Glad I didn't drive
I am sooooo glad I didn't drive. It's taken 5 hours to get to Tahoe
from Sacramento, and this is only supposed to take 2.5 hours. The roads
are crap from snow and ice. I would never have been able to make it in
my car or the Santa Maria. This is the best $64 I have ever spent. I'm
not stressed or panicked, just nice and relaxed and enjoying the
scenery. Woohoo!
+kac
Pirate hats and books
I forgot to mention the details in the last post about why the picture of frogged yarn was showing up again- that's because I frogged out everything I did last night on the Pirate Hat. I guess I thought ya'll could read my mind and know that's what I did. It was just too loose. The #7 needle isn't going to work. I gotta play around with this some more. I can see that I am very quickly going to get to the point where the yarn can't be frogged and recycled again, so it may be that this yarn will get turned into something else altogether before I ruin it totally, like a cute little bag or something. The pirate hat will probably work better in a fluffier yarn like an alpaca than the Koigu KPM anyway, at least as far as my tight knitting style goes.
Gone with the Wind went without me. I stopped to grab a cheeseburger and fries at Johnny Rocket's and got so wrapped up in finishing the last of the book I've been reading that the next thing I knew I was going to be 10 minutes late for the movie. I decided to skip the show and head to the Barnes and Noble next to Johnny Rocket's to see about spending the Holiday gift card I discovered in my wallet while paying for dinner.
I got "The Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns" and "The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques." I'm going to go tuck myself in the bed with the Big Book and hopefully get some shut eye. I'm sleepy right now, but who knows if the excitement of new knitting goodies will keep me awake tonight...
Organizing
Today I got tired of grubbing through the tangle of cricular needles that I haven't put away to find something that I dropped to the bottom of my project basket. I have this little plastic coupon filing box that I keep my circulars in, but they seem to spring out of there like so many snakes when I open the flap. Not good, and I had to resolve this.
I had a little brianstorm. Over the holidays I got a couple of new Addi Turbos and the package they came in slips right in my filing box. I rummaged around and found my other old addi and inox packages (I figured the ziploc bag would come in handy sometime, and it it finally has!) and where I wasn't able to find the original package, I made a new one with a snack sized ziploc bag and a 3x5 index card trimmed to size. Here's the finished product
Here's the outside of the box. I got it at target for about $2. It comes in lots of colors and has 13 pockets in it. I got a red one for $1 at walgreens before this one, but it left a red stain on my project basket. This one is over a year old and hasn't left a mark yet.
Here's the inside of the box.
Here's a close up- it came with little stickers to label each tab, which I did with all the needle sizes. I grouped 0-3 together, and I have one tab for each size up to 14+.
And here's what the little packages look like, one old turbo package (a fifty-cent garage sale find!!) and two homemade ziploc packages. I have to turn the top 1/2 inch of the addi package back to fit in smoothly, but that's easy to do and the ziplocs are the perfect size.
Here's my skull hat again. Don't those piles look familar? The big blob of light pink is actually the yarn from my first attempt at best friend. It needs to get un-blocked before I can use it on anything else. It is distinctly grubby.
My Secret Pal has left on vacation, but she'll have a lovely goody package waiting for here to welcome her home. I've got a handful of stuff that I am taking over to the post office first thing in the morning before I head off to Lake Tahoe for the weekend. No camping this time- I am taking the train up and meeting a bunch of friends. They are all going to ski and snowboard, but I am going to sit at the lodge and knit. And work too, crummily enough. I have a crap load of stuff due on Monday. But know what? I'd rather work in Tahoe than at home.
I have a very long vacation coming up myself, BTW. One whole month (or possibly slightly more, depending on when I finish what I am working on for this client). I am going to spend the time touring around California in the Santa Maria. I cannot wait. Absolutely cannot. I am fried. My first stop is a week on the beach at Carpinteria State Beach. I reserved the spot circled in yellow for a whole week.
How's that for an ocean view? When I get up in the morning all I have to do is roll out of the Santa Maria and decide if I want to knit or surf. After that week, I am spending a couple of weeks going to the Rose Bowl Flea Market, Disneyland, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, Catalina, maybe the channel islands, and random other spots that have not been determined yet. The whole thing will be capped off with a week camping at New Brighton State Beach in Santa Cruz- I reserved a primo cliff spot overlooking the beach and the bay. If I finish a couple of days sooner I will take a day or so to get down to Carpinteria and park along Highway 1 to watch for whales (the gray whales are migrating now). I am starting to put together a list of yarn shops to hit along the way, so if anyone has any recommended LYS's in the general geographic vicinity noted above let me know! Heck, for that matter, if you know of any groovy spots I should hit in the LA/ Orange County area I'd be happy to hear them too.
As if that isn't enough fun for one person, guess what I am doing tonight (besides packing for Tahoe)? Going to see Gone With The Wind in
a theater! I am trying to decide if I should eat a whole dinner before I go (the movie is almost 4 hours long) or if I want to eat a snack and gorge on buttered popcorn, chocolate covered raisins, and nachos at the theater. I have a couple of hours to decide, I guess. I'll let you know what I decide. It'll probably be something somewhere in between the two extremes.
Pirate progress
I cast on my pirate hat again this evening, and worked about 8 rows or
so. Its a lot faster going with the bigger needles, but I'm having
tension issues, and holes where my colors change, because I am knitting
so loose. It doesn't seem to make a difference if I twist the MC and CC
together before I make a stitch. I think this is just going to be a
case of practice makes perfect, like my cables. 9 million hours from
now I will have it down perfectly....
+kac
how about these cables?
I am quite pleased with my cables, if I do say so myself. A month ago my cables looked totally craptacular. Awful. And now I detect the sweet smell of success, due in no small part to my new found ability to read and follow directions, as opposed to my previous scan and ignore technique. My Fair Isle skills are coming along nicely too, although I still need more practice. Watch out, etrelac- here I come (not till after the Knitting Olympics are over, though)!
The wibbly bits along the edge are from the pins I used when I blocked it, in case you were wondering.
A new word
I learned the word "zaftig" today. It means pleasingly plump, or something like that. I didn't actually look up the word in the dictionary (although I should if I intend to make it part of my vocabulary, since I will sound like a dork if I use it wrong). I'm willing to take a chance with it here though, and use it in a sentence.
Here is my zaftig little dog, Turbo.
Weekend Update
Things were pretty swell this weekend. In today's news we'll cover knitting, sports, and the great outdoors, although to be honest, knitting is covered in all those categories. I also worked a fair bit this weekend, but that was pretty uneventful and if you aren't working in the same teeny tiny little niche of the world of computer stuff that I work in, you'd be pretty bored and wonder what language I'm speaking and subsequently fall asleep or stop reading my blog and go find something else to do. I'll summarize what I did with this: read, analyze, write, email, email, read more, analyze more, have a brilliant idea, email, and write a whole lot more.
Knitting NewsI frogged my pirate hat to nothing. I really just didn't like the teensy gauge that I was knitting in because I am such a tight knitter, and I really worried I would not have enough yarn to finish the whole hat if I had to knit an additional 33% more stitches than the pattern called for. So I tried a couple of looser knitting techniques and sized up to a bigger needle- a size SEVEN!!! (pattern calls for size 3)- and bingo. 6 st/ inch, no gappy fabric. I just hope I don't revert to nasty tight tendencies during the project. Muscle memory is a bad thing sometimes...
I am trying to "reverse block" the frogged yarn by rinsing it and letting it air-dry. All the ramen noodle kinks came out, and hopefully some of the fluff and stretch will come back to the yarn. Here's what it looks like now:
I put it on a pink towel because I was afraid it might bleed on something. It didn't though. Nice and colorfast, thankfully.
The Great OutdoorsI ran over to Pinnacles National Monument this weekend and did a little outdoor knitting. That park is GORGEOUS and I would totally recommend heading over there sometime. Here are a few pictures:
This looks like a head, neck, and shoulders when you see it in person, but not so much here, it seems.
This made me think of a western movie, with cowboys and stagecoaches and cattle rustlers.
Some dudes doing a little rock climbing.
These rocks are the size of cars!
I sat on a rock and knitted right here for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon. It was gorgeous!
Same knitting spot, just looking a little to the left.
More Knitting NewsI have finished up a treat I knitted for my secret pal. I just need to block it and mail it along with a couple of other goodies. I can't say what it is though, just in case I goofed and signed my name or used the wrong email address as I've been sending Pally little notes, and she's/ he's now reading this...
SportsI signed up for the
Knitting Olympics. I am doing the pirate mittens to go with my hat, but I am doing them in spme eggplant and lime green alpaca in my stash. I think they'll be lovely!
Wrap UpI started this post on Sunday, but I didn't get around to finishing it until now. I have been a little busy with some other stuff going on. I haven't even knitted since Sunday. Sheesh. I did see Munich last night- it is GREAT, you should go see it right now. NOTE: it is 2 hours and 44 minutes long and you will not want to miss a single second of it, so you might want to limit fluid intake before and during the show.
And finally, it't that time of year again. Yep, that's right, the Lunar New Year. Here in Little Saigon the fireworks started sometime over the weekend (they were going full steam ahead when I got back Sunday morning) and have been picking up the pace ever since. I've learned from last year and have earplugs at the ready for nights when it is too noisy to sleep.
On the road for the weekend
I am headed to Pinnacle National Monument this weekend. I had planned to go to Yosemite, but the weather is being difficult (9 degrees and snow). I'm bringing my pirate hat with me. I'll try to take some exciting outdoor knitting pictures and post them up here when I get home on Sunday. Have a good weekend!
Lifetime movies
I'm watching this totally cheesy Lifetime movie called Maid of Honor. It's really bad, but I am completely sucked into it, and I've had to unknit a dozen or so stiches in my pirate hat a couple of times because I got off pattern as a result.
Ooh- I gotta go, they are about to get to the suspenseful happy ever after ending where the psycho chick comes back from the death she faked and tries to sabotage her secret flame's wedding...
A good day
I had a good day today. A very good day. Nothing special happened to make it good really, it was just a good day. I didn't knit today because I'm still resting my wrist, but I did find a
sweater vest to knit. Here's it is.
I'm going to make it in black or charcoal gray alpaca, it'll be very fitted, and I'll make it long enough to end just beneath my hipbones. That's a good flattering spot for my own personal hips.
Here's an interesting thought for you. I was on the phone with a friend tonight and we were talking about stress at work and how to deal with it (this has been a recurring theme in my life for the last, oh, well since October 1 and I'm looking for advice anywhere I can find it). My friend said that visualizing things can really help.
NOTE- As a little background here, let me say that I love yoga. I am a total nut about it and I've been doing it for a few years, but I can't get past my irritation with the COMPLETELY distracting visualizations or philosophical cliches or something similar that yoga instructors sometimes throw out there. I just like to flow into my own thoughts and breathing, I don't like a lot of talking and reminding me to breathe- it messes up my focus and my breath rhythm.
So anyway, when she says this I'm naturally all "uh, yeah. I can totally see me visualizing (no pun intended) walking through a meadow of flowers. NOT!" But then she said visualizations aren't necesarily that sort of crunchy granola stuff.
A visualization is really just a daydream! So ok, yeah, that sounds good, I can daydream about something that I like. But here's were the really interesting part comes in: she said that
worrying is really a form of visualization (or daydreaming as I now call it)- you keep playing scenes over and over in your head, just like a good daydream except that it isn't good. So to help deal with stress, I need to do a better job of choosing what I want to daydream about. I can daydream about stuff that bothers me and makes me stressed, or can daydream about stuff I enjoy and that relaxes me. And when I said "but I can't just daydream about beach/sex/knitting/trip to hawaii/etc, I'm supposed to be working!!!" She said "just because you are daydreaming about stuff at work that bothers you in no way, shape, or form means you are doing any sort of productive work. In fact, you are probably taking longer to daydream about how crappy a meeting was, or just thinking about how frustrating a situation is than you would spend thinking about what you would really rather be doing right at that moment." Isn't that an amazing thought? And then she added that I'm better off to do a little fun daydreaming to get me re-energized so I can think about how to solve the problems causing me to worry, rather than continuing to worry and do nothing about it.
Worrying is just daydreaming. Gosh, I wish I had this insight ages ago. It would have saved me some sleepless nights! Now, this doesn't address all my stress related issues, but this does help me tremendously!
My goof ball dog
Here's a picture of Turbo. I kept thinking she looks like a Dr. Seuss character but I just couldn't figure it out. Finally I realized what it is- she's walking on one side of her body at a time. How she does it I do not know, but check it out- she's only standing on her left legs and both her right legs are off the ground.
Repetitive use pain sets in...
I have knitted myself into a sore patch. The sheer volume of knitting I have done over the course of this three day weekend has cause a pain in my right wrist. Ouch! I should have taken a little more of a break here and there, but enthusiasm got the better of me. Oh well. A couple days away from the needles and a couple of aleve and I will be ok. Nothing life threatening.
I can use the non-knitting time to look for a pattern for a slim fitting single color sweater vest that I can make to wear to work with my ultra conservative consultant's costume. You know the look: black skirt or trousers, white or black shirt, black pumps. I'm not much into jackets, so I wear slim cardis and sweater vests in grey or black instead. It's kind of hard to find plain stuff that isn't frumpy-dumpy or shocking pink though, so I was hoping to find a pattern similar to something I already have and make it into something perfect.
Bedtime- tomorrow is the first day back at work from a 3-day weekend, and I am less than motivated to get up when the alarm clock goes off. I would really like one more day of dilly-dallying.
figured it out
I got it. I need to add enough stitches to fit my head that I can just repeat one extra panel in the hat. I think I will end up with a pointier top, but that's ok. I was going to put a pompom up there anyway. Besides, when did I ever make anything exactly like the pattern said?
Here's what I got done in the last 3 hours. Doesn't look like much, but there are 1100 stitches on that needle...
The contrast between the light and bright pinks is a lot sharper and more obvious in real life than it is in the picture. I think the flash washed it out.
little little little
oooh sheee waah waah. I do knit so much smaller than guage 85% of the time. I've knitted a swatch a zillion times and I keep coming up with 8 stitches/ inch. I need 6. Bigger needles don't help me, they just give me gappy fabric. Sigh. I will have to figure something out here mathmatically to make this pirate hat work.
I did take the opportunity while swatching away to practice my 2 color knitting. Here's a sample- it's looking good, if I do say so myself.
Wasn't it a beautiful day in the Bay Area today?
Secret Pal Progress
I made it to Knitting Arts about 18 minutes before they closed, but that was plenty of time to pick out some yarn for the hat pattern link my Secret Pal sent me today. I got some Koigu KPM in two awesome pinks. The bright pink is the MC, lighter pink is the CC. I don't know if you can tell, but the lighter one has kind of a variegated hand-dyed sort of look.
Here's where I am with Best Friend. I've gotten the pattern down pat. I did all of this in the course of the last 24 hours.
We Call Them Pirates
Check out the
groovy hat pattern my Secret Pal sent me a link to. I'm finishing up Best Friend tonight and I'll be starting on one of these babies tomorrow. I'm on my way to Knitting Arts right now!
Long day
I went to Burbank for a meeting today. I got to the airport at 6:30 and started working. I worked at the airport, I worked on the plane, I worked in the meeting (both on the meeting stuff and other stuff I needed to take care of today too for a deadline I have tomorrow), I worked on the plane coming home, I started working when I got home, and I am still working now. For those of you interested in numbers that translates into about 13 hours so far. I've got a couple more to go.
It was lovely weather in Burbank, for whatever that is worth and I really have spring fever now!
Monarch Madness
This is just awesome. I am planning a campout for mid-February in Monterey, and guess what else is happening in mid- Feb in Monterey? That's right! The
Monarch butterflies are mating at the same time. I've always wanted to see that, see the elephant seals mate in Ano Nuevo, and the big crab migration on Christmas Island. Well it looks like this year I am going to hit at least one of them!
I may even be able to get over to Ano Nuevo one day during the week after my contract with this client ends at the end of Feb. I think I may have missed the peak of the action over there, but it only happens once a year and a little along the way is better than nothing all at once.
SP7 Questionnaire
Today I got my first email from my Secret Pal, the one who will be spoiling me. Woohoo! I sent the Pal I am spoiling a post card that I picked up in Marini's candy store in Santa Cruz this weekend. The picture of my pal on her blog looks like it was taken on the beach- that's awesome, since the beach is my favorite place in the world. She posted up her questionnaire answers today too, which inspired me to get off my duff and post my answers up here too.
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I don't really like acrylics just because they tend to pill, but to be honest I pretty much just shop for something that catches my eye. I have a bit of a "thing" for Cascade 220 right now. I am a needle snob though. See #19 below.
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I crochet, but I don't spin.
3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Codeine, shellfish, and dogs. The first two don't really have anything to do with knitting, and since I have my own personal dog I take a lot of Claritin.
4. How long have you been knitting?
Since I was about 10 or 11.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No, I don't.
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Things that smell like the ocean or something yummy baking in the oven.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
That would be a BIG YES!!!! I like Hershey bars the best.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
Sewing right now, particularly home decorating type projects. However, the gardening catalogs are starting to pour in and my attention will invariably turn to playing in the dirt.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like lots of music. Particularly R&B/ old-school
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
Orange is my favorite. Mostly though I just like to look at orange, I don’t really wear it or decorate my house in orange. Lately I have a thing with red. It's a good thing.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have a roommate named Kregg, 2 guinea pigs named Cary Grant and Erroll Flynn, and a miniature dachshund named Turbo.
12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes to everything but ponchos.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
Cascade 220!!!
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Nothing, really. Unless it’s really itchy or something.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
hats and purses. I bet I've knitted a half dozen of each in the last 2 months. Some for me, some for gifts.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Skirts. I’ve knitted a bunch of them, and anytime I can’t think of what to wear for a given event I will dig through my stash and whip up a little knitted mini skirt in an afternoon. I knit them in the round with my tried and true inc and dec pattern (written in black ink on a fluorescent green index card and stashed in a pocket of my project bag for handy reference). I’ve got a dozen or so in all sorts of colors and yarns. I even have a few I knitted from fun fur that look great with boots. Some people like to knit a scarf from their leftovers, I like to knit a skirt.
17. What are you knitting right now?
Best Friend from the current knitty
18. Do you like to recieve homemade gifts?
Yes, they are the best kind!
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I use circulars for everything, and I have to admit that I am a needle snob. Inox Express or Addi Turbos are all I use. I just wish they made (or if they do make them, I wish I could find them) dpns too.
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Aluminum all the way.
21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope
22. How did you learn to knit?
A lady that lives in my parents neighborhood taught me when I was a little girl. She actually had a job making knitting patterns for Leisure Arts. Isn’t that cool? I need to ask my mom if Mrs. James is still doing that. One of my grandmothers also taught me some “advanced” knitting stitches, and how to crochet too. She also gets all the credit for my yarn-holding technique.
23. How old is your oldest UFO?
6 months or so.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Dachshunds!
25. What is your favorite holiday?
My birthday. It’s October 28, but I celebrate it the whole month of Kactober.
26. Is there anything that you collect?
Stamps, white matte Haeger pottery, and yarn!
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None, I just buy the ones that look yummy at the bookstore/ LYS. And I get lots of ideas for things I want to make from Lucky Magazine. It’s not a knitting magazine, but they have oodles of cute tops and things that I just know I could make if I ever got over my ADHD and could focus long enough to work out the pattern, go get the yarn, and make the silly thing.
28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
More Turbos!
29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Entrelac and a couple of new cast on's would be good.
30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I'm not a sock knitter, but I wear size 8.5
31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
Kactober (aka October) 28
Airstream
So I have this VW bus, right? I just love it, it's like a mini RV. I spend almost as much time looking at RVs and planning trips in the Santa Maria (my bus) as I do knitting. Some day I will have a bigger RV. When I do get a bigger one it will be an Airstream. Here's the perfect one for me I think.
It's got everything I'd ever need in it, including a
little desk, and I can put in a microwave and I'd be all set. It's too cool. Golly, I could find a little RV park near the beach to park this sweet baby girl and I could use it as a weekend place! Turbo and I would love that.
Podcast
Check out this podcast knit-along. You download the podcast, knit according to the directions in the podcast, and then at the end you find out what you are knitting. How cool is that?
http://www.maschenkunst.de/neue_datei3.html
Training Wheels
For the life of me I can't get this pattern. Actually, I can get the pattern just fine, I just keep forgetting to do what the pattern tells me to do till 1 stitch after I should have done something and I don't realize it till after I've gone on to the next row. I frogged it back 50 million times and my yarn is looking so grubby and used that it's probably going to have to get cut off and thrown away. Grrr. I took some drastic measures, namely putting in a stitch marker at every transistion point on the row. It's overkill, probably, but it forces me to pay attention to what I am doing.
I got my Secret Pal's name today. Woohoo! Yesterday while I was out doing some errands in Santa Cruz I found some cute little cards to mail my pal. I wanted to go to the Yarn Place too, but there was an antique market going on on one street downtown so I went to that instead. It was such a great morning, really. I got up, went to yoga, then went to the spa and sat in a hot tub for an hour and a half, then I got a cup of coffee and hit the antique market, followed by my weekly pilgrimage to Bunny's Shoes. I got a pair of really white-trashy brown clogs to wear with jeans. How hot are these?
Ok, I am going to go work on this damn Best Friend. With friends like this, who needs enemies?
Cookie tins
How cute is this little tin? It came from Walgreens- it was only $1! The cookies that came in it were not especially divine, but the tin is more than worth the buck. It's about 6" across and 2" high.
The cookies really are not all that good. Seriously. But I may go back tomorrow and get another tin. It's the perfect size for toting around in my knitting basket with random notions in it. All the little odd and ends I don't use that often, like the little bobbins for intarsia, elastic, and random bits of yarn and ribbon I seem to accumulate and can't ever get rid of.
I frogged back Best Friend into nothingness twice now. I also started one in the red cashmerino I got in Fresno, made up about 3 inches, and decided my cables looked wonky still. I am seriously wondering if I am going to be such a perfectionist about this that I will never get it finished because either I can't maintain an even tension when I move from a k to a p on the RS, I knit when I should have purled, or what seems most likely- I knit and frog the same yarn so many times it gets dirty and limp and frazzled and is no longer worth knitting a real object with.
Home sweet home
I just got home from Fresno, and although the trip was only 33 hours long it seems like I have been gone for days. Funny how that happens sometimes.
My meeting today ended a couple of hours early so before I hit the road home I was able to go to Ancient Pathways, another yarn store in Fresno. They had arranged all their stuff by color too, and it really is an arrangement I like. I got a couple of balls of yarn- a nice spring green kid mohair, and a sweet blue merino. I have to say now that I have it home it appears a tad more lavender than I had seen in the light at the store. Let me revise that color to periwinkle. I also got these cool little knitting reference cards from
Nancy's Knit Knacks. Here's a picture of everything, including the cable needles and the red cashmerino from yesterday.
I also have a couple of pics from the courtroom. Me on the witness stand. I wanted to sit in the judge's seat, but the projector screen was in the way. The picture was taken with my camera, so pardon the crap.2 megapixels quality.
And finally, a warning not to talk to inmates, under penalty of arrest.
In court
Hey guess what! I am in a courtroom right now. No, not for court
though. My client is actually the California Judicial Branch and the
meeting I am in Fresno to attend is being held in a real court room
today. The screen for our presentation is next to the judge's chair,
people are sitting in the jury seats, at the attorneys tables, and in
the "audience" area. I am in the audience area. All the coffee and
donuts and such are on the bailiff's desk.
It's actually pretty surreal, since although what I do is the computer
side of the court case management systems, I don't ever go to the courts
themselves. I work in the building in San Francisco where the Supreme
Court is located, but I've never been in the court room there. (Governor
Schwarzeneger has an office in my building, btw). Anyway, its a total
novelty for me being here. Gawd, the security involved in getting in
here was even more harsh than the airport. I wasn't allowed to bring in
my coffee, and I had to spread my knitting all out for examination and
they confiscated my folding scissors. Sheesh. They are only a $2 item
and I still have my handy dandy dental floss box for legal yarn cutting
on planes (and in court houses too, it seems) so all is not lost, but
who expects such a thing. They don't do anything like this in my
building in San Francisco and as a result it's always full of hippie
nutcases and protesters and rowdy junkies looking for a public
bathroom.
Anyway, it's pretty darn cool being in court today....
+kac
All the colors of the rainbow
Thanks for the recommendation, Delia. I went to Janna's Needle Arts
today and loved it. They have all their yarns arranged by color, and by
vendor within colors. All the blues are together, all the reds
together, greens together, and so on. I have never been to a store
arranged this way but it makes all the sense in the world! I was
looking for a red yarn and I was able to see all the reds all in one
place and decide if the red-red or the blue-red is what I wanted,
instead of having to wander around the whole store finding pockets of
red wool here, red fun fur there, more red wool over yonder, etc. It
was awesome! The only exception to this was the Debbi Bliss yarns,
which were housed separately, but easy enough to see all in one spot.
Speaking of Debbie Bliss, I bought a ball of pretty valentine-red
cashmerino and two new cable needles. I lost two cable needles
somewhere this week. On the train I suspect, but who knows. I have
been using a darning needle as a cable needle since I lost the last
one. I wonder how long it will take me to lose these?
Oh, I stopped at Casa de Fruta as I went through the Pacheco Pass and
got these tomato and basil flavored almonds. Omigod they are good and I
will be stopping there on the way back to get more.
+kac
there are 3
There are 3 yarn shops in Fresno. Woohoo! I called all three of them, and sadly they all close at 5:30. That means I am only going to have an hour or so to go to a yarn shop, due to work obligations (as much as I'd like to think the real reason for my trip is a junket to visit yarn stores in the Central Valley, it's really for work). If I leave my house by 8:30am I'll roll into Fresno around 11:00 and have time for one shop and some lunch before my 1:00 meeting. I'd try to time it so I can get there earlier, but I have a conference call from 9:30-11:00 anyway, so I may as well be driving when I do that (thank god for cellphone speakerphones). For lack of any real basis for selection, I decided am going to go to
Ancient Pathways simply because they have a website.
I need more yarn like I need a hole in the head, BTW.
Fresno bound
I just found out I am going to Fresno for work tomorrow and Friday. I have never been to Fresno. I wonder if they have any good yarn shops there?
Mom is Hobby Lobby bound
I talked to Mom this morning. She's going to see if they have more of the red fabric today. Yeah! Here's a couple of pictures of the current curtain and the red fabric.
I figured out why I don't like this one anymore:
The brown walls tone down the vibrant pink and green in the fabric, and all you see is burgundy red for days. I don't really like burgundy red (except in a wine glass).
I really like the red....
I think some brown towels and a couple of shelves with some of my white pottery to hold my make up and stuff, and a few random bits and pieces of other knickknacky stuff. Or not. Who knows how it'll end up.
The shower curtain's got to go
The shower curtain I made in October has got to go. I brought a swatch of it to the store with me when I got the paint, and it looked groovy there. On my walls though, the effect makes me think of Early American style for some reason, and that is totally not my thing. Repainting this brown will require several coats of primer I think, so that's just not an option, labor-wise. I'm lazy. I just have to make a new shower curtain is all.
I have a couple of lengths of red floral fabric that I got for a table cloth while I was in Arkansas and I draped that over the rod to see what it looked like. WOW! It's a red with a bit of orange to it, and golly does it look hot! I put a bunch of orange and red things in the bathroom to see how it looks and I definitely have a whole new direction to explore. Full on orange is too garish, but red-orange really pops. So, I will see what I can find fabric-wise this week and I'll whip up something new. Woohoo!
Actually, the red fabric I got in Arkansas looks really swell. I wonder if I could get my mom to go see if they have any more of it at Hobby Lobby and ship it to me....
Here's what I've got so far
Wow. The paint is soooo much darker on the walls than on the paint chip. How many other people painting a room in their home have said that this weekend I wonder? It's definitely Hershey Bar brown, not the pale latte brown I was thinking. It's not so bad though and I am going to live with it for a while to see how it goes. I used to date a really cute surfer with Hershey Bar brown eyes, so if nothing else it will be a nice memory.
Here's a pic of it and the new light fixture.
I installed it all by myself, the first time I have ever done anything like that. It was so easy that I am now seriously mad at myself for not having undertaken replacing crappy lights and ceiling fans that irritated the hell out of me in the past. Literally all you need is a screwdriver and a drill. The drill is just to make the holes for the anchor screws that hold it on the wall. It took 10 minutes, and most of that was spent trying to get the thing out of the mega-taped up packaging.
I'm fairly clumsy so I gashed the shit out of the new paint all around the light fixture while I was installing it and I will have to touch that up. I also have to paint the trim, the door, and the cabinet (all white), and rehang the shower curtain. I'll tackle that after work tomorrow, and probably I'll be done by this time tomorrow night. The room is perfectly functional as is though, so I am going to go take a bath and enjoy the new ambience (and a glass of wine).
Happy New Year!
Milk Chocolate and SP7
I got home from Home Depot just now. There are trees and fences down all over the place! I thought the wind was bad, but I had no clue just how bad. Sheesh. I hope the palm tree in the yard doesn't fall down on the house. It'll smash the house like a toy!
I got a new light fixture, and although it isn't 100% what I wanted, it was $150 less than the one that I really liked. The one I got is about 90% what I wanted, and by the time I have it hanging on the wall I won't remember what the other one looked like. I also swithered over paint colors, moving from red to hot pink to bright green before finally settling on something called Milk Chocolate. It's the color of chocolate milk and it's a good compromise between dramatic color and something neutral.
I am all set to go with Secret Pal 7- woohoo! I am very excited about the snail mail letter requirement this time around. I do so love getting mail, and I can't wait to craft up something on which to write a little note to my Secret Pal...
I'm going to scramble some eggs right now and get down to work on painting. I got the whole A&E Romance DVD collection for the holidays and think I will watch the Scarlet Pimpernel while I paint.
Happy New Year!
I was going to go to the beach this morning to start my New Year off in the place I love most in the world. However, the giant storm pounding Northern California right now made that not such a good idea. Instead I am going to paint my bathroom and put up a new light fixture and mirror. Yeah for new paint! My bathroom is tiny. It will probably take me longer to go to Home Depot and get the paint than it will to actually paint things. The light fixture should be easy to do too, and again it will probably take longer to pick that out than it will to put it up...
Ringing in the New Year with Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet was super swell. I watched the part where Mr. Darcy and Lizzie meet up accidently at Pemberly about 15 times, and felt like the biggest Bridget Jones. I made a good bit of progress on Best Friend and I think I may make another one in some charcoal grey kidsilk haze that's been in my stash forever. I did take a break from knitting for a few minutes to help my roommate's girlfriend put on some false eyelashes before they went out to a big masquerade party in San Francisco. They looked great- Maria made her costume, isn't it awesome?
Ok, I gotta get to the Home Depot- wish me luck picking out a color!
