At Least I've Been Knitting!

Sorry I disappeared from blogland, but I promise I have been doing a whack of wonderful things with two pointy sticks and LOTS of string.

Since I last posted, I have finished the 4 ply Living Room Afghan. By finish, I do mean I finished knitting and binding it off, but did not weave in the ends. C'mon, you know me, don't act so surprised.

I also decided the green sweater I had started wasn't going to work into something wearable, despite my best laid plans. To that end, the tube I had knitted for the body/waist area was frogged and I cast on for this little cutie. When I say "cast on," I mean I spent Sunday watching 8 episodes of The Shield, 4 DVD commentaries, and knitting my little heart out. Needless to say, I got almost the entire front done, and I finished it up last night. The back is straight St st, but I am thinking of trying to work the cables around to the back - we'll see how that one works out for me.

There was also some miscellaneous crafting and cleaning done this weekend - pictures of which are to follow tomorrow with www .wednesday.com - Peace out peeps!

WorldWideWonderful.Wednesdays.Community

Greetings my dear readers. I had a fantastic idea, and I am now going to share it with all of you!!

It is called WorldWideWonderful .Wednesday.Community, (or www . Wednesday . com for short- written that way because the link that will sprout up if I type it the other way brings you to some weird site). What I am going to do on every Wednesday, instead of doing a full on blog, is to select one of my favorite blogs, and set up a link so you can go and check it out too.

The beauty of this, is that I am hoping to prompt some of the lurkers out there (myself included) into commenting and getting the word out there on other fun, exciting blogs that we all may want to read about. So, without further ado, my first www . Wednesday . com posting is... Concateknit. Her post today is especially funny, and for those of you who know about me and my public restroom fetish, you will get a definite kick out of this! Happy clicking and I'll see you guys on the kniternet!

PS - Mod Podge goodness for tomorrow, I promise...oh, and btw, I can't do math. Look at the list, and tell me if you see something (or two-thing) missing...

I thought I could do it

I thought that after two weeks of solid, straight through blogging, the last thing I would want to do today is blog, but here I am...blogging.

It was hard NOT to blog this morning when I woke up, almost like I was missing out on something important. And now, the TV is on, but nothing seems like anything I want to watch. Just making me think about how you get used to things being the way they are and then when they change, you don't know what to do with yourself.

So, I'm thinking I am going to turn off the TV, start reading a book and maybe do some writing tonight a little later on. What ever I do, at least I know my toesies will be all warm and snugly - God I love these socks!!!

Think I can walk around barefoot at work tomorrow??

Look what I did!!! (finally)

My very first pair-o-socks! I would like to thank my friend Gillian for being the knitter who started the club that got me around other knitters who made me want to do things besides knit scarves and baby blankets, and also The Yarn Harlot for writing a very simple and straightforward "recipe" for socks in this book.

I even went back and Kitchener stitched the toe on the first sock "the right way." Originally, I mis-read the sock recipe, and though it said to Kitchener stitch 8 stitches together (4+4), but it is two sets of 8 stitched (8+8), hence the wonkiness on the first toe. Oh, but they are beautiful now, and my feet feel slightly unworthy, like maybe I should shave my legs and paint my toes pretty colors to make them look pretty enough to be put into these socks. Please don't any of you hold your breath while waiting for that to happen!

I also went back and turned this:

Into this:

I cut almost a foot off the handle and then did a three needle bind off with the stitches. I thought about Kitchener stitching it, but it just didn't look right. I am now so in love with this bag - I wished it matched my socks so I could wear them together tomorrow, but it doesn't, and I don't care...Fashion/matching be damned, I am knitter, look at me knit and not match and wear Spring Socks with a brick/wheat colored bag while rockin' out with a pair of green alpaca wrist warmers...Any funny looks I get tomorrow will only be because people are jealous of my krazee kool style and knitting ability, at least that is what I am going to tell myself!

Peace out kids!

Two week finish line

Well, the first of my two week adventures are over today. I've gone two weeks with blogging everyday, and two weeks without watching TV, although I must admit that I have been watching The Shield DVDs for the last few days, BUT that is on my list to do also, and therefore it is okay (even though I think when all of my DVD watching requirements have been met, I may go another 2 weeks completely unplugged, we'll see).

Today is a day for me to go through and clean the apartment and take a look at the list and see how I am doing on it. I have it set up for myself so that Sunday's are for taking stock of what was last week and looking forward to what will be in the new week. On the agenda for today, we have a fair amount of cleaning to do, followed by some laundry and vacuuming. I have to cook up some beans and rice for the upcoming week for dinner, and I might make some cookies or something. As far as knitting is concerned, the socks come off the needles today - all I have to do is finish the toe decreases and sew 'er up! The afghan grew about a foot last night whilst I watched The Shield DVDs, Good Times! I have some marketing I want to go over for my massage practice and some pone calls to make, so it looks like today is going to be a super busy day - I better get to it! I promise to post pictures of the finished socks as soon as they are done - 2 posts in one day, you lucky duck(s)!

I'm So Smucking Fart!

Look what I did!!!

The Forgotten About bag is the first one done (and slightly felted) off the list!

I'm not sure if I am most proud of the knitting, or of having FINALLY figured out how to get my g-darn pictures on here, where I want them!!! Either way, I rock!

Seeing as I can now load up the post with pictures and therefore, do less actual typing, I present for you, a gallery of UFOs (as was noted in the comments yesterday by my dear friend Alicia, not everyone who reads this blog is a knitter, although I am working on converting them all...UFO stands for un-finished object, i.e. still on the needles, and as for felting, info on that can be found here).

UFO #1 - Spring socks, EFD (estimated finish date - tomorrow, seriously)

UFO #2 - Sockotta Socks, EFD - ? (these are work knitting and will most likely be the last thing that actually gets finished up, however I do love the yarn in a slightly unhealthy way)

UFO #3 - 4 Play Living Room Afghan, EFD - next week (again, seriously. I joined Netfilx again, and have started ordering the Shield DVDs, and got my first shipment yesterday. Not sock knitting stuff, so as soon as the Spring Socks are done, the afghan , Vic Mackey and I are cozying up on the couch)

UFO #4 - Green Shawl, EFD - two hanks of yarn later (I am working four rows on this bad boy a day until the other two hanks I have of the yarn are gone. There is a baby sweater I want to make out of the yarn I made this shawl with, so there needs to be some figurin' over how much I'll need for that before I can really go to town on the shawl)

UFO #5 - Green Sweater, EFD - probably when I decide I really want to knit something else and this is the only thing standing in my way (I think I know what I am going to do with this, but haven't figured it out 100%...good news is, there is lots-o-yarn for this one!!)

So there you have it, you are now all up to date on my knitting mis-adventures. When all of this stuff is done, I have two babies to knit for (small things for both of them), and then I think I am going to start working on my parent's Christmas gift. Yeah, I typed Christmas gift. I am going to get the yarn today!!! Wish me luck, and yes, I know it's only February, but when the yarn is on sale, you go!

Felt me baby, one more time

Truly, to be sure, knitting is what I do to relieve stress, not cause it.

Remember when I talked about the UFO bag that I found in the yarn closet from last summer, well, it had always been my intention to felt it. I finished knitting it on Wednesday, and left the end sewing in until last night. So, in an uncharacteristic display of knitterly attentiveness, I actually wove the ends in last night and thought to myself, "Smart, fun, attractive lady, why don't you felt this bag tonight with some of your jeans you have to wash anyway??"

And so my adventure began.

I learned several things during last night's felting adventure. In random order, here they are:

1. Felting makes me nervous. I actually sat in the laundry room of my apartment building in a fold up chair so that I could be there to listen in case something made a weird sound or the washing machine caught on fire. The big lump in my belly, not a nice feeling!

2. If my neighbors had come into the building and seen me sitting in the laundry room, knitting a sock and watching and listening to the washing machine, I would have been very, very embarrassed. Thank mohair that didn't happen.

3. The yarn I wasn't sure if it would felt, didn't felt. I tried felting a strand of it, and it seemed like it would work, and if I had left the whole thing in longer, it may have, but I am impatient.

4. The other yarn did felt, quite nicely by the way.

5. You CAN put knitting in the dryer!!! (Don't try this at home kids, always get parental supervision)

6. My dryer only needs half an hour to dry three pairs of jeans an one hand knit bag; the other half an hour is just enough time to get all the fuzz/lint off a load of freshly washed laundry and get most of the wrinkles out so I can hang the clothes to dry completely. This will save me mucho dinero seeing as it costs me $1.45 for one load in the washer, and $1.45 for one load in the dryer. More money to put in the yarn jar!!!

7. Since the wheat colored yarn didn't felt so much, the strap is waaaaaayyyy too long, however, there are presently some options I am considering. Among them are:

A. Not care (not a good option)
B. Tie a knot in the strap to shorten it up
C. Grow so the strap doesn't seem so long (I like this one!!!)
D. Give the bag away to someone taller (snicker, laugh, choke! um, no...)
E. Do something I never do which is go back and fix a knitting mistake because not
fixing it will make me sad and not love the bag as much. I just need to take about
six inches off the strap and sew it back together. Totally within my knitterly skill
set to do.

And so, later on this evening, I will embark on my first project rescue mission, because people, I am in love with this bag. I am in love with felting and the possibilities it opens up and the way it beats the yarn into submission and makes something so very different from what you started out with. Washing machine as a cocoon for metamorphosis, kind of makes you wonder what else is possible in the world, huh, if your washing machine and a little soap can create so much change?

Peace out peeps, it's the first day in a while I don't need to shovel off the car, so I'm taking an extra long hot shower this morning. See you on the kniternet!

PS - Still having camera issues, hence the lack - o - pics, but I am working on it, promise. I have not forgotten to show you the Mod Podge goodness : )

I Heart Winter, NOT!

Yeah, it snowed...boy o boy did it snow. At least principal snowfall has ended, now we just get to deal with the blowing and drifting. Somebody, please, tell me why I don't move someplace warm, or run away to be a massage therapist on a cruise ship. Somebody, please??

At any rate, they let us out of work at 1pm yesterday, which would have been a lovely gesture had we not been spending all morning watching from the sixth floor windows as all sorts of cars and SUVs got stuck in the snow in the flat parking lot. Kind of a bad sign when a SUV can't get through snow on a flat surface, maybe that would have been a good time to send us home. It took me almost 30 minutes to drive 5 miles, but I made it home safe and sound.

Once nestled inside my warm and cozy abode (haha, snicker, snicker - You all know the only time my "abode" is ever warm and cozy is when it's summer and I am too cheap to turn on the AC, right? It was a rockin' 62* in here as usual.), I watched Fight Club and knit my little heart out in honor of Valentine's day. I finished the long ago forgotten about bag I started last summer. It definitely needs to be felted, but I have a terrible feeling that one of the yarns I used may not be 100% wool, so the felting might not happen. I have a rescue plan devised if it wont felt, which involves picking up stitches and adding a seed stitch border and re-doing the handle in seed stitch also. (And please don't worry, I am going to make a swatch to felt before I throw the whole darn thing in the washer, geez, I'm not that much of a newbie...)

All a knitter needs is a plan, right? Happy knitting kids, I for the second time in two days, get to go shovel off the car. Drive safe, and knit wildly! Peace out.

Winter arives! And a V-Day rant!

Thank you for visiting Karen on the Kniternet. Your hostess cannot come to the blog right now, seeing as her half an hour in the morning before work blog-time is being taken up by shoveling snow off her car. Please join your hostess in welcoming winter, and in the same breath, telling it that it can go back to where it came from.

Stupid snow...makes me have to shovel : (

On this Valentine's Day, I would just like to say, that I do wish I had a love muffin to spread my buttery spread on (if you know what I mean), but more importantly, I wish I had someone to shovel off my car for me and take the dog outside to tinkle when it is hella-crappy out like this. Just a reminder to all those whiny people out there who will complain that their sweetie pie forgot, or didn't get them what they wanted...IT'S A MADE UP HOLIDAY DESIGNED TO SELL GREETING CARDS!!!!!!! Get over it, and then get over yourself. If your love muffin does nice, everyday things for you, try and find the love in that, and go buy yourself a box of chocolate, or better yet - buy some yarn. And if you still have some time left, wanna come shovel out my car???

Happy Valentine's Day, and remember, it isn't your muffin's fault they forgot Valentine's Day, it's Hallmark's fault for thinking the whole stupid thing up! Happy knitting!!!

PS - I created this post last night, BUT, I am writing this PS today, so this does, in my mind, constitute "blogging" for today, and my uninterrupted streak continues.

Damn camera!

I have wasted over half of my blogging time this morning trying to figure out how to get the little pictures in my camera out, and in to my laptop. Twas not a success.

Therefore, gentle reader(s), twill be a short blog.

I have nothing to tell you about the knitting except, it continues. I am not particularly in love with any of the projects I am working on, but because of the list, I must persevere, I simply must. There are felted messenger bags and mittens in my future, and I must make my way towards them.

The list is progressing nicely, and I have been getting some input and suggestions. One of the most marvelous things is that I have been going to my writer's group again, and have really started working on editing and polishing the last novel, and I have also started writing on the next one. So far, both endeavours are going well, and the ideas for the new story are flowing pretty smoothly. When I sit down to write, I usually have no specific thought in mind (you may have noticed this by reading the blog), but the ideas magically spring forward out of the recesses of my mind. In the past, the only times this happened were between 10am - 2pm and again from 11pm-2pm.

This schedule of creativity is not conducive to my 9-5 job, and so, I have been spending the better part of the last two months figuring out when it was that my body wanted to write. So far, consensus is 9pm - 11pm is the answer. I've got my groove, I've got my general story outline (it's all in my head!), and I got some encouragement last night at my group, so I'm all set to rock this party out...

...see you on the best seller's list, I'll be the short one knitting! **

** (Something tells me there may, in fact, be lots of other short women knitting that are on the best seller's list, I mean have you been to a bookstore lately and looked in the "crafts/knitting section," it's kind of out of control. Point being, I may not be the only one there, but I will be in good company!)

Why me???

Okay, so I figured out how to put the pictures in throughout the post, THEN I went and figured out how to "fix" my camera (something about the "new" batteries I put in just weren't doing the trick - it would let me take one picture, and then the camera would shut off...new new batteries took care of the problem), and now, I can't get the pictures to download from the camera onto the laptop. I'm starting to notice a trend.

So, without nay a picture to show you, I will tell you what I am working on.

Old stuff.

Old stuff I'm not sure I really wasn't to be working on, but I have to get #78 crossed off before I can move on to any new knitting. So, I have developed a knitting plan. This plan is somewhat similar to the plan I established for Christmas 2006, which was a very successful plan.

This week, I am finishing up the Spring Socks. They will, in fact, be my first finished pair of socks - EVER!!! I am so proud! I am going to leave the Sockotta socks at work, and I am going to make myself do 4 rows on the shawl a day until it's done. As for the afghan, as soon as I am allowed to watch TV again, that will be done in three evenings, if not less.

The sweater is a different story, because I have no pattern and am not sure what I am doing with it, but I have ideas, and that's all a knitter really needs, right? Which brings us to the fact that I found something else - a bag that I wanted to felt - that has been sitting in my closet since last summer. That might get bumped up to work knitting because it is just St St worked in the round on large needles, one of my favorite kinds of knitting.

Well, now that you all know what a fickle knitter I am and how undedicated I am to my MANY knitting projects - I bid you good morning. I have a camera/computer problem that needs to be addressed. Mod Podge tomorrow??

Sunday, Sunday...

Hi! Sunday's are for being lazy, and for being crafty. I have a client today, which means I will be forced to take a shower and put on clean clothes and drag my arse up to Clifton Park, BUT it also means I can go here to buy groceries!!! Is it sad that I am actually excited about that?

Someone suggested to me a way to fix the picture problem I was having, so I bring you some oldies but goodies, i.e. Christmas presents from 2006.

These are scarves made for my little cousins, who are all under the age of five. They are made out of a continuously cut strip of fleece, and are super warm and fuzzy. Cutting the fleece was a total pain in the bum, but they came out so cute and the boys love them (and actually wear them), so that is all that matters, right? The pattern can be found here, and I just modified it by adding a key-hole so my aunts could really tie those suckers on the kids.

Next Christmas 2006 knitting picture is one of my favorite things! It is the first blanket/throw I ever made, AND it was for my grandparents so that makes it extra special.

It was knit with three strands held together, I used Lion Brand Thick and Quick (the cream color) and a pink and a bluish-grey Wool Ease. Just basic St St worked with a garter border and some tassels. It worked up quick, the grandparents loved it, and it assured my place as the favorite grandchild for another year to come.

Well, it appears that I have managed to learn how to put my photos in throughout the post. It was something simple called "cutting and pasting," anyone ever heard about that? Sometimes, I am so computer illiterate. Well, now that we have THAT problem, taken care of, I am off to work on my camera issues, because I have been working on something that needs to be photographed. Hint: it does involve a knitting needle (size 00 dpn), but involves no yarn.

Two words for you: Mod Podge!

Happy knitting kiddies!

Saturday in bed

I woke up this morning, right at 9am and had that funny feeling that I had slept in. Such a wonderful feeling...

After taking Mr. Kendall out to tinkle, I decided to declare Saturday in bed day, and have promptly amassed every thing I need to spend the rest of the day in bed - my laptop, my knitting, a whole bunch of books, and of course, a snuggly Mr. Kendall.

It is going to be a good day!

I am going to knit, and write, and read, and listen to NPR, and heat up some vegetarian pasta e fagioli soup later with some crusty bread. Does it get any better than this? I think not.

On another positive note, I went out to dinner with a bunch of friends from massage school last night, and not only did I not order an entree that had meat in it, I didn't want to order an entree that had meat in it, and to be blunt, we are currently in the one week out of the month wherein I usually demand to be fed meat. Most frequently, it is red meat too.

I think I have been eating vegetarian for a while now, just not consciously. I think the last time I sat down to eat something and knew it contained meat was almost a month ago, and let me tell you, I got hella-sick the next day (damn chicken sandwich tasted good though!). We'll see how well this all goes over the next time I visit my family! Crazy liberal knitting veggie daughter with lots of dirty laundry and a dog with a small bladder, ah, my parents love me!

Happy knitting peeps - I'm going to go make myself some breakfast, and bring it right back into bed with me! Peace ; )

PS - Still having problems with posting pics, not the lest of which is I am having camera problems. I posted a comment on the Google message board, so hopefully someone can help me help myself. Wish me luck!

Hooray for #95!

I was on my way home last night when I heard about this, and while my first natural reaction was to think about the baby she just had and how she would grow up without a mother, my second thought was "Holly-freakin-luya, I CAN'T watch TV so I DON'T have to listen to this for the next two weeks non-stop!" Something in my mind tells me that her death is probably just as big, if not a bigger story, than any of her other wild and zany antics.

I will admit to having watched her show when it was on E!, and feeling terrible about myself every time I did so, whatever. She put herself out there for that one. The point I am trying to make, and I admit this will not be coming back around to knitting, is what we value as a society, what we are sold, is crap.

Ironically, I was reading John Irving's book, The Fourth Hand last night (look it up on the list!), and there is almost an entire chapter devoted to a journalist's response to the weekend JFK Jr.'s plane went down into the Atlantic. I don't want to give anything away about the book, but it seemed kind of fitting that the character was concerned about the same things I didn't want to have to see last night - the train wreck that the media makes of what should be private family grief. It was very interesting reading it from his perspective as a journalist and what he thought of the situation. (Good book, by the way.)

I'm just thinking this morning about what sells, and what information gets out there, what we are force-fed while watching TV and the messages that come across our eyes all the time. You may not always be paying attention, but the information is there just the same.

People are always surprised to find out that Fight Club is both my favorite movie, and my favorite book (yes, it was a book first!). They look at all five feet nothing of me, my knitting probably in my hand, a my little dog and my lap, and they say "You like Fight Club?" And I say "Um, yeah, I do." It isn't quite so much about fighting each other with your fists and beating the crap out of one another - that, I think is what our lives are about in general, figuratively speaking. What that story is saying, is I don't want to be a part of this crap-ass culture that puts values on such stupid stuff.

Granted, not everyone is enveloped in the "mass media culture," but enough people are that it makes it difficult not to be. All I know is that I was sad I missed Grey's Anatomy last night, but glad that the only information I had about Anna Nicole Smith dying was the one story I clicked on from MSNBC. I can only imagine the coverage this will get, and I have to ask "Why?" The answer, I think is because it sells, but what is it selling? That is the real question.

All I know is that not being able to turn on the TV has caused me to not want to turn on the TV, and I am super happy about that. It's almost like I have given myself a present, the gift of tuning out. So for that, I say thank you to myself, and invite you to join me in the fun - you probably need a break too. Pick up your knitting or your favorite book, and just spend a night being quiet, and see what you hear. It's kind of nice, trust me.

Look at the Yummy!!!

Aren't they delicious??

These fingerless gloves may just be my favorite thing I have knitted in, oh, I don't know...FOREVER!!! The way the pair of them keeps my wrists so warm and toasty, it almost makes talking on the phone all day at work less of a crap-fest.

I went to the S&B at my LYS last night - so much fun!!! I have been to a S&B before, but never in the presence of so much yarn. I know I will sound like a newbie when I say that all the yarn was a little distracting and I wanted to just get up and walk around and decide what I want to work on next. I just wanted to touch all of it and take it home with me...but alas, I was a good girl. I did decide, however that I think I want to make the messenger bag from Knitting for Peace out of several shades of Noro alternating through the project...we'll see!

As for tonight, wish me fortitude as I try to not watch TV on what previously had been the only night of the week I intentionally plunkered down to watch specific shows. It's only twice that I will miss them, and remember, I can still watch Grey's on the laptop tomorrow! Peace out kiddies - Happy Knitting on the Kniternet!

Strange Dreams, and the Heat is On

Last night I was playing fetch with Mr. Kendall, and my aim was a little off. I threw the toy and it hit the wall in the area of the thermostat...No big deal I thought. Shortly there after, I sat on the couch to read a book by John Irving (I am going to kick my list's arse!), and quickly was overcome with the feelings of sleep. At 8:15. See what happens when there is no TV!

Well, I gave in to my sleepiness, took off my glasses and drifted off with the gentle sounds of my furnace kicking on. Lets just say I had an weird dream last night, and in an odd way, it did include knitting.

I dreamt I was back in high school and mega-pregnant, like 15 months pregnant my belly was so big. My parents and I were living in the same house we lived in when I was in high school, only it wasn't the same high school I went to. It seemed like it was a school down in NYC - do you know how when you dream sometimes, you just "know" that you are someplace? it was one of those types of things - well anyway, I am living in upstate New York, going to high school in NYC, massively pregnant, and guess who is my doula. That doesn't even compare to what came next, because I think this guy was either my baby daddy, or I was a horny little pregnant girl and was trying to work on #5 with him anyway. Either way, not so much my style. In the end, I can't even remember if I gave birth in my dream, so I'm just stuck being eternally 15 months pregnant, lol.

Yeah, that was a weird dream, and I kept waking up through the night to the sound of the furnace being on, and kind of surprised that I wasn't cold with just the one blanket I had on me, so when I woke up this morning, I looked at the thermostat. Apparently, last evening's game of "fetch" should be renamed the "accidentally turn the thermostat up 20* game."

I can't wait for the NiMo bill. The only time it will ever be that warm in my apartment, and I slept right through it. Oh well, at least I had a fun dream from all the heat!

PS - Obviously, there was no knitting last night with the going to bed at 8:15 and all, the fingerless gloves will be finished and photographed for tomorrow, I promise!

What is this post about???

I had a FANTASTIC idea about a post for today. Last night before I got into bed, I was thinking I had an awesome, thoughtful idea to post on here for today. Now, my mind is mush.

What I can tell you, is I have the first of my fuzzy yummy wrist warmers done, and the second one should get finished up at work today. I can't even describe to you how wonderful they feel, their soft delicious woolly fibers cradle my forearms and hand and prevent my wrists from hurting while I knit, I mean type, all day. How, you may ask, do I know this if I only have one of them done? Because I wore the first one all day yesterday while I was working on the second one, duh!

Well, as you can see, #85 on the list is going along fabulously. I also decided to pursue #95 when I got home last night from my Writer's Group and discovered I had gone all day without watching TV, I said "What's another 13 days?" I unplugged the surge protector that all my TV electronic crap is plugged into - lets see how much my electric bill goes!

I talked to my friend Alicia last night, and we made tentative plans to work on #51 and #62, possibly within the next few months. I am super excited - those are two of the goals I am most looking forward to! We have decided to go here, but other than that, no decisions have been made. Who knows, perhaps going here will help me with #5 too, lol.

I have also decided to tinker with the photo posting options on here and possibly send an email if I can't figure it out, so hopefully soon my dear reader(s), we will have a proper looking knit blog with tons of pictures throughout the post.

Okay, its time for me to get in the shower. I leave you by wishing a Happy Birthday to my Dad today. Please don't ask me how old he is, I really am not sure and it would require me doing math. You may know I am not a fan of math, but I am especially not a fan of it at 7:30 am. Hugs and kisses and happy knitting on the Kniternet! (and Happy Birthday Dad!!!)

# 85

You may have noticed that I joined the 101 things in 1001 days meme-along. It just seems like such a good idea - it's been a very long time since I sat down and made a huge list of all the things I wanted to accomplish in a time span that goes beyond a month. It was super hard thinking of 101 things to do, but I think the list reflects well on who I am and where I am, and also who I hope to be in the future. I don't think anything on the list is too "out there," and I think they are all things that will make me a better/stronger woman.

That being said, the very first thing I decided I could do was #85...Staring today, I will blog everyday for the next two weeks. I read somewhere once that it takes two weeks to turn a task into a habit, so I am hoping that through the series of "Two Week" goals that I have made for myself, I will be able to set up some good long-term strategies for being a better, healthier person.

On to the knitting! I have realized that for a "knitting blog," there has been a sorrowful lack of knitting on here lately. For this reason, I bring you pictures of the red scarves...All SIX of 'em!

Four of them were done in Lion Brand Homespun, two were done in Patton's Voodoo (discontinued). There is a cabled scarf (my first cables!!! - how I fell in love with doing cables...), a garter stitch keyhole scarf, two plain garter stitch scarves (one Homespun and one Voodoo), one Very Harlot Scarf, and one scarf worked horizontal in garter stitch.

And apparently, I can not figure out how to put my pictures IN my post, they all just float up to the top. Anyone have a suggestion on how to stop that?? Oh well, at least there are pictures, right? Happy Monday kiddies, and happy knitting on the kniternet!

How I Spent My Saturday Night, Part Deux...

Okay, I am probably not the only one who thinks it's kind of sad that I am posting about last Saturday on THIS Saturday, but this my dear readers has been an eventful week.

Let us start at the beginning, with the wedding I attended last Saturday night. You may have been able to discern from my lover-ly cross stitch piece that it was not a boy-girl wedding. It was in fact, a commitment ceremony, because I live in New York and we are stupid here and don't let people who love each other get married! (breathe...) Anywhoozels, I was privileged enough to be invited to my friend's commitment ceremony, and it was wonderful.

I have this thing about gay people getting married. First off, I don't like that they have to have a "commitment ceremony" because they aren't allowed to legally get married. It sounds like they are being sentenced to a mandatory stay at some nasty-arse psych hospital. Semantics aside, it's time for some math...

Now, most information I have ever read on the subject says that about 10% of the population is predominantly interested in sex with partners of the same sex. Okay, so then you figure that only a percentage of them ever come to feel comfortable enough with those feelings to be free to act on them in a way that would allow them to form a loving relationship that leads to wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone.

For the sake of argument, lets just assume that out of the 10%, 90% are out there, actively looking for love (I just pulled this number out of my arse for purposes of conversation, I have no idea on the actual numbers, bear with me...). So out of only 9% of the population, if you are lucky enough to find someone you want to make and share a life with, that gives me hope. As someone who has been heterosexually single for quite some time (wait until the novel gets published, you will all understand), it gives me great hope and strength to think that out of that small percentage of people, two people could find each other and fall in love and get married. It just makes me happy and it makes me want to dance.

So that's what I did on Sunday evening at my Christmas party - I was happy and I danced. I also drank Cosmos. Actually, I asked for a Cosmo, and I swear to gawd this woman poured ice into a plastic cup, dumped some cheap vodka in it and threw some cranberry juice in. No triple sec, no lime, no martini glass and Dear Lawrd there was ice in it.

I had two of them.

Point being, if I wanted a vodka cranberry, I would have asked for one.

It was a really great party though. Sadly, any of the pictures taken of me do not shed a great light on the fine, upstanding moral person and knitter that I am. Lets just say the only pictures I've seen so far involve me, my friend Amy and a chair...good times! On a brighter note, there is one picture of my ass that looks great - yeah for yoga!!

However, probably the most eventful things that happened this week was that I quit the restaurant. I am now down to only having one job, two businesses and a novel to publish. I went to talk to the girl who makes the schedule to ask her to take me off for next week, and found out that she had already done it. My last day was Wednesday night, and for a while, I was kind of sad about it, like wanting to cry about it and stuff. I feel better now, I knitted my way through it.

Now, I am going to focus on the massage practice and looking into starting a charity knitting group. I am on my way to a new LYS today to see if they know of any charity knitting groups in town because I haven't heard of any of them. As far as this weekend is concerned, I am doing my taxes. When I say "doing my taxes," what I really mean is doing all my bookkeeping and receipt checking for two businesses for the entire calendar year of 2006. I am off to Tar-jay to buy sustenance (i.e. Red Vines and Sour Patch Kids) - wish me luck and big tax returns!

Happy knitting on the kniternet kids - I wonder if I can knit and use an adding machine at the same time......