A girl, some yarn, and a weinerdog

The dirty 30. The big 3-0. Wowza.

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 02:25:00 +0200

So, today is my 30th birthday. Life looks a little different than what I'd planned when I thought about where I'd be at 30. But life is good. I've had a great 24 hours.
Last night, went to have my hair done at my friend Ann's salon. When I went to pay... FREE. She says "I'm sorry--this is cheezy that I didn't get you a gift. I'd like to give you your hair for free." Wow. A $130 cut and color for free? Are you kidding me? Then we went to BW3's and met up with our 2 other friends, and sat on the patio and drank martinis (I'm loving cosmos lately... call me Carrie Bradshaw, I guess...) all night. When we were ready to order more, we'd call the bar on our cell phones and ask for another round...
This morning, I woke up to my very good friend and a handmade card. Apparently he called my house twice and yelled up the stairs, but I didn't hear him (on account of I was passed out from the 7 cosmos and random shots from the night before).
Then I went to cheerleading practice, and my entire squad was waiting with balloons, cake, and these: Too sweet. One rose for each year.
After that, I knitted at my LYS with my great friend Andria. I worked on this: Orangina. Someday I'll finish it.
And I got frustrated with this: Starsky. I hate knitting cables on the wrong side. I'm thinking of how I can make this sweater more enjoyable. I'm going to rip out what I have.
So then I started on this: Pasha the penguin. For my tiny friend Kayla, who is painting her room like Antarctica.
I popped home for a bit to visit with Zoe and found these in my mailbox. My grandma sent them.
Then I decided that since my phone has started to cut off and die during about 3 out of 5 conversations, I deserved to have working communication devices. So I went out and bought myself this: Good, huh? Happy birthday to me.

You old blockhead.

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 17:33:03 +0200

This is the scene at my dining room table. I am blocking 3 (count 'em, 3!!!) FO's as we speak. Wrap tank in Plum Patina Cotton Fleece. Somewhat Cowl in Olivette Cotton Fleece. One Skein Wonder in Rue and Truffle Cotton Fleece. Anybody see a theme here? Time for an intervention. I mean, really. Someone needs to cut me off of the Cotton Fleece. STAT. Remember the last FO? The halter top. What did I knit it with? Cotton Fleece, people. What else am I working on? Orangina. In Cotton Fine. Which is like switching from Lamb's Pride Burly Spun to Lamb's Pride Worsted. Not that different.
So, I am thinking that it would be fun to do a stitch marker swap. Any takers???? Let me know. I'll set it up.

Back from the last frontier!

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:25:51 +0200

Hey!! Hey y'all! I'm back from the greatest vacation EVER!! My dad and I met up out in Vancouver, BC to hop a cruise ship up the Inside Passage in Alaska! Big fun! We saw amazing things and had incredible adventures. Went on a zipline tour over the canopy of a temperate rainforest. Took a helicopter ride to do some dogsledding on a glacier. Chased our sled through the snow when our dogs decided that break-time was over. Went through the Denali National Park in a six seater plane in some pretty bouncy weather. Saw some magnificent wildlife (grizzlies, moose, caribou, wolves, foxes, porcupines, bald eagles...). Sat on my veranda and knitted while the ocean went by... Picked up some Lorna's Laces sock yarn in "girly stripe" for some girlpower Jaywalkers.
Here's what I knitted on my trip: It is a little fake-wrap tank. The recipe was concocted by Sandi, the owner of my LYS. I knitted it in Cotton Fleece (my favorite yarn ever) in Plum Patina. I wasn't sure about this color--it didn't look like much in the skein, but knitted up? I. LOVE. IT. Can't wait to wear it. Still working on Orangina. Sporadically. That is usually how I roll when it comes to lace. I'm ready to start something else. Next project? Starsky.
So when I returned home, I had a short run of REALLY bad luck. The highpoints: majorly flat tire (two times) on the way to pick up my dog from "puppy camp." Of course I was on the phone with the man who is now my ex-boyfriend when the tire ceased to be a working component of my vehicle. He INSISTED that I allow him to rescue me. Urgh. Once we got that sorted out, I came home, pulled my car in the garage, and attempted to close the garage door. It got halfway down, then refused to budge. Stuck halfway, hanging at a 30 degree angle. Terrific. One of the coils had come unwound. Right, and I'm going to be able to fix this. My super marvelous friend Joe came to my rescue and fixed it (much to his own surprise). I love needing to be rescued twice within a 3 hour period. Give me a friggin' break.
But all was well Monday morning when my postman delivered all of the mail from the 2 weeks I was gone, because I got my colorswap package from Dana!!! My dog loved the treat that was in the box for her. Dana, thank you! You rock!
Ok, so is anyone else having trouble with comments that are spam? WTF??? I have been deleting them when they show up, but I had one that showed up on my blog, but not when I went to my comments list. I ended up just deleting the post, because blogspirit is not interested in assisting me in managing my blog. Am I the only one having this problem?????

Bye bye, Pirate!

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 21:58:12 +0200

God bless FedEx 2nd day air, people. That is all I have to say. Last week, I went in for my eye exam. I got my new prescription, and decided that it would be more cost effective for me to order from 1800Contacts. So, I get home, and the contacts feel fine for the first 2 days. Saturday, my friend Liz and I went on a shopping excursion, and all of a sudden I felt like I had big gunk in my eye. I cleaned the contacts like 3 times, but they still felt odd. Sunday, I went to see The Breakup with my friends Liz and V, and cried my eyes out at the end (just broke it off with the boyfriend of 8 months, and I swear to god they stole parts of my life for this movie). I get to my car, and feel like I've got a stick in my eye. When I get home and let the dog out, I go take the contacts out, put my glasses on the coffee table, and take a nap. I wake up and the dog has chewed the end of one of the arms of my glasses. Nice. Then, Monday morning when I go to put my contacts in, I realize what the problem is. The right contact is torn. What the F??? So I've been a little ghetto in the eyesight department. But I came home from the gym to a box of new contacts--Yay!!!

this is ridiculous!

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 01:50:42 +0200

I can't believe how long it has been since my last post. Inexcusable. Now, granted, life was REALLY crazy at the end of the school year for me, but that is still no excuse...
I have been busy, though. Unfortunately, I've not been busy with the Somewhat Cowl. I'm really not motivated to finish this item at this time. Literally, all I have to do is sew down the collar and I. Can't. Do. It.
Here's the rundown of what I've done instead:
I read Skinny Dip (by Carl Hiaasen) for a book club.
I started another one skein wonder. Cotton Fleece, Rue and Truffle. The ribbing will be in Truffle.
I finished the Preteen Girl Dream Halter (Cotton Fleece, some victorian pink or something, with Stacy Charles Poppy), which may be too short. I'm thinking that if I get a thin orange cotton halter, I can layer like the middle schoolers do, which will solve all problems.
I've started Orangina. Cotton Fine, truffle. Can you tell that A) I love Brown Sheep Cotton, and B) I need someone to make me stop using brown?

I've got the ADD...

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Sun, 14 May 2006 20:51:29 +0200

... and can't a) slow down long enough to blog, and b) stay with one project long enough to complete.
So while I've been gone, I've been working on the Somewhat Cowl. It is Somewhat Completed, but still needs to be Somewhat Blocked and Tamed. I tacked the collar inside, and HATED it. It looked pretty wonky. I think after I block it, I may tack it down flipped over like a turtleneck. That seems to work better with the yarn I chose (Cotton Fleece in Olivette)

So last week I received some terrific Trekking XXL in the mail from Tam, my April Colorswap pal. I've decided to use it for the Jaywalker. Here's how it looks so far:

I was sitting at my LYS yesterday working away, and all of a sudden my yarn gypsy ADD kicked in. I dropped my sock and started this: It is going to be the PreTeen Dream Vacation Halter. It looks like cotton candy and bubblegum ice cream. It is a little bit Pink Panther, and a lot Florida yard flamingo. It will have about 3 inches of 1x1 ribbing all the way around, and then turn stockinette in the front, but remain ribbed in the back. I'm using Cotton Fleece in Tea Rose, and some Stacy Charles Pansy in Reds (although it is more pinks and oranges). It makes me want to paint my toenails and chew some hubba bubba. Can't wait. TOTAL impulse purchase/project. Oh well. It is almost summer.

By the way, here's an action shot of the finished Hourglass. I love this sweater. I've been whining about the unseasonably cool spring we're having (it's been in the 40's more than once in the past 2 weeks!), but it did give me one last opportunity to wear wool without looking ridiculous...

the best swapper pal EVER!

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:26:30 +0200

I'd like to start this post by apologizing to everyone who did NOT have Tam as their colorswapper, because y'all missed out. Big time.
Oh, Tam. I do love you so. You totally outdid yourself, sister.
Look what I got today, y'all. Oh wow.

some great schoolish supplies, some yummy candy, some AWESOME yarn, a cool magnet, some burts bees lipstuff, and that bag!!! That amazing bag that I have been SALIVATING over on Tam's site!
here's a shot of the inside...
Tam, you are OFFICIALLY the greatest. Ever. Wow.