My weekend in photos

SATURDAY
I went to San Francisco and met my mom, older brother the cop, sister-in-law and my nephew at Lefty O'douls in Union Square for lunch, drinks and college football games on TV. Giving a big shout out to Fresno State beating UCLA and an even bigger shout out to Notre Dame beating Purdue. Way to go Irish!!! Since the Irish won, that started the weekend off on a good note.

Then my family went to the Dodger vs Giants game and sat in my companies Club Level Seats while a co-worker and I sat in other seats at the park.

This is my family, right to left, mom, brother, nephew and sister-in-law.

In all the times that I have sat in those seats I have never gotten a chance to see a celebrity, but they did... Steve Perry.

So my sister-in-law snapped this from her seat about 10 seats away

Steve Perry (former lead singer of Journey) was very nice to my family and signed autographs and seemed happy to chat, he just didn't want to pose for a picture, something about he had a year left, yada yada yada. Not sure what that was all about. But my co-worker and I sitting in the lower box seats on the right side of the field did get to see Vida Blue, you have to be BIG baseball fans to know who he is, but this is him...

Yes, I Kinneared him. It was too late to get a picture and autograph with him, so this is the best that I could do.

SUNDAY

Sensei and I were guests of Mazda at the AMA Superbike races at Laguna Seca. Getting these passes was good timing, it was Sensei's birthday too!

This pass is what I like to call, "Ain't no where here you are gonna get denied access Pass," or as Sensei liked to call it, "I AM the shit Pass!"

The suite was located on Pit Row, stocked full of food and drinks gratis. There was indoor seating with 3 TV's showing parts of the track not visible from where we were and then outdoor seating looking onto the track. I met some Mazda factory people, good people to know, because I scored this for Sensei and I...

Yes, that is me in the Official Pace Car and the driver took me around the track going REALLY REALLY fast. It was the most awesome experience I have EVER had. Sensei loved it as you can see...

He said that this was the best birthday he ever had.

The bikes were going speeds of about 180 mph in the straight aways. This link will show all the pictures at Laguna Seca if you are interested in seeing more.

Just a Thursday night in San Francisco

So last night my friend Juanita (fabulous singer) and I went to San Francisco because I called in and won tickets to the annual Alice 97.3 karaoke contest at Ruby Skye. I blogged about it here and to be honest, when I blogged about it, Juanita was the first person I thought of to go with. We headed north after work, found the place, parked the car and got something to eat a Max's and then proceeded to the event. After watching several people, some scared, some drunk, some tone deaf and think that they are the next best thing and then some, well all I can say is-bless their hearts they tried. Then this happened...

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The crowd went wild, no other person got that great of a reaction, the night was GREAT!! Yay Juanita!!!

So you think you can sing?

I know that I can not sing, that is for sure. Just because I can't carry a tune to save my life does not mean that I don't still sing, just ask Sensei. However, I like to see others sing, those who sing well and those who are train wrecks. Yes, I am referring to karaoke. Never would I be able to drink enough to get up the nerve to participate, but I won tickets to a huge karaoke event at Ruby Skye in San Francisco hosted by Alice 97.3. The winner of the event receives $1000!!! The contest is Thursday, September 25th, so if you think you can bring out your inner Diva and have the attitude and the pipes to get on the Ruby Skye stage and want to compete, contact me and the second ticket is yours. I will be there to cheer you on! Besides, you can win a $1000, Stitches is coming soon, that can buy a whole lot of yarn!!!

Pattern: Helena

Source: Knitty Summer 2008

Size: 2 yr old

Materials: Rowan Wool Cotton in Clear colorway

Amount: 4 balls (615 yrds)

Needles: 4.0mm/US 6

Start Date: August 31, 2008

Finish Date: September 12, 2008

A co-worker of mine has been trying for a baby for years only after learning that they were unable to conceive, they were graced with the opportunity to adopt a young unwed girl's baby. Alicyn Kate was born in February 2008. I knit an infant hat for my co-worker for the baby with a promise of something bigger later. Well, this is the "bigger later."

Helena from Knitty Summer 2008 will be my “go to” baby/toddler sweater pattern from now on, it is a great pattern. I opted to do buttons instead of ties. Rowan Wool Cotton is a GREAT baby yarn, it show great stitch definition, supper soft and it is machine washable (gentle in cold water.) Baby's mother only request was that it was an icy blue color to match her babies eyes. Hopefully when the weather turns colder, baby will have grown enough to wear the cardigan this winter. I will be sure to get action shots then.

Now to non-knitting news....

I cut my hair! Cutting my hair is sort of a big deal. I am not that disciplined in several areas of my life and keeping my hair styled and cut is one of them. So enjoy it while you can! I did not dye it, just cut, but it does look a bit darker than usual. I have had mixed reviews from friends, mostly in the "Love it " column.

These pictures are of the second day after the cut. It is much shorter in the back than the front and I chose to get some heavy bangs this time. It has been years since I had bangs, we are talking early 1990's.

Ok, later this week, more knitting... I am seeing lots of blue in my future!

Rock the Casbah

Pattern: Basic Sock
Materials: Handmaiden Fine Yarn Casbah Sock in Ebony
Amount: 1 Hank (355 yards)
Needles: 2.5mm
Start Date: July 9, 2008 (I think)
Finish Date: August 9, 2008 (I think)

This yarn is WONDERFUL! If you have a chance, I would highly recommend picking up a hank and making yourself some socks. Who doesn’t want a little (or a lot) of cashmere on their feet? The colors are rich and beautiful in each hank of yarn made up of 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon.

The yardage is the only issue that I have with this yarn. It is a decent yardage, but since my feet are large (size 9 – 10 depending on the shoe) and I like about 6-7” from cuff to start of heel flap, I opted for a basic plain sock. If I had tried to make a sock with a stitch pattern, I would have had to severely shorten the cuff/leg. It made for nice mindless knitting. I thought about calling these my DMV socks. I process DMV paperwork for two different car dealerships and I have a standing Thursday appointment at the local DMV office where sometimes I am waiting for long periods of time for my turn. My appointments are an hour long also, so that gives me some good knitting time; not to mention stress relieving due to the nature of DMV.

For these socks, I cast on 68 sts, knit 2x2 ribbing for 1”. The 68 sts is because I have thick calves, I decreased 4 sts at the top of my ankle so that it would not be baggy. I opted for a slip stitch heel flap and when I got to the gusset decreases, I decreased down to 64 stitches on the foot, and fished with a standard toe.

I have knit several socks; these are the MOST comfortable socks that I have made hands down. There are a couple more hanks of this yarn in my stash (they are not listed on my stash page on Ravelry) and I am looking forward to knitting them up to add to my collection of socks.

And I must give a huge Congratulation to my friend Janice Kang (bogiebogie) for her new sock design Baroque in the Fall 2008 Knitty. Janice is a fantastic designer/knitter and I am glad that I get to hang out with her at social knitting and especially Stitches West every year because she finds all the great stuff! Right Janice?? Oh and rumor has it, she can sing backup vocals pretty good too! :)