Knitting and Sewing and all forms of procrastination. . .

Motivation, Lost

2009-04-22T19:16:00.001-04:00

I tell you. . . when Jake goes out of town, my motivation goes with him. I have both a G & H to share about our trip to California and give you all the gory details of the wedding, but I'm entirely too lazy to get it up tonite. Instead, I'll give you some photos :)

Short slideshow our photographer put together here.

All the professional photos here. (you have to register to see them, though!)

I ADORE our photos. .. . they really capture just how happy the day was!

F is for Fantastic Feat of Engineering

2009-04-15T20:55:00.002-04:00

OK, admittedly this one is a bit of a stretch. . .. . but how else do I incorporate the fantastic Golden Gate Bridge (and don't tell me I could use it for G, I've got another for that!)??

We flew into San Francisco for the trip to Sonoma. Jake has a very kind friend from school who happens to live in San Francisco who let us stay at her place so no paying for a hotel or the ridiculous parking rates (and subsequent parking tax) hotels charge. We got in around 6 on Thursday night, and we were both pretty beat. We didn't end up doing much of anything that was 'San Francisco'. . . Unless you count driving through the city.. . . because let me tell you, I was glad the car wasn't a standard!!! Thursday night we just went out for Thai and a cocktail and called it a night.

Friday, I met up with some MalGals from Ravelry - trumom, darlingfloy, firegirlpj and sleep2dreamher. I'd link to blogs, but they aren't active, so you can check them out on Rav if you want ;) And we had SUCH a great time! How fun to meet a bunch of great knitters from the innernets in real life! And where did we go? Imagiknit, of course!!

Isn't Jake a trooper?

TOTAL.YARN.WONDERLAND!! Definitely one of the best yarn shops I've been to, though I may be biased due to the HUGE amount of Malabrigo in EVERY weight. I left with 8 skeins of Dos in two complimentary colors for a yet to be determined colorwork project, and 2 skeins of Chunky. Overall, my spending was quite tame :) The ladies also took us out to lunch, which was beyond sweet of them, no?! Friday night we met up with the family in town and had an early dinner at Fisherman's Wharf. (that's Jake's parents, my mom, Jakes brother & SIL, and sister hiding in the back)
I would have liked to do the more touristy things, but my mind was kind of elsewhere. Next trip, though, we'll do the cable car and all that jazz :)

The one thing I wouldn't NOT do is check out the Golden Gate. I'm a nerd for stuff like that. Of course, we had to drive over it to go to Sonoma, but I wanted to stop and see it, so after Muir Woods Saturday morning, we drove back down to check out the Vista Point. We made a slight detour thinking we could go to Golden Gate National Recreation area to see the bridge.. . . . but you can't (you can, however, sit at a very long light to go through a one lane tunnel!).

Instead, we checked out the old battery there and admired the view of the Pacific.

Then we realized to get to the viewing area, we'd have to cross the bridge, pay the toll and turn back Northbound. So we did!
Thankfully it wasn't crazy crowded or anything, so we had no trouble parking and getting up to the wall to take some photos & watch the ferry to Alcatraz, and get an obligatory photo to prove we were there :)

E is for Enormous

2009-04-13T19:27:00.001-04:00

When Jake's dad found out we were going to get married in Sonoma, he was very excited about being able to visit Muir Woods. He has always wanted to see the Redwoods and especially wanted to go with his kids. All those years working in the woods and doing lumberjack shows, you know :) We weren't sure we were going to be able to swing going as a group, mostly because Jake & I had appointments in Sonoma on Saturday, and as nice as it would be to do 'family stuff', the wedding was kind of priority #1! When we saw the park opened at 8am, though, we were able to arrange a 'as soon as the gates open' visit. Amazingly, everyone was even (almost) on time :) It was SO COLD!!!! 8am + elevation + little sun = FREEZING! My mom was totally unprepared for 'not warm' in California, she was not so much enjoying the walk through the woods, but she pretended OK.

Jake's dad was kind of like a little kid. I'm not sure I've seen him that excited before. And the trees, definitely ENORMOUS! I can't imagine the Sequoias that are even bigger!
Why yes, that is Jake's dad (roughly 6", for scale) who brought a tape measure with him :) (And also ignored the 'stay on path' signs).

We didn't go on any of the 'hiking' trails, just the main loop when you enter the park. I wouldn't mind going back sometime when it was a little warmer and going on the hike to the beach.

There were plenty of empty trees big enough to fit in, but most were off the trail and we're rule followers :) This one was made for going in, though. The picture also makes me chuckle because I think it looks like a small bear or a giant chipmunk is trying to eat through the tree and get Jake!

And, because we're cheesy, we bought a sapling "so we can watch it can grow just like our love". barf, I know :) Jake wasn't really serious with that as the rational for purchasing it, but I like to tease him about it!

D is for Dining

2009-04-12T09:06:00.005-04:00

One of my favorite parts of travelling is eating out (for a while, at least, by the end of the trip I sometimes just want to cook something at home already!). California absolutely did not disappoint with the food offerings. In San Francisco I had the most delicious pineapple fried rice at Thai Stick. Really, everything we ordered there was delicious but the rice was over the top!

Sonoma was amazing. Nothing like wine country to have dozens of fabulous restaurants all in walking distance from your hotel. We at at Deuce, Harvest Moon Cafe, Meritage & Cafe LaHaye. The wedding dinner was at Meritage, so really not fair to judge the restaurant overall by what they will offer as a catering menu, but in comparison to 'normal' catering, they were fantastic. . . . particularly the desserts! The award for introducing me to a food I've never heard of and now adore goes to Harvest Moon. We ordered a beet & fennel salad that was topped with Kampachi. I didn't even notice the kampachi in the description, I just jumped at beet & fennel, but when it came, there was clearly sushi on top and OMG! It was ridiculously fantastic. We asked the waiter what it was, and turns out it's a type of yellow-fin tuna. Delicious!

The overall, blow every other fabulous restaurant out of the water restaurant has to be Cafe LaHaye. It is a tiny little restaurant off the square in Sonoma. It was slam packed on a Tuesday night, which is always the sign of a great restaurant. The kitchen is tiny, staffed with just the Executive Chef & a sous chef. It was fantastic to watch them work in the kitchen, very quiet and calm and measured, none of the banging and swearing I am used to from my restaurant days. It's a very small menu, as well, I believe 6 entrees + 2 specials and the same number of starters. We shared soup & salad. The soup was califlower & celery root topped with cashews & golden raisins. The soup was sooooo yummy & smooth, though I could have done without the cashews. The salad - butter lettuce with avocado, boiled egg, bacon & blue cheese. YUM - so many of my favorite things all on one plate!! For dinner, Jake got a mustard braised pork chop served over mushrooms and corona beans and I got the rissoto of the day, which was green garlic & balsamic grilled radicchio. There aren't enough adjectives to do the food justice. And the serving sizes were incredibly generous, which was unexpected. In such a 'foodie' place, I would by no means have been surprised for a 6 bite serving to show up on my plate, yet it barely looked like I touched my rissoto when I was done! We finished off the meal with meyer lemon cheesecake, coffee & port. I wish I didn't live 3000 miles from this restaurant, because I'd be there as much as I could! And it was even affordable. .. . everything we ate plus wine, and our bill barely made it to $100.

I can't take credit for this photo, but I'm using it for my ABC-along, anyway. Jake is dabbling in photography and this was his 'artsy' shot at dinner. I think it's pretty cool.

And finally, here's a shot of us at Cafe LaHaye (note the wedding ring on Jake!). We had spent the rest of our time in Cali with friends and family, we got to go out Tuesday night, just the two of us, and we couldn't have picked a better place to do it!

I'm back, I'm married, and I'm behind!

2009-04-11T20:44:00.002-04:00

Wow. . . it's been a while :)

A LOT has been going on, most notably that I'm MARRIED :) My goal over this week is to get caught up with ABC-Along-ing and tell you all about our trip to California and the most perfect wedding we could have hoped for!

I hope all is well with you all and you enjoy your Easter weekend!

Fill you all in on the details soon !

Someone's looking out!

2009-03-24T06:39:00.004-04:00

I was born and raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school from Kindergarten all the way to 12th grade. When we were little and went to Church, our teachers would make us sit in the pews, reach our hands out and only let us sit as close to the next person as our finger tips would touch. This was to try and discourage talking, of course, but they told us it was to make sure our Guardian Angels had space to sit next to us.

While we never learned much about the patron saints in school beyond whomever we chose our Confirmation names after, my family was big on praying to whomever the appropriate saint was for a given situation. I spent a lot of time talking to St Anthony, since I misplace a lot of stuff! And while I never necessarily prayed to him, on my 16th Birthday along with my license I was given a St Christopher medallion for my car. I've had several vehicles and the same medallion has come with me in them all. I got in an accident 2 months after having my license - broadsided by a steel hauler going 45MPH. The driver was certain he killed us in the car, since he pushed us nearly 1/4 mile down the road before we twisted up an embankment. All 3 of us in the car walked away with no injuries. The police had sent a traffic fatality reconstruction team to the site when the trucker called in the accident, everyone was amazed that we were fine. In 2004, I hydroplaned on the 401 outside Toronto in a terrible rain storm. I ran into the cement embankment which spun me back into oncoming traffic, hit the embankment again spinning me back 180 degrees and leaving my car half in the left traffic lane with no real visibility. No one else hit my vehicle and it turned out to be drivable so I could get home to Michigan. I've been pretty lucky.

Yesterday, en route home during rush hour with my wedding dress in tow, I got in another accident. A driver cut across 2 lanes of traffic cutting into the exit lane, causing the line of cars to jam on the brakes. The result was a small Toyota rear ending me and my car hitting the car in front of me. I have no recollection of hitting the car in front of me, so I honestly don't know if that happened first or if the vehicle hitting me pushed me into that car. Nevertheless, it set off the airbags, which is quite shocking if you've never experienced it before. They smell really badly and your car fills with (what looks like) smoke, but apparently is some sort of powder. The good news is no one in any of the 3 vehicles was hurt. I have a small abrasion on my chin from the airbag, but that seems to be the worst of it. Hopefully it goes away or is light enough to be covered by makeup for the wedding. The bad news is that my car is 8 years old and airbags are expensive, so there is a very real possibility my Escape will be totaled, despite very little damage (basically just a new bumper and fender). I'm hoping not, since I'd really prefer not to have a car payment all of a sudden, but if so, there are worse things that could happen.

I'm not really a laid back person, so I have no idea why I'm so relaxed about the whole incident. I barely even cried after I was sure nothing happened to my wedding dress (I'm not going to lie, I was super upset at first!). It took the state troopers over an hour to get there to do an accident report, Jake came down to wait with me and we called AAA and had the tow truck there to move my car and then went out for a beer and pizza. I had dropped rental coverage from my insurance since I worked at home, but luckily we have two friends who offered use of their extra vehicles so I'm covered there. Maybe this is a new leaf for me to not get so stressed out and worked up over things, so I'm trying to stay positive. And I don't know if it was St Christopher or my Guardian Angel or something else that has made sure I've made it through these accidents unharmed, but THANKS to all of them for looking out for me :)

Up for air. . ..

2009-03-16T20:29:00.004-04:00

Sort of. . . .

Having to drive to a job and actually do the whole shower/hair/makeup routine. . . well that really puts a cramp in the day! New job is going as well as can be expected for day 5. Bit of a shift from having a manager who was very much a micromanager to a new boss who trusts me despite my short 5 days of tenure and throws me projects already!

I'm already behind on ABC-Along, and have resigned myself that I won't catch up until post-wedding. Check back later :)

Oh, yeah, that wedding thing. . .. 3 weeks from today! And because I'm crazy, I'm reworing the itinerary, which is adding just a wee bit of stress. At least my dress is finally finished and fitting properly. Score one for me :)

Knitting? What's that? The rest of my hectic-ness leaves little time for knitting. Which, of course, is slightly stressful as I still have to finish a second Wisp for the aforementioned wedding :) Knit-wise, I finally have a photo of my first official original design. Nothing fancy, just a rib, but I wanted a top down hat and in the depths of Ravelry, there was only ONE pattern tagged a top down hat. I'm considering writing it up, what 'cha think?

(why yes, yes I am bitter Jake has such long eyelashes)

The increase pattern is pretty, though, no?

So that's all I've got. . . . I can't promise much by way of posting until things settle down a bit, though :)

No, really, don't be Sorry!

2009-03-05T14:08:00.003-05:00

Today was my last day at the first 'real' job I ever had - you know, the kind you 'resign' from and don't quit :) It was the job I accepted coming out of college that made everyone so proud of me. (My starting salary was more than my mom made.) It feels kind of weird. My office phone is disconnected, my computer is boxed up waiting for the UPS man to pick it up and deliver it back to my boss. The weirdest thing, EVERYONE (and their brother) assumes I lost my job. I had to call to cancel a lot of services. . . I say 'I need to cancel, I'm leaving my job today' and I get a 'Oh, I'm so sorry'. I'm tired of telling people 'Nothing to be sorry about, I quit - I have a new job!' Not sure why I feel the need to tell random customer service people this, but I do!

So now, I have 4 days off. I start the new job Tuesday. My plan is to close anything open for the wedding in my couple days off. That mostly includes choosing the wines we'll be tasting, and selecting the appetizers and desserts for dinner. And hopefully, having a FINAL dress fitting. You are only supposed to have two fittings. . . an initial and a final. I went for my 'final' and the dress was ALL effed up! The hem was like 2 inches short, the straps gouged my arm pits. . . it was bad news. The seamstress ripped out her work (thank GOD she didn't cut any fabric off yet!) and repinned things and I went back yesterday for another 'final' fitting. The hem was corrected, but the bodice is still not quite right, so the seamstress ripped again and I'm going back Monday. I really hope it's right, because (a) the wedding is barely 4 weeks away and (b) the seamstress works only 10-5 M-Th and with the new job, I'm not sure how much 'I need to leave' I want to do in my first few weeks :) The dress is awesome now that it's fitting better, though. I love it! If you want to see, you can check it out on my flickr here.

I swear, there is knitting, but I've been wrapped up cleaning up things with the old job and my bachelorette party last weekend that blogging just isn't making it to the top of the list!

Hope you all are well!!

Prize Disclosure :)

2009-02-24T10:52:00.003-05:00

OK, it's a terrible photo, because it's COLD outside today and I wasn't about to take outdoor photos :) These are the prizes I decided on for my contest winners. I won't tell you what is going where, though!
SOMEONE is getting a Cookie A pattern and sock yarn. SOMEONE else is getting some super-soft merino and a Ysolda Teague pattern and the OTHER someone is getting a bag of Debbie Bliss yarn! I hope everyone enjoys! The two of you who get patterns, I have the PDFs for you, so let me know when you get your packages!

Three Winners!

2009-02-22T10:33:00.004-05:00

So I had the trusty electrons at Random.org select 3 winners this morning.

Drumroll. . . . . . . . . .

#9 - Valerie

#12 - Kate

#20 - Desiree

Congratulations winners! I know who you all are on Ravelry, so I'm going to spend tonite figuring out what I think you all would like.

Valerie - I'll see you in person & Kate, I have your address, so Desiree I'll email you to get yours.

Thanks to everyone for playing! I think I'll post pictures of what I decide to send, but not tell you who gets what :)

Zoom!

2009-02-20T17:14:00.002-05:00

OK, Really, where is the time going? Here it is Friday and I haven't blogged and I feel like the only thing I accomplished was putting in my official resignation (resignation makes me feel so much fancier than just plain quitting does, but that's the 'official' term when you are a professional I guess!). My last day at the current job is March 5. None too soon if you ask me :)

I've had both some knitting and some swapping and some yarn buying going on that I will get around to sharing (hopefully) soon!

Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to enter the Good Karma Contest. I'll pick winners Sunday from everyone who comments before 8AM EST tomorrow (2/21)!

Good Karma Contest

2009-02-15T13:06:00.002-05:00

Things have been going well for me so far this year, and so to keep the good karma flowing, among a few other 'good deeds', I think a contest here is in order. To enter, just leave a comment! I'll leave the contest open through Friday and pick at least two winners next weekend. I'm not sure what the prizes will be, as I'll try to pick something the winner would like.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

C is for California!

2009-02-13T11:17:00.008-05:00

OK, it's not quite two weeks since I've been back, so I'm not THAT delinquent. And, well, if you're cranky about it - this is what I say to you:
Not really, this is just my favorite picture from the trip. We went to La Jolla twice to see the seals. I was way more amused by them than is probably normal for a nearly-30 year old!

The seals are funny waddling around on the beach and then so graceful in the water. Saturday was in the high 70s, so there was a lot of time spent with the seals swimming then getting out to sun themselves on the rocks.
The pup birthing season starts in late January, so I was hoping to see a baby, which is why we went back on Sunday. To our luck, we were able to see Bubbles.

It was a little bittersweet, as it appeared the pup was abandoned and he was being harassed by a seagull. I was happy to find out when we came home and I read up on the website and saw that Sea World came to rescue the pup and that he's doing well.

Other than seal watching, we spent time wandering through Balboa Park and looking at all the gorgeous flowers in bloom. We used the flowers to practice using the macro setting on my new camera. Like everything else, Jake is way better at the photos. I think he has a steadier hand or something. Here are some of my favorites! (click to make the whole mosaic bigger, or the bottom links for the individual photos over on flickr.)
1. IMG_0301, 2. IMG_0360, 3. IMG_0334, 4. IMG_0328, 5. IMG_0326, 6. IMG_0324, 7. IMG_0323, 8. IMG_0319, 9. IMG_0315, 10. IMG_0312

The rest of the time in California was spent eating good food, enjoying the fabulous hotel right on the beach and watching the sunsets trying to catch a green flash. Jake has to go back to San Diego for another 13 days for work. I won't get to go again, though.

Now, I need to make my shopping list for Valentine's Day. I am making Jake dinner and attempting a souffle for dessert (a la Mark Bittman's Column). We don't really do much to 'celebrate' the day, so we'll mostly do errands, but cooking dinner seems a good excuse to use the funky silver candlesticks I got for my shower!

Have a great weekend!!

Blink!

2009-02-10T06:33:00.002-05:00

Sheesh. . . . I blink once, and suddenly it's February. . . . I blink again, and I've been home from California for a week and haven't shown any pictures! Well, I'm still not going to because I have 2000 other things to do. I'm not sure why I've suddenly become so busy (gee, could it be an up coming wedding or an impending job change?), but I hope it doesn't last too long.

I've been knitting on my Oblique and am almost done with the back. I almost finished a pair of socks in San Diego. I am sort of panicking about finishing the 2nd Wisp.

I am pleasantly surprised by my taxes. I was avoiding doing them because I thought for sure I'd have to pay this year. Jake wanted me to at least do his instead of avoiding, so I did a quick version of them last night (after searching for a good hour to collect all the relevant receipts and forms) and lo and behold! No paying!

I haven't officially accepted my new job yet. I asked for a larger salary and they just got back to me yesterday with their response. I told them I'd give a response today. I'm nervous! Saying yes means all sorts of change. . . and while I want something new, change is scary :) And, to be honest, financially, it's not the BEST move I could make. It's a bigger salary, but overall because of giving up bonuses, discounted stock purchase, etc, overall $$ is even at best, despite the new job being clearly more responsibility. Hopefully this doesn't bite me in the behind in a few years, but for now, probably worth it for the change of scenery.

Then to REALLY make me think I blinked through too much life, it was 72 degrees on Sunday! Gorgeous! Is winter gone?! Of course, rather than enjoy it properly, Jake & I spent a few hours raking the yard. It was nice to be outside in a T-shirt and sunshine, but I loathe raking. We did grill some pork chops for dinner, though, to celebrate the early spring temps! It's supposed to be in the 70s for a few more days before going back to more normal 50s, but we surely seem to be on the spring-upswing!

Newsflash!

2009-02-03T16:47:00.002-05:00

So I got the call that they are offering me the job!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

I'm awaiting all the formal details, and minimally will probably end up asking for some additional moolah (they offered me a salary increase, but the net of my current salary and annual bonus, so it's overall not actually an increase as it stands).

But I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quickie

2009-02-02T22:09:00.002-05:00

I am back from California. It rocked, will elaborate later.

I still have not heard word on the new job, though I got an email on Friday from one of my references to let me know the HR director called her. I hope that means they selected me for the position and just have to do the due diligence of verifying a reference. I hope I find out soon, as it's very difficult to knit with my fingers crossed, and they are coming dangerously close to falling off due to lack of blood flow from constant crossing :)

Now, off to bed and try to convince myself to wake up in the morning back to the job I am SOOOOOOO over!

I'm off

2009-01-29T14:57:00.002-05:00

I'm headed to sunny Southern California :)

See you when I'm back (hopefully with a new pair of socks from plane knitting!)

An-ti-ci-pa-a-tion

2009-01-26T07:21:00.004-05:00

In the words of my namesake (yup - I was named after Carly Simon)

Word on the new job is imminent. The HR Director was on vacation last week, but at my interview, they told me they would make the decision the week of the 19th, and that I'd hear the week of the 26th. I'm trying to remain patient, as having been out for a week surely means she has a list of things to do, and I'm sure notifying the new hire of the decision and specifics aren't necessarily top of her list. So I'm hoping Tuesday to find out. . . but it'd be really great if it were today!

Movie Meme

2009-01-25T18:27:00.006-05:00

I saw this over here, and given that I've seen a lot of movies recently, I thought it somewhat appropriate. We usually watch the same movies over and over again, or find some horrible B-movie on cable - as Jake adores a REALLY shitty movie. In the last few weeks, though, we've both rented and gone to the theatre more than we normally do in a whole year.

What have wee seen?

Gran Torino - Totally worth paying movie theatre prices. FANTASTIC movie (and not just because it was filmed in Detroit, but I did recognize a fair amount of things in the movie!)

Burn After Reading - Typical Cohen brothers movie. Funny in it's own way, 3 out of the 4 of us that watched it enjoyed it, but Jake's dad - not so much!

Black Snake Moan - Ran across this sort of by accident at Blockbuster. I had wanted to see it at the movies when it was new, and never got around to it. I highly recommend it, excellent story.

Hancock - Meh.

Righteous Kill - Disappointing. I expect WAY better than this from Pacino & DeNiro!

Vanilla Sky - Came across it at Blockbuster, and I forgot how much I loved this movie. One of the few films I saw multiple times in theatre (though twice was at the cheap seats, only once full price!)

Now, onto the Meme :)

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 films, you have no life.

There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste this . Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show though I don't think I've ever seen it start to finish. . .just in bits
(x) Grease
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander actually have this in queue in the DVD player
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total : 5

() Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total: 3

() Harry Potter 1
() Harry Potter 2
() Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1 I hate scary movies, but for some reason Zombies are OK
(x) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
(x) Little Black Book
() The Village
() Lilo & Stitch
Total : 4

(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
() Signs
() The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
() Robots
Total: 2

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
()Eight Crazy Nights
(x) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG (The Original)
Total: 6

() A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber [the original]
Total: 0

() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From ***
(x) Hellboy
() Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total: 3

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child’s Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
() Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
() The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
total: 2

(x) Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
() Ocean’s Twelve
() Bourne Identity
() Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
() Bedazzled
( ) Predator
() Predator II
( ) The Fog
() Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total: 2

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn My babysitter let me watch this when I was like 7. . . I think that is why I can't watch scary movies!
() My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
() Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total: 5

() Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She’s All That
() Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
() Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
() Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
Total: 6

() X-Men
() X-2
() X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
() Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday (the original)
() Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total: 8

() Swimfan
() Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
( ) The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf’s Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total: 1

() Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
() Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
() Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total: 3

() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
(x) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
() Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
() Three
Total: 4

() The Jacket
() Kung *** Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
() Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
() Willa74
Total: 3

() High Tension (Haute Tension)
(x) Club Dread blame this on Jake's love of crappy movies
() Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
() Waterworld
Total: 4

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() the Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total: 2

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
() Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total: 5

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total: 6

Grand Total 81.

Apparently I'm close to lifeless. . . though I'd love to know the rationale of whomever put this together to begin with. . . quite the odd mix of films!

Knitwise, I swatched for both Surface and Oblique this weekend. . . . . I am torn on which one to officially start, though!

B is for Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

2009-01-21T12:54:00.000-05:00

We're home! Well I should say I'm home. . . Jake was home for less than 12 hours before he was in the air for a work trip. He's now relaxing in a hotel room overlooking the Pacific Ocean :)

So I'll start with my official ABC-Along entry which mostly sums up the visit to NY. . . . Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was COLD while we were up there! The high temp on the coldest day was -3.3! I guess the good news was it was too cold to have any crazy snow storms. It had warmed up by the time we left and we had some crappy driving until we got past Syracuse, but it could have been much worse.

B also could have been for battery, since the one in my car died after the ridiculously cold night Thursday. There is no photo of the jump start, since I refused to take my hands out of my gloves!

B also could have been for balls. .. . . as in the most amazingly delicious oreo ball treats FSIL made. These little things are beyond addictive. . . and they shouldn't be! They taste like an oreo, not anything 'special'. . .. but they are special (nevermind terrible for you!). I don't have a photo of them, either, because I didn't want to ruin my new camera by getting the white chocolate that was on my fingers on it :)

I could go on with the b's, but I'll stop there :)

As a result of the trip, I have several FOs (the true measure of a good vacation, right?).

Firstly, Jake's socks that were started in APRIL are finally done. I am not certain what took me so long to finish these. I really like them, so perhaps I was subliminally averse to working on them based on the less than polite response I got from the designer on Ravelry when I PMd her a question. I had the tightest amount of leftovers to date. . . 4g! The socks didn't become nearly as tall as Jake would have liked, but hopefully he'll just wear them with shoes rather than boots so it won't be a big deal.

Secondly, and I guess I can't REALLY call it FINISHED because it doesn't have buttons sewn on, but I completed the knitting on the first Wisp.

Do you think I should block before or after adding the buttons?

Lastly, I can reveal my secret project #1 - a Fabrege cowl that was a gift for FSIL.
We planned to get her an OTT-LITE, then Joann effed up my order for 12 days and by the time everything got hashed out, they no longer had what we were going to get, so it was a handmade gift parade instead! The yarn is Malabrigo in polygala and the beads are 'iris grey'. I totally love the combo :) She has this great camel coat that the purple goes so well with! It's a good thing purple isn't my color or I might not have been able to give it away. Adding to the handmade goodness, Jake made another swift and nostepinne to give. Jealous? You should be (I am!), version 2.0 of the swift is way cooler than mine. . the pegs were turned on his lathe out of a pool cue (how's THAT for repurposing!), and he turned the base, too. My swift was pre-lathe, so all store bought parts.

Closer to FO status are a few other projects.

Jake's sweater from hell is now just awaiting sleeves (which will be done together, otherwise this thing never will be finished).

I wish I'd just use an Ann Budd book. . . because the amount of stupidity in this pattern as written took me far longer to work through than it would have to just design the damn thing myself.

My Herringbone rib socks are past the 'hard part'. I will say I wasn't smart enough to get the gussets picked up two at a time, so I had to put one sock on DPNs to hold while doing the other, then put them both back on the needles.

I think I'm going to have a lot of leftovers because I couldn't make the leg super long due to my ginormous calves and I wasn't going to try to mess with making calf increases in the pattern somehow NOT look goofy.

My lace leaf scarf grew substantially, as well.

I hope to finish it up before I head out to spend next weekend with Jake in San Diego. They say it's cool in the evenings even though it is pleasant during the day, so a light lacey scarf would be the perfect accessory!

Next up, is Wisp #2 (the wedding is closer than I am accepting. . . I have a lot to do!) and then I can reward myself with getting going on my much coveted Surface! (Though I do fear at this point it will be done just as soon as it's too warm to wear!)

And, in case you are wondering, I'm still on pins & needles about the new job! They told me I would find out NEXT week, so I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to be patient. There is nothing else I can do at this point, since I think calling them to reiterate how perfect I think I am for the job would be counterproductive, so it's driving me nuts! I am confident that the other candidate couldn't have outshined me in enthusiasm and excitement for the position, so hopefully the other person doesn't have a big edge in experience on me! Keep thinking good thoughts for me!

Bon Voyage

2009-01-14T11:06:00.001-05:00

Snowpants -- Check!
Ski Parka -- Check!
Sorel Boots -- Check!
Thinsulate Gloves -- Check!
Hats/Gloves/Scarves/Earmuffs -- Check!

The weather forecast has degraded (you can click on the image to make it bigger to see the numbers more clearly if necessary. . . . that IS in fact a high that is sub-zero). The good news is that no ice/snow storms are expected, so driving should be uneventful. The bad news, of course, is that I have to spend 4 days freezing. I plan on mostly planting myself in a seat near the woodstove and knitting away :) I am a bit torn about what to take. I'm doing a good job clearing my WIPs. Jake's boyfriend socks are almost done after so many months. I have a pattern repeat and a half left on sock #2. My Herringbone socks are close to the heel turn. Wisp #1 is also 1.5 repeats from done. That leaves Jake's sweater and my leaf lace scarf. I don't know if I want to trudge the heavy sweater and a bunch of balls of mainline up with me (nevermind I despise whomever wrote the pattern and really don't want to get back into it!) so I either need to suck it up and finish it. . . or use it as an opening to swatch for one of my next projects for ME! As much as I'd like to have his sweater over and done with, I'd equally like to get something going for me, so I'm torn.

So have a good rest of the week. . I'll be incommunicado while freezing my tushie off in the Great White North!

The Plague

2009-01-14T06:59:00.003-05:00

I saw a scary little video over on LifeJunkie's blog. You should check it out.

I am, admittedly, an anti-Walmart person. I will not set foot in one except for the most extreme circumstances. I'll gladly pay an extra dollar or two for my items getting them elsewhere. And yes, I realize that is a luxury I have. . . . the ability to choose to pay extra without it meaning a sacrifice somewhere else. I understand that some people 'need' to shop at WalMart to stretch their income, but I also understand that WalMart's business practices, both diretly and indirectly, contribute to an economic condition where there are so many people who 'need' to save that money in order to make ends meet. I'll spare you the soapbox dissertation, but, you know, something to think about.

This is why we moved south

2009-01-13T08:08:00.003-05:00

That is the lovely weather forecast for Jake's parents house. And yes, we are crazy enough to be leaving tomorrow to go up there.

I'd write more, but I need to go scour the house to find where I hid my snowpants and boots to survive the visit :)

PS - This is my post #300. Had I realized before, I probably would have planned a contest or something, so instead, I'll do a Post 333 contest when I get there :)

And then there were two. . . .

2009-01-12T14:14:00.003-05:00

I had my 2nd interview today for the job I REALLY REALLY want. At the end of the interview, I asked how many candidates were in this round. The answer was TWO. HOLY CRAP! I'm glad I didn't know that going in, because my stomach dropped when they told me and I immediately got nervous! I'm not sure I could have had a successful interview had I known I just needed to be more impressive than one person. . .. too much pressure!

So they plan to make a decision next week, but HR is out next week (it's a small place, HR is the director and an assistant!), so it will be the week of the 26th that they tell me if I get it or not! It's going to be a LONG two weeks! Keep your fingers, toes, knitting needles. . . anything crossable - crossed for me!!

The hat that is. . .

2009-01-07T20:05:00.004-05:00

Well, I decided after being told the recipient shaved his head because he gets too hot on deck, I decided that a lining for the Jacques Cousteau hat was unnecessary, so I wove in ends and am shipping it up to Alaska tomorrow. I really, REALLY love this pattern! Jake begrudgingly modeled for me so you could get the full effect :)

I am almost done with my first Wisp, too. I knit out one ball and will use a 2nd to get 2 more repeats. I'm trying to finish one of the two pair of socks OTN and THEN I can work on Surface!! Yay!

A is for Adorable

2009-01-06T09:23:00.006-05:00

I can't help myself! I'm such a sucker for pooches. Last night Jake and I were going through all our digital pictures to find ones to put on a memory card for a digital frame that is a gift for his Grandma. We have an OBSCENE amount of pictures of dogs!

So I will share a few with you to get the ABC-Along for 2009 rolling!

This is Sam, our foster.

He will only be with us for a few more days, and I have to say I'll miss him despite his constant stinkiness and lack of training. He's only been with us a few weeks, but made really nice progress learning house rules. I hope he finds a very happy home, he deserves it! I think Jimmy Ray may miss him more, as they spend a lot of time sleeping cuddled next to each other (but of course, no photos since Jimmy Ray has a freakish sense for the camera being anywhere near!).

If you're looking for a beagle, go adopt him here! I promise, he's extra cuddly and cute!

To keep the adorable coming. .. . .

Zosia in her glory (she loves paper and had a field day with the packing paper!)

Caged puppy. . . cranky to be restrained on the porch of my old condo in Vermont!
Snow hiker! (That is my friend Karen with Jake in the photo. . . on New Year's Day 2006. We had awesome trails back behind our condo and took the puppies often.)
Enjoying the fall. (We really did a lot of nature walks/hiking with the dog when we were up north!)
Learning to Fetch (how nice to remember she used to bring it back!) I can't believe how small she used to be!

OK, I could go on, but I'll stop for now :

First FO of 2009

2009-01-05T21:10:00.001-05:00

I tried to wrap this one up before year end. . . It was knit once but the edging was too small so I had to tear out and start again and with one week of my mom and then 4 days of Jake's parents, I had no down time where I could actually sit and COUNT to pick up stitches. But I finished it this weekend once the house was quiet (and Jake & I both agree NEVER AGAIN to have back to back house guests!) This is Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style.
I wore it today in the mild weather and didn't need to wear a coat over my tank top. I sort of wish I'd used some Malabrigo, because the Araucania Nature Wool is not the softest thing ever, but it's not unpleasant or anything. I can see getting a lot of wear out of this baby!

The details are here on Rav if you're interested!

I also finished my secret project, but it's a secret, so you can't see it yet.

My previously secret wedding gift project has been received by the giftee, so now I can share my Hemlock Ring, too! I love, LOVE, LOVE the Hemlock Ring and totally want to make another. Unfortunately, I don't have any fancy artistic photos of it. The weather didn't cooperate to take it outside, and it was kind of big to layout anywhere at home that didn't blend into the taupe. So we live with marginal photography :)

Here it is pinned out and blocking. It ended up being just about 6 feet in diameter.
Again, details here.

I hope it gets lots of love for many years with the Newlyweds, my friend Jenny & her new hubby Dave ;)

Back to the grind

2009-01-05T07:19:00.002-05:00

Anyone else dreading today? Two weeks off of work does not make me very enthusiastic about going back! At least I'm not working a full week the entire month of January and with any luck by February I'll have a new job :) I have an interview this week and my 2nd interview for the job I really want next week.

We've got a long weekend trip to New York and a weekend in San Diego this month, too!

Here's to making it through the rough couple days back, though! I finished two more knitting projects, I am trying to finish two more before I let myself cast on for Surface!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T18:35:00.001-05:00

We're headed out on the town! Hope you ring in the New Year with some fun!!

The hat that almost wasn't

2008-12-30T12:10:00.000-05:00

Turns out, our foster beagle likes yarn. I learned this the hard way. If I were a better blogger (or a more patient person) I would have photographed the lesson of why not to leave knitting on the couch. However, when I walked into the room and saw the hat (still on the needles at least) on one side of the room and a ball of red yarn wrapped around two coffee tables and happily being chewed on by a beagle, it was all I could do to simply yell 'SAM, NO!' and try not to deafen my mother (I was on the phone with her when I walked in). It seems Sam thought the ball of yarn on the couch was a toy and jumped up to get it. I'm not sure how long he had it before I walked in, but it was either only a minute or two, or I just have really good luck, because the hat was still securely on the needles and the yarn, though no longer nice and tight in a center pull ball, was not knotted or tangled! How this happened, I will never know, but I was able to simply take the mess upstairs, grab the free end of the yarn and rewind it on the ball winder. The only real 'damage' was some extra dog hair embedded in the yarn (and ultra alpaca is hairy anyway, so who can tell dog from alpaca and wool fiber!)

So the hat isn't technically finished - I'm putting a knit lining, but I need someone with a big head to try it on to figure out where to stop the lining. (Damien self professes to have a 'bigger than average' head, so I don't want to end up with a lining that comes too low to where the bottom folds over on him) Hopefully either Jake's dad or David will do the trick. But the outside of the hat is all done and I love it. It's the Jacques Cousteau Hat.

I love the way the crown decreases! I would definitely make this hat again, though perhaps going up to a worsted yarn so it knit a little faster, though. This was my first time doing jogless color changes, and I think it looks pretty nice (though as Jake points out, very NY Giants - which makes me consider doing another with the same yarn and sending to my friend Kim's husband who is a HUGE Giants fan.)

Cheesecake!!

2008-12-29T15:39:00.003-05:00

OK, finally, the recipe that yielded the best cheesecake I've ever made! And that is saying a lot, since I make an inordinately large number of cheesecakes. Jake's favorite desserts are cheesecake and pumpkin pie, so I make a lot of cheesecakes, pumpkin pies and the occasional pumpkin cheesecake.

My normal 'go to' recipe is a very old sour cream cheesecake from Bon Appetit. I have a photocopied version from my mom's print magazine, which is good because the recipe isn't online. It's from like a 1986 magazine, so I guess their recipe archives don't go that far back online. Problem with that recipe is that you have to bake it three times - once to crisp the crust (don't want to skip with this recipe, because you put nuts in the crust with the grahm crackers), one to bake the cake, and one to bake the sour cream topping. I was getting a late start as it was, and the timeline for that was just too long. I considered the Philly Cream Cheese recipe, but I only had 2 lbs of cream cheese and that recipe needs 2.5lbs. I was torn. I really wanted cheesecake but I was recipe-less. I checked out Alton Brown's recipe, he's one I trust to just go by recipe on, but his cooking was even longer than the Bon Appetit (really, Alton, 2 hours?!) and in my experience every cheesecake takes longer to bake than the recipe says anyway.

I have a huge collection of cookbooks, but no real motivation to flip through them all, so I pulled out my two favorites - How to Cook Everything and the Joy of Cooking. I struck out with Mark Bittman - his recipe needed 2.5lbs, too, but I found the gem in Joy of Cooking - it only needed 2 lbs of cream cheese and was from a trusted source, so off to the kitchen I went, making just a few modifications of my own.

Carly's Creamy Cheesecake
(The original is 'Creamy Water-Bath Cheesecake' on page 980 of the 1997 printing of Joy of Cooking)
Ingredients:
2lbs cream cheese
1-1/3 c sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 c heavy cream
1/4 c sour cream
1/2 t. pure lemon extract (really, don't use the imitation!!)
2-4 t. vanilla (2 if you are using pure extract purchased, closer to 4 if using homemade vanilla - recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 325F, Fill a tea kettle with water and set to boil. (If you have time, set out eggs & cream cheese to come to room temperature, I didn't and it certainy didn't hurt the finished product!)

Make any cheesecake crust you like - shortbread or graham cracker (the Joy recipe makes this crustless). Press crust into the bottom of a 9" springform pan. I used a basic graham cracker crust with a little bit of sugar and nutmeg mixed in. I did not toast the crust.

In large bowl, beat 2lbs of cream cheese until smooth. I went about 90 seconds with the paddle set to 6 on my KitchenAid - obviously this will take longer with a hand mixer.

Add sugar and beat another 1-2 minutes until creamy and lightened.

Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing just until incorporated (I did this on speed 3 on the mixer) and scraping the bowl after each egg.

Add the balance of the ingredients and beat on low speed until fully mixed (again I did this on speed 3).

Spread the filling into the springform.

If you have a less-than tight springform, wrap the bottom and sides of the springform with aluminum foil. (My springform is nice and tight, so I skipped this.) Place the springform in a large roasting pan (or any pan at least as deep as the springform and sufficiently wide). Place roasting pan in the oven, then pour water from the kettle into the baking pan until it is 1/2 way up the side of the springform. BE CAREFUL when you push the oven rack back in so as not to splash water from the pan onto the top of the cheesecake!!

Bake until the edges of the cheesecake are set but center is still 'slightly' jiggly. I really hate that type of instruction, because how jiggly is 'slightly' jiggly?! In my case, I baked until only about a 2" ring in the center jiggled when shaken and the rest of the cake was set - about 1h20min. Turn off the oven, prop the oven door open (use a wooden spoon if your oven door doesn't have a partially open setting) and let the cake sit in the oven for another 30 minutes (the recipe says 1 hour, but I was tired and 30 minutes was the best I could do before needed to go to bed!) Remove from the waterbath and cool completely on a rack. When cool, cover tightly and refrigerate at least 6 hours before cutting and enjoying!

I promise you, this is the smoothest, creamiest cheesecake you'll ever have, while still having a nice density to it - I'm not a fan of the really fluffy cheesecakes, myself!

We made both a blueberry and a raspberry sauce to serve with the cheesecake, though the raspberry was the clear winner :)

Our easy sauce is in a 1.5qt saucepan, place a few tablespoons of sugar, 1c or so of frozen berries and ~1/4 c liquer (for the raspberry sauce we used Couintreau, for the blueberry we used black currant liqour). Bring to a boil and let cook at a rolling boil for ~10 minutes, let cool before refrigerating.

Sarah wanted to know about homemade vanilla extract, and it's pretty simple. We tried it once when we had two open bottles of vodka at the house. Simply use 1 vanilla bean per 200mL of vodka you are using (approximately 1/4 of a fifth of vodka). Split the bean(s), but don't scrape the insides and drop the beans into the bottle of vodka (I use FRIS). Store in a cool dark place until the vodka is brown - and there is your homemade vanilla! When I make it, it always ends up less concentrated than store bought (you can tell by the color) no matter how long I let it 'steep', so I just use a little more when I cook with it.

Sorry I don't have pretty step by step photos like over at the cooking blogs. . . I had no idea the recipe would be share-worthy (and even if I did, did I mention that I was very tired? never start a cheesecake at 9:30pm!) Let me know if you try it!!

1 down, Too Many to go

2008-12-27T22:21:00.003-05:00

I am losing hope of completing everything OTN before year's end.

Truth be told, I wasn't that confident from the moment I declared I'd try, but with 4 days left, I'm pretty sure even if I knit continually I'd not finish. I did finish mom's second pair of socks, which is good since she leaves in the morning. They were my own twist on a basic rib, and I quite like them. They took just over a skein of the Louet I was using and I have a skein left, so I might make them again for me!
(more pictures on Rav here)
The picture is taken with my new camera (this one). I can't decide how I like it - I need to do some serious playing with it to decide if I want to return it in the 30 day window I get.

Since I gave up hope of wrapping things up, I cast on two new projects tonite! They both have deadlines for completion. One is a secret and will have to wait to be revealed, but the other is this nifty hat for our friend in Alaska. He is the one who crab fishes and sent us all this crab in June. He sent us some King Crab a few weeks ago, so I'm sending him a hat to help keep warm when he heads back out on the boat January 27. I'm using Ultra Alpaca Light and I'm going to add an inner liner knit with the same yarn. That would be two layers of alpaca/wool blend in sport weight, which was pretty much the warmest thing I could come up with. Hopefully he likes it. The only down side is small yarn and small needles is much slower going than a typical hat!

Unfortunately, the reason I had time to cast on two new projects today is because time wasn't spent sewing. I promised mom I'd make her curtains while she was here if she found fabric she liked. Nothing tricky - cafe curtains for her kitchen. As is usual, the sewing was easy, the cutting straight lines from my fabric took an ungodly amount of time! I finished two of four bottom panels and one of two valances before my bobbin needed refilling, at which point I proceeded to break the bobbin lift cam on my machine. It's fixable, but the place I know to order parts from is in Samoa, so it'll take a while to get to me. So mom is going home with curtains for one window and a promise for the curtains for the 2nd. She'd probably rather have had the promise of the 2nd sock instead, since she really hates her current curtains. I hope she'll send me a picture when she hangs them, because they turned out quite well, if I do say so myself!

Cheesecake and vanilla to come tomorrow after mom is safely at the airport!

Just stopping in to share cuteness. . . .

2008-12-27T11:47:00.003-05:00

Still owe you some cheesecake (and vanilla!) recipes, but am busily trying to entertain mom and finish sewing her curtains. But in playing with my new camera on Christmas morning, I have some cute poochie pics that must be shared!

Zosia, who cannot WAIT to get her mouth on the new squeaky pheasant!

Sam, who wasted no time tearing into his toy (which matches his collar, coincidentally!)

Jimmy Ray hates the new camera as much as the old, so no photos of him :(

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T09:35:00.002-05:00

I hope you all have a wonderful and joyous Christmas!

My mom's 2nd socks did not get finished, so she got one in a stocking with a promise that the mate would be done before she left Virginia. I probably would have finished them if I hadn't had poor cheesecake baking scheduling skills which kept me up past my bedtime Tuesday. Totally worth it though, as it was possibly the best cheesecake I've ever made (and I'm a pretty good cheesecake maker, if I do say so myself!) I used homemade vanilla extract, to boot! I'll share the recipe after we open gifts! We just opened stockings and now Jake is making pancakes!

Enjoy your day!

Z is for Zosia

2008-12-21T09:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, I got an easy out for a hard letter! My pooch Zosia will wrap up the year of the ABC Along! Even though I wasn't the best about keeping current, I really had fun doing this and I hope someone hosts it for 2009!

I let you take the picture, now let me go back to sleep!

Meet Sam!

2008-12-19T15:04:00.000-05:00

We have a new addition to the house, temporarily. Not sure if I mentioned before that we were looking at getting into dog fostering, but we've been thinking about it for a while. Then we saw on the website of where we board our dogs (she runs a beagle rescue, too) a request for fosters over the Holidays. A lot of the dogs through her rescue stay at her home with the dogs she boards, which takes away from how many paid boarders she can have. So they were hoping to find holiday homes, and so we called yesterday and today brought home Sam!

He was a stray, so they don't know much about him. He's a little skinny, but otherwise healthy!

He's not housebroken, so that will be a bit tough to work on, but all 3 pooches are getting along for now. Sam has to get a bath tonite, we'll see if he still likes us after that!

More projects

2008-12-16T17:36:00.000-05:00

(This post someone disappeared from my blog. . . . . so I'm reposting - thank goodnes for bloglines :)!)

At the gym last Wednesday night, Jake decided that a cowl to wear with his leather jacket. I had suggested it before and he said no, but I guess Wednesday was a particularly cold morning and changed his mind. I pulled out some color options from the (ever growing) malabrigo stash, he chose the Churra. I gave him two choices of cowls. He chose the Morningside pattern.

I cast on during lunch Thursday and a few hours later -
I absolutely adore the pattern. Super simple, super quick, super fantstic for showing off a neat yarn. It's sometimes so hard to find a pattern that doesn't compete with the yarn. I made no mods, beyond knitting an extra 1/2 inch or so before I bound off.

Jake really seems to enjoy it, too (except that it messes up his hair a bit in the back!). It's nice that he honestly WANTs the stuff I knit for him, not that he just 'lets' me do it to give me something to do! Looks pretty good, eh?
I finished a pair of socks for mom, too. After this post, I ended up finding someone destashing some worsted Louet Gems for a steal ($19 for 3 skeins shipped priority!) They aren't the most exciting things, but mom wants warm socks to wear with boots and these fit the bill! The pattern is Thuja, I just did it over fewer stitches to fit a ladies foot!
This leaves Wisp #1, Herringbone Socks, Jake's socks, Jake's sweater, sock pair #2 for mom, my lace scarf and my blue shrug as active projects and my goal is to wrap them up before the new year. I'm not counting goddess, because it's definitely hibernating for warmer weather! I only have 2 more work days until year end, that leaves plenty of time for knitting this all up, right?

Wasted Day

2008-12-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

I was off work Monday - using up vacation. I ran some errands and planned to spend the rest of the day knitting socks for mom. I LOVED the Fargyle pattern when Knitty came out, so that's what I wanted to do. Boy, was I disappointed :( I haven't actually frogged it yet, because I'm just going to knit from it rather than reballing. Given mom arrives in just a few days, pair #2 will be a simple rib with a little cable thrown in for interest! The yarn is Worsted Loet Gems, and it is pretty FAB!

I have photos of a few other projects to share soon!

Natural Born Worrier

2008-12-14T21:31:00.003-05:00

I'm quite convinced I lost 2 years off my life this evening. As I mentioned before, Jake went out fishing. . .at 10:30am, with 2 other guys. The person whose boat he went on is somewhat notoriously a) heavy drinker and b) not what you'd call the most skilled boater. Around 4:30, as it was getting dark I thought 'Gee, I hope they're almost back, I sure wouldn't want to be out after dark with him!' At 6pm, I get a text from Jake 'Lost at sea-ish'. Of course, I call to find out what is going on. Jake tells me they were lost, but they think they know where they are now and should be home in a while. I ask (only half jokingly) if I need to call the Coast Guard. At 8pm, still no one is home. I text Jake. No response. By 8:15 I decide that's plenty of time to text back, so I call. .. . phone goes to voicemail. I call fisherman #2 - phone goes to voice mail. I am now officially worried. I don't have the phone number of the boat owner, nor of anyone who would have the boat owners phone number.

I worry a little more.

I remember that one of my girlfriend's husband's would most likely have the number of someone who would have boat owners number, so I call her. Her hubby does have a mutual friend's number, which she gives me while worrying herself.

8:25, I ring Jake's phone one more time before calling the friend - still no answer.

I ring friend and ask 'Do you have boat owner's cell # and how worried should I be that it's been 2 hours since they were lost and no one is answering the phone?' Friend tries to assure me not to worry, that although boat owner is kind of an idiot, he has a crazy expensive boat with GPS on it and neither Jake nor fisher #2 are stupid so if something was going on, they could figure out how to get back even if boat owner couldn't - plus the water is calm. BUT, he adds, "Call me back if you don't hear anything by 9pm" as he gives me boat owners phone #.

I am now bordering on panic, since friend clearly thinks this is mildly worrysome, given that they've been out since the morning. I ring boat owners phone - no answer there either. I begin to figure out my next steps and go online to see how to contact the Coast Guard - knowing full well I do not know WHERE they went to fish, WHAT KIND of boat they are on or what frequency they keep the radio on.

At 8:35 as I am pacing the house, the phone rings and it is Jake - they just pulled into boat owners dock. He had no missed calls, so I guess on the canals snaking back to boat owners house the cell towers are spotty with coverage.

At 8:50, Jake is back home and I am convinced the elevated blood pressure from panicing has done damage to my life expectancy - and I don't know if I feel more like hugging him or hitting him! His response?

'Why were you so worried?'

Perhaps it is HIS life expectancy that will be shortening from this event. . . . . . .

168 pins and one hour

2008-12-14T12:34:00.004-05:00

What do you get after 168 quilting pins and 2 hours? You get an almost complete wedding gift :)
I can't show the pictures yet, but I do have a shot up in Rav. It was a BEAR to pin out - and I understand why I lot of people comment that theirs is still bumpy after blocking because you have to YANK on it to smooth it out. After it dries, I think I'm going to hit it with some steam as well. I absolutely LOVE it though. It's a good thing it's going to a VERY good friend, or else I wouldn't be able to give it up!

I promised photos, but Jake headed out to go fishing today, so I couldn't get any good flat shots of his cowl, and mom's socks are still wet from blocking so they can't go outside to play.

The only photo I have to share is of the tree skirt. They are marginal photos, so I apologize. I'll be getting a new camera when mom gets here (my Birthday/Christmas gift) next week, so hopefully that will improve :)

I've also undertaken the task of working on my queue and figuring out what projects I have yarn in hand for. I'm hoping this will stop me from buying more once I see just how many projects I can start with what I've got. I'll share the plan for 2009 Stash knitting when I get through it!

Good News & Bad News

2008-12-13T22:01:00.004-05:00

The Bad News? I felted a pair of my socks :( I forgot they are not superwash and I just threw them in with a load. They normally can go in the wash, but in a lingerie bag on the gentle cycle. The Good News? They were my least favorite pair, so I'm not all that heartbroken!

I finally got around to a bunch of blocking today after cleaning the bathroom. The Hemlock is still in there waiting on me to vacuum to make space to pin it out. Mom's socks & Jake's cowl are on the blocking pad.

The bulk of today was taken up with sewing, and MAN do I need some practice! Last year after Christmas I bought some fabric to make a tree skirt and never got around to it. Since we put up the tree, I figured it was now or never. The sewing is rather atrocious if you look close, but since it's made to lay on the floor and be a little bunched up anyway, you can't tell at all. Since I was on the machine, I did a few patches on pants for Jake and then hand sewed a few buttons. The stack of 'to mend' that has been sitting next to my machine for ages is all officially cleared up! Yay for me! Now I may need to make a few Christmas stockings with the leftover fabric from the tree skirt. In unpacking all the Christmas decorations, I have both dogs' stockings, but neither Jake nor mine's. I have no clue where they could be. I'm sure they'll turn up after I make new ones :)

Tomorrow is supposed to be somewhat sunny, so hopefully I can finally get around to posting a bunch of pictures!

On a roll. . . .

2008-12-11T21:00:00.002-05:00

Guess who got a call about another job interview today? Oh yeah - ME! The bigger ego boost of it is that they don't want to interview me for the job I applied for - it's been put on hold - but they have two other jobs they want to talk to me about if I'm interested. Two jobs for which I'm HORRIBLY unqualified for by my own estimation, but if they want to talk to me about it, I'll take the interview practice! Jake is convinced the job I interviewed for on Tuesday is mine, and I'd love to follow in his optimism, but I'll work on a back up just in case!

Must Resist

2008-12-11T08:28:00.003-05:00

The new Knitty is up. . . . and I am obsessed with Surface! I have some DK yarn in stash that I could use, but I really love how vintage the sweater looks in chocolate brown with the wood buttons, so I'm searching. Someone on Rav has enough Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK in cocoa, so I contacted her to see if she's willing to part with it. Option 2 is that Yarn & Fiber Company has Ultra Alpaca Lite on sale, but I'm not sure if the halo-ness of it would really work with the pattern. I can't bring myself to spend the $$ on the Berroco yarn it calls for.

And, realistically I need a new project OTN like I need a hole in my head, but I just don't think I can stave this one off for long! I'm almost done with one pair of socks for mom and I plan a 2nd (using some yummy worsted Louet from a destash on Rav). Pair #2 will be a slightly modified Fargyle. Then I will try to trudge through Jake's cardigan. I do have a lot of down time coming - our vacation is use it or lose it so after the 17th I'm only working 2 days. My goal will be to clear up WIPs before the new year, so I can cast on for Surface without guilt :)

Winter Knitty is just so tempting! I love so many of the patterns. . . I think this is the best issue in quite a while! What are your favorites?

Anticipation!

2008-12-09T21:27:00.002-05:00

So, the interview went quite well today! Despite the fact that I had wardrobe confidence issues. (I've apparently lost a LOT of weight since I last wore a lot of my dress clothes and I went through multiple pairs of pants before I found ones that did not have the crotch land near my knees!) I ended up more under dressed than I would have liked, but I felt better when I got there and it was VERY casual. I ended up interviewing with 4 folks rather than the 3 I was told about, but I got tons of positive feedback. There were only two questions I was asked that I did not have direct experience with. Unfortunately, those were from the person I'd be directly reporting to. BUT, he mentioned he wasn't sure which of his responsibilities he wants to pass on to the new person and which he wants to be able to focus on more himself, so maybe he wants to keep proposal writing and it's OK I haven't done it :) Otherwise, my skills match amazingly well to what they are looking for, so I think I've got a good shot. Unfortunately, they don't plan to get to the 2nd round of interviews until after the holidays that first week in January, so I have to sit on pins and needles for a while. Continue to put good thoughts out there for me, though, OK? In learning more about the job, I'm REALLY excited about the possibility and think it will do wonders for my mental state while giving me an awesome job that is directly related to one of the things I'm most passionate about - encouraging continued science and engineering education!

I've been knitting, too, but no pictures. Hopefully later this week :) Hope you are having a great week, and busily knitting away for Christmas!!

More projects

2008-12-09T21:24:00.003-05:00

At the gym last Wednesday night, Jake decided that a cowl to wear with his leather jacket. I had suggested it before and he said no, but I guess Wednesday was a particularly cold morning and changed his mind. I pulled out some color options from the (ever growing) malabrigo stash, he chose the Churra. I gave him two choices of cowls. He chose the Morningside pattern.

I cast on during lunch Thursday and a few hours later -
I absolutely adore the pattern. Super simple, super quick, super fantstic for showing off a neat yarn. It's sometimes so hard to find a pattern that doesn't compete with the yarn. I made no mods, beyond knitting an extra 1/2 inch or so before I bound off.

Jake really seems to enjoy it, too (except that it messes up his hair a bit in the back!). It's nice that he honestly WANTs the stuff I knit for him, not that he just 'lets' me do it to give me something to do! Looks pretty good, eh?
I finished a pair of socks for mom, too. After this post, I ended up finding someone destashing some worsted Louet Gems for a steal ($19 for 3 skeins shipped priority!) They aren't the most exciting things, but mom wants warm socks to wear with boots and these fit the bill! The pattern is Thuja, I just did it over fewer stitches to fit a ladies foot!
This leaves Wisp #1, Herringbone Socks, Jake's socks, Jake's sweater, sock pair #2 for mom, my lace scarf and my blue shrug as active projects and my goal is to wrap them up before the new year. I'm not counting goddess, because it's definitely hibernating for warmer weather! I only have 2 more work days until year end, that leaves plenty of time for knitting this all up, right?

Nervous!

2008-12-08T13:38:00.003-05:00

I'm less than 24 hours from my interview! I don't feel like I've prepared enough. But I can't look through their website anymore! I did a trial 'drive by' to make sure I knew where to go, which was a good thing since Google gives you wrong directions. I feel like I anticipated a few questions they would have for me and have decent answers. But I still feel unprepared. I did choose my outfit, though (the important things, you know!). I'm not wearing a suit. I own two suits. One is boring black and outdated - and only has a skirt (it had pants at one point, but they seem to have disappeared). The other is a snappy patterned brown but the only top I have that goes with it well is a snakeskin print, which I think is a little too loud for an interview. So, I'm wearing my brown pinstripe pants with a green shirt and a brown & cream patterned jacket. Put together enough for an interview, I think, and certainly more 'me' than the black suit could ever be :) So hey, if I don't get the job, I'll at least have looked cute trying! I think I need to donate the black suit - I know I'm never going to wear it again!

So keep your fingers crossed for me :)

So many choices, so little time. .. .

2008-12-07T17:39:00.000-05:00

I succumbed to Woolgirl's Black Friday Weekend Sale. I've been wanting to make something for Tricia's little girl and this Spunky Eclectic Sportweight in Sangria seemed perfect. . . and 3 skeins jumped into my cart. I don't know what they will become yet, though. A hooded cardigan, perhaps?

And to keep the Sangria company, some Three Irish Girls came along for the ride to Virginia.

Gorgeous, right?

Friday I got a belated Birthday present in the mail, 3 delicious skeins of worsted weight Misti Alpaca Handpaint.

So what does this all mean? 1st, it means I REALLY have more yarn than I can possibly knit up in a reasonable period of time so I should stop buying!! 2nd, it means I have an easy ABC-along! Y is for Yarn, of course!

And the title of most creative goes to. . .. .

2008-12-07T09:53:00.002-05:00

Mari!!

Last night was the Yarn for Breakfast Christmas party. It was a particularly fun time, and part of the party was a gift exchange. We did a bit of a mixed up Pollyanna exchange, where people could steal gifts, but no one opened the gifts until the end - so you were stealing based on what you THOUGHT might be in the package. I started out with a package I knew had malabrigo in it (how could I resist!) but I didn't keep my mouth quiet about there being malabrigo in the package, so it in turn got stolen from me! BUT, the package I then got to keep ended up for sure, the most creative gift. The super prettily wrapped (but not photographed) package contained a box of cookies and a box of yarn. Cookies and yarn would be yummy enough, right, but she got CUSTOM DESIGNED COOKIES that MATCHED the yarn!

Like, matched exactly!
Yes, this photo contains only one cookie, but it's not because I ate the other two cookies, I shared them with the two other people who had the package before me! The yarn is Cascade 220 Quatro and is a gorgeous blue-green. I haven't opened the cookie to eat it yet, but Mari sampled one before she bought the cookies and assures me they are delicious.

Super cute, right?

Time for a Christmas Wish?

2008-12-04T21:05:00.002-05:00

An excerpt from an email with my mother today discussing Christmas lists:

"Socks would be good too, heavier ones to wear with boots. Wool."

Now this was not expressly a 'please make me some socks', but it sure seems close. Heavier socks = quick knitting, no? But I have no superwash worsted weight yarn. But, I have a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK. . . .I'm debating if I have time to cast on and finish a pair. What do you think?

(And no comments from the peanut gallery that in the last week I've cast on and finished like 4 projects. . .as soon as I HAVE to do something it becomes much less likely I WILL do it.)

Another Meme

2008-12-03T06:46:00.000-05:00

No knitting to share today. The Herringbone Socks I ripped back to the ribbing are back to where I ripped. They are looking much better having fixed the two mistakes, so I'm glad I ripped, but the pattern is kinda slow (row 2 is slow, row 1 is fast!) I'm trying to work up the wherewithal to pick Jake's sweater back up again. I'm still cranky about the whole collar situation, so I think I'll go knit the sleeves and come back to the collar to finish. I also ordered some yummy Jaeger yarn on eBay to make the February Lady Sweater and I won't start that until I finish Jake's sweater, so I gotta get going since that yarn will be here in a few days!

So in place of knitting, a meme taken from Zonda :)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Carly Simon :)

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
the Friday before Thanksgiving - when the sh*t hit the fan at work.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
when I actually try and don't just scribble. Catholic school gives you nice handwriting!

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Polish ham - which is very hard to find outside of Michigan. I've never been able to buy it since I've moved away, so I guess it's my favorite by memory!

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
negative

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Sure - everyone needs a catty girlfriend :)

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Me? Never :)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
nope - the only surgery I've ever had

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Yes!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Lucky Charms - but only the marshmallows. I don't eat the actual cereal portion. Of course, they are also like a once a year indulgence!

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Always, if they have ties :) But mostly only my sneakers tie.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Physically or emotionally?

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Mint Chocolate Chip

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Shoes

15. RED OR PINK?
Red

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
my legs

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
my maternal grandfather

18. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
none

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
leftover Thanksgiving dinner

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Morning News

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
it's been a while since I've seen a crayon box. I think a lot of the colors in there when I was a kid have been retired. I always was partial to Midnight Blue, though.

22. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Spicey things like cinnamon or pumpkin pie. I really like almond oil, too.

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
my coworker - the one who helps keep me sane!

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Hockey

25. HAIR COLOR?
light-ish brown

26. EYE COLOR?
hazel with specs of yellow

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
yes

28. FAVORITE FOOD?
A single favorite? Today my brain is saying mushroom risotto, but my list of favorites to choose from is easily hunderds!

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Of the two, happy endings. . .. I am a baby about scary movies - but thrillers or dramas are more my thing.

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Quantum of Solace

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
white

32. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Fall

33. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs

34. FAVORITE DESSERT?
hmmm, can't pick just one - creme brulee, cheesecake and tiramisu (oh, and this jello thing my family makes that everyone else thinks is disgusting but I think it's the best thing since sliced bread - lime jello, pineapple, walnuts and you 'melt' cream cheese into the jello so it's a creamy foamy jello. . . SO GOOD!)

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Hmm. .. I guess I haven't finished No Country for Old Men - I don't read that much!

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
no mouse pad - just a touch pad on the laptop

37. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Jake play Wii, then House, then Family Guy re-runs.

38. FAVORITE SOUND?
crickets on a warm summer night

39. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Gotta go with the Stones

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Paris (France, not Texas)

41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Uh? I'm wicked flexible, that was a big hit in college (and NOT in a dirty way - get your mind out of the gutter!)

42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Detroit

43. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
everyone's :)

Leave me a comment if you put it on your blog so I can check it out :)

Happy Monday

2008-12-01T11:22:00.002-05:00

Why is it a happy Monday?

BECAUSE I GOT AN INTERVIEW :)

I can't tell you how much I didn't want to get back to work today, but my mood has done a total-180 after getting the phone call. The interview is for a job I actually WANT, too, not just a job I applied to for the sake of applying. Of course the chances of me getting the job are far from certain, but it's nice to have a possibility in the mix :) I have high hopes that if nothing else this breaks the logjam of no one responding to my resume. The power of positive thinking, right? :)

Hope you all have something Happy happen to you, too, today!

I'm on fire!

2008-11-30T14:56:00.000-05:00

I am knitting up a storm. I feel very accomplished. . . lots of FOs recently :) And somehow laundry and dishes are still getting cleaned and dinner is being cooked. I wish it was always like this!

I finished two projects this weekend. First, my Woolgirl June Sock Club yarn became socks. Even though it's not a color I love, I liked knitting them up and the colorway did grow on me. They'll get a lot more 'in boots' wear than anything else. . . they were in shoes because I was going to a knitting group :) And, I have to say, with just a bit showing, they're not as overwhelming.
And, I adore my Frye shoes, so any excuse to wear them, you know :)

It's been unusually cold and so I decided I needed a better hat, too. My Dizzy barely covers the ears. I bought some Chunky Malabrigo almost a year ago to make a Clara hat for me, but never got around to it. Saturday night I wound up the yarn and Sunday morning I had a new hat. With all the yarn overs, I'm not sure how warm it'll be, but I like it anyway. Perhaps Koolhaus will be my 'warm' hat when I get around to it!

Knitting aside, is everyone Turkey'd out yet? I am, and we still have a ton left! I made stock Saturday and soup Sunday. The carcass made a lot more stock than usual, though, so I have plent to freeze to use later. I made a tukey shepherd's pie (because I made 10lbs of mashed potatoes!) that was marginal. I've never had shepherd's pie, so I don't have anything to compare to, but it definitely needed more seasoning (I used this recipie).

I had such a nice 4 days away from work, it's going to be TOUGH to get up tomorrow morning, that's for sure!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-27T09:10:00.003-05:00

My pie is baked, the cranberry relish is sweetened, the cranberry sauce is thickened and the potatoes are all cut and in water in the fridge (courtesy of Jake, who told me last night to sit down and knit for a while and he'd take care of the potatoes!). The oven is preheating. All that is left is to stuff and bake the bird and roast the squash. .. . . and spend the rest of my day knitting!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Dream in Neutrals?

2008-11-26T08:23:00.000-05:00

I had a dream about yarn last night. Not a general dream with yarn in it, or knitting, a dream about a very specific skein of yarn in my stash - a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. I can't say I've ever had such a specific fiber dream before. I blame it on my late night stomach contents of gin & clam chowder. Or the CTH is jealous that it wasn't chosen to be wound up yesterday when I wound two new balls of sock yarn.

Last night, Jake & I went to see Garrison Keillor. It wasn't a taping for Prairie Home Companion, just him, all by himself. When I lived in Minnesota, I went to the Fitzgerald to see a taping, I was worried last night would be a waste of the ticket money. How entertaining could it be, after all, to be JUST Garrison Keillor? Incredibly, would be the correct answer to that question. He has such an amazing gift for storytelling, and perhaps more importantly, a voice that is totally enchanting. Even if you sort of lose interest in the actual story, just listening to the tone and cadence in his voice is supremely comforting. If I were a billionaire, I would pay him to come to my house and tell me a bedtime story every night. I can't imagine a more lovely way to fall asleep. So it was a great evening, and certainly more interesting than the usual Tuesday night! It was a bit odd that I think I counted 6 other people in our age range. There were younger folks there who seemed to be dragged with their parents, and pretty much everyone else in attendance was in their 50s or beyond. As Jake would say, when he jokes on my knitting, I'm apparently an old lady trapped in a young body :) The show wrapped up around 9, so we decided to go for a cocktail at Kincaid's.

Ordinarily, I'm not a huge fan of chain restaurants. . .. especially chain restaurants in shopping malls, but I make an exception for Kincaid's. The bartenders there. . . let me tell you. . . they can make a Gimlet. A gimlet that is worth the $10 price tag, to boot. You wouldn't think it's such a hard drink to make, but I've ordered it enough to know it really throws off the majority of bartenders. We walked the couple blocks to the mall and ordered cocktails and checked out the menu. It was chilly through the whole show (apparently Chrysler Hall doesn't believe in central heating) so combined with my lack of socks (wearing high heels) and the outdoor walk, the Clam Chowder on the menu spoke to me as a nice warm up. It was a nice end to the evening, but put food in my belly far too close to my bedtime, apparently.

I woke up this morning and resisted the urge to go wind the CTH up. I'm in the midst of some major knitting - I've cast on an unruly number of new projects recently, I really don't need yet another pair of socks!

What have I been knitting, you ask? Well, over the weekend I finished the wedding present I was working on but I need a small army of T-pins to block it - and you know, no photos until the recipient gets it. I finished knitting and felting Jake's slippers. They are still drying right now. I also finished my Socks that Rock (which, by the way are the most perfectly fitting socks I've knit to date. ... I LOVE them!!). Because I still wasn't prepared to go back to Jake's sweater or socks, I cast on for one of the wedding shawls. I'm making Wisp for both of my MOHs. It's pretty but simple enough that it won't take a crazy long time and so if neither of them wear it again, I won't be upset. The Kidsilk is a bit of a challange to work with, but the result is pretty so far. And WARM! It's noticeable the temperature difference where the scarf sits on my lap when I work on it. Then yesterday I felt the need to start more socks. For the 'instant gratification', I wound up the Dashing Dachs from the second shipment of the Woolgirl sock club. It's sportweight so should work up nice and fast. The 'Froggin' colorway isn't anything I'd pick myself, but if nothing else I can wear them in my boots and no one will see them. The pattern I'm using is Swirl Socks. I'm already up to starting the heel gussets and they only have seen about an hour of knitting. Pulling the Dashing Dachs out of my stash, I came across the Misti Alpaca Sock I got a few months ago. The yarn is totally luscious. Alpaca/Merino/Silk blend, with some nylon for durability. Given how cold it's been, I wanted a treat for my feet so I wound it up and decided it would become the Herringbone Rib socks from the latest Interweave (sorry, no link since it's part of an article and not a stand alone pattern). I haven't cast on yet, because I think I'm going to attempt two at a time, so I need to wind a 2nd ball. I think it will be a Thanksgiving project.

Tonite I'll be pumpkin pie baking and cranberry making. I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving. I personally am thankful that Jake didn't have to go overseas for work and will actually be here for dinner. What are you thankful for this year?

Mini-Rant

2008-11-24T15:43:00.001-05:00

This is not at all knitting related, so feel free to ignore :) I did complete THREE projects this weekend, though, but I'll post about them when I have photos!

I hate my job. I have hated it for quite some time, but Friday pushed me over the edge. The place is on fire and 95% of the leadership has decided to throw both ethics and good business sense out of the window. It took all of my common sense to not hand in my resignation effective immediately. I know it would be stupid to quit without something else solid lined up. Part of me hopes to stick around long enough for the inevitable layoffs (in the 7.5 years I've worked here, there have been at least 7 rounds of layoffs so far) that will come in the First Quarter to attempt to make earnings look better. At least if I get laid off, I get a hefty severance check. Part of me just wants to find a new job that I will actually have the motivation to care about going to. It's hard to get out of bed to go work for someone you don't respect. If I didn't have a good work ethic, I wouldn't even care about the customers I support. Lucky for me (and them) I do take it seriously and try to make sure my customers get the best support they can, so I still actually show up to work. I am just not so much with the 'above and beyond' anymore.

So why all the whining? Because I'm so tired of people telling me I need to stop complaining and just 'BE HAPPY' I have a job. I mean, really, why should I be HAPPY that my employer treats me like crap? So many people I know are trapped in jobs - particularly people in Vermont who don't have many other options than to work where they are now. I feel BLESSED that I'm not in a situation where I'm a sole bread-winner and that I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. I feel grateful that I am well educated with a strong resume and therefore have the flexibility to consider leaving my present employer. I'm thankful that I chose to leave Michigan when I graduated from college so I'm not riding the roller coaster that is the auto industry (though given that when I started in Vermont there were 8200 employees at my location and when I was there last week the count was barely 5000, I'd say percentage wise I didn't make the best choice of industry moves!). I'm a lot of things, but I'm not HAPPY that I have this job. I am even LESS happy that so many people feel like they have to deal with this kind of crap. No one should have to continually 'suck it up' and be disrespected just because their employer knows they have no where to go.

So there. And no, I'm not being self-righteous, I just refuse to stay in a job where my personal ethical line is being trampled on by the majority of leaders. It's only possible to be buffered from it for so long.

And now, my to-date mostly half-assed job hunting is now going into full gear. My goal is to send my resume to at least 10 positions each week until I find something new. I did 5 today. Wish me luck.

X is for Xenophobe

2008-11-23T09:58:00.003-05:00

I dare say this was the most difficult letter of this ABC-along (my Y and Z are chosen, and I get a pretty easy pass with the Z!). I racked my brain, searched the internet for X words. Nothing seemed appropriate so I took a BIG leap, and I give the xenophobe in my life:

I know, I know, I hear you - Carly, that is your dog Jimmy Ray. How does that fit? I told you I was taking a leap here. Jimmy Ray is quite possible the polar opposite of Zosia. Zosia is a ridiculously outgoing dog. She is not scared of anything or anyone. She's quite the social butterfly. She makes best friends with anyone who comes to the house. Jimmy Ray, well, he had a rough start in life. Jimmy Ray came to us through a local rescue. He spent the first year of his life penned in a garage with 4 other beagles - all the same litter. The owner was a trucker. His elderly father was supposed to come by to feed and water the dogs, but often forgot. One night during a thunderstorm, the dogs escaped and a caring neighbor gathered them up and went to talk to the owner when he returned. He agreed to turn over the dogs to the rescue. Thankfully he wasn't physically abused, but the neglect and lack of any socilization as a pup resulted in making Jimmy Ray very scared of anything unknown. It took him several months to even start to come near Jake & I. He's come very far in the time we've had him (nearly 2 years!), Zosia has helped him come out of his shell. However, he's still scared of strangers. He's small and cute so everyone wants to pet him when we're out and he tries to flatten himself to the ground or hide behind our legs. So there - Jimmy Ray is scared of strangers, so that makes him a xenophobe! (But he's a cute one!)

Something Old, Something New

2008-11-22T11:05:00.003-05:00

While I'm having a far from traditional wedding, I still plan to do the old/new/borrowed/blue thing. Call me superstitious :) Because I really want a vintage feel to things, I decided several months ago I wanted to find a beautiful cameo for the day. The thought originated with my originally planned dress, but it stuck. Shopping on Friday I found the perfect one - and I bought it!

To be fair, I actually found this several months ago and decided not to buy it because the price was a little steep. I love the uniqueness of the rectangular gold backing, though, and it really stuck in my mind since I saw it. When I shopped for others, I would gauge them against my memory of this one. So, when I found myself at the same antique shop, I went to see if they still had it. I still loved it, and I had a particularly crappy day at work so the price tag didn't seem so bad. Then the sales girl told me she could take 10% off AND Jake told me I could use some of our shower gift money (earmarked for something for us of course) to pay for part of it, so it came home with me! (but for the record, I'm not using 'our' gift money to pay for any of it, but it was super sweet of him to offer, right?!)

I think it is beautiful and I've decided to make an effort to wear it for more than the wedding. Broaches aren't really my thing, though, so I think it will take some work to figure out how to incorporate it in my jewelry rotation :) The piece is from the 1920s. I'm told it's particularly unusual given that the subject has her hair up. It was far more common for the portraits to show flowing locks. I never would have noticed myself, but after the owner told me, I did notice every other cameo was down. The cameo itself is conch shell. I came home and did some research and found out I got a very good price, given what I found of comparable age and size, so all in all, I am quite happy. Now to decide. . . . is it my something old or my something new?

Home Again

2008-11-20T14:15:00.003-05:00

I had a mostly uneventful trip, which is nice for once. The only little hitch was a surprise snow storm as we were trying to land in Burlington, forcing the plane to make 3 approaches to see if visibililty had increased so our little Turbo Prop could land. After the 3rd, had we not landed they were sending us back to La Guardia. That would have sucked. Apparently, Vermont has gotten smaller since I lived there. When I got to the airport at 8:20 for my 9:10am flight, security was closed. Yeah. . . . just closed. . . . no TSA to be found and the door leading into the screening area locked. What kind of airport CLOSES security?! About 15 minutes later, the TSA came back - group break, I guess, and being a tiny airport, it was mostly a non-issue.

What did I accomplish on my trip? Well, work wise, my meeting was great. Which is good, because I busted my butt to get everything coordinated and prepped. Of course, do you think my boss even gave me a 'nice job' or any sort of positive affirmation? Surely not. . . . reason eleventybillion and seventy two why I have to find a new job. Friend wise, I got to meet my friend Nikki's brand new baby who happened to be born on my birthday :) Knitting wise, I have almost a pair of socks! Not Jake's socks. . . a BRAND spanking new pair that I started on Tuesday while flying. If medium weight Socks that Rock were a person, I would totally marry it!! Just like the last socks I did from the yarn, the stuff knits up so fast! I figured I'd keep on the instant gratification knits for the time being. The pattern is the Double Waffle Stitch from More Sensational Knit Socks. It does a good job of masking the color spiral/pools that the STR does (it must be how she dyes, because it's the SAME way the XMas Rock colorway knit up).

The cure for Knitters Block

2008-11-17T17:34:00.003-05:00

Phew! I tell you, nothing gets your knitting mojo back like some quick satisfaction knitting! I didn't necessarily have knitters block, but I'm not all that into stuff I've had OTN. Jake's socks are tedious, Jake's sweater - it's in timeout due to more pattern errors, my lace scarf is simple but moving slowly and my goddess is suffering for lack of motivation, since it won't be warm enough to wear for quite some time and the secret gift is nearly done, and I just don't want to do the cast of and blocking. Then I knit the test knit mittens. . . . in a day. . . then I cast on for Jake's slippers (hmmm. . . that's a lot of knits for him now that I list what's OTN!) and I'm nearly done with them. Now I feel like a knitting CHAMP! I still have to figure out what to start/take on a work trip with me. I leave in the AM. I'm thinking of continuing on the quick knit and wind up the STR I have - since the last pair I made I did in two days. Or, I'll treat myself and wind up the new Malabrigo sock yarn I got (sooooooooo nice!) if I can live with a simple basic pattern for it. Remind me I have this mojo when I'm complaining about the shawls I'm knitting for my wedding :)

Sorry no pictures. . . it's dreary and overcast AGAIN (surprise!) here, so not so photo friendly light.

W is for Weekend Knitting

2008-11-16T15:46:00.004-05:00

Holy Cow, people! I knit an entire project from start to finish on Saturday. This is surely a record for me. I give you my Faberge Mittens.

They are not really MY mittens, they are a gift. They were a test knit for a Ravelry designer, the same woman who did the Faberge Cowl. Pretty, huh?

W is also for Wii :) Yes, Jake & I joined the rest of the world in buying a Wii today. We've spent the last 4 hours bowling and playing tennis. Can you say huge time suck?

Is this just a Michigan thing?

2008-11-13T08:02:00.002-05:00

So given it's early November, and the Weezer Red Album is getting constant play in my house and it's talked about in Heart Songs, the Edmund Fitzgerald has been on my mind. The famous Great Lakes Freighter sank on November 10, 1975. It has a fair bit of folklore behind it, since no trace of the wreck or bodies have ever been found. There was no distress call from the ship, it just sort of disappeared. The story was put to song by Gordon Lightfoot in 1976.

EVERYONE in Michigan knows this song. And just like the song says, the Mariner's Church in Detroit tolls its bell 29 times in honor of the wreck on the Anniversary.

When I lived in Minnesota, the boy I was dating was into all things Maritime (he's a Navy Pilot now) and we took a trip from the Twin Cities up to Duluth to see a play in the hull of a ship that was based on the events of that fateful night.

In short, the Great Lakes states take this seriously! Then it somehow came up in conversation at a knitting night and every single person looked at me like I had 3 heads when I talked about the song. I have always just assumed, since the song was #2 on the Billboard charts, that it was pretty well known and it wasn't just a regional thing. So, I gotta ask. . . who else has at least heard of it? Am I really that much of a southern anomaly?!

Maybe I am odd. . . . I used to think everyone could name the 5 Great Lakes, but apparently that's also only something they teach you if you live near them, which I figured out when I moved to Vermont. (For the record, remember HOMES to know the great Lakes. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)

Sweater Status

2008-11-13T06:35:00.003-05:00

Jake's sweater is coming along, though it's really not all that interesting to look at in a picture, so you don't get one! I'm quite convinced I could have been done by now have I not had to spend so much time trying to figure out pattern errors. Based on this experience, I definitely will not purchase KnitPicks patterns in the future, since they clearly don't do much in the way of tech editing. The errors I'm finding really don't have much excuse, a non-knitter who can count could at least figure out something was wrong, even if they couldn't fix it! So I'm up to where you're supposed to 3-needle bind off the front and back of the shoulder together and the count is off by 6 stitches. I guess I can just put the extra stitches in the collar, but it really does tick me off! The collar should be quick knitting, and then I just have the sleeves, so hopefully by month end it'll be done. And then I shread the pattern! I do hope the pattern is right that the yarn will stretch with wash & wear, because it's a bit short for him as it is now!

Baking Queen? Not Quite.

2008-11-08T17:56:00.002-05:00

I came home from Knitting this afternoon to make No-Knead Bread. I got the suggestion from a Rav member in the Cooking group as a fabulous use of my fancy Le Creuset dutch oven. It has to rest for 18 hours, but I thought it was 24, so I had to kick around a bit to have it ready at a reasonable hour so I didn't have to wake up super early tomorrow to bake it. I'm a tad concerned about the dough, as it's supposed to be 'shaggy & sticky'. While I have no idea what 'shaggy' would refer to in dough, I do know sticky and this didn't seem all that sticky. I fear I may have a bit too much water, or used flour I shouldn't have. So, the possibility of it not turning out, coupled with having a ton of yeast leftover, I decided to try another bread recipe I've had sitting around the house for a while for Honey Whole Wheat bread. (Sorry, no linky, it's not online!) I have never had the best luck with bread (except for the monkey bread last Christmas), so it was a nice surprise that it turned out edible. I don't think it's exactly right because it's quite dense, which I think means I should have let it rise more. But turned out well enough that I'll try again in the future. We'll see tomorrow how the no knead turns out.

If I were to leave Jake. . . .

2008-11-08T12:38:00.003-05:00

it would be for him:
I told Jake this last night while we watched Casino Royale. We rented it because we both want to see Quantum of Solace, but since it's a bit of a continuation we wanted to see the first movie. It was surprisingly good for a Bond movie. Don't get me wrong, I like Bond movies, but they are not typically a 'good movie' in a broad context. . . it's like Rocky or something, you know what you are going to get! It was unexpected that the plot was actually engaging and interesting. My only critique was that it was a bit long. Of course, now this means my expectations for seeing the new one are probably too high and I'll be disappointed. As disappointed as I can be while watching Daniel Craig :) I can't figure out how he hides all that wonderful bulky physique in clothing. When he's fully dressed, you'd never guess he was built like that underneath! Yum!!

Long Overdue

2008-11-07T09:57:00.004-05:00

Well, I finished this in AUGUST but never got around to having Jake take some photos for me, but here she is, my lovely MAUDE!

Possibly my favorite project ever :) I've even almost forgot what a PITA the lace pattern was. It wasn't necessarily hard, but a little fiddly and I don't think I did a full round without having to tink back at least a few stitches, if not the whole row. Totally worth it in the end, though! Truth be told, I probably should have made the XS. I'm always wary of choosing and how much ease is assumed and I didn't want it to end up too small. It's still wearable, just a bit loose. Hopefully it doesn't stretch, that would make me sad :(

More recent - finished on Tuesday, Jake's new hat. Yes, it is the same hat I made for his dad! I really REALLY love this pattern. If I knew another person who needed a hat, it's a very real possibility I would make this for a third time. I also LOVE the yarn - Ultra Alpaca. Seriously, it could someday overrun Malabrigo as my #1 favorite yarn. It is just so soft and lovely! I got two skeins of the new Ultra Alpaca Fine in a swap and I'm hoping it's as lovely as the worsted weight!

In both cases, please excuse the marginal photos. It has been raining here since Monday and it gets dark so early there is little natural light. My camera is dying, too. . . I'm trying to choose a new one as a birthday/Christmas gift from my mom. Anyone have a suggestion for a good quality but not too complicated to use digital?

Pretty, Pretty

2008-11-06T09:50:00.002-05:00

So I finished knitting up Jake's hat, but I don't have a picture of it on him yet, so instead I'll share with you my most recent impulse buy.

I give you a skein of FarmHouse Yarn Fannie's Fingeringpurchased on a recent visit to KnitWits. The colorway is called 'Berries and Caramel'.

V is for Velour

2008-11-05T09:09:00.002-05:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a stretch, but V is a toughy!

These are my most favorite lounge pants, and yes, my friends, they are VELOUR! They were formerly owned by my friend Nikki (blame her for why I say 'mum' and not 'mom' - she's from Liverpool). When she got pregnant, she was getting rid of some of her clothes and I happily took them because they actually were the right length for me (being all of 5'1" pants that do not need hemming is cause for celebration!). Jake despises these pants, but I tell you nothing is more comfortable to drive in than these pants and they are all I ever wear when going on a long car trip. And, of course, I can feel fancy wearing British clothes :) (The pants are from Marks & Spencer, Nikki's most favorite department store!)

And with that, I am caught up on the ABC-along again. Only 4 letters left, so I'm going to try to stay timely to close out the year!

Take 2

2008-11-04T10:38:00.002-05:00

10am and there were only ~30 people in total in the gymnasium. Took me about 20 minutes to vote. Yay for the flexibility of telecommuting! I was ballot 365 in the box I put my ballot in, I couldn't see the count on the other. In the primary, I voted about the same time of day and I was ballot 29 in my box, so I guess the turnout is higher than normal!

U is for Unfinished

2008-11-04T08:43:00.002-05:00

As in, the current state of my home renovation.

Remember my silly goal of being complete before July? Well, if we ever worked on it, it probably could have been done, but we are the laziest people EVER when it comes to doing this work! We just never have the motivation to do it! My new goal is to have drywall finished and paint on the walls and new floors at least CHOSEN if not in some state of installation by Christmas. Feasible, yes?

Try #1

2008-11-04T07:00:00.002-05:00

So, 6:50am, I got in my car and drove to the elementary school. Lots of cars, but I was able to find a spot with no real issue, so I assumed not so bad inside. WRONG! I walked in and turned right back around and walked out! Up side, people can wait inside, down side, you can't drive by to see if there is a line. Next stop will be around 10am. . .. everyone who has to work should have had to leave for work, mom's who voted after dropping kids off at school should be gone too, so I think it has potential to be less busy. I need to go pick some sock yarn to make a basic sock with, though, in case I have to wait with Jake later. Nothing I have OTN is simple enough for in line knitting.

In an attempt to avoid politics last night with nothing decent on TV, we decided to watch Midnight Cowboy ONDemand. I was not expecting it to be such a depressing movie! And I couldn't get past Dustin Hoffman sounding like Charlie Babbit rather than a native New Yorker. It was worth the $1.99, though!

Rainy Election Day

2008-11-04T06:25:00.004-05:00

I was going to go to the polls right at 6AM, until I saw on the news people were lined up outside in the rain waiting for polls to open. Really, I'm not that dedicated! I've never not voted in an election, and worst case I'll just go when Jake votes after work so at least I'm not waiting alone, but I'm amazed that they found some guy on the news who went to the middle school he votes at at 2:30AM to wait for them to open. Insane? I think so! All I can say is I'm darn glad today is the last day of election phone calls and TV ads.

Inspired by the soup I made last week. . . my first totally ad hoc, no reference to a recipe at all, I trolled my fridge and pantry last night and decided I would make pasta with spinach and cannellini beans. I couldn't figure out a good sauce to go with it, though, so I just googled the ingredients and came up with this one. I used whole wheat fusilli rather than bowties and I had less spinach on hand, but it was quite tasty. The only thing I can't figure out is their nutritional information:
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
(based on individual servings)
Calories: 545
Total Fat: 7 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 5 mg
Sodium: 925 mg
Carbohydrates: 99 g
Fiber: g
Protein: 24 g

Where in the hell do they get 7g of Fat PER SERVING?! I'm totally confused, since the only things with fat are the tiny bit of olive oil you cook the onions in and the cheese you may sprinkle on top! I'm convinced someone mixed this up with another recipe! (Yes, I know beans have fat, but it's negligible. The brand I used has 1g in the entire can, so for 4 servings that is .25g) It was a simple and easy dinner, with lots of protein and fiber so I think it will stay in my rotation.

I hope your poll lines aren't as long as I anticipate mine to be, but do be sure you go out and

Très Magnifique!

2008-11-03T10:45:00.002-05:00

My Birthday weekend was so wonderful! Very little planned, which is unusual. Maybe that is why it was one of my nicest birthday's ever! Jake got home from Vegas around 6:30 Friday night. He was pretty tired, since I had warned him of how crowded the security lines in Vegas are (they always have been when I've flown through there) but it was dead as a doornail when he arrived at 5am for his 7am flight. . . . He almost gave up his seat home, thinking Delta was offering something really worthwhile since they needed like 7 people to give up seats. . . but it was only a $400 voucher, so he skipped it - but he gets major points for calling me to ask 'Will $400 help us out at all if I give up my seat? Do we need to fly anywhere next year?'

Halloween was sad, with my whopping total of 3 trick-or-treaters :( Last year I had 7, so this year I didn't buy too much candy, but I was disappointed. I love seeing little ones dressed up! Since Jake was tired, he sat on the couch the rest of the evening and read. . . I knit on my secret wedding gift while listening to my two new favorite CDs - Kasey Chambers Rattlin' Bones and Weezer's Red Album. If you haven't heard of Kasey Chambers I highly recommend you You Tube a few songs. She and her husband are fantastic! And I'm always a Weezer fan, this CD might be my favorite since the first.

So we slept in on Saturday, and Jake made me a fantastic breakfast - eggs with fresh mushrooms, spinach and brie! After breakfast I got to open a present - and it was a fancy new ball winder! A lovely accompaniment to the swift he made me last year :) We went out to do some shopping where I got some fab new mascara and a jellyroll pan so Jake could make the dessert I requested. We also got a few Christmas gifts for a great deal at BB&B :) We had a mini-snafu when we got home that involved my accidentally decorating Jake's truck with two new scratches. He handled it well, and on today's agenda is a trip to the Nissan dealer to get some touch up paint! I had two packages waiting from the mailman. The first from B&SIL - two supersoft skeins of Alpaca from a New York Alpaca farm. I think it wants to be mittens!

The other was the 2nd package from this round of PRGE and my awesome partner Shelvicious. My package rocked, and of course goes well with my Birthday :) The package included two Halloween Themed cocktail concoctions, cute Halloween dish scrubbies, Halloween Mr Potato Head, a gorgeous skein of Silky Malabrigo in Amoroso and a pattern to use it on, a skein of K1C2 Ty-Dy socks - which I haven't seen before but the long color repeats look so awesome on the FOs on Ravelry! Rounding out the package was a bamboo needle maintenance kit and some Ferrero Rocher yummies! Thanks, Vanessa!!

Saturday night Jen (who rarely blogs) hosted Poker night so we hung out there - where I most definitely did NOT drink an entire bottle of wine by myself! Jen made me the awesomeist apron for my Birthday! Pretty, right?

Sunday we hung out at the house most of the day, then got all dressed up to go to dinner at the WineHouse. This was our first time there since they've moved and I have to say it was disappointing. We're chalking it up to growing pains and having a lot of new staff to fill the much larger space so we'll go again, but my risotto was the gummiest, blandest thing I've ever gotten in a restaurant! But what totally makes up for a lackluster dinner? A ridiculously fantastic dessert! Jake, who always makes me a delicious dessert on my birthday, did an amazing job on the Pumpkin Roll. I think it would be super delicious as a cake with regular icing and not rolled up, too. I told Jake to add a little ginger and nutmeg, but otherwise he followed the recipe exactly. If you like pumpkin and cheesecake, you need to make this roll!

And that, my friends, is how to have a great Birthday! Though for all the dessert I ate, we will be spending some extra time at the gym today. That's OK, though, since another gift I got was a heart rate/calorie mointor, so I can play with it! I've been wanting one for a while, because I never believe the ones on the machine at the gym!

I hope you all have a great week!!

T is for Tiara

2008-11-03T08:42:00.006-05:00

Really, I'm not THAT high maintenance. Sure, I'm an only child and I like things my own way, but I guess I'd classify that more as particular than 'high maintenance'. Clearly others have a different opinion at times. In the last two weeks, I've gotten two tiaras, so to catch up on my ABC-Along, my T is for Tiara.

First, from the fabulous Malabrigo Swap group, I got a Birthday themed package from (blogless) Deb in NJ, and she told me everyone needs a tiara on their birthday.

Then, at my bridal shower, my cousin Laura included a tiara in my gift 'So that Jake will never forget he is marrying a Princess' :)

Army of Women

2008-11-03T07:39:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to post about this when I signed up. This was announced at the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month - The Love/AVON Army of Women. It's an amazing idea - to have a nation wide network for researchers to get in touch with women to study breast cancer. Please, go sign up! You are not automatically committing to participating in any specific research. You can accept or decline all opportunities that come up. The goal is 1 million women, and they are not even 1/4 of the way there yet, so they need YOU!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T15:23:00.002-04:00

or, as I like to say "Happy Day Before My Birthday" :) That's right, tomorrow marks the start of my 30th year at 6:47pm. Remember, I'm an engineer, so I start counting at 0, not 1, so even though it's my 29th Birthday, it really is the end of my 20s!

I have a small bowl of Candy for kiddos today, but given we only had 7 trick-or-treaters I'll still probably have excess. The down side of living on a block of old folks :( No one else turns on their light. I get such a kick out of seeing kids dressed up. . . especially the really little ones that can't really properly pronounce 'trick-or-treat'!

37 Things Meme

2008-10-29T15:07:00.003-04:00

Well I was catching up on blog reading and I saw this meme on Cynical Knit Gal's blog and it seemed a good distraction.

1. Do you like blue cheese? Does a bear poop in the woods? :) Yes, yes, YES! I especially love crumbled blue cheese on a salad with Italian dressing, though that is apparently a New York State thing, because if you ask for it anywhere else they look at you like you have 3 heads. Wings are not the same without blue cheese dressing, either (someone please tell me why here in VA places give you RANCH with wings? EEW!)

2. Have you ever smoked cigarettes? Yes.

3. Do you own a gun? Directly, no, but I do hold a concealed carry permit because of the guns Jake owns. I won't disclose just how heavily armed our house is for fear of scaring you :)

4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite? Black Cherry

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No, not usually.

6. What do you think of hotdogs? I think it's best not to think about what they are when enjoying their deliciousness!

7. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life. . . . definitely!

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Bolthouse Farms Blue Goodness juice

9. Can you do push ups? Yes

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? Besides the obvious answer of my engagement ring? I have these gorgeous white gold & black pearl earrings (yes, it's rose gold & white pearl in the picture but there is no picture of mine!) made my Richard Messina that Jake bought me for Christmas several years ago. They are hand hammered and are perfectly concave such that the hoop is a perfect lens. They are an amazing work of art and beauty.

11. Favorite hobby? Dance, though I don't really get to do it anymore.

12. Do you have A.D.D.? Though it would be a convenient excuse for my spazziness, I do not.

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Yes. I can't wait for my prescription to stop changing so I can get lasik.

14. Middle name? Ann

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
1 - It's 3:30 and I haven't showered yet. . . I should do that
2 - I forgot to take my allergy pills the last two days
3 - I wonder if the Reese's Cup I put in the freezer is frozen enough to eat yet?

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? San Pelligrino Limonata (YUM!), Water, Canadian Club & Vernors

17. Current worry? Honestly, nothing off the top of my head. I do need to find a place to have dinner for the wedding, but I'm not all that worried about it. .. something will work out!

18. Current hate right now? Election Ads on TV

19. Favorite place to be? Home (any of the places that qualify as home to me!)

20. How did you bring in the New Year? Oh I was VERY boring in 2007. Jake was out of town so I hung out at home by myself with the pooches!

21. Where would you like to go? Home for Laura's 30th Birthday, but airfares are INSANE so that's not going to happen :(

22. Name three people who will complete this. No clue.

23. Do you own slippers? Yes - many more pair than I need!

24. What shirt are you wearing? Jake's Sweatshirt from basic training (or maybe AIT?) over a t-shirt over a sports bra and cropped pants (I just got back from the gym)

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I have some sateen sheets that I enjoy, but I think satin would be too cold.

26. Can you whistle? Sure.

27. Favorite color? RED!

28. Would you be a pirate? If it would it match my current salary!

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever pops in my head

30. Favorite Girl’s Name? Aubrey

31. Favorite boy’s name? I can't say that I have one

32. What’s in your pocket right now? No pockets!

33. Last thing that made you laugh? Beaverslide Yarn. There is a story there, from Jess and Jen's visit last night, but I'll let you make up your own :)

34. What vehicle do you drive? Ford Escape

35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? Thankfully I've never been hurt all that bad. Most embarrassing injury was my senior year in high school when I hurt my wrist in the middle of a competition routine and left the floor because I couldn't focus on anything but the pain - and my team got disqualified because I didn't finish the routine :(

36. Do you love where you live? I wouldn't say love. I don't dislike it, I'd just rather be more in the mountains. I'm not so much an Ocean girl :)

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? Just one!

If you do this, leave me a comment so I know and I can come check it out!

And I'm back. . .

2008-10-28T17:46:00.002-04:00

Of course, I've been back for a while, but I've been busy unpacking gifts, clearing out and re-organizing cabinets to fit gifts in so they can be used (now I have TWO sets of dishes!), trying to earn myself gainfully employed and losing the battle of keeping the beagle from continually rolling in some sort of awful stink I can't locate outside. I've had to give him THREE baths! He is now on a strictly monitored potty schedule and is required to come back in the house as soon as his business is complete! Bath time by myself stinks. . it's usually a two person job, but Jake is out of town for work.

To keep me company, though, Jess & Jen are coming by for dinner and some knitting tonite. I'm making veggie soup in my new Le Creuset dutch oven. (yay!) Soup is good given the temperature drop that there has been - the heat had to come on in the house, so fall is definitely here!

Knit wise, I have no photos because Jake's sweater looks the same, only longer. I'm about to start splitting for the arm holes. Of course, he says the heat is on at work and he no longer needs the sweater. . . . . My knitting time has been primarily consumed with a wedding present for a friend who got married on 10/10. I can't tell you what it is or show any pictures until it's complete and the recipient has gotten it. It is in Ravelry, though (well, as a pictureless project) if you're curious what it is :)

I did get some delicious yarn recently that I'll share when I can get a few photos.

I'm trying to catch up on blog reading, too. Why is it always that going away even for just a couple days puts you weeks behind in life?!

TTFN!

2008-10-15T21:12:00.002-04:00

Well, I had hoped to get back into regular blogging but somehow time seems to disappear each day! I am heading out for several days. We're going up to Michigan for my shower. Yay! Should be lots of fun to see friends and family. We haven't seen any of them since we got engaged, so I'll have lots of people ogling my fancy finger :)

And, uh, so much for not starting new projects. I cast on for another Caramel Cable hat. This one for Jake, rather than his dad. It came out of necessity for a simple project I could carry. My only socks OTN are the boyfriend socks and I have to pay attention with counting and the cables. My lace scarf is simple and the pattern is memorized, but I learned (the hard way) I need to finish on a purl row so I don't get any yo's in the wrong spot overlapping a regular stitch when you stop on a right side row and move the work onto the cable :) Jake's sweater is too big to come along places, so that was my excuse for yet another project!

I don't have the energy to re-post a gajillion pictures, but go here and check out the most awesomist swap package I got today, too. I'm doing the Malabrigo Swap on Ravelry - such an awesome group of people, and my spoiler Deb (who is sans blog) totally went overboard. I mean, all around I've been lucky in swaps with having great partners, but this package totally blew me away!

Have a great weekend, everyone, and talk to you next week!

Sweater Progress

2008-10-14T21:20:00.000-04:00

Work on Jake's sweater has begun! I'm about 6" complete so far.

It's going pretty smooth, except for the horrifically skimpy yardage of the yarn! The 82 yards only gets me about 2 inches knit, which is ~12 rows, which means I keep running out! Because there is no way I'm weaving in the copious amount of ends 19 balls + some areas of using 2 balls at a time to knit I've learned to Russian Join. It's not as nice as a felted join, but it seems to do the job. BUT the yarn itself is pretty loosely twisted, so it's a little splitty after the join. I'm cutting out a few of the plies to reduce the bulk, but it's not necessarily helping with the fraying. So far, at least, I've been able to hide them inside, but I am worried about it poking through - and who would want this stuff on the wrong side?

I'm about to join ball #4 and I'm in the middle of a right side row, so fingers crossed!

Laziness (or S is for Socks!)

2008-10-05T13:51:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned, Jake's birthday was Thursday. I made a lovely dinner for he & a few of his friends and we had a great night. Friday Jake hit the road with a friend for a weekend of fly fishing in western Virginia, which meant I was on my own. I was hoping for a burst of productivity to hit me and get a bunch of chores done, but not so much. Friday night, I went out with a girlfriend in from out of town. I made it to last call and didn't get home until 3am. For a girl with a usual 10pm bedtime, it was impressive to say the least that I made it without even feeling tired! Of course, I slept until 11am Saturday, though :) I did get out and run a few errands (buying shoes for my MOHs and yarn for their shawls) with Jen, and then we went to Doumars. If you are local, and haven't been. Go. NOW! The milkshakes, totally to die for!

Saturday night I stayed in and knit. I finished another blanket square and my Woolgirl Dog Days socks. The weather is finally going to start turning so I can start wearing knit socks. And, as I'm always falling behind, I'm coping out and making my ABC-along S is for socks with this post, too!

I'm sort of making a dent in WIPs now! I have another blanket square, leaf lace scarf, my goddess & Jake's socks officially 'in progress' and Jake's sweater and slippers in swatch stage. I'm going to try hard not to cast on anything else until something (other than the blanket square) else is done! It seems a little skewed that 3 projects are for Jake, though, no? At least he appreciates them :)

Finally looks like a pretty uneventful week ahead, which will be nice before we head to Michigan for my bridal shower. It's October 18! Exciting!

I'm rolling in green

2008-10-01T07:08:00.005-04:00

Yarn, that is, not so much the cash :)

My Knitpicks order came in with the yarn for Jake's sweater and his slippers. 19 balls of Mainline, 7 of Wool of the Andes. And, uh, mainline, REALLY? 82 friggin' yards? Couldn't make some meatier balls? That's a WHOLE lot of ends in a sweater, which may force me to learn how to effectively do a Russian Join! I'm trying to work up the motivation to swatch ASAP because he really wants the sweater and will pester me whenever I work on something else now that the yarn is here.

Sticking with green, I started working with the Malabrigo lace I wound up on my fancy new nostepinne. The color is Vaa and it's becoming a Leaf Lace Scarf, which will be for me :) It's a super simple pattern and is going along pretty well so far. I'm trying to work on my backward knitting to avoid the purling back - recently my right elbow has been sore while I knit and avoiding purls helps it not hurt. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I trace my purl steps and repeat them on the knit side of the fabric, I keep getting the stitch oriented wrong. It's driving me bananas! I am pleased with myself for re-training my knit stitch to be fully left handed so I can keep my right hand/elbow stationary. I think it's even possible I'm a tad faster that way!

All this green needs to not distract me from my Dog Days Socks, though. I REALLY want to finish the pair before the next woolgirl shipment going out 10/13! The 2nd sock is fully knit, I just need to do the lace cuff, but I HATED the lace cuff on the first sock - a whole lot of fiddliness for not much visual effect IMO (you can't much see the flower lace in the varigated yarn!). Jake is going away fishing this weekend, so maybe I can force myself to do that rather than clean while he's gone!

My gift cowl is complete, but not blocked. It's Oh so pretty :)

Along with a box from Knitpicks, the mailman braved the downpour (literally, it was too much for the box so he had to bring it up to the house!) to bring me my Amazon order, too. Jake & I both got a book for reading, and I got Sensual Knits. I've been wanting it for ages since I saw the Transparency Sweater. Unfortunately, it appears even the cheapest yarn to make it will cost me over $60 (to keep it silk/mohair - elann has a nylon/mohair). So it will have to wait, but I really love the book. There are a lot of really pretty patterns. They all are a bit crazy on the yarn, though. I mean, who is going to use 16-23 balls of this Cashmere to make a sweater?!

Tomorrow is Jake's birthday, so today is officially his last day of his 2nd decade on the Earth. (I'm being technical here, he's turning 29, but that means he's starting his 30th year on the planet). He has requested white cake with chocolate frosting. The frosting will be homemade, the cake will be from a mix :) He also requested the cake be decorated with a chainsaw - no joke! It's his gift from his parents, my mom & I (who knew one could cost so much!) and not a surprise. We'll see how my artistic skills work! I'm also making spicy Chicken Parm (spicy sauce from this recipe) for dinner with a few of his friends coming over. Should be a nice day! I'm taking the afternoon off of work to clean the house and shop. Unfortunately for me, I'm not the cleanest baker, so I suspect additional cleaning will be required after the cake is done :)

Another FO

2008-09-28T17:34:00.004-04:00

Well, really, this was finished AGES ago, but no photos. I FINALLY go around to asking Jake to put it on for a photo because I was packaging it up to go to his parents, along with some lily bulbs I dug up :)

He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

(notice beagle trying to hide from the camera in the background!)

I really REALLY like this hat. The cables are great, and as I think I said before, the decreases to keep the cables going all the way to the tip are super clever. I'll be making the same hat for Jake in camel. The only difference will be is I won't have the ridge in the bottom. On this hat, after I finished, I needed more length to fully cover the ears, so I picked up the cast on and added 15 rows. I'll just to 25 to start on Jake's.

I finished the cowl, too, but no pictures yet. I look like death, and spent pretty much my entire weekend on the couch. I think I went through my weight in tissues, but I seem to be on the upswing now. I felt good enough to drive and run a few errands today.

Hope your weekend was better than my sick one!

Out of the Funk

2008-09-26T08:01:00.003-04:00

So sorry I've been such a grouch recently! Too much travel and too many political ads on TV make for a cranky Carly :) I'm less cranky now, though I have some phantom illness that has made my throat feel like it's the size of a pea with a grapefruit in it. BUT, I'm looking on the bright side, it's almost the weekend!

So what is going on with me, you ask?
Well, we got our first official wedding/shower gift from my BFF Tricia (she has the adorable baby Addison who got Sheldon and my Summerlin!)

The gift is the dishes, not the dishwasher :) It's very exciting. The dishes we have had since I left home were hand me down Pfaltzgraff. They did their job, but it's nice to have something we picked!

I've been in a bit of a knitting funk, as well. I determined it was because everything I was working on was on Sz 3 or smaller. I didn't want to start anything else big, though, because yarn is en route for Jake's ribbed cardigan, which will be my easy/boring knitting project for a while. I had seen the Fabrage Cowl on the Mal Swap board and had PMd the designer several times asking when it would be available. I fully intended to purchase it. I must have pestered her enough, though, because last week she said she'd send me a test knit copy if I cast on right away. It took me a while to find some 5/0 beads, but I got them Wednesday and cast on Thursday! I'm half way done and I LOVE it! So pretty, right? It's a gift, but I think I'll have to make one for me, too!

With the storm that came through making yesterday a total washout, Jake spent some time in his woodshop and came back with a nostepinne for me! I put it right to work winding up some laceweight Malabrigo :)

R is for Root

2008-09-25T20:17:00.000-04:00

Or should I say GINORMOUS root?

Jake digs a lot of holes in the backyard. He's dug up several tree stumps and what not. He was digging up our compost pile to move it to the 'to be' flower bed and uncovered this thing. Looking at it out of the upstairs window it reminded me of an alligator. We're not yet sure how it's coming out. . .

Is it over?

2008-09-22T06:12:00.002-04:00

I hate election years. The incessant badgering by the media of all things political is hard to stomach, not to mention the ads. This year, of course, has been worse than normal, given it started like, what, at least a YEAR ago?! I really do not support either major candidate. I had planned to vote for Bob Barr or some other random 3rd party candidate, basically because the ballots don't have an 'abstain' option. However, the more I learn about Sarah Palin, the more scared (really petrified may be a better word) I am at the possibility of her having anything to do with the future path of the United States. For a successful woman, her lack of support for all things woman's rights related is really just bizarre to me. Maybe that's why she got picked, she's all for the 'barefoot and pregnant' way of life most stodgy old men support. Her extreme religious beliefs rank a close second (though I am judging based on the Church she attends, since as best I can tell she really hasn't told anyone anywhere what she herself ACTUALLY stands for on most topics). The most recent 'Are you serious?!' is the concessions for the VP debate (article here).

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

I am saddened to come to the realization that now I'll most likely end up casting a vote for Obama. Sad, because voting is not meant to be the lesser of two evils or voting AGAINST a candidate.

How is it that in 1992 Ross Perot could get 18% of the popular vote, but in the last 16 years no one has been able to put together enough $$ to make a decent go of a real 3rd party? Or perhaps more importantly, how have all the disenchanted voters (I know I'm not the only one!) been scared enough into believing you are essentially 'wasting' your vote by voting for anyone other than a Democrat or Republican?

I think I'd like to crawl under a rock and not come out until 2013. Somehow those 'crazy' people who build their own off the grid compounds are looking a lot more sane. . . .

Knitting is apparently not even a non-partisan hobby anymore, seeing the explosion of politics on Ravelry. While I can't hide until 2013, I'm really thinking about turning off the TV/computer/radio until December.

Meme!

2008-09-15T21:40:00.004-04:00

I am sitting on the couch having bathed the dogs and trying to catch up on my Bloglines. I saw this over on Michelle's blog and thought it was fun and mindless enough to keep me up to my bedtime (going to sleep too early means waking up too early!)

A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com

B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year

C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate (uh, I don't know how to strikethrough, so deal with them being in VIOLET and underline or italicize your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about)

1. Candle In The Wind 1997, Elton John (ok, I really like the original, not anything to do with Princess Di)
2. Foolish Games/You Were Meant For Me, Jewel
3. I'll Be Missing You, Puff Daddy and Faith Evans
4. Un-Break My Heart, Toni Braxton
5. Can't Nobody Hold Me Down, Puff Daddy
6. I Believe I Can Fly, R. Kelly
7. Don't Let Go (Love), En Vogue
8. Return Of The Mack, Mark Morrison
9. How Do I Live, LeAnn Rimes
10. Wannabe, Spice Girls (you know you liked it too, no laughing!)
11. Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Backstreet Boys
12. MMMBop, Hanson
13. For You I Will, Monica
14. You Make Me Wanna..., Usher
15. Bitch, Meredith Brooks
16. Nobody Keith Sweat
17. Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind (aside from the fact that the lead singer was totally plastered by the end of the concert, they are one of the best bands I've seen live!)
18. Barely Breathing, Duncan Sheik
19. Hard To Say I'm Sorry, Az Yet Featuring Peter Cetera
20. Mo Money Mo Problems, Notorious B.I.G.
21. The Freshmen, Verve Pipe
22. I Want You, Savage Garden
23. No Diggity, BLACKstreet Featuring Dr. Dre (can I love and hate the same song? I really did love it before Kara ruined it during Pom practice!)
24. I Belong To You (Every Time I See Your Face), Rome
25. Hypnotize, Notorious B.I.G.
26. Every Time I Close My Eyes, Babyface
27. In My Bed, Dru Hill
28. Say You'll Be There, Spice Girls
29. Do You Know (What It Takes), Robyn
30. 4 Seasons Of Loneliness, Boyz II Men
31. G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T., Changing Faces
32. Honey, Mariah Carey
33. I Believe In You And Me, Whitney Houston
34. Da' Dip, Freaknasty
35. 2 Become 1, Spice Girls
36. All For You, Sister Hazel
37. Cupid, 112
38. Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?, Paula Cole
39. Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin
40. It's Your Love, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
41. Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit, Gina G
42. Mouth, Merril Bainbridge
43. All Cried Out, Allure Featuring 112
44. I'm Still In Love With You, New Edition
45. Invisible Man, 98 Degrees
46. Not Tonight, Lil' Kim
47. Look Into My Eyes, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
48. Get It Together, 702
49. All By Myself, Celine Dion
50. It's All Coming Back To Me Now, Celine Dion
51. My Love Is The Shhh!, Somethin' For The People
52. Where Do You Go, No Mercy
53. I Finally Found Someon, Barbra Streisand and Bryan Adams
54. I'll Be, Foxy Brown Featuring Jay-Z
55. If It Makes You Happy , Sheryl Crow
56. Never Make A Promise, Dru Hill
57. When You Love A Woman, Journey
58. Up Jumps Da Boogie, Magoo And Timbaland
59. I Don't Want To/I Love Me Some Him, Toni Braxton
60. Everyday Is A Winding Road, Sheryl Crow
61. Cold Rock A Party, Mc Lyte
62. Pony, Ginuwine
63. Building A Mystery, Sarah McLachlan
64. I Love You Always Forever, Donna Lewis
65. Your Woman, White Town
66. C U When U Get There, Coolio
67. Change The World, Eric Clapton
68. My Baby Daddy, B-Rock and The Bizz
69. Tubthumping, Chumbawamba
70. Gotham City, R. Kelly
71. Last Night, Az Yet
72. ESPN Presents The Jock Jam, Various Artists (can't even tell you how many Jock Jams songs we choreographed to!)
73. Big Daddy, Heavy D
74. What About Us, Total
75. Smile, Scarface
76. What's On Tonight, Montell Jordan
77. Secret Garden, Bruce Springsteen
78. The One I Gave My Heart, w Aaliyah
79. Fly Like An Eagle, Seal
80. No Time, Lil' Kim
81. Naked Eye, Luscious Jackson
82. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), Los Del Rio
83. On and On, Erykah Badu
84. Don't Wanna Be A Player, Joe
85. I Shot The Sheriff, Warren G
86. You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste Your Time), Brian McKnight Featuring Mase
87. Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Madonna
88. Someone, SWV
89. Go The Distance, Michael Bolton
90. One More Time, Real McCoy
91. Butta Love, Next
92. Coco Jamboo, Mr. President
93. Twisted, Keith Sweat
94. Barbie Girl, Aqua (yikes! i hated watching my little cousin dance to this!)
95. When You're Gone/Free To Decide, Cranberries
96. Let Me Clear My Throat, DJ Kool
97. I Like It, Blackout Allstars
98. You're Makin' Me High/Let It Flow, Toni Braxton
99. You Must Love Me, Madonna
100. Let It Go, Ray J

Well that was kind of a fun stroll down memory lane! Weird how certain songs definitely connect you to events in the past! Also weird that like half this list I have never heard of. And where is 2Pac's California Love?! That was totally big and would win hands down favorite if it were on here. . . .

If you snag this for your blog, let me know so I can come check it out!

Like a Chicken Without a Head

2008-09-15T19:55:00.002-04:00

I was out of town for work, home for a night, then up to NYC for a wedding. I have slept in 5 different hotel rooms since Sunday- only two nights in my own bed. I am home, but not for long before I head out of town again and have yet another hotel stay. Work continues to be out of control.

On the plus side, I'm going to see Flogging Molly again in concert Thursday night. I got an email with a delivery date for my wedding dress, too.

Some knitting is progressing, I'll share when things settle down. . . . which is hopefully soon!

To my PRGE spoiler - I got the contest email and I'll do my best to get to it by the deadline!

I need a Hug

2008-09-09T20:41:00.002-04:00

Today officially qualifies as the most stressful and annoying and least productive days of my professional career - and this is saying a lot, considering some of the ridiculousness that has happened throughout my 7 years here. How is it possible that EVERY product I support has been damaged, delayed or otherwise fouled up in the course of one week. I cannot take any more of being yelled at by unhappy customers.

AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Partial FO Parade

2008-09-02T15:36:00.003-04:00

Well, I only have some photos, but if I keep waiting I'll never get anything posted! So, some of the projects I finished while in New York. Like I said, it rained every day we were there, so I spent a lot of time on the couch knitting!

3 more squares for the Malabrigo Swap Blankets:

Caramel Cable hat for Jake's dad:

I really loved the construction of the hat - decreasing in the Cables was so clever! I didn't love that I had to pick up and knit further on the bottom to make it cover the ears fully, but I like it in the end. I'll try and get Jake to put it on for a modeled shot, but the blocking version will have to do for now!

My Baltimore socks are done, too! The proportion in the picture here looks odd, but they are, in fact, normal sized :)
I think the yarn and pattern worked together really nicely!
I am most proud of my made up decreases. The foot fit nicely on 80 stitches (gauge was 9.5 spi) but was too big up the leg, so I omitted two pattern repeats. I think it looks like it was supposed to flow in the pattern this way. If I were a teacher, I'd give myself a gold star for cleverness!
Not a FO, but my most recently cast on are the August Woolgirl Sock Club installment. The yarn is Madelinetosh Sock. The sock is knit flat after the toe, then is made into a tube by knitting a strip on the stitches held on waste and joining to the selvedge edge. Pretty nifty! It's going really quick since it's all stockinette. As seems to be the theme with the sock club thus far, the color isn't one I'd choose on my own, but it's nice so far! Knitting flat really breaks up any pooling that might otherwise happen (and I did see it in someone else's project who used the yarn for Thuja's rather than the club patterns.)

Of course, the most exciting thing finished is Maude, buttons on, blocked and everything! That has to wait for Jake's photo assistance though.

The reason Jake couldn't help me this weekend with pictures? Oh, I wish I had photos of the mini-Monster Truck Rally in the yard! We used to have a big bush between our driveway and the neighbor wanted it gone because it got too big. He had been chopping branches off here and there, but Jake decided to pull it out. . . using his truck. His exact words were 'I don't expect much resistance from the bush'. Boy was he wrong! It took him and his buddy HOURS to get it out and the bush beat the truck in most attempts to yank it with a chain. It greatly amused the elderly man across the street to see tires spinning and the truck pulling back after the chain tensed and the bush didn't budge! I'm pretty sure the whole thing will cost a new set of tires on the truck, but I guess sometimes you are supposed to use a truck like a truck! Now our neighbor is going to buy a new small bush to put in as a replacement since Jake did all the hard work of getting it out. I guess this makes us officially southern!

What did YOU do on your long weekend?

Something Blue?

2008-08-30T15:52:00.003-04:00

So I picked my dress, but to order it I need shoes (it is made to length since you can't hem the lace). I despise most 'bridal' shoes because they are a) low heeled, b) dyeables and c) boring. I don't want matchy-matchy shoes and Jake even weighed in that he thought dress-colored shoes would be lame.

Shopping today I found these:

I love them, but they are pretty dramatic and will DEFINITELY be noticeable.

Even though a friend already gave me a 'something blue' (yes, even though the entire wedding is non-traditional, I'm wicked superstitious, so I'll be doing the old/new/borrowed/blue thing AND wearing a penny in my shoe!), I'd tell most people that is why I'm wearing the shoes (easier than "I really just didn't want ivory ones!).

So, really, honestly & truly, what do you think? Too much or can I pull it off?

After a photo session with Jake tomorrow, I have not 1, not 2, not 3 but 7 FOs weaved/blocked totally DONE to show off!

Rain, rain. . .

2008-08-29T07:23:00.000-04:00

Go away. . . or come, but please stop with this 'maybe it's gonna rain so it's cloudy and gloomy all day' crap!

It hasn't rained in like a month, but leave it to me to summon it forth by shelling out $30 Sunday to get both Jake and my cars washed. But while a mere 60 miles west they got scads of rain (4+ inches!) we've mostly just been spit on. Really, we could use the rain, so I'm not trying to be a whiner, but I'm tired of no sunshine! Rain and get it over with already!

Needless to say, this weather is still not lending to photography, so none of my projects to share yet. Instead, I'll show you a 'to come', based on a this email exchange yesterday.

12:04:41PM Jake: 'I need a cardigan sweater please'

12:22:20PM Carly: 'Why is that, Mr Rogers?'

12:25:01PM Jake: 'Because it is freezing cold in this building'

12:28:15PM Carly: 'Well, by the time I finish one the heat will probably be on at work.'
(he he, that could even be optimistic, it could be NEXT summer!)

12:40:14PM Carly: 'Something like this?' (photo taken from Knitpicks here.)

12:58:00PM Jake: ' I like it. Go.'

So, this will be OTN soon. As soon as I pick a yarn, that is. It's shown in mainline, but I'm not so fond of a nonmachine washable cotton blend (as I am the laundry doer!). Swish would work, but I think 100% wool might be too hot. I like the idea of a wool/cotton blend, so I'll be checking out WEBS and Elann to see what might pop out at me. Of course Jake says it has to be 'not too scratchy' :) Anyone have a suggestion?

I have to say I'm actually looking forward to it. I always need something I can knit without thinking about OTN and I haven't had anything simple since I finished Picovoli.

Wedding things are starting to come together nicely. The location is set. Plane tickets are purchased. I've talked to several choices for photographer, florist (why are flowers so expensive?!), dinner locale and hotel. FSIL is working on making our invitations (seriously, isn't that cool of her? I'm stoked for hand made invites!) I'm not having great luck finding an officiant, but thanks to Ravelry I learned that Unitarian Universalist Ministers will typically perform ceremonies for folks who aren't in their congregation and there is one in Napa, so that might work. I'm going this afternoon to try on the dress again with Jen for a 2nd opinion. I need to find shoes, and Jake needs to start talking to tailors about making his suit, but all in all I'd say I'm more comfortable with it being just 7 months away! (I know it sounds like a long time, but it's not really!) I'm getting excited for my shower, too! It's crazy early to avoid having to drive in snow back to Michigan, so it is October 18!

The weatherman says it is supposed to be sunny again Monday, so hopefully I can share what I've been knitting and finishing recently!

New round of PRGE!

2008-08-26T21:42:00.002-04:00

So, as I am hopelessly addicted to swaps, I signed up for the next round of PRGE. If you are not my partner, feel free to ignore this post, as it is my questionnaire :)

1. Why did you join PRGE? I love this group!
1.a. Have you done other swaps? Yup, many, check out my posts with 'swap' Are you doing other swaps right now? I may do the next Malabrigo Swap on Ravelry, but nothing else planned.

2. What are your five favorite things? (these don't have to be knit related)
cooking a nice dinner together with Jake, watching the dogs play and run around the house, tap dance, tuna & avocado maki, spending time with my newly planted flowers in the morning (deadheading, watering, etc. . I find it surprisingly relaxing!)

2.a. Do these things allow any hints into your personality for your punk pal? I guess they must, but not something I could necessarily articulate :)

3. What are your three favorite things that you have made with knitting/crochet?
I adore Maude, even though she isn't finished (just needs buttons, so realistically I could wear it now if I wanted).
The Summerlin Dress I made for Addi.
Anna's Endpaper Mitts

3.a. What do you tend to make with knit/crochet?
I make a lot of socks, though oddly I do not wear socks as much as I can help it. Whenever possible I wear flip flops or sandals or go barefoot!
Due to my slow knitting, I tend to only make small projects for gifts, but I like making tops for me!

3.b. What do you hope to make (or complete that you have started) someday?
I'd like to get around to making a real shawl for myself soon! Most recently I fell in love with this one.

4. What five things would you love to see in a swap box someday? Why? A skein of STR from the Raven series, these stitch markers, something unique to where my spoiler lives, something made by my spoiler just for me!, something totally unexpected (like a million dollars!).

4.a. What do you hope to never see in a swap box again (or ever)? I guess really only something like OBVIOUSLY used. I heard of someone who got a skein of yarn half rewound around the original ball from use AND stained with chocolate! Otherwise, I appreciate the thought that goes into these type of things and even if something ends up not being my cup of tea, I can share with someone it is!

5. What are your three favorite yarns?
I just recently got to knit with Socks That Rock and I'm addicted! It's hard to get out here on the East Coast, though.
I love Malabrigo (worsted, lace and silky merino - not so much anything thicker).
Berroco Ultra Alpaca rounds out the top 3 :)

What are your three least favorite yarns?
KnitPicks Essential (or anything else that splitty - like the Mama Llama bamboo I'm using right now!)
I don't have much use for 100% acrylics.
I've not had good experiences with Lorna's Laces sock yarns.

5.a. Do you like solid, self-striping, or multi-colored yarns? For socks, I like all of the above. For anything else, I lean toward solids and semi-solids most often.

5.b. What are your favorite colors? What are your favorite colors to knit with?
Greens and Reds are my favorites, though I really do love nearly all colors. I prefer more heavily saturated colors than pale ones. I think I've knit with every color under the rainbow, so no particular favorites to knit with.

6. What are your five favorite delicacies? made from scratch brownies (with chocolate, not cocoa powder!), splurging on a pair of killer heels, a bottle of Veuve 'just because' and not for celebrating a special occasion, really thick, really rich cheesecake topped with raspberries, a Tangueray gimlet made by a bartender who knows how to make it right! (not too much Rose's Lime!)

6.a. What yarn do you hope to one day try and why?
I guess I'd have to say Woolmeise, but I am not the type who will stalk the Loopy Ewe to try to buy it, so I'll have to wait years for the buzz to die down.

7. What are your three favorite guilty pleasures?
Daytime Soap Operas (General Hospital), eating the batter from aforementioned made from scratch brownies, buying great shoes without owning a thing to wear them with

7.a. What are your favorite tv or movie charactors?
Hmm, I really like Goren on Law & Order Criminal Intent, but I'm not sure I'd say I have any 'favorites'

8. What are the five things you look forward to every week? the weekend!, waking up early on Saturday (I love having a productive day!), Sunday night FOX TV, planning out what I want to cook during the week, going out for cocktails

8.a. What do you do during your week (ie - work, take care of three kids, race walk)? work, go to the gym, try to remember to feed the dogs dinner before 9pm, attempt to keep the hamper from overflowing and other random house stuff, knit while watching TV, go to bed by 10pm :)

9. What do you collect?
dust bunnies & dirty dishes - me + housework = not the best of friends
9.a. What collects you? Really, I try not to have much in the way of tchotchkies or other nonessential 'stuff' because my house is cluttered enough! I do love cookbooks, though :)

10. When is your birthday? November 1
10.a. What is your favorite holiday and why? My birthday. I am an only child, so now that I'm grown up it's the one day where I can get away with everything being about ME! (OK, OK, I make it like the whole WEEK about me!)

11. Do you have any wishlists? One on amazon, but I don't really keep it current and it is flooded with like every knitting book I don't have, so not so much useful.

11.a. Do you have a "favorites" collection anywhere that your pal should know about? Etsy faves are here. Some are sold, but many are things that get relisted. Those that don't give you some idea of my preferences, anyway.

12. Do you have any allergies or health related conditions that your pal should know about? nope
12.a. What drives you nuts?
oye. . too many things to list, but primarily people who drive like a**es (realize that is relative. . for me, it is driving slow in the left lane, swerving due to texting or fumbling for a bag to find cell phone. . things of that nature!)

13. What do you do for work and what do you do for fun?
I work for the 'man' i.e. a Fourtune 20 Company as a Program Manager
For fun I knit (duh!), dance, play with my puppies and sometimes go to concerts.

13.a. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Less about worrying I would fail, more about worrying if I could make a comfortable living, if salary wasn't an issue, I'd do something in community outreach or with animal rescue.

14. What would you like your pal to know that is not covered here? I am getting married in April and am trying to plan my wedding. I am petrified that we will show up and it will be a rat infested awful place! (I'm planning a wedding 3000 miles away where we have never visited!) It keeps me up at nights! Also, in my packages, I love when there is something I can share with Jake and/or my pooches - we have 2 dogs, Zosia & Jimmy Ray.

14.a. Are you excited for the contests or will you just pretend that they do not exist? Contests are fun! I've had good contest karma recently, too :)

My previous PRGE round questionnaires are here and here.

What I Knit on my Summer Vacation

2008-08-26T06:38:00.001-04:00

Oh, I was all set to tell you all about the many things I actually finished in New York, but the weather is crappy and overcast and not photo-friendly, so it will have to wait.

In other news, I'm 99.9% certain I've chosen a new wedding gown. What do you think?

Software Engineer, Anyone?

2008-08-22T09:23:00.002-04:00

So, anyone out there a Software Engineer and in or willing to move to the White Plains, NY area and looking for a job? For months I've been getting emails about 7 openings with my company. Of course, there is a recruiting bonus for me :) If you're interested, leave me a comment with a way to contact you and I'll send you the details!

Enabling

2008-08-20T09:08:00.003-04:00

First, the new edition of The Inside Loop is up! This is the great UK publication that gave us Maude (ahem. . . that is nicely still waiting for buttons to be sewn on. . . ahem) I really like both this cardigan and these socks!

Second, I heard about this new yarn club The Color Co-op. I'm torn about signing up. I like the idea of multiple dyers (which is the thing I like about the Woolgirl club, you get a taste of different people!) but rather than one dyer each shipment, ALL of the dyers dye each month and so you will get one of six options each month. You will get one shipment from each dyer in the 6 months. I'm a little worried that my inner 6 year old can't handle it. I mean, that is a LOT of opportunity for pouting that you didn't get the yarn you like best! At least if a yarn you get in a regular club is not your taste, you just chalk it up to a club, but when you can see 5 others. . .. I may have to pass and sit out, though it seems like a great list of dyers.

If anyone decides to sign up, let me know!

Q is for Quinoa

2008-08-19T10:51:00.001-04:00

Seriously, what else can I come up with for a Q?!

This is the Quinoa that is in my pantry.

In my opinion, this is the most useless and tastless grain know to man! It was purchased for a blackbean tart recipie in one of my Mark Bittman cookbooks (I highly recommend him!). The filling was delicious, the quinoa crust, ICK!

Of course, I am too cheap to throw it away and I figure there MUST be something edible I can do with it, I just haven't found it yet. If anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it!

And, with that, I'm ABCaught up! Yay!

P is for Puppies!

2008-08-19T10:40:00.002-04:00

Come on, What else could P be for me (except maybe Pooches or Pains in the butt?).

They were lying together super cute, then Jimmy Ray saw the camera and tried to run, so solo shots it is

Zosia

and the ever elusive Jimmy Ray (trying to take refuge behind a baby Azalea bush!)

O is for Oops!

2008-08-19T10:15:00.001-04:00

Well, really this could be 'Oops, I totally got behind in the ABC-along'. While this is true, I have a real Oops to show in photo.

That nice dent in my downspout is courtesy of one of my apparently more frequent moments of total obliviousness. We have lived in this house for 22 months. I have parked in the same spot since we moved in (Jake claimed the 'better' spot in the drive since he actually takes his car out regularly.) Never before did I have a problem with depth perception (that seems like a better excuse than I just am a total ditz sometimes!), but two weeks ago, I hit my house.

I suppose hitting a downspout is better than hitting brick. . . or the garage door, but now I have a constant reminder and a constant thing for Jake to poke fun at me about. He was able to pop it out somewhat, so it's not as bad as it was when I did it.

The worst part, I totally WAS paying attention and just, for some unknown reason, kept inching forward until I felt the bump!

Phew!

2008-08-18T18:54:00.000-04:00

Even though the day totally sucked, I am SO thankful I did not get chosen for jury duty! This is the trial I would have had to sit on - ummm, no thank you! I was nervous I was going to be picked, because at least half the people summoned had read the front page newspaper story this morning (note to self. . . buy paper if I have to go again!) but thankfully as they finally selected the jury they called the person three to my left and two to my right and I was dismissed. I still have 9 days of my jury duty term and apparently the Court has a full docket so there is a chance I will have to report again. . .let's hope not! If I do, at least I will be better prepared, as I made the horrific mistake of running out of yarn on my knitting project! I was working on the 2nd Baltimore sock and I didn't think there'd be so much down time (we were there for 8 hours before they selected the jury with only one potty break!) and since I started with the leftovers from sock one, I didn't think about grabbing the 2nd ball when I left this AM. Instead I had a LOT of staring at the wall time after I finished what I could.

Yarn Goodness!

2008-08-15T08:50:00.000-04:00

Random fact about me - I LOVE mail. I don't care what it is (so long as it's real mail - junk mail and credit card offers don't count), I stalk the mail man just about every day. I even enjoy getting bills. . . anything to open. So, for me, one of my favorite parts of vacation is the big 'held mail' delivery that happens the day after we get home. Yup - I'm weird!!

Yesterday was no disappointment when the mailman pulled up. I got TWO packages in the mail with yarn treats for me! I was expecting my latest Woolgirl Sock Club package but it wasn't there (shipped yesterday, so I have to be patient!). Instead, I got my prize from the last blog contest I won and a Swap bot swap.

First, gorgeous Vesper Sock Yarn from Knitterly Things in SerenDipitous colorway. Not a color I'd typically pick, but I think it will knit up lovely and I get a kick out of self striping colors, so I'll have fun with it.

Second, for the Green Yarn swap, Carrie sent me an awesome package. For the color yarn swaps, the only requirement is the yarn, so she really went above and beyond. The yarn is Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Greenlake. The cute sheepie bag is from an Etsy seller here :) The stitch markers are really pretty and very nice that they have varying ring sizes. Jake has apparently hit his limit of stitch markers, though, as when I showed him he said 'So, uh, just how many of those things do you need?' :)

I have a bunch of knitting to show from the trip to NY, but that will have to wait for another post this weekend.

The only downside to my trip is that I am back to square one with wedding dress shopping :( I stopped Wednesday at the store in Richmond to be measured and order the dress and she happened to have another dress by the designer in the mocha/ivory combination (I was ready to order sight unseen). OMG! It was so NOT what I wanted. It was a very grey based mocha, not a nice warm one like I thought, so it almost made the ivory lace take on a blueish hue. So, I'm shopping again. I'm so over trying them on, I just want to find one!!