and B. I may not be at Job B much longer; it kind of hasn't been worth it lately.... We'll see!

Wish me fun knitting on my breaks at work b/c that is the only knitting I'll get to do today while working from 8:30am - 12:oo am. Somebody remind me why I do this to myself, oh yeah, because its fun!

Photo Update!

See, two posts in one day - I am getting to be such a GOOD blogger!

Any-whoosels, I figured out how to and successfully erased all the pictures from my digi camera, so I am proud to deliver this b-e-a-u-t-i-ful picture (although, I will admit, it took place before Christmas).

Sorry Loren that Mr. Kendall is wearing your Christmas hat and scarf - but doesn't he look handsome??!!

Dogs and yarn are WAY cuter than cats and yarn, right?? C'mon, admit it!!!!

Pattern - made it up as I went for both the hat and key-hole scarf

Yarn - Wool Ease Thick-n-Quick w/ Lion Brand Fun Fur (I only use this yarn for small children that I REALLY love)

Needles -10 1/2 Takumi

Model - the infamous Mr. Kendall

Recipient - the adorable Miss Loren, my best friend's 4 year old daughter

I'm a Bad, Bad, Blogger, Part II

It has been brought to my attention by myself, that I frequently begin projects without immediately making a commitment to follow through on them. For those of you who know me, examples of this include, but are not limited to, going to graduate school, starting and expanding my massage business (although technically, I have done that, just not very much lately), and blogging.

The good news, though, is I have been knitting!!!! So far, there are four scarves done for the Red Scarf Project and I have two more on the needles (one at home and one at the office). Time and fiscal budgets permitting, I may also buy more yarn and do a "quickie" - I fear all the scarves I have made are a little girly, and the instructions do say "unisex."

More good news, I started a shawl. It can be so g-darn cold in my office building, that I decided to get over my "shawls are for olde ladies" thing and just start knitting one. I am doing it bottom up, so my fear at how long the rows will be once I get towards the end is pretty big, but I will march on (or start a pair of socks when the time comes to distract me from the tedium).

You may be asking yourself why there are no pictures on the blog yet, and the answer I have for you is kind of sad. Right now, on my digital camera, there are pictures from almost three years ago. It was a trip that I went on for my birthday to visit a "friend" who had moved away. This particular friend is also the one who would erase all the pictures from my digital camera whenever I needed it done, and truth be told, I don't think I have ever erased pictures myself.

See, we aren't even friends anymore, let alone "friends," and it makes me kind of sad in a way that I will never admit that I don't want to erase those pictures from my camera, and I don't want to have to do it myself.

But, I need to.

Or, I could buy a new memory card.

Or hell, I could buy a new camera!

It takes almost 15 minutes for all the pictures to download from the camera onto my computer so I can get to the most recently taken pictures. But probably, I should just delete them, because every time I start downloading, there he is drinking his coffee and looking stupid, me smiling and looking kind of fat in a white shirt (??!!). And seriously, do I really want to spend valuable yarn money on something as silly as a new memory card - I think not!

I will delete them, but maybe just not today. He and I do not work together, this has been documented, studied and verified on numerous occasions. But before we were ever "friends" we were friends, and I miss that more than the "-" but it has come to the point where it is impeding on my ability to blog about knitting and therefore, it must be dealt with!

Somebody, find me the instruction manual to my digital camera!

On a gloomier note (!), I feel like poo today, and had to cancel my date for this evening (very nice guy by the tone of his emails - pictures are handsome - sounds cute on the phone!). Actually, I had to come home from work early too because I thought I was going to yak, and it is very difficult to talk on the phone with the elderly all day when you feel like you are going to get sick. I was fine until about 8 am this morning, and then WHAM!, yak-central. I am still not feeling that well, but I ate some Cream-o-Wheat with apple sauce for lunch and took a nice long nap - and I feel better now!

Off to knit a red scarf, happy knitting on the kniternet kiddies! Pictues tomorrow (maybe!) !

I am a bad, bad blogger!!

So I know I get kind of sad when my favorite blogs don't get updated for a few days, so I can ONLY IMAGINE how sad the three of you who are reading this must be right now : (

Sorry!

I pledge from here on out to go no more than three days without blogging, barring unforseen or unexpected illness, or the possibility that some day I may actually go on a vacation!

As of right now, I am officially running late for work - but this is normal, no need to be concerned - so I leave you with the promise of a fantastic post tomorrow (maybe even with pictures, ooohhh, pictures!) and the kowledge that so far I have completed three scarves for the Red Scarf Project. I have two more on the needles and at least two more going on the needles, and I am starting to get a little sick of the color red. For those of you who know me, you can imagine how weird it is that I am getting sick of red - 2 red cars, 1 red winter coat, LOTS of red shirts, even a pair or two of red pants, not to mention the fact that I look fab-o-lous in red lipstick... but its all for a good cause!

Until tomorrow my sweet little readers, happy knitting on the kniternet!

Happy 2007!

After much knit blog reading, and A LOT of holiday knitting, I have decided to add "Knit Blogger" to the list of my many other, varied duties!

I hope that this will be a place where I can keep track of my projects, keep in touch with old friends and hopefully make some new ones. Also, I am hoping that the act of writing frequently will keep me on the right track towards getting my novel edited and published before the end of this year.

I wish you all health, happiness, and happy knitting in the new year!