blarg!

9 - 21 - 08

2008-09-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

I've finally moved into a place after months of searching, putting myself out there, getting frustrated, let down, and sometimes even taking it personally. My new housemates are nice and sane, as far as I can tell. Except for the cat who is afraid of almost everything and everyone. I am telling myself I made a good decision moving in by focusing on the fact that there is an enormous amount of potential in the space itself. And I like the neighborhood. Within range of Article Pract, Knit-one-one, Berkeley Bowl, and many other things I haven't checked out yet but am very much looking forward to.
I am also not sleeping on anyone's couch, trying to remember where my stuff is, or spending $7 a day on Bart fare.

The other (almost even more) exciting news is that I won five ribbons at the Lake County Fair! 2 blue and 1 red for knit items and 1 white for crochet (my first real crochet project ever, I might add) and a white ribbon for the shoes I made in May at Peters Valley. Here are some pics my mom went and took:

The red sweater and the red lace shawl were my blue ribbon items. The sweater was my own adaptation of 28 thirty. By that I mean I started it at the top using the pattern but I didn't get gauge with the yarn and needle size I wanted to use so I made it up for the rest of the way down, adding length and waist shaping. I used Cascade 220 Quattro. The shawl is the Diamond Fantasy by Sivia Harding. I did the smaller version using Shaefer Anne.

Another shot of the sweater.

Giant granny square with white ribbon.

Cheese on a stick stand.

Mystery fowl.

Best in show by Sue Wilson!

I guess I'll be able to get back to knitting. I haven't been doing much, partly because I've been living like a transient with most of my stuff 140 miles away, and partly because my creative projects have been more jewelry oriented lately.

Oh yeah! The same day I found out about the new house and the ribbons I went to a Vietnamese fusion restaurant on 3rd and Folsom called Bong Su and had one of the best meals ever. By best ever I mean I was very close to tears through most of the evening. The fact that I was dining with 2 of my oldest and dearest friends and their families (for the first time in AGES) made the whole experience even more wonderful. It was May Ying's birthday and the manager there is a family friend of hers from infancy who gave us the royal treatment - down to selecting all of our dishes based on a couple of vague requests and doing wine pairings for each course. It made us forget our meal that we had two nights earlier at the Chez Panisse cafe.

One year!

2008-07-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Bastille Day again, which means this blog is one year old! I'll celebrate by posting some of those pictures I promised.

On May 3, I took a chartered bus from midtown Manhattan to West Friendship, Maryland for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It was gigantic. I highly recommend this event to anyone into this sort of thing. The landscape was so breathtakingly beautiful that I wept as our bus was pulling up to the fairground. Really.

herding dog demonstration

Just a few of the many cute animals.

Ravelry meetup. The pink bandana in the foreground is tied around the head of Pam a.k.a lickmysticks - Bad ass webring master.

Sleeve I made on the bus ride home.

I stayed in NYC for about a week and a half.

Dana on Williamsburg Bridge.

Me on same bridge.

Garage sale. Dana said "dude, those look so good you have to buy them". So I did. I think I look just like Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Green tea Kit Kat from Japan

Carl Hiaasen at Barnes and Noble Union Square.

Dinner at Les Halles Park Avenue with Alex.

Alex and her daughter Maven. Aren't they precious?

A french fry place I should have eaten at on 2nd Avenue.

Beverly Road subway station in Brooklyn.

A mural in Williamsburg illustrating the dangers of smoking.

Junk yard of cab parts behind Dana's.

I got most of the yarn for this Inga Hat at a store called Knit New York on E 14th Street and 2nd Avenue. The blue and the green are some Auracania handpaint stuff they had on sale. The red stripe is a Malabrigo that I got in Philadelphia at Sophie's Yarns on fabric row. I went to two other yarn shops in New York. One was The Point. The other, and my favorite by far, was Purl Soho. It had the nicest selection, best light, and friendliest staff.

I spent about five days in Philadelphia. Ori and I spent the first (incredibly rainy) day at the Franklin Institute. We saw an Imax movie about the space station. Unfortunately it was narrated by Tom Cruise. We also went to the Planetarium.

Here I am on the Sky Bike. Wheee!

One of those cemetaries that's so old that the headstones are worn away.

Something Ori found in a dumpster and hung on his wall. His Philly friends think he's a dork for hanging it up. I think it's cool.

Trying to sneak up on Shani and Barrett. Another precious pair. My old friends are making beautiful kids.

Some really nice shears I got on fabric row for my shoe class at Peters Valley.

Shoe class.

The necklace I made for Dana to thank her for letting me stay at her house for a week.

For the record, this post took 3 hours. Happy Birthday Lydia Wrench and Rik Giannola (again!)

July 11

2008-07-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

The fact that I haven't been posting on here with any regularity has been bugging me, but I haven't had a streaming internal monologue worth writing down. It has just been mostly snippets lately, which I forget soon after they come to me or I find scribbled on bits of paper in the bottom of my bag. A great deal of my time lately has been spent on a frustrating search for a room for rent in either Berkeley or Oakland. It's a really annoying thing to try to do from 140 miles away so I keep going back and forth between there and Kelseyville. I am so tired of sending out emails that all say different versions of the exact same thing to get responses from maybe one in seven. Every time I check my email I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall.

Some things that I've found enjoyable lately are:

My recent crochet project which is a gigantic (over 5' x 5' so far) granny square of a zillion colors. It's beautiful. I will post many photos when it's done (yeah , I know, I said that about my vacation too. pppppbbbbtht!)

Going to the library.

Going with my friend Scotty to quad rugby (a.k.a. murderball).

The farmer's market by the Ferry Building.

Crisp, foggy breezes.

Happy birthday Donovan Drummond! And Elias Welsh (I think) and Garrett Buss (tomorrow).

And congratulations Josh! I hope to meet little Sequoia Holly Boyer some day and that her tiny hat fits her still by the time she gets it.

My dear friend Kelly's beautiful wife Andrea died on July 5. She had inflammatory breast cancer. She was 37. I got to meet her on my recent visit to Philadelphia. She was warm and radiant and lovely and an incredible mother of six. I felt honored to be welcomed into her home, and I wish I could have spent more time with her. She and her family have a blog here.

Happy birthday

2008-06-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

George!
And Angela Biondilillo, wherever you are.
And Matt Sciacca. Sorry.

Some things I like in NY (a very incomplete list)

2008-06-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to pretend it didn't take me forever to post this...

1. Looking at everyone's shoes.
2. Trying to figure out what languages people are speaking.
3. Making up stories in my head about the people I see on the subway. It's especially interesting when I get to look over their shoulder at what they're writing in their journal or the notations they're making on a court transcript.
4. Certain things are still really cheap, like hot dogs, Indian food, umbrellas, sunglasses, books.
5. I can usually run into my friend Christine there, maybe even at a cool gallery show with her stuff in it.
6. Strand Bookstore.
7. People in NY are generally nicer to strangers than they are in SF.
8. There are some amazing musicians playing on subway platforms.
9. Veniero's pastry shop.
10. My favorite jewelry store, C'est Magnifique
11. Things I overhear, such as "Rae? Do you want chopped liver on a cinnamon-raisin bagel?" and a guy telling someone on his cell phone about how waiting in line at the post office is "always a Kafka-esque experience". (He said this because someone was selecting postage stamps based on the pictures on them.)
12. The Empire State Building.
13. Purl Soho.
14. Whenever I visit, there are at least 3 or 4 other people I know from somewhere else doing so as well.
15. There are fewer sketchy motherfuckers there than in San Francisco. And the streets are cleaner. Really.

Here's a little movie Dana shot of me (kind of by accident) on the train. I would like to rotate it 90 degrees clockwise. And turn it into a gif that's a continuous loop cause it's only a few seconds long.

I've been rather prolific as far as knitting and other crafts lately so my next post should have some pictures of those things.

Almost time

2008-05-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

for another post. It will be long and contain pictures of New York, Maryland, Philadelphia, and maybe New Jersey. And two new knit projects and the shoes I made over the weekend! I fly back to SF on May 21. And I actually get a ride all the way home after that so once I step off that bart train it'll be no more public transit! No ferry to Vallejo followed by long ass bus ride to Calistoga! No 3 hour bus to Santa Rosa followed by hour long short bus to Hopland! It will be such a relief not to haul around a bag or worry about stepping in a puddles (it sucks to travel in wet shoes). Some day I will travel in luxury.

Yes I'm still here

2008-04-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I've posted that I don't know how to get back into this, other than by sharing some nice, meaty, random, factoids about myself:

1. I own a vest that once belonged to James Hetfield from Metallica and a pair of pants once owned by Topper Headon, former drummer of the Clash. I have worn both garments numerous times and they are tiny. I'm guessing James never wore the vest [care to comment, Dana?] because it looks like it could barely fit his head. It appears to have been a gift from fans. The magic marker scrawl on the back, now barely discernable, read "To James from the German bangers!" Apparently Topper wore the pants when he had a huge drug habit around the time London Calling came out. (and I'm sure I'll never fit into them again. If you ever see me wearing them, an intervention is definitely in order. They are black denim with some kind of black rubberized reptile print and some rhinestones that make it uncomfortable to sit down) This is a photo of the person who gave them to me, taken by Helmut Newton.

JASSARA, Rue Aubriot, Paris, 1977

2. I have smoked cigarettes since I was in junior high school, but never enough to where I thought I needed to quit. Never first thing in the morning, never a pack a day. If I can smell a burnt butt I can't sleep, and I am repulsed by the smell of it on my clothing. I recently had the same pack for two months before finally throwing it away because the remaining few were completely stale.

3. I have been called beautiful, but am dismally unphotogenic at least 80% of the time.

4. I can't stand raisins, bananas, yogurt, cilantro, blueberries or shellfish of any kind.

5. I have tattooed at least 50 people including myself, all by hand (no machine).

6. I was very uncomfortable around dogs when I was a child. The ones I knew were either terrifying or crusty.

7. On April fool's day 10 years ago I shaved my head and was disappointed to discover that it isn't perfectly round. Ha ha.

8. I have four unfinished sweaters that I stopped knitting after completing the body and one half of one sleeve. I'm working on a fifth.

9. There are 1,000 origami cranes hanging from the ceiling in my bedroom.

10. I was on my school gymnastics team in 6th grade (1980). Our mascot was the penguin, and our ill-fitting uniforms were blue and green. The mascot has since been changed to the Titans or something macho like that.

Here are some pictures from my recent visit to SF. I finally finished Jeffrey Boyce's second sweater after months of cajoling. It was a huge pain in the butt because I was using something machine made with serged edges as a model. The round arm holes were the biggest challenge. I am also a little irked by Jeffrey's dad's interest in pimping my knitting services to his friends. He swears I could make "so much money". Hah.

Ocean Beach now has a whole section with really pretty sparkly black sand that smells kind of like petroleum. Dennis swears it's always been there but I don't believe him. He says it couldn't possibly be from the (56,000 gallon!) oil spill because "they" would never let people on the beach if that were the case. Anyway, this is my attempt at capturing it on film. I have absolutely no idea how to photograph anything black in daylight with a digital camera. I am not a fan of the damn things anyway (digital cameras, not black things). I'm convinced that they are why I look like crap in pictures now.

I got to stop by the only place I know of to buy my favorite preserved mandarin peel snacks. It's on Noriega and 22nd Avenue. The one in the black foil pack is the good one. The other things I decided to try, and they are not good.

This is the stump of the big tree they cut down on Sanchez Street, right outside my friend's house

I finally finished my first toe-up sock. I wonder how many months it will be before I have a pair.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of Lisa Anne Auerbach - my very first Ravelry friend to have met in person. She was cool. I'd like to meet her again.

#@$*%&!

2008-02-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

If the finishing of a project takes longer than the knitting does, it is only acceptable if it's insanely cute. Case in point: these

are totally redonk. Does a baby (who is not born prematurely) ever have a foot this small? I sure hope so because what a pain in the ass.

Gung hay fat choy!

2008-02-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

Today is Chinese new year, or the first day of the lunar year 4705. It is a year of the rat, which I believe is the first animal in the Chinese Zodiac. "Gung hay fat choy" does not actually mean "happy new year" in Chinese, but something more along the lines of "congratulations on your upcoming prosperity". The parade in San Francisco is on Saturday evening, February 23. It will be exciting and really loud. Too bad I won't be in town.

Today is also the birthday of Eddie Izzard! Eddie Izzard! Eddie Izzard! Ahem, sorry... And Chris Rock, and my dear old friends Jon Biller and Chris Whitney.

Apparently it's also International Men's Day (whatever that is) in Malta

before

2008-01-25T18:41:00.000-08:00

I have no camera to take pictures of anything new with at the moment. I guess this is the perfect time to post all these old pictures that I love. See, before I figured out that I could knit, one of my outlets usually involved paint markers and an agreeable surface. Another was compiling lists. This particular project had both! It was a squishy (and icky) rubber skull, yellowing and cracking in areas the way an old rubber band does. I was at a friend's house and asked if they had something I could draw on and this was what I got. The list is the names of all the states in the U.S. that have a town called Springfield - for my friend with a Simpsons obsession. I think the pictures turned out really well... Enjoy!

bacon

2008-01-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know how I never knew about this bacon wrap until now, given how much time I spend looking at fiber related blogs and what not. After looking at it my brain went GZZZT! and smoke started coming out. Words can't really describe how I feel about this, uh, garment. Let's just say that if I ever make it to Los Angeles I may just track down this Lady Linoleum and be her new best friend. I could even get over her using the phrase "for all intensive purposes". Ha ha.

Birthday bits and such

2008-01-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Just showing some new (birthday) yarn.

Ginger got me this hand dyed 50/50 merino/silk at Article Pract. It's actually more of a plummy color but the camera was sucking at the moment. Yay thanks, Ginger!

This is some Socks that Rock in "Socktopus" and "Count Cluckula". I don't remember what the name is of the tied dyed mess looking one in the middle. It's from a company I'd never seen before. They are laying on a bed of Misti Baby Alpaca Chunky.

I don't really know what else to write about because I've just been watching too much TV while house-sitting. Some things I can tell you are:

- Most commercials are worse than my worst nightmares, especially ones advertising weight loss programs and ones with "cute" children and acoustic guitar music.

- Ray Johnson and Chuck Close are both incredible artists and there's some new channel called Ovation that showed films about them both.

- I quite like Morgan Freeman but I think I'd rather get oral surgery than watch Jack Nicholson play his predictable self in the new sappy movie "The Bucket List". I also hate that title.

- Tony Sinclair is a putz.

Holy shit I almost forgot! Someone nominated my Noro striped afghan for a Bobby! It's for the "most colorful project" category. If you'd like to vote for me go to http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/the-bobbys/73503/1-25#19 and click "agree". You will need to be logged in to Ravelry to do so.

Oh hey! Hi!

2007-12-28T14:22:00.000-08:00

It feels like it's been ages since I've posted anything here. I just haven't had it in me. Maybe this is normal for NaBloPoMo participants.

So I've made 3 trips to San Francisco within the last 5 weeks. One was sudden because one of my best friends died. She was a superhero named Lynette. Her death was untimely and accidental. It fucking sucks. I had the privilege of being by her side until she was cremated, thanks to my dear friend the mortician. I could go on about this, but I prefer not to.

I did manage to get my ass to a rock show on each trip:
- Old Grandad at the Cafe Du Nord on the night before Thanksgiving. Old friends. Super heavy. Great night. Excellent show. Exactly what I needed. Especially after I shoved the dumbass out of the way (nicely, of course) who was blocking my view and text messaging someone the entire time. These damn kids and their technology... grumble grumble...
- Hot Lunch at the Knockout. This is the new band of Aaron Nudelman, one of my old favorite neighborhood rockstars, formerly of Wig Torture, the Beach Girls, Mensclub, Sunless Day, and countless other projects. I only caught about 4 songs but it was great. I don't know where he found his bandmates, but they're well matched and he sounded just like I remember.
- Queens of the Stone Age at the Warfield. Love QOTSA. Hate the Warfield. It was the last night of about an eight month tour for them and I could tell they were a little tired, but it didn't affect their performance. Much. I'd love to see them every night because they have such a huge repertoire and I think they pull random surprises out of it on impulse, maybe even by request. I don't think they're one of these huge acts that does the same set all the time. I really just can't get enough of this band.

One of my new dog friends is Jake A.K.A. Jakie Pants, the geriatric chihuahua.

This sweet lil' dude keeps me company on the couch where I sleep at my friend's house in SF. I did my best to get a shot with no view of his huge balls and "button butt" (read slightly prolapsed rectum) because he really is super cute.

And I am still knitting.

This is a toe up sock using new techiques that I've been teaching myself. It Started as a 2-at-a-time magic loop thing, which I'd never done. Then I decided I didn't like that. I think I also prefer to use double point needles instead of circulars for most of the body. I had also never done the short row heel, and I think it's coming along nicely. I just hope I don't get so sick of this teal-brown ("Teal Party" from Claudia) colorway that I only finish one sock.

Also made these booties for Sacha, whom I still haven't met, and a bunch of hats.

I was flipping through the American Heritage dictionary yesterday (one of my absolute favorite books) and the "Ben Davis" entry caught my eye. " ?! ", I thought. Turns out it's an apple. Hmmm. Did my favorite designer of men's workwear know this? In case you're wondering, I was looking up Erasmus (1466-1536 Dutch theologian, scholar, humanist, and traveler). I was curious after seeing a movie in which some guy kept having hallucinations of him. I was also looking up the word dowdy (lacking in stylishness or neatness; shabby). And yes, if you must know, I'd been sucked into a "Project Runway" marathon. Thanks Abie!

WTF?: I decided to kill some time one evening in the shoe department of a Nordtron Rack store in SF and came across this ludicrous item:

I like Arizona green tea sometimes (especially the plum) but not in the form of some fugly high heel sneaker boot!

I almost forgot - here's a picture of one of my favorite things in Kelseyville.

It's the bubble machine from our Christmas parade of lights that we have every December. Sorry, the picture's kind of a joke. As you can see, I have not mastered the art of night time photography. I am getting a little better at photographing food. The light in our house is just so yellow. But look at that rigatoni!

Happy birthday Paige Cole!

Some things I see

2007-12-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

when I walk to "town" from my house. It takes about 40 minutes.

Yes, it's a truck that says I Love Hydrox on it. And yes, it's referring to the cookie (like an Oreo). It never moves from this spot.

And a cute goat gate.

Happy birthday, Matt Rissler!

Things I learned recently.

2007-11-30T23:03:00.000-08:00

- Nallbinding is something that looks like knitting at first glance, but is actually done with yarn threaded into a needle and it is pulled all the way through each stitch.
- The first computers were jacquard weaving looms.
- When the nation's economy is in the toilet (by that I mean everyone's broke), the lipstick business does really well.
- It is unadvisable to use powdered sugar to sweeten one's tea (or coffee) because it has corn starch in it.
- Our dog Ace panics anytime we park and sit (like at the bank or at PG&E) anywhere on Forbes Street in Lakeport. Supposedly this was where animal control had picked him up and he'd been living on the street in this area for some months.
- That NaBloPoMo thing was a silly idea. After three weeks I hated it. Could you tell?

Happy birthday Billy Anderson!

November 27

2007-11-27T23:15:00.000-08:00

I was going to put off posting until tomorrow, but this day has too much significance. It is the birthdays of Bruce Lee, Jimi Hendrix, and my boyfriend Andrew Dees. We made a special dinner of his favorite: breaded pork chops and peas.

And I baked a cake.

November 27 is the day my house at Haight and Pierce burned down in 1993. It is also the birthday of one of my neighbors at the time, Joe Curcio, whose house also burned. He and his bandmates (they had a band called Mars Bonfire) had just loaded all of their equipment into the basement the night before. The whole corner burned, taking out at least 5 buildings, displacing around 150 people. There was one human fatality. Not sure about other animals. I do know that even though Henny Penny was severely barbecued, both of our cats survived. HP made an amazing recovery, thanks to the kind people at Pets Unlimited.

November 27 is the day that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot and killed in their offices at city hall by Supervisor Dan White. I remember when it happened. I was eight years old. Dan White was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder because of something having to do with his over-consumption of sugary foods (this became known as "the Twinkie defense"). I remember Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys running for mayor after that, and one of his proposed plans was to erect statues of Dan White around town for people to throw eggs, stones, and tomatoes at. You can read more funny stuff about his mayoral candidacy here.

I hear there is a movie in production about Harvey Milk with Sean Penn in the leading role. Um, ok. If you want to see a really beautiful movie about Harvey Milk and some important San Francisco history, see the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk.

My friend Matty Luv (now deceased) wrote this great lyric and very clever rhyme:
The only lesbian in Tulsa,
Oklahoma is lonely,
She's never even kissed a girl,
She's never heard of George Moscone.
When she drives a car,
She pretends she's an astronaut
shooting through the stars,
waiting for the world to catch up.

Dan White committed suicide in his wife's garage by running the carbon monoxide from his exhaust pipe into his car with a garden hose on October 21, 1985. I remember this day as well, I was 15 years old and was hanging out at Just Desserts on Church Street with a girl named Laurel Johnson, whose birthday was that day. I may have fried a zillion brain cells, but I still remember all kinds of stuff.

2007-11-19T22:26:00.000-08:00

At midnight tonight San Francisco will be the first city in the US to have a ban on plastic grocery bags. I can tell you based on having worked in grocery stores there that people are going to flip out. I think it's cool though.

This is that thing I started on Saturday night

WTF?: I saw the scariest commercial on TV today. It was for something that I think was called a Pedi-egg. It's like a cheese grater with a container attached to the back of it that is for sanding your feet. It even showed its most special feature which is that it collects all of the dead skin shavings, and it showed someone emptying it out into a garbage can! Like tablespoons full! Fucking gross! Nobody wants to see that!

I don't feel like

2007-11-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

blogging today. My brain is tired and I'm on someone else's computer. I started this Balsam yesterday and I'd rather be working on it than sitting here typing. I guess I'm a little cranky. Oh yeah I finished all the knitting of the shetland triangle last night and it just needs to be blocked

swatch

2007-11-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

Did the swatch for the mystery knit along. I think I'll like the project, but am considering doing it on a larger scale, like for a bedspread or something.

WTF?: So today a woman and her daughter were shopping for beads in the store where I work. They're really pleasant customers and are excited about doing their craft together and it's really cute. Anyway, I was knitting and they were watching me. The little girl was curiousand I asked her if she knows how to knit. They told me that there is a knitting group at her school, but that she's not allowed to be in it because to be in it you have to have a boyfriend! This girl is seven years old! How fucked up is that? I looked at her and said "Whatever with those girls. They're giving knitters a bad name and should be ashamed of themselves". I also was wondering aloud with her mom (who of course is just as disgusted by this as I am) what happens if one of these girls are in the middle of a project and they "break up" with their "boyfriend". It's not like little kids have long relationships. The whole thing really grossed me out.

Mystery object and other knick knacks and junk

2007-11-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

The mystery object is what is called an "eye cap". It is inserted under the eyelid by a mortician to keep the eye closed. You know how in the movies when a person dies, someone (the hero, usually) will go over and close the eyes? Well it doesn't work, they just open right back up again. Apparently so does the mouth, and they make something similar for that, too. I got my eye caps from my friend Craig Featherstone who is a mortician. He has stuff like that just lying around on his coffee table.

For some reason I love Kewpie dolls. I love their hands and their sideways glance and, of course, their dimples. I have a small collection of them somewhere in my storage unit. I also have a collection of Princess Phone keychains. I can't wait til I can have my own place someday and it will be a museum of very cute useless stuff. Actually it's not totally useless in that it makes me happy to look at it.

I am reminded of a restaurant I used to eat at in SF around 1990 or so. It was called New Dawn and it was on 16th Street. On the weekends at breakfast was great because it was crowded with all the same people from the bars or the rock shows you were at the night before, many still in the same clothes. There was a refrigerated dessert case at the front counter that said "We have many knick-knacks and junk in this case". There was a section in the back where it said on the wall in magic marker "employee smokeing lounge" (this was before the smoking ban in SF restaurants). Then a few feet away it said "visit our new speling lounge". I loved that place. There was also an incredible burrito place right across the street called Chapalita that hardly anyone remembers.

P.U.

2007-11-15T23:24:00.000-08:00

The weather was beautiful here and the air felt so nice today, then I went to three places in Lakeport that all smelled horrible. First it was the animal shelter to renew Ace's licence. The dog piss was foul and heavy and a couple of times I thought I was going to hurl. Then it was K-Mart. I think it was the Little Ceasar's Pizza that stunk up the place. Then Bruno's (supermarket) deli department. This one was special because it had the visuals to go along with it. Imagine the only thing even remotely close to the olives you're looking for, with some kind of icky fruity salad-y thing with bright pink dressing spilled in it. Funny thing is, after all this, I realized that I'm not congested anymore! This is what it must be like when heavy cigarette smokers quit. I smoked for many years, and do still occasionally, but never just halted. I think that if there is a hell it will smell like old dog urine, old frying grease, an ashtray, and cheap perfume. Might as well throw some Mennen Speed Stick into the mix too.

I hope I haven't lost those of you who are reading this blog for the knitting content. Here are some nice fuzzy felted bowls. They are ideal for collecting change, keys, jewelry, marbles, cuff links, stitch markers, and other small objects. Also perfect if you like collecting junk on a surface of, say, an antique dresser with a finish that you don't want to mar. And you can use up all your zillions of little scraps.

I joined a knit along a little while back, it's a mystery shawl type thing called Sring Shawl Surprise. We just got our first swatch today. I'm almost done with it. It sounds like it's going to require extra attention -apparently there will be some pattern stitch work on the purl rows. We'll see.

Happy birthday, Mary Albanese!

Most of sweater

2007-11-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

So I've reached the point with sweater where I'm now waiting to get a hold of a 47" needle. But here's most of it. You can't tell by this picture that it's much darker (like black and almost black grey heather).

In the meantime it's a mindless linen dishcloth. I love these Colonial rosewood needles, but I think metal is more suitable for this fiber.

Some funnies from Trailer Park Boys season 1 episode 4:

-"Hey Lahey, knock knock!"
-"Who's there?"
-"Mr. Stupidyhead fuckin pissin me off right now, thinks he's the captain of the shitliner and by the way, your fishsticks suck so fuck off!"
-"Oh that's real smart, Ricky!"

-"What're you, from the department of 'know what I'm sayin'?"
J-Roc to Tyrone T

WTF?:A news item about a fly resting on Joe Biden's hair for eight minutes during a televised presidential debate? Come on.

2007-11-13T23:19:00.000-08:00

I had a frustrating day with my sweater but am back on track now. I'm working on the top part of it and was forgetting to do the neck shaping (a V to pick up and knit a shawl collar around) because, I'm ashamed to admit, I didn't read the pattern all the way through beforehand. So I felt like an idiot for a minute. People, don't make that mistake! Some may not have the patience I was able to muster today. Pictures will have to wait another day.

We just watched a movie called The Lineup on TCM. It has murders and heroin smuggling and stars Eli Wallach. I wouldn't say it was a terrific movie (maybe because I never use the word terrific). But I loved watching it because it featured one of favorite movie stars - San Francisco. We got a great tour of the city in 1958. Also caught a funny glitch in the dialogue: a guy giving the address 9020 Jackson Street and we decided that it doesn't exist. Then later they say 2090 Jackson Street which does. It's at Laguna, and the drive past Lafayette Park when they leave.

Distractions

2007-11-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

Check out this video my friend Arlene sent me a link to today. I was speechless. I guess the song is called Apache.

And if you look at Cute Overload you've probably seen this. It's worth seeing more than once.

2007-11-11T22:40:00.000-08:00

Before anything else I must say that I am so upset about the 58,000 gallon oil spill in San Francisco Bay that I am both preoccupied by it and unable to speak about it at the same time.

Happy birthday:

George Crawford
Mike Cornwall
Genifer Yoshimoto
Erica Stolz
wherever you are!

It is also the birthdays of Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathan Winters, Stanley Tucci, Leonardo DiCaprio, and queer eye guy Carson Kressley. And it's Independence Day in Poland.

The body and sleeves of the sweater are one piece now! I'll post a photo when I can actually try it on. Soon, I hope. Like probably tomorrow or Tuesday.

Can you guess

2007-11-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

what this is? A hint: it is pictured larger than actual size. It's about the size of a US quarter.

Um...

2007-11-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to blog about at the moment (there's not a hell of a lot going on around here), but since I've committed to posting every day I'll at least give you this. It's a very incomplete list of incredibly heinous cover songs. Plenty more have been recorded since I compiled it, but they're not here. I just dug it out of my basement, ok?

Love Machine Wham
Taxman Rockwell - yeah that same guy who did "Somebody's Watching Me"
1984 Tina Turner
Dancin In The Streets Mick Jagger & David Bowie - watching this video is painful, especially if you really like both of these artists
Tell It Like It Is Don Johnson - dude, why?
I Only Have Eyes For You Art Garfunkel
And Then [She] Kissed Me Kiss
Tossin & Turnin Peter Criss
Can't Explain The Scorpions
In The Air Tonight Henry Mancini & The Boston Pops
Let's Spend The Night Together Charo
Be My Baby Shaun Cassidy
Baby I Love Your Way & Freebird Will To Power - the video for this one is really foul.
I Saw [Him] Standing There Tiffany
I Believe When I Fall In Love With You (It Will Be Forever) Frampton's Camel
Ticket To Ride The Carpenters
Do You Wanna Dance The Mamas & The Papas - I think they must've been wasted on demerol or morphine or something when they recorded this one
Rock & Roll (the Velvet Underground song, not the Led Zeppelin song) The Runaways
Stayin' Alive Ozzy Osbourne & Dweezil Zappa
American Pie Madonna
Bringin' On The Heartbreak Mariah Carey & Dave Navarro - WTF? Dude, you used to be in Jane's Addiction.

Thank you very much! Goodnight!

Sorry no pictures today

2007-11-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

I'm making great progress on that sweater. I cast on the waistband yesterday and it is now 6" high. You won't see it again until I can photograph it in the daytime. I tried to get a shot of it tonight but it just doesn't even show up. Instead I will give you a selection of "fun facts" I heard on a rerun of David Letterman last night. They made me laugh. I hope they do the same for you.

- In China, Campbell's alphabet soup contains over 3,000 characters.
- Hardware stores in Utah have to keep male and female pipe couplings in separate aisles.
- A broken digital clock is right zero times per day.
- Despite his escape skills, Harry Houdini spent 12 years trapped in a bad marriage.

Happy birthday Anat!

Sleeve #2 done!

2007-11-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

Today I cast on the waistband. I am very stoked about this sweater. I will make myself not stall at the point where I need to pick up a zillion stitches for the shawl collar. My only excuse will be if don't have a 47" needle to do the job. And since I work at a yarn store, that would be some lame excuse.

WTF?: This evening a girl in my French class told us that women use birth control so much that there is estrogen in our rain because it comes out in our urine.

Sleeve #1 done!

2007-11-06T19:23:00.000-08:00

I've already started the second sleeve of that sweater I cast on yesterday. I'd join that NaKniSweMo thing but I haven't calculated whether this pattern has 50,000 stitches in it.

New things

2007-11-05T22:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I made this hat. The pattern is Utopia from Smariek Knits. I was inspired by reading Deborah's blog.

The new Magknits came out yesterday and I got so excited about the Fibonacci Sweater that I cast it on today. This is the sweater design I've been looking for!

Yeah I know it's a lame picture, but it's the best I could do at night time.

Ack

2007-11-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Get this. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I started a group on Ravelry called Stripe Makers. There hasn't been a great deal of activity in the forums, maybe because I haven't started any interesting threads, and I'm not "perky". Whatever. Anyway, a strange thing happened there today. Someone started a new topic on the board with this post (keep in mind the theme of this group is stripe making):

"So I wanna know...what are your top ten, stand-by all-time slumber party movies? On my top ten: Breakfast Club (Duh), Princess Bride (double duh), Can't Buy Me Love (one of the all time best 80's movies!), Pretty in Pink (don't you just loooooove Ducky?), 10 Things I Hate About You, Anything Eddie Izzard, Hedwig and the Angey Inch, Mean Girls (LOOOOVE Tina Fey), Breakfast at Tiffany's, How to Marry a Millionaire (or anything Marilyn for that matter), and a guilty pleasure filck (which you are so totally allowed) is Xanadu. Anyone ever head of it? Double slumber party pionts if you have!"

Are you fucking kidding me? Where am I? This is disturbing to me for a number of reasons. I won't even start on my hatred for most things 80's (metal being an exeption). I feel like someone left a steaming turd in my mailbox. And the lame thing is I'm just going to let it go because people are loving it. I will keep my nasty sarcasm to myself. I wouldn't care if I weren't the group moderator. I guess it also wouldn't bug me nearly as much if the poster in question were a member of the group, but she is a guest! I have no idea what posessed her, but if I were a different kind of person (paranoid) I'd think she did it specifically to fuck with me. Fortunately I am not.

NaBloPoMo

2007-11-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

Some more words and phrases I hate:

"at the end of the day" People on TV say it all the time. It really bugs the shit out of me, unless someone is actually talking about the end of the day. For some reason ball players, politicians, and police officers say it a lot.

"trifecta" This one is also totally over-used on TV. Is this word new or something? Recently discovered? For some reason I associate it with ads for Axe body spray. I also have a suspicion that it is being misused.

"copacetic" My friend Seth Maxwell Malice loves this word for some reason. I hate it.

"thrice" This one is just silly. I think there is a band with that name. If that were my band I'd be totally annoyed with myself all the time. It is, however, perfectly ridiculous in its use in this sketch:

I've decided to participate in NaBloPoMo. Yes I know it sounds creepy, but it stands for National Blog Posting Month. I missed November 1, but hopefully made up for it with my hearty November 2 entry, where I wrote about SF, Kelseyville, and knitting (a trifecta, if you will. heh heh.) I made my decision late because I didn't think I'd have the motivation to do it all, then I realized it was the perfect time to unleash all the silly shit I have stored in my head and scribbled on old bits of paper.

This is a passage I really like from a book I'm reading, Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre:

"Parlabane found the word 'pro-active' enormously useful, as it immediately exposed the speaker as an irredeemable arsehole, whatever previous impression might have been given. Once upon a time, he remembered, people and companies just did things. But that ceased to be impressive enough, and for a while they 'actively' did things. Now they 'pro-actively' did things, but it was still the same bloody things that they were doing when they just plain old did things. Meaningless wank-language."

Ahh. A man after my own heart.

I made this hat yesterday:

Happy birthday Mark Laramee! The hat is not for you.

San Francisco, etc.

2007-11-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

This is something I wrote to myself during a recent visit to the city, September 26, 2007:

I stopped by my storage unit briefly, thinking I could maybe find my camera. It was depressing so I left before it ruined my day. There's so much crap in there I don't even know where to start. I walked back to Mission street, past the junkies crinkling in the harsh noon sun, and got on the 22 Fillmore. Saw a t-shirt that made me miss San Francisco. It was on a middle-aged bearded guy and it said "Dip me in honey and throw me to the bears!". Hee hee. Bears. We don't have those where I live now. That brightened a moment of my otherwise sucky busride. I was squished against the window on the hot side of the coach by a large Muni driver in his woolen uniform, and there was a drunken freak making a ruckus up front - whining loudly about getting a seat before literally falling into one. It's strange. I really can't tell if it's my city anymore, or if I even want it to be.

Funny things happen that make me realize that I will always be connected to San Francisco. Yes I weep everytime I hear "I Left my Heart...". It's really embarassing. And that thing they show on Channel 9 that's Tony Bennett crooning over all the footage of the city and [my old friend Pamela] hula dancing? Forget it - I'm a blubbering mess. But that's not even what I'm talking about. Sometimes it's as simple as picking up the newspaper. Like a couple weeks ago seeing my friend Bucky's face beaming from the cover of the pink section (10/21/07). Or this crazy thing here, a picture of a band I've never heard of (Wooden Shjips) with the very bass cabinet that I hauled around countless times while roadieing for the bands Bomb, Hickey, and Towel. You can read more of it's story on my friend Michael's blog stinkfight.

Halloween in the country is very cute. Sunday the 28th my mom and I went to an event on a farm where people and their horses were in costume. As I said in an earlier post, there is a parade in Kelseyville of little kids in costumes that comes down Main Street at 9am on the 31st. It was worth dragging myself out of bed for. The high school band led it off playing overtures from Star Wars. There were tons of those "Scream" masks, some with fake blood whooshing around on the surface. Total cop-out costume, like the multitudes of identical store bought fairy-princesses. I know that sounds harsh cause they're just little kids, but I was just as snobby and judgemental about the costumes when I was little. So there. My favorite costumes in Kelseyville were Angus Young, complete with real Gibson SG (sans strings and pickups though), and the cardboard box robot from Flight of the Conchords.

Then at 12:30 we have the same parade in Lakeport, but of only 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. And the marching band is from Clearlake High School. They were playing the Addams Family theme song followed by an old marching band favorite, "Sir Duke", the Stevie Wonder hit. Some of their trombones were way off, but they did have the accompaniment of the escorting police car's chirping, which I thought was funny. Unfortunately I did not have the camera for the Kelseyville parade, but I did bring it to Lakeport and got a shot of the popcorn,

a tiny Elvis,

and a spectator who happened to be a teacup pomeranian puppy! I thought it was a kitten until I saw its face. Totally redonk. Yes, it was drinking water out of that bottlecap in the foreground. (No, those are not my fingernails!) I asked the person who had it if I could take a picture and she said "yeah, of couse, I just got it yesterday and that's all I've been doing!"

My favorite project update: I am at a standstill in the middle of segment #5 until I get some more yarn. I completed segment #4 and sewed it on, but I'm not going to show the whole thing again until it's done. In the meantime here are some previews:

Thanks, Sarah, for tracking me down and making my week!

color (mental) blocks pt. 2 and lots of pictures

2007-10-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

I got to a temporary sputtering stop midway through segment #4 of the Noro afghan because of some color issues. I am not sure what to do next. This is what I've got so far:

I have these beautiful ones that I was going to save for segment #5:

These are just barfy:

And these are so muted or neutral I might save them for a different project:

In the mean time I decided to do some baby stuff. This green stripey deal is for the store where I work. We had some scraps that look nice together. My plan was a hat and mittens set. It was going great until I got to the thumb and remembered why I haven't made gloves in a long time - the separations for the small digits are a pain in the ass. I doesn't help that I'm not using a pattern. I think the little dude's gonna have to get frogged. Oh well.

I love this one though, I just need another skein of the yarn and it'll be done in a day. I have an adult sized version of this that's been hibernating in my closet for about a year, but I try not to think about it.

These small hurdles have steered me back to my Shetland Triangle, which is looking great.

I really should be outside. We have had such incredible weather here - perfectly warm and still with the beautiful October light and the changing colors of autumn. This what it looks like right outside my bedroom door. Along with this view I get the sound of the creek rushing again from the rain we finally got last week. Too bad I can't post that.

And I love standing on this little path right under the apricot tree. All the yellow feels like it's beaming up at my face..

Perfect light to get a long overdue decent picture of the Clapotis.

Hey captain! Here's another picture of Roxie!

Segment #3 done!

2007-10-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

2 more to go. I am in love with this project and I hope y'all are too because this is what I'm photographing til it's done.

I went to an unofficial 20 year (McAteer) high school reunion in San Francisco on Friday. The actual one for my graduating class sounded lame and expensive so a bunch of us friends got together and invited some others and went out to dinner and to the Uptown. A couple of people remarked that as a group we appeared unscathed by time. I said they just got us at the right moment. Like, I know 5 years ago I didn't look so hot. I also am theorizing that most people's self destructive behavior (if any) probably has leveled off by the time we're 37 or 38, if it's going to at all. But, yeah, most of us look pretty much the same. I think it's interesting that out of 14 people only three have children and only two are married. Here we are standing on Valencia Street.

At the request of one of my new friends on Ravelry, here are some pics of the dogs. Sorry they're not in knitwear, it's hard to get them to sit still. And speaking of Ravelry, I started a stripe makers' group there, if you're interested.

Ace

Roxie

Trixie

Say hello to my little friend

2007-10-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

I dug up some of my early projects today to photograph them on the most beautiful model at my house. Meet Horatio. His origins are a bit of a mystery. I only know he was acquired in Czeckoslovaklia in the late 50's.

I'd forgotten how much I like this red stripe scarf. It's really thick and cozy because it is a giant tube. I used Elsebeth Lavold Angora and Crystal Palace Merino Frappe. Don't ask me why Rudy Giuliani is on the TV in the background. There are no republicans in my house.

This is one of my favorite scarves. It is kind of dorky in its rainbowy-ness but I will always love it because it helped through a very rough time. I did most of the knitting during a long stay at a hospital where my boyfriend was in I.C.U. I got the idea from the Cascade 220 pattern book. It is all scraps of Cascade.

This scarf is very similar in design to the red one and is the same Elsebeth Lavold yarn. It has been sitting in a shoebox, unfinished, for at least a year. It's only about a foot long.

The other end of this one is on display where I work. It is the "Beads of Earth" design from Scarf Style. It is Cascade Pima Silk and size 6/0 seed beads.

Another project from Scarf Style, "Stripes and Bobbles" also unfinished. These strips need to be sewn together side by side. I don't think I'll do that using bobbles. I didn't use the Takhi Donegal Tweed that the pattern calls for. I like that stuff but it is hell of scratchy. I instead used Khroma WW from The Fibre Company.

Since I got Horatio all decked out today I got him to show off a few peyote stitch and right-angle weave bracelets I made.

I feel like I haven't been here in ages. It's true what they say about Ravelry. I've been home sick all week so I got to spend a bunch of time there. What a wonderland it is. It's kind of funny that with the 17,000 or so users one would run into the same people multiple times while bouncing around. My name there is taniask

When self-striping yarn isn't enough

2007-10-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

In case you hadn't noticed, I like stripes. My old friend Michael Dean used to joke about how I should open a store that sells nothing but striped clothing and call it Totally Tania.

This is how my Noro Kureyon afghan version #2 is coming along.

I liked the old one okay, but it got boring. Then I realized how much more exciting it could be if I striped the [already-self-striping] yarns together! .. And I could have more control. And more to fuss over with the color combining. I actually haven't interrupted the yarns' own color sequences as much as I normally do. I'm trying my best to just trust them. This is some real progress for me.

I've got about one foot left to go on the second segment. I realized this afghan is starting to look just like the color palettes I used to make for the Hypnogenic Screen Saver.

Last week I went to the TKGA and CGOA show/conference at the Mariott in Oakland. I took a teachers' workshop there and it was ok. Not really worth going on about. Let's just say that the most important thing I learned in that class was that I already know a whole bunch. I had more fun in the vendors' hall. A guy (named Maat, I think) from Carolina Homespun showed me how to use a drop spindle. I liked it. So I bought this one.

I got to mess around with a knitting machine at the booth of the Machine Knitters Guild of the San Francisco Bay Area. It was fun. Oh, and I won a door prize! Many of the vendors were in a jovial mood and smelled like alcohol (champagne?). I also bought some fingering weight 100% cashmere and some addi turbo US #6 lace needles for my Shetland Triangle that I started today.

The cashmere came from Argosy. It is the Zen 2-ply.

The whole transaction was very pleasant and surprisingly affordable. I would definitely buy from them again. The woman also told me about a software program called Knitware that I'd like to check out some day.

The nice thing about living in the country

2007-10-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

Holy shit I got my Ravelry invite! I'd kind of forgotten about it because last time I checked I was number 7,000 something. My user name there is taniask. I logged in and stuff but I haven't really gotten started with it yet, nor have I explored it at all. These things (as well as loading up a flickr account) are very time consuming to do using only a dial-up connection. Yes, like I said, I'm living in the middle of nowhere.

Speaking of which, we had our Pear Festival here in Kelseyville (the bartlett pear capital) on Saturday. It is the biggest street event of the year, and it starts off with a parade! It is actually the first of three parades we have every year that come right down Main Street. Number two is at like 9 in the morning on Halloween, and it is all of the children from the local elementary schools all dressed up in their costumes. Needless to say that is hell of cute. Number three is at night time right in the beginning of December, when it is nice and freezy outside, and it is a parade of (Christmas) lights. Even the miniature horses have lights all over them. And some dogs, too. I get totally verklempt during parades. It is the marching band (in our case the Kelseyville High School Band) that does it every time. I have no idea why this is. It doesn't matter what they're playing. I am a huge dork. Here is a shot of them looking cool and bored in their black t-shirts and jeans, with beautiful Mt. Konocti in the background. I believe they were playing "25 or 6 to 4" when I took this.

WTF?!? #9: Tonight I was watching some of that "War" series on PBS. The Ken Burns documentary. Anyway at one point the narrator was talking about how the acronyms SNAFU and FUBAR had worked their way into our vocabulary. When he said what those stood for, the word "fucked" was bleeped out. I think its a little ironic that the part that people thought was offensive enough to be censored was the profanity and not the carnage. I figured maybe PBS would let that one pass, especially in its historical context.

Happy birthday Aesop! I hope you found the cream tequila you were looking for...

If you are easily offended, look away... I'm hideous!

2007-09-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

For the record...

Here are just a few words and phrases I'm totally sick of reading on peoples' knit blogs. I'd be stoked if I didn't have to see them anymore, but in the meantime if I see these terms used too many times in one place I will usually grunt, click, and move on. Unless, of course, I am blown away by the photos, or the person is talking hell of shit that I think is funny.

1. "rambling(s)" yeah. duh. we don't need to be told that you are rambling. it's a blog. I believe that's what they're for.
2. "musing(s)" see #1.
3. "random thoughts" again, see #1.
4. "occasional rants" when there isn't ever actually any ranting.
5. "yarn harlot" gasp! that's right. I said it. Sorry. Master of the obvious. Didn't learn anything from reading two of her books, cover to cover. I would probably like her if I met her in person, though.
6. "LOL" never funny. keep this particular one out of my text messages too, please!

Feel free to comment!

Oh yeah, if you're going to be at the K&C show in Oakland on Thursday, see you there!

More Noro love and cute baby

2007-09-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to show this thing all done. It's one of my favorite FO's next to one of my favorite things at our house - the engraving Tom did of his and my moms' names on the picnic table he built. I think this shot also kind of captures the light of the beautiful early autumn we're having.

While we're on the subject of striping with Noro, here is a section of my Kureyon afghan in it's new form, in the crotch of this lovely mossy walnut tree. Yes I ripped out the heinous section, and yes, I will rip out the rest to use it for parts! Further confirmation that I am in fact a "process knitter".

Somewhere in Paris is a baby named Sacha, my friend's nephew. I love seeing pictures of him because he looks healthy and robust now, and he's also incredibly cute. This picture is actually one of the few I've seen where he isn't smiling. Usually he has visible dimples, which I am a huge sucker for. At birth he was quite unstable so it is a joyous relief to see him like this. Sacha now has the sweater I made for him. The intarsia part of it was treacherous, but definitely worth the trouble. It fits!

Last night I watched the movie American Splendor, about Harvey Pekar. Paul Giamatti played him in the movie but Pekar also appeared in it as himself. I loved it. It made me realize that I could have had someone else illustrating this running comic strip I've had going in my head, instead of just figuring it couldn't be done.

Ace update: his stitches are healing well. He's such a good boy. We still don't know what bit him, but my bets are on one of the many coyotes I've heard partying on our property in the middle of the night.

OMFG!

2007-09-19T17:18:00.001-07:00

It's hailing outside! Hard!

Pictures I promised

2007-09-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Blocking is real pain in the ass without the ideal surface, but so worth it. These are only partially done, but see how much better they look?

ooooh...

And the sweater is finally done

I actually hemmed it! I'm excited about this sweater cause I just made it up as I went (no pattern - just a basic formula) And I figured out how to do the hem part. I ripped out and redid so many sections of this thing because of dissatisfaction with certain colors next to eachother. A couple of areas still bother me but I think I can live it. Now any of you who are insisting that I don't look like a rainbow clown in it better not be lying...

Today's project was this tiny pair of booties for some friends who are expecting in October. I made up this pattern as I went too!

Here's my cast on for Muir. I must be nuts. It'll probably take me 3 years. This silk (Schaefer Andrea) is like thread! But I've been trying to figure out what to do with it for like 8 months now.

So our dog Ace got into something pretty serious this morning. We're not quite sure what exactly, but it left him looking pretty gruesome. The vet says it's a bite because of the multiple punctures and the location - below the neck between the shoulderblades. It had to be a carnivorous animal I presume. Either another (really large) dog or a coyote. We figure if it were a big cat he'd be dead. I'd post a picture but it's pretty horrifying. Instead here's some pictures of our grapes.

cabernet

and the yummy for eating kind

Happy Birthday Tracy Quick!

And another thing...

2007-09-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

I need to rant about some shit before I post anything about knitting.

1. Ok I just saw Larry King (don't ask me how I caught this, I never ever watch Larry King) presenting a pair of Ed Hardy custom designed sneakers to Ryan Seacrest to wear to the Emmys. They're gold with a skull and crossbones. They matched some lame suspenders that he also gave him. WTF? What's the world coming to? I got a tattoo from Ed Hardy in 1989, at age 19, and thought he was the coolest guy ever. I still think highly of him and wish him the greatest of successes, but this is just weird. I'm not quite sure what to make of "Sailor Jerry (who has been dead since 1973) Spiced Rum" either. Actually I'd rather not think about it or I'll just get all peeved.

2. I never thought I'd be blogging about people who are already being feasted on by ruthless media, but I must say something about Britney Spears. I know, she looked like a total buffoon stumbling through her drunko performance at the Video Music Awards. (I also happen to think she is a complete nitwit whose appeal I've never understood.) And she clearly had made some short-sighted decisions regarding her wardrobe that evening - like I think she would have had an easier time dancing in some sneakers. BUT her body looked great. Juicy! Anyone (including BS herself) who thinks she's fat is delusional. It pissed me off when I heard Keith Olberman and Michael Musto (whose commentaries I normally like) saying that shit about her. Maybe K.O.'s a little clueless about females - he thought the "leave Britney alone" guy from youtube was a woman.

3. I had to stop reading my knitlist digests the other day and here's why: some thoughtful readers had posted about knitting something to honor the victims of the September 11 bombing of the WTC. That's nice. That's great. I'm all for it. THEN I started seeing all these responses saying that one could knit helmet liners and socks and a bunch of other shit for our soldiers overseas. Ok whatever, knit for them, I'm sure it totally sucks over there. (Although why they need our donations after the billions of our tax dollars are funneled into "defense" is beyond me. You'd think all that would be covered) But wtf does that have to do with the victims of the tragedy in question? Absolutely NOTHING! I had to write to the list mom. And yes, I was very polite. The knitlist is such an awesome resource for zillions of knitters and normally does a great job keeping other topics filtered out. I'm sure they hadn't even made the connection (or lack thereof as the case may be). I had to point out to them that the thread had become political in nature. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed. And while I'm on the subject of the knitlist, can people please stop addressing the group as "ladies"? grrrrr.

Alright, enough about that. About my knitting. I finished but did not block my diamond fantasy lace shawl that I was working on forever. I got stumped at the i-cord bind off edge, so I wrote to Sivia Harding and asked her about it. She responded right away and clarified everything for me. Wow. Not only is she a brilliant designer/pattern writer, she's totally nice too! I'll post pictures after it's blocked. I also finished all the knitting for that Noro sweater I started months ago cause it's finally starting to cool off a tiny bit here. Yay! And now I'm going to cast on Muir from the new issue of knitty that just went up. I've never done the crochet cast-on so we'll see how that goes. After finishing that other lace thing today I'm feeling like I could do just about anything. Oh yeah I did a real simple 2x2 ribbed beanie for Dees with some of the leftover grey from the Hemlock Ring. It was fun figuring out the decreases while maintaining the rib pattern. Pics of all this stuff soon I promise!

Many of y'all may have already seen this but I'll leave you with a link to this baby monkey and pigeon story anyway cause it's so goddamn cute!

Happy birthday Gabe Pinar wherever you are! I miss you!

Hemlock Ring Blanket

2007-09-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

I'm blown away by how huge this Knit along has gotten. There were like 39 members or something when I joined it and there are now 600 members! It hasn't been two weeks even. So the knitting for this is done and I'm still scoping out the appropriate surface to block it on. The body was quick, but the bind off row took FOREVER! I've got to figure out the backwards knitting thing so I don't have to turn my work in situations like these. Then maybe I'll try entrelac again.

Octopus attack!

Ok this is weird. A woman came in to the store where I work about a month ago and told me (imagine in a really thick Hindi accent) "You really are very organic looking". She said it to me two or three times. She was really friendly and smiling really big when she said it, and I decided to take it as compliment. I figured that what she meant was that I'm not coated in make up, I don't have acrylic fingernails, a push-up bra, frosted hair, and I don't smell like I've been hosed down with "green tea", unlike a large percentage of the female population here in Kelseyville. That's good, that's fine, I thought. But then today these 2 weird guys came in and one told the other to "go talk to the hippy girl" referring to ME! WHAT? I am confused by this.

Oh, speaking of green tea, have you seen this? It's one of my favorites. Ooh wee T-Shane!

WTF?!? #7: I thought the days were over of being tormented by that Romantics song "What I like About You". Remember last year, hearing it during trailers for dumb movies like Benchwarmers (and I believe some computer animated movie also) and various commercials for snack foods and travel services and whatever else? Am I crazy? I swear I thought it was never going to stop. And I was right! I JUST HEARD IT AGAIN ON A FUCKING E-SURANCE COMMERCIAL! AAAUUUUUGGH!

Fair

2007-09-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here's the bunch of pictures I promised. None of them are of my finished knit items. I went to the county fair in Lakeport today. I like to go there to eat junk food, to see the animals, and to look at the "home arts". It is not my favorite place for people-watching. This is what 6 dollars' worth of curly fries looks like.

It was hard to get good pictures of most of the animals. They refused to look directly at me once I had the camera out. Except for this scary guy, who apparently is my neighbor and I didn't even know it. I don't even know what kind of animal he is. Four horns?

Here's a sort of OK shot of a miniature burro that I thought was very cute.

I was excited to see that a really nice person that I took a spinning class with got a blue ribbon for this felted (fulled?) bag she did with her hand-spun. Congratulations Chris Love!

And of course, the cake that looks like a litter box. mmmm.

And this Roy Rules! digital short is what had me giggling to myself today.

P.S. Okay this is funny: I just told Dees that I was about to log out (yes, as in get off the internet, turn off the computer), and he asked me if that meant that I was about to take a shit

more on this later

2007-09-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

I don't have pictures of anything today, or much time to go on about it, but my next post will have at least a few, I promise. I joined the Hemlock Ring Blanket knit-along based on this doily pattern that Brooklyn Tweed made a small afghan from. So I'm in the middle of that. Actually I'm in the middle of the bind off round. It's been a very satisfying project. Enough stuff that's new to me to hold my interest, but still a quick knit.

teaching

2007-08-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

So I don't really know what to post about today, but it's been a week.

Oh yeah! My classes! I taught two classes this past week and they both went really well. Monday was part 1 of Beginning Knitting and Wednesday was Felted Bag. I could tell I'd been feeling a little more confident about it cause I was actually able to get to sleep the nights before, which I was unable to do the first few times I taught classes. I would toss and turn and have dreams that I forgot something really important or got stuck running late. Another thing that helped me to not stammer and sweat was writing the hand outs outlining everything for the students. I'm pleased with how they turned out, but I need to add more. I also want to come up with some illustrations. I just saw that the Knitting and Crochet Show in Oakland next month is having a teacher's workshop that I want to sign up for.

Here's a picture of some stuff I bring in to show my beginning students ideas of what they can do with limited skills and practice.

And some other stuff so they can see what they have to look forward to.

This is a sweater I made for my friend's newborn nephew in Paris that she mailed off to him today. I can't wait to see pictures of him in it! This was the project that turned me off to intarsia. Or at least intarsia with cotton. It is made of Cascade Pima Silk.

WTF?!? #6: Someone (a councilman I guess) in Atlanta is proposing a law banning baggy pants/ visible underwear because he is "tired" of seeing boxers etc. above guys' waistbands. Many are outraged, saying it's nothing more than racial profiling. This ban would also extend to visible thongs, bra straps, and wearing a sports bra as a top in public. This definitely sounds like a tyrant at work. Having a "Falling Down" moment. I mean I sure could do without seeing peoples' thong (just using the word makes gag - but I have a "thing" about certain words), but what's next? Can we start banning peoples' cheap after shave too?

Bobby and color neurosis

2007-08-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Robert Deniro's 64th birthday. Happy birthday Bobby! Here's strange shot of him with Brian May and Roger Taylor from Queen. I guess it's a press shot from when they produced this stinking nugget back in 2002. I'm really glad I was completely unaware of it because I am a huge Queen fan.

It's also Sean Penn's birthday, Independence Day in Indonesia, and the day rastafarians celebrate the birth of Marcus Garvey, whom they consider a prophet.

This is my new favorite project. It is Noro Silk Garden in colors #84, #255, and #251. It's one of those where I can't wait to get home so I can see what happens next. I've only ripped out and redone two sections so far (if you don't count the fact that I started it 3 or 4 times). So yeah I get a little weird about the way certain colors look next to eachother. That's what I mean by color neurosis (or Norosis as the case may be). Unfortunately I dont have Jared a.k.a. brooklyn tweed (my inspiration for this project) to photograph it for me.

This project has had me thinking about ripping out the afghan in progress and redoing it in two row stripes. What a delicious assault of color that would be. I guess this makes me a "process knitter".

WTF?!? #5: Chevy Chase as "Fletch" being introduced as Eldridge Cleaver in "Fletch Lives". Definitely what I would call a made for TV movie.

Ha!

2007-08-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

There. I did it. And as soon as it dries I'll be sending it off to Locks of Love so a bald child can wear it. It was driving me crazy. It's been in the high 90's to low 100's here pretty much every day for months, and it's really dry. I feel much better now.

So I've had an exciting week. I got to go to the city for a couple days. I spent some time with my dear old friend Sarah and her 18 month old nephew who is so cool. You should see his teeth. I also got to see her sister Julia who is one of the craftiest people I know. Her creations are impressive in a way that's hard to describe. They have so much character and yet they are so perfectly simple. I talked with her a little about knitting. She started telling me something about "finger knitting" which I had only ever heard of but knew nothing about. I'm guessing it follows a similar (if not the same) principle as a knitting loom or "rake". She said she figured out a way to finger knit in the round, and made a long tube! Of course I spend an hour and a half with this person and she manages to blow my mind. She reminded me also of the scientific term for "short thumbs" of which she has two. Dees has one. The term is brachymegalodactylism.

I also made a point of going to Sarah's to see Henny Penny and Wilbur. They are the cats that she and I adopted as tiny kittens in 1990. I haven't lived with them since 1996, so of course I'm amazed that they're still alive. Apparently Wilbur isn't doing so well.

And Thursday I spent the whole day and evening with some girls that I was friends with at Marina junior high (and one from before) that I haven't seen in over 20 years! It was wonderful. And I think I like all of us even better as adults.

I never mentioned that I also make jewelry. I also never mentioned that the yarn store I work at is actually primarily a bead store. (and I NEVER want to hear another person mindlessly babble "I feel like a kid in a candy store" EVER AGAIN. Unfortunately it will happen. And I will want to rip my own fucking head off.) We have many amazing classes there. I just got to take another chainmail class from Colin Mahler. She's a great instructor and a big sweetie. And I'm not just saying that cause she gave me a ride home all the way from San Francisco. Although I would.

These are the pieces I've made in her classes. (I know the picture didn't come out so good. It's hard to photograph shiny stuff.) They are all sterling silver and they feel great. (Left) Byzantine bracelet, which my mom swiped the second I brought it home. I had planned to give it to her anyway. She deserves it, and besides, how much of this stuff does any one person need? (Center) Double Helm. (Right) European 4-in-1. This is the traditional weave used to make chainmail armor.

German chocolate, etc.

2007-08-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Takashi Tanemori is one of the few survivors of this bombing, and lives in Berkeley, California. I've been looking at his artwork. It's pretty awesome*. Unfortunately, he is now almost completely blind due to radiation exposure from the Hiroshima blast.
* when I use the word awesome I truly mean it. Not as in "OMG my bus actually arrived on time" or "I like the way your shoes match that jacket".

WTF?!? #4: According to Deborah Oduwa, the voice mailbox of the Oakland Police Dept. Homicide unit is full. They can't keep up with the messages or receive any new ones. And I guess that also means they don't have anyone actually answering the phones either. That's fucked up. Deborah Oduwa is the fiance of Chauncey Bailey, an "outspoken African American news reporter" for the Oakland Post who was murdered last week.

Obligatory knitting content: About the lace... After I posted about it I was thinking to myself "hmm. I've never used one of those life lines, I wonder if that would be wise. I guess I don't really need one if I keep diligently counting my stitches after each row..." So of course the one time I didn't do this I made a mistake which I didn't discover until passing it again on a RS row. I couldn't figure out the problem at first, with my confusion being compounded by the placement of stitch markers under yarn overs. Thoughts of it actually pained me while I was at work the next day. Anyway I finally got it undone and fixed after an hour and a half Saturday evening. (It was a missed yarn over. ack.)

Ok so I'm merrily finishing up the row with the fixed mistake behind me and Dees comes home. He can tell by looking at me (maybe by the creases in my forehead) that I'm working on something complicated and maybe even a little precarious and gets the grin on his face. The one where the dimples are in full effect and you can see all his teeth. Oh no. He gets a bounce in his step. I immediately panic because I know he's about to come poking and grabbing and going "what's that? what's that? what are you doing?", etc. Aaarg. It ended up okay, but I had to put away and work on something much more mindless: flower petal shawl #2. It's in dark blue Frog Tree Alpaca. Yes. I'm daydreaming about chilly weather.

Dessert: Friday I made cupcakes for my friend's 40th birthday. It was my first attempt at German chocolate. They were delicious, I must say. Dees inhaled 5 of them in one day. Most importantly, Joe loved them!

Here's a nice shot of Trixie at our swimming hole. Our property is right on Kelsey Creek! Beautiful. (Heh heh - wanna buy a house?)

Lace

2007-08-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

The way this guy John summed up lace knitting was so well put that I'm not going bother to say all the same stuff about it. This is the Diamond Fantasy Scarf by Sivia Harding. I'm using Schaefer Anne. I have absolutely no clue how to photograph lace yet, so I'm experimenting. This pattern is really well written. Definitely worth the $7.50. There is nothing confusing in it. And I love that I only need one skein of the yarn I chose to do it in because I loathe dealing with ends of yarn, especially in a lace project.

This is a pattern I got from the book Romantic Style. (I know, any of you who know me are thinking "Romantic Style"? Yeah, right) I did this with Madil Kid Seta on size 10.5 US Clover bamboo needles that I sharpened. hee hee. (I had a spare pair). It seems like knitting "lace" on large needles is kind of cheating. I like this pattern regardless. I'm sure I will give it to my mom because she keeps saying it is her favorite thing I've knit so far.

Is it me?

2007-08-01T13:59:00.001-07:00

What the *%@# is wrong with the formatting here? I've just been looking over my entries to date and my fonts and font sizes are different everywhere! It's totally maddening! Is there some trick I don't know about? Is it a browser issue? Is it an evil Microsoft conspiracy? (it looks fine in Explorer, but screwy in Firefox and Safari) I am so irritated by this I must stop typing. I'm afraid it's going to screw this one up too.

I love Kureyon

2007-07-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1729 Baltimore, Maryland was founded. This is a city I have never visited. It is also the setting of my new absolute favorite tv show Homicide: Life on the Street.Yeah, I know it's an old show but I just recently discovered it and have been savoring every episode on DVD from Netflix. I'm up to about the middle of season 4. Isn't technology great?

According to Wikipedia, a few other things of note took place on July 30:
1866 - New Orleans's Democratic government ordered police to raid an integrated GOP meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.
1954 - Elvis Presley makes his debut as a public performer.
1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court.
1975 - Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.
It's also the birthday of my good friend Jason Storm, and of Arnold Schwarzenneger, Rat Scabies, Kate Bush, Richard Linklater, and Alton Brown.
It's Father-in-law's Day. So say whatever to your FIL. If you have one.

Today I'll introduce you to some of my Noro Kureyon. Yes there is a Kureyon Club, and I am a member. Here is my afghan so far, which makes a nice little throw on it's own. I'm doing this on size 10 US addi turbos.

And here's part of the next section.

I think I'm going to rip out most if not all of it because I think this

looks heinous. Speaking of heinous, I tried to watch that movie "Perfume" last night. It stunk.

Neck-down raglan sweater alternating the Kureyon with the most neutral color I could find in Cascade Ecological Wool.

I'm using the pattern generator (with some modifications) at knitting fool. I'm hoping all these colors aren't going to look ridiculous and clown-like on a 37 year old woman (me). Any thoughts? honestly...

socks in progress

2007-07-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

and gratuitous tattoo* shot.

I started these with this Claudia a while back.

They are cuff-down (obviously) but as you can see I decided that I didn't like the 1x1 rib on the first one, so I removed it and picked up a 2x2 rib in it's place and bound off.

I am not by any means a sock freak. I like it ok, but I like too much other stuff also. (And I actually poked a hole into the tip of my left index finger with a metal knit picks US #1 DPN today. Not a bloody hole, but it is a little tender.) If your looking for "the musings of an obsessive sock knitter" you'll have to elsewhere. Like in about 100,00 other places. Or join the socknitters yahoo group. You'll be overwhelmed, to say the least.

WTF?!? #3: Is it my imagination or is there a medication for "restless leg syndrome" that may cause intense sexual and/or gambling urges?

* If you're curious about the tattoos, the carp was done in 1995 by Civ at Lotus Tattoo in Sayville, NY. The dots were done by Dan Thome in 1991 or '92. Maybe someday, if I can round them up, I'll post some pictures of tattoos that I did.

color (mental) blocks

2007-07-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

I'm making (another) felted bag. It's not my absolute favorite thing to knit, but I like it well enough. And I'm teaching a really basic class in this so I figured I should get myself midway into one at least for demonstration purposes.

I decided to use some scraps of cascade 220, which I have many colors of scattered around, and I'm making up the color combos as I go. While trying to branch out into throwing some lighter or brighter colors or neutrals (gerk!) into the mix I keep getting stumped. I've ripped out everything after those purple stripes at least three or four times. And this is just one side of the bag! Sometimes I think about asking someone else to pick yarn balls out at random and hand them to me when it's time to switch colors. Maybe I'm worrying too much.

WTF?!? #2: I can hear the (ktvu) TV news from the other room. They're saying that in the last year in California, 33 people (babies and children I assume) have died from being left unattended in parked cars. 33 people! They're actually advising viewers to put their purse or wallet in the back seat of their car next to their baby to help them remember to take the baby out!

I finally finished this book and I wish I hadn't. It was so good.

I started this one last night because this web page, Things My Girlfriend and I have Argued About, written by the same guy (Mil Millington), is one of the funniest things I have EVER read. Seriously.

baby stuff

2007-07-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

So I get this Page-A-Day calendar in my email that has interesting medical factoids. (It's from the book "Why Do Men Have Nipples" if you must know). When it's a friend's birthday and it's kind of funny or cool or relevant to the person in some way I'll forward it to them. It hasn't worked out for some ex-boyfriends of mine, though. The first one I thought I'd surprise with one of these I decided against (but the daydream was a laff riot!) because the yummy tidbit featured was an "on this day in history..." Lorena Bobbit snipped off her husband's weenie and tossed it out the window of her car. Then today I thought "too bad I don't know Shon's email, I wonder what the calendar says". Mmmm, nope. DIY vasectomy.

Oh yeah, baby stuff! I love knitting baby stuff. Ginger said I could put these pictures of Aidan up in the hat (Cascade Cloud 9 Merino and Angora) and sweater (Knitting Pure and Simple neck down cardigan in Cascade 220 Superwash with some Czech glass buttons). Thanks for the really cute baby, Ginger and Marcus!

and just in time for summer

Too bad I don't have any idea how to block a tiny little raglan sweater.

Look at those pants!

And another post with no knitting content

2007-07-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here are my answers to some of those survey things you see on myspace

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? - I try not to think until I've been awake for a while
2. How much cash do you have on you? - 12 cents
3. What's a word that rhymes with "test"? - vest
4. Favorite planet? - Um, earth
5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
- My boyfriend’s boss – an obnoxious carpenter who called before 7am
6. What is your favorite ring on your phone?
- I hate them ALL
7. What shirt are you wearing?
- Something weird with grey and orange stripes that says “Made in West Germany” on the label
8. Do you "label" yourself?
- Are you kidding me?
9. Name the brand of your shoes you're currently wearing.
- Adidas shoes, Puma socks
10. Bright or Dark Room?
- neither
11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
- He's one of my favorites.
12. What do you order at Starbuck's?
- OK this is an incredibly assy question and believe it or not, there is not not a single Starbucks anywhere in the county where I live. Not even in the Safeway. But if there were, an iced americano sounds pretty good.
13. What were you doing at midnight last night? - Waiting to download a 2086 kb jpeg with a painfully slow dial up connection
14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say? - "K. i prematurely ejaculated on my msg...huurt!"
15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
- I really don't know. Probably at least 80 miles away.
16. What's a word that you say a lot?
- Lame. Um, and I guess "fucking" … (as an adverb)
17. Who told you they loved you last?
- Andrew Dees.
18. Last furry thing you touched?
- My smallest dog
19. How many drugs have you done in the past three days?
- one
20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
- one
21. Favorite age you have been so far?
- 26 absolutely. I've got high hopes for 38-40.
22. Your worst enemy?
- I don’t have a clue. I don't really have those. And if I did, I'm sure I wouldn't say their name on a blog! My current nemesis, however, is an 8 year old boy who comes into the store where I work and spends anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours (seriously) asking me how much everything is because he has $1.08.
23. What is your current desktop picture?
- I find desktop pictures terribly distracting and tacky.
24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
- “Too bad the lighting in here sucks, I'd really like to take a picture of that lasagna.”
25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly, which would you choose?
- Fly
26. Do you like someone?
- Huh?
27. The last song you listened to?
- "Tomorrow Is My Turn" by Nina Simone. Before that a “lullabye” version of a Queens of the Stone Age song "Better Living Through Chemistry". It sucked. I don’t know whose idea that was but it sounded all new age with some kind of synthesizer hammer dulcimer. It got me thinking about rockers having kids and then telling themselves that even though they're grown up parents now, they still rock so much that even their kid listens to a QOTSA Lullabye?! Gimme a fuckin break. How narcissistic. It's a human, not a toy. If I have any babies, you won't see me putting rock t-shirts on them. But if they ask me for my old ones after they learn to dress themselves it's fine with me. ..OK Sorry I went off there. I'm OK now. I think.
28. What is the most expensive item you own?
- Don’t remember. Don’t know. Don’t care. My brain starts to short out if I think about that.
29.. Name someone with the same birthday as you
- Isaac Asimov- Christy Turlington- Nelly- Sarah Silverman- Tia Carrere- Lou Gramm- Jim Bakker- Dabney Coleman
30. Where was your first kiss?
- in a large cardboard box in the back of my 1st grade classroom.
31. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else's property?
- not that I can remember. I’m pretty nice. Oh wait, actually a guy who evicted me. He was and still is a huge piece of shit.
32. Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex?
- not to harm them.
33. Have you ever sang in front of a large number of people?
- no, not more than 50 or so.
34. Whats the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
- what they say, how they carry themselves
35. What really turns you on?
- intelligence, wit, style, dexterity, manners, assertiveness, fluency in multiple languages, parallel parking, kick ass rock music.
36. What is your biggest mistake?
- If I could think of it offhand it would be none of your business.
37. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?
- That depends on who you ask… If you mean like slicing myself to ribbons or driving into a brick wall, no. But some would argue that extensive tattooing, staying in really unhealthy relationships, and years of heavy drinking and drug use would qualify as such.
38. Say something totally random about yourself. - I always laugh when I see someone’s tooth blacked out on a billboard. Hilarious!
39. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
- When I was about 7 yrs old people told me that I looked like “Carrie”. That was just because I had very straight blond hair and freckles and a small nose. Oh and also because they were idiots. I was also told once that I looked like Dale Crover. This both confused and elated me, as he was somewhat of a hero of mine at the time. Is he a celebrity? I dunno. I think it's super cool that he's in wikipedia.
40. Do you still watch kiddy movies or TV shows?
- What do you mean “still”? I never really watched kiddy movies when I was a kid. I definitely don’t watch them now. Except I love “Babe”. I won’t watch any of that “Flushed Away” computer animated stuff. I’m ok with some cartoons on TV though.
41. Did you have braces?
- Yes for a year and a half in 9th and 10th grade.
42. Are you comfortable with your height?
- Yes
43. What is the most romantic thing someone of the opposite sex has done for you?
- waking up from an O.D. induced coma on Valentine’s Day
44. Do you speak any other languages?
- I can just barely survive in Italian, French, and Spanish but it’s been a long time since I’ve had to.
45. Have you ever been to a tanning salon?
- no. I’ve never had my nails done or been waxed either.
46. What magazines do you read?
- Interweave Knits, Colors. A bunch of beading magazines that we have where I work.- sometimes Giant Robot, Vice, Bark, Juxtapoz, National Geographic, the occasional discarded glossy rag that I find at the post office.
47. Have you ever ridden in a limo?
- not as a VIP. I associate limos with vomiting, which I really hate.
48. Has anyone you were really close with passed away?
- oh come on
49. Do you watch mtv?
- no.
50. What's something that really annoys you?
- use of any and all cliches.
51. What's something you really like?
- Cute furry little animals
52. Do you like Michael Jackson?
- what the hell kind of a question is that? Do I like Michael Jackson.
53. Can you dance?
- yeah sure. But I probably won’t.
54. What's the longest/latest you have ever stayed up?
- You can’t be serious.
55. Have you ever thought that you were honestly going to die?
- Specifically, no.
56. Have you ever been rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room?
- Yes. when I was a baby I fell out of my crib and busted my teeth out on the floor.
57. Do you actually read these when other people fill them out?
- Yes, in fact I love reading these when other people fill them out. How do you think I found this?

"Call me Virginiaca" or why Kenan Thompson rules.

2007-07-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

The most un-youtubed cast member on Saturday Night Live is the one that makes me laugh all the next day just thinking about him. So of course I try to explain it to people and they just look at me all blank, like "Oh man she must have seen another rerun of that one with Justin Timberlake again..." Dude. JT and Kenan Thompson together in drag?! Genius.

I also spin. And I have some interesting friends.

2007-07-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

WTF?!?: I just heard from the other room someone babbling on the TV about how the number of butane cigarette lighters confiscated by security in airports every day adds up to a stack of lighters as tall as the Empire State Building. Apparently this is costing "us", the taxpayers, millions of dollars to dispose of.

This brings to mind a sculpture my friend Aesop constructed years ago from hundreds of discarded cigarette packs that he'd had piling up in his room. While on LSD one night he decided to glue them all together into a pile. When he moved to a new house he brought it with him and it sat atop his refrigerator. Eventually it became a cozy home, a kind of condo complex, to a zillion cockroaches.

So Friday is a day that I often like to just sit and knit and watch Law and Order reruns. Or do lots of laundry. WTF is up with all this golf on TNT? Don't they already have like 20 ESPN channels for that? Okay, okay, it's a beautiful day, not too excruciatingly hot. We even had a tiny little earthquake! Maybe that's what all the weird weather was about. Rain here twice in July is unheard of. Really. I guess I'll go for a long walk. I wonder if Ace could handle the approximately 1 hr. 15 min. each way to the post office and back. Probably not.

How about instead I show you some pictures of yarn that I spun. I am a beginner.

This lighter brown is the first stuff I did that was of a consistent thickness. Perfect for this Father's Day gift for Tom (combined with a few beautiful hand dyed colors of Khroma WW from The Fibre Co.) . I love knitting for Tom because It's simple shapes for a man but he's not afraid of colors. And he's almost completely bald so he needs hats all winter. And he doesn't complain about wool being itchy.

My second go at the spinning. I'm not crazy about it. I think it needs some dye. I'm not real big on white or whitish stuff. Which why I think this

could also use some dye. I guess I'll be learning that too at some point.

Dark brown. Prettier in real life. Nice enough but not much of it. Maybe nice for some small fair isle project? We'll see. I think I'd get about the same gauge with it as with the white one.

This multicolored stuff is actually some Crystal Palace Taos (color no. 05) plied with the same light brown from the first batch. I have no idea how it'll look knitted up. I'm thinking I've got enough for a EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. I'm excited i just ordered a bunch of patterns from Schoolhouse Press.

Poor Tom just started to leave for the grocery store in the car that Dees (my BF) normally drives and couldn't figure out how to turn off the stereo. Tom is 73 and technology has gotten a little ahead of him. The tape deck was blasting NWA. I believe the song was "Fuck the Police". He called me from the driveway on my cell phone totally discombobulated. Hilarious.

my neighbors...

2007-07-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

have a bunch of sheep! They're cute aren't they?

Ace* thinks so. I'd like to shave them. It would also be great if they came over here and ate all the weeds. I never knew that sheep and goats don't have any teeth on the top in the front until I went to Tilden Park a couple weeks ago with my friend Ginger and fed some lettuce to the animals at the Little Farm. I guess they don't need incisors for tearing into anything, just something to help them yank vegetation out of the ground.

I'm itching to post some pictures I took. Hopefully tomorrow.

* special side note from Ace - if you ever see your dog gnawing on a deer leg, take it away!

Here's a better shot of that Malabrigo

2007-07-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

what's left of it anyway...

deer hoof, praying mantis, and stone crab

2007-07-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

I guess a deer got killed by either a mountain lion or some coyotes on our property the other night. After the swarm of about 20 large vultures had their fun there was very little left. Just enough to keep Ace happy. We keep finding these on the lawn.

For some reason I don't find behooved doggy toys nearly as disturbing as this harmless guy hanging out on the wall out back, looking just like a green bean with legs.

I almost forgot the reason I came here today. This is, after all a knitting blog.

clapotis

My first clapotis. Pictured here in its 3rd and last stage of blocking. Completed in June. I used one skein of some Malabrigo 50% merino, 50% silk that I got at Imagiknit. They said they were the only retailer that had it in stock, so I couldn't resist. The name of the colorway was scribbled illegibly on the tag but I think it said "stone crab". The skein had about 310 yards so I did the pattern in half the original size. I loved working with this fiber. Definitely worth the investment. It's a shame I haven't mastered the art of photographing, or more importantly, lighting these things, because the colors look so much more beautiful than this in actuality. I got alot of oohs and ahs from my parents, thinking I'm probably the most talented knitter in the world. hee hee.

Very first entry.

2007-07-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

I've been turning this over in my head for a few weeks now and finally decided that today is as good a day as any to give birth to my very own blog. It is also the birthday of two friends (Lydia and Rik). It is also Bastille Day, which holds no personal significance for me (until now, I guess). I did visit Paris once the day after it, though, and the streets were a mess.

I am mainly starting this to keep a record of my knitting, but I will also include some pictures of other stuff I find interesting whenever possible. I don't actually have my own camera other than the janky one in my phone, but some very nice people let me use theirs.

This blog will also contain the grumblings of a city person trying not to lose her mind in the country. I am from San Francisco and I live in Kelseyville, CA. I try to visit SF whenever possible.

There will be profanity in this blog. I am a smart ass. I am silly. Sometimes there will be pictures of food. I will talk about stuff that makes me laugh. I will sometimes talk about more personal stuff. I will not talk about my kids because I don't have any. But I will talk about my dogs. And other people's kids and the items I knit for them. And their dogs.

I started knitting in November of 2005 when I got a job in a yarn store. I have knit every single day since I started. So I'm pretty good at it. I usually have 5-15 unfinished projects in progress at any given time. I am also teaching myself to crochet. I don't like it as much aesthetically, as I think it is by nature just frillier looking and I am not very girly. Although I do enjoy knitting lace (which I may never wear - it doesn't really go
with my sneakers).

Sometimes I teach classes at the store where I work so I will talk about that sometimes too. I still get nervous and can't get to sleep the night before.

The pictured FOs on this blog will not necessarily be posted in their chronological order of completion, but in the order which their photos become uploadable or whenever I feel like it. But I will try to mention their dates of completion and any other pertinent information that I remember, even if only for my own reference.

Lamb's "twinset"

Here's a shot of Lamb (taken with aforementioned janky camerafone) in a hat and scarf I made (December 2005?) of some french 100% angora I bought off ebay. Lamb is about the size of my hand. I got him at Cala Foods on South Van Ness right after easter in 1997.

JJ's hat

Here is a hat that I made for my friend Lydia's (yeah the one whose birthday is today) daughter Jackie June. I made it at work one day (in late July or early August of 2006) with Cascade 220 superwash and size 7 Addi Turbos. The tie that goes through the eyelets is Cascade Magnum. It is my own design. I learned about twisting the yarn the right direction so as to not get holes at the start of a new color at the beginning of a round. I was guessing with the colors so you can bet I was happy to see that dress she had on. And the one she changed into later also matched it perfectly. Those are my hands stretching the hat over her head.