Bothersome

Something happened at work today that is bothering me to no end. And I know what to do but it is just going to take some time to obtain resolve. The best analogy to what took place would be, I am driving down the freeway at 68 mph and the CHP pulls me over. Yes sir, I was going 68 in a 65 zone, I was speeding, where do you want me to sign? Oh, you are also sighting me because you don't like the way my turn signal flashes? Well where is that acceptable? I will sign the speeding ticket, but hell will freeze over if you think I am signing the other one. When you encounter people that have an elevated power over you and exercise their position of power because they have a personal issue with you, that is plain sad.


On to better subjects, I knitted, washed and blocked the Golf Vest swatch. I am using one of my favorite books, The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd, for the pattern. I am not getting fancy, a little ribbing edging and stockinette. Simple but useful. I am a fan of red as many of you already know, I am pushing on my loved ones too. This is the before mentioned Cascade that is going to get me shunned by my knitting friends. It is a brick heathered red, it will go well with Sensei's golf clubs :)

Obvious Stitches Rookie!

So I went to Stitches this past weekend and WOW I was not prepared! My co-worker Colleen went with me and we both were tired from the walking around. We saw more yarn and fiber than you could possibly imagine in one place. It was more than we could even look at! We ran into some knitting friends that introduced us to some fantastic yarns. Janice had to show me Sea Silk and what a fantastic yarn that was. It was begging me to buy it, but my Stitches budget was not large enough, rookie move number one. My Stitches budget was confined to purchasing a good yarn for Sensei's "golf vest." He is my biggest cheerleader when it comes to my knitting but there are only a few things that he would wear that I can knit for him. I am currently knitting a little navy blue vest for my nephew for his birthday and Sensei noticed a new project and immediately said, I would wear that, it would be my "golf" vest. You see ANY thing with the word golf associated with it is perfectly OK. Example, he has a couple pairs of Dockers pants, they are not his Dockers, they are his "golf pants." He has some sunglasses, they are his golfing glasses. Are you seeing my point? He is a bit obsessed with golf. I am pretty sure that at any given time he knows what town Tiger is located and I am sure that if had the time he would be stalking him too. So back to Stitches, I went there with what I know now was WAY too small of a budget to get some yarn for the "Golf Vest." I didn't think that the Sea Silk was a wise choice for the vest so sadly I had to pass on that. Then I found the Brooks Farm booth and I thought I was in Heaven. The yarns were so nice, BUT, they did not have enough of one color for me to knit the "golf vest." I was starting to run out of options. I believe if I would have been there Friday or Saturday I could have made my small budget purchase at Brooks Farm and it would have been fabulous. Live and learn for next year. Rookie move number two: You do not buy something that you can get readily purchase at your LYS. The only color that I found that would work for his vest and in a sufficient quantity was Cascade 220 Heathers. I know, I know, you don't got to Stitches and buy CASCADE!!!! Like Nita said on her blog about her Stitches moment, I should have my knitters card revoked! However I did come away with some organizational items for my needles and notions, so not all was lost, just nothing picture blog worthy.

I did get today in the mail my new book, Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, I could not be happier. I am excited to start socks, you have no idea. I have enough sock yarn to make at least 3 pair and I don't even know how to knit socks. I even still contemplated buying sock yarn at Stitches with my left over budget money because you know that the Cascade did not set me back that far. But I resisted since I don't have a clue as to what a gusset even looks like. Hello!

Mugsy update:
He is doing better and thank you to all that have sent your well wishes. We had to modify his containment to the crate/cage/jail, whatever you want to call it because he was having MAJOR panic attacks. He was over heating himself, panting and shaking badly. He has plenty of water to cool himself too. But the only thing that has stopped the episodes is to take him out of doggy jail. So during the day now instead of the cage, he is placed in the bathroom (a very little bathroom) with almost no room to turn himself around in with food and wee wee pads for the duration of his vet prescribed containment.

Happy Birthday Princess

Today is my niece C birthday, the princess is 5. She is going to Chucky Cheese for her birthday for pizza, games and large animatron stuffed mice playing instruments. I am sure that she will have a great time. So as you can tell, I am not making the drive to Bakersfield today. I spoke with my brother and they had planned on coming north for our Mimi's (paternal grandmother) birthday March 18th. She is turning 85 and does not travel that much anymore so she does not miss out on C's birthday they are going to have some cake for her to along with Mimi's birthday. In the effort to conserve gas, miles and time, we are going to kill two birds with one stone and see them all the same day March 17th St. Patty's Day (the day before Mimi's B-day.) And I will be armed with a new t-shirt for my niece C that is perfect for that day, it is pink with the word princess printed on the front out of little tinny metallic shamrocks. Which leads me to the best news off all......I now can go to Stitches!!!!! Sunday I will be there at 10am ready to get an eye full of fantastic yarns.



Also, I am so excited about the latest purchase via eBay. At the very highest recommendations from several talented knitters including Lori, I purchased Sensational Knitted Socks at a FANTASTIC price! It should be here any day now. And that is great timing because my Knit Picks order for 2 circulars size 2 and some sock yarn should be here today. I am so excited to join the world of sock knitting. Maybe I will find some sock yarn at Stitches that I can't live without. Oh, wait, I promised R that I would knit him a vest for golfing, oh shoot, I guess I am just going to have to buy more yarn! My list for Stitches will be some red sock yarn (for me, come on, its red right) and washable wool for R's golf vest and some notions that will make my knitting experiance better. I am going to make every effort to stick to the list. At the moment I have two projects for myself, Refined Raglan Interweave Winter 2006 and Lady Eleanor that is keeping quite busy. So I am bringing backup to keep me from buying stuff I don't need at the moment. Wish me luck!!

Back problems

Yesterday morning was not a great start to my day. As I was getting ready for work I noticed that my dog Mugsy was not hanging out as usual, in fact he was not to be seen at all. I went to the bathroom and I spotted him curled up in front of the sink shaking really bad. Shaking like when you have been so cold, chilled to the bone and your teeth chatter and you look like you are having a small seizure, shaking. I called him and he would not come he just stared at me. I went over picked him up and he was tense and shaking and yelped very loud. I placed him on the couch and he yelped even louder and then turned and nipped my hand. I knew that there was something pretty wrong, he never tries to bite anyone. Off to the Vet we went.

An examination and x-rays later the Vet informs me that my dog has 5 bulging discs in his back. He has short legs and a long body and he like to jump up on everything and then jump down, not great on his back for him. And as you can see, we have hardwood floors, not great traction for him either. The Vet gave him a Cortisone shot and then pills for me to feed him daily for a week. This is supposed to help the inflammation in his back. But the worst of his recovery for us is, he has to be in the crate 24 hours a day only to come out to potty 4 times a day and this is going to last 3 weeks.

He is really upset about this, but not as much as we are. But apparently his injuries are so bad the Vet says that he is close to being paralyzed. And his 3 week incarceration is to allow scar tissue to develop between his vertebrae and the spinal cord. So no more jumping on and off things for him.

On to the knitting...

I have casted on for my Refined Raglan from the Winter 2006 InterweaveKnits. This was a bit of a challenge for me because the pattern calls for a Crochet Chain Provisional Cast-on. I have never done that before and I had to pull out my book to learn how to do a crochet chain. But I figured it out and I am excited that I have learned a new technique. I did not do it correctly because when I was ready to pull out the waste yarn, it did not unravel like the directions said it would. I had to pick the yarn out of my live stitches. Well that is because I am an idiot and knitted in to the wrong loop on the crochet chain. I have almost 4" knitted so far, however I am going to make the sweater about 2 inches longer than the pattern calls for. Check out that red, it is THE RED. I am a huge fan of red, its my color. And lets not over look the hemmed bottom, this is the first time I have done that too. I love that edge, it has such a clean simple finish. I am going to try to get this done by the end of March so that I can wear it at least once before it gets to warm.

And I have ordered yarn to make the Log Cabin Blanket for a friend of ours that is having a baby. I just found out last night that she was pregnant and is having a boy in about 6 weeks. She hardly looks pregnant. But now I feel compelled to knit a blanket. I have been wanting to do the Log Cabin, this is a great excuse to start it now.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

It is the year of the pig or boar, it is my Chinese zodiac year. I prefer to say boar, I hate to think of myself as a pig. So let the good luck commence!

One More FO

I really can't believe that I forgot to post the felted clogs that I did for my paternal grandmother who we all call Mimi for Christmas 2006. I sweat over these things. I had never done short rows and a couple other techniques that I learned as I knitted these. I love to over all outcome and wow factor that these get but I have to say, I really did not like knitting these at all. And the worst part about that is both my brothers and their wives all want a pair. Not sure if I can handle that right now. The sad thing is that I want a pair myself, I am just trying to talk someone else into knitting them for me. I will felt them myself and provide the wool and pattern, I just hate knitting that pattern. Any takers?

Happy V-Day to Me!!

I know that it is not Yarn Porn Friday, but I had to share what I got on Valentines Day. My darling boyfriend bought me an Orchid for my desk, I LOVE Orchids. And I got an email from my LYS Purlescense to let me know that the yarn that I ordered with the gift certificate my darling gave me for my birthday came in. So two great things in one day, yea!! You are looking at the start of my first sweater for myself and since it is for me, it had to be red. I am going to knit this sweater from Interweave Knits Winter 2006

I ordered the same yarn that the pattern called for, Plymouth Suri Merino in red, 2055. It is very nice feeling, I can't wait until I cast on this weekend.

Don't Move To Murphy,TX

Let me first state that I am all for protesting when it is for a great cause, labor rights, civil rights, etc.  But to protest a law enforcement operation that is catching pedophiles is mind boggling to me.  I am an admitted TVholic.  I watch to much of it and last night was no exception.  The show Dateline: To Catch a Predator was on our NBC channel last night and from what the show stated it was their 9th operation with local law enforcement.  This is the first time that I have seen a community actually protest the apprehension of pedophiles.  Grown men chatting on the Internet with girls that they think are 12, 13 or 14 years old and in some cases they were looking for young boys show up to a home and are busted for their inappropriate behavior.  I don't know about you, but where can I sign up and offer my house as the base of operation?  Why would anyone have issue with getting these pedophiles off the street?  There is nothing alright about wanting to have sex with a 12-14 year old girl, no matter what age, especially when they are old enough to be their father and even worse, their grandfather.  Shame on the neighbors in Murphy TX, I am hoping that they did not have any children. 

 

But then there are the extreme opposite cases of over protecting your child like the man that I saw on the news last night.  His son was competing in a school wrestling match, he was not winning, his opponent had him pinned.  Then out from no where you see the father of the pinned boy come flying out on the mat and shove the other boy off his son.  What is wrong with you?  Yes, I am speaking to you Super Dad.  It is OK if your son loses.  It is a part of life. I was trying to do some more investigating on the incident prior to running my mouth with my opinion, but why start now? My attempt to find the video on You Tube was fruitless.  But there are still photos on the Internet if you are interested. The father is also a wrestling coach at another school and he along with the weirdos that I spoke of earlier, is no longer going to be allowed around children. 

 

So, this is a knitting blog mostly and I should make note of some knitting progress along with my social rants.  My niece is turning 5 towards the end of the month and I have completed her Turtleneck Shrug.  I will have photos for you after I give it to her.  But this morning I went to Target to get a cute little t-shirt to put under it when I give it to her.  I was circling the racks and came upon a little white shirt with cherries printed in the front in the exact color as the shrug, it was kismet.  When I was holding the shirt up with the shrug placed over it to get the full effect and debating on the size of the shirt and very nice lady was eyeballing my creation.  She had that look in her eye, she wanted to ask me something.  I decided to get the XS and placed the S back on the rack and started toward the check out when she locked eyes with me and asked, "Where did you get that?" I as humble as I possibly could be and full well knowing what she meant asked, "Get what?"  She replied earnestly, "The turtleneck thing."  I replied modestly,  "Oh, this, I knitted it myself."  "How cute", she exclaimed and I thanked her and proceeded to walk to the check out stand with what I thought felt like a little bounce in my step, I am sure for those of you that might have seen me in Target this morning you would claim that it was full blown skipping!

LL

Lions, Tigers, Bears and Colts? Oh My!!

Well the Bears came out strong, but they just couldn't pull it off. I could not care which team won the Super Bowl, honestly. They both had really good reasons to cheer for them. I am just glad that the team with the black coach won! (Just for those of you that don't know me personally, that was me joking and my boyfriend is black. So please save your comments!)

On to knitting... In the effort to journal all my finished objects, here is the bag that I made my sister-in-law Crystal for Christmas 2006. Yes, it is February and guess what, I will have one more once I can get to my friend Irene's to get the photo. I know, I know, you are supposed to take the photo before gifting. I was finishing the thing 10 minutes before I handed it to her. I just got caught up in the excitement. And since I had not made anything for myself as of yet, I decided to create this little number, Rick Rack Bag.
My co-worker Holly reluctantly modeled the bag. Can you see her enthusiasm? Oh and I have made myself a black scarf out of 100% Alpaca, that photo to come later on my FO page.

I went to Purlescense on Sunday for their Super Super Yarn Sale on Super Bowl Sunday. I took advantage of the 20% off and bought 3 Addi Turbo needles that I am going to need when my yarn that I ordered comes in for my first sweater. It is always a fun time when I go in there, it is one of my favorite places to go and knit. You can always see someone that you know and have the opportunity to meet new gifted knitters too! After my stint at the yarn store, I came home to care for my sick boyfriend Sensei. He was battling a really bad cold. I made some snack type food, Super Bowl food you know. We had mini pizzas, turkey sandwiches and homemade salsa. Yes, I made salsa and guess what I learned? A little orange habenarro pepper goes A LONG WAY!! I knew it was hot, but I didn't realize that it would take the skin off my lips. I had to add more and more tomatoes and such to thin out the fire that was brewing in the salsa. When it was all said and done, I had made a fantastic salsa, we'll be eating salsa with everything for a month. I had to have made about a gallon of salsa, no lie.

Backwards...magic!

I was at my usual knitting hang out, Purlescense on Wednesday night with big plans to get some serious knitting completed. One project that I had to get started was the Turtleneck Shrug in the Scarf Style book by Teva Durham. My niece is turning 5 this February and I thought that it would look adorable on her, smaller scale of course. So I had to buy some dpn's to start the sleeves, I am not proficient with dpn's at all!! So after the third time of trying to get that started I threw the yarn and needles in my bag and grumbled loudly. Absolutely frustrated with the situation, I picked up my Lady Eleanor to get more of that complete so I could show some progress. But the Lady Eleanor is not 100% fun to knit because you have to turn your work after every 8 stitches. After huffing every time I was turning my project, Nathania peeked up over her knitting and said that she could show me how to knit backward. Backward you say? I was intrigued, nervous but excited at the thought of not having to flip this thing back and forth. So of course I quickly gathered up my yarn and shuffled over to a seat next to her where she imparted her knowledge of backward knitting, and it was truly magical to me! Thanks Nathania, my needles and yarn thank you too for not getting tangled anymore.

I am not one to just give up easily, so when I got home and curled up in bed with my dog, yes that is him, isn't he cute? I tackled the dpns again and won this round. I finally got a few rows the sleeve knitted. This has been a challenge for my, but I think in the long run, it will be worth it. Besides, I think every 5 year old girl should have a bright pink turtleneck shrug!

Purl?

Tomorrow is my brother Kelly's birthday and as usual Lisa style I am late with everything and his present is no exception. I started this hat Monday night and I have finished it today on my lunch hour. So I am going to rush to the post office directly after work to get it post marked today and he will have to just get it one day late! See my FO page for the details.

And as you can see, the newest addition to the knitting crew, my laptop. I think I will have to name it, we have already bonded. It has a pearl color to it, maybe I should just call it Purl?!?!

In other knitting news, I have finally casted on for my Lady Eleanor Stole. Here are a couple of progress shots. I am into my 3rd ball of Noro Silk Garden now.

Karma

Apparently we have been nice to someone in this lifetime because we have had the good fortune of coming into a brand new laptop. This thing is amazing!! I have never owned a laptop, I have used them, but never had the fortune to own it. I must say that this is very exiting for me, I feel so Carrie Bradshaw sitting here in the coffee shop and blogging right now to you all. I know that having this laptop will change my life in many ways, hopefully it will be for the good and I won't want to throw it across the room at a moments notice. I will say that I am a bit concerned of the stability of the portable computer after reading so many of the Yarn Harlots issues with her laptop. But I am going to keep my fingers crossed and baby this electronic life changer and hope for the best!! I will be posting photos very soon, I know I have been saying that for a bit, but now that I have this electronic jewel, it will be easier for me to blog and post photos, yea!!!!

Unfinished things

I got an email today from a co-worker, she forwarded me a joke of sorts that just struck me funny. So I  thought that I would share it with you.

 

Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace
is to finish all the things you've started and never
finished."

    So, I looked around my house to see all the things
I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the
house this morning, I finished off a Bottle of Merlot,
a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Booker's
bourbon, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the
remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of
the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of Godiva

Chocolates.

    You have no idea how friggin' good I feel.

    Please pass this on to those you feel might be in
need of inner peace.

 

I am feeling like I need some inner peace right now, maybe I should look for some unfinished things in my house.  Oh wait, I know what is unfinished, Ursula, the yellow baby blanket.  And I supposedly have only 3 days left to finish her.  I just want you to know that I am officially off the hook on having the blanket done on time.  I was approached by a manager here at my place of work and was asked to work in another department this Saturday for 10 hours of OT.  I am already an idiot for trying to complete that blanket in such a short time, I would have been a certifiable idiot if I passed up 10 hours of OT!!  So I will not be attending the baby shower this Saturday and I will be at peace with finishing the blanket gradually but prior to the birth.  Can someone give me an Om mani padme hum or Amen, which ever you prefer?

 

Speaking of finishing what you have started; this month I have decided that I was going to start and finish the Monthly Dish Cloth patterns that I get from the group that I belong to.  I have been a member for about 4 months, they have 2 patterns a month and have only finished one.  Everyday I get emailed to me 10 lines of the pattern, 10 lines only and I still couldn't complete one.  So this month I am making up for my slacker ways, I casted on for 2 and will have them done at the same time.  In all honesty, 10 rows of knitting on a dishcloth is not that much, so there is no reason that I couldn't get 2 done.

 

On another note, I again have been sucked up into the American Idol craze.  I watched last nights show and I just have to say, some mothers should invoke a little bit of tough love on their kids.  I know we all should support our children in what ever they want to do, but to allow your child to audition for a show that you know full well that they humiliate those without talent is not doing your tone deaf child a favor.  Some of those people really can't understand why there were not chosen, they are a taco short of a combo plate and then prove it to the world when they leave the audition room.  Enough said. 

 

Another Christmas Present

I finallay was able to give my best friend Gina her Clapotis that I knitted. Since we were not able to see eachother during or before Christmas I was able to finish it up after Christmas and I gave it to her This past week. I don't have one of the Clapotis with her wearing it, so the blocking photos will have to do. Maybe I can get her to model it and post that. Well see.

Anyone know a good trained monkey?

In 5 days time, I have knitted only about 6 1/2 inches of what should be about a 30" baby blanket. I am not known for my math skills so much, but a blind deaf monkey could tell you that there is NO WAY that I will have this blanket knitted by Saturday January 20th. I would have to knit at least 6 inches of blanket a day to come even close and I would still be binding off in the car out side the party. I measured my gauge and figured out that there are 8 rows in one inch. There is no light at the end of this tunnel. I just hope that my friend Ursula doesn't stab herself with the knitting needles when she opens this unfinished seed stitch and cabled blanket from no where pleasant. And I am sure you are asking your self, "Why would she knit a yellow blanket?" Well there is a great answer for that, she does not know what she is having and she decided that the bumble bee pattern at the baby store was too cute to pass up, so she is going to have a yellow blanket and I am NEVER knitting ANYTHING yellow again as long as I live. *grin*

Christmas gifts as promised...

Here are only a few of the gifts that I knitted this season for Christmas.
Cody's Brown Skull Cap
Caitlin's Felted Purse
Mom's Irish Hiking Scarf

Ok, I have to get home, I am running late (sounds familiar right?) and I have to get dinner cooked. More to come in the next couple of days!

Happy New Year? Late...

I know, I am late with the Happy New Year exclamation, but I am always late to everything. I wouldn't want to do something on time and have the earth suddenly stop rotating the sun now would I? For example, I was late to work to day, I waltzed in at 10am with a hardy "Good Morning" to everyone, sat down at my desk and started to write my blog. Please, no worries about me completing my duties today, piece of cake! But completing my knitting projects on time, that is another story.

As I had said before I received my yellow yarn for the baby blanket that I need to knit for a girlfriend of mine. Tuesday I casted on to size 7 needles 230 stitches. Yes, 230!! Then after finishing the border I realized that I miscalculated the number of stitches and had to quickly rearrange the pattern to make it work because I certainly was not going to frog the 20 rows that I had just completed, I have a deadline. As Tim Gunn would say on Project Runway, "Make it work!" So I tried. And the more I knitted the blanket the more I was unhappy with it and over lunch I mentioned to my co-worker Colleen (no, not my mom) that I thought my friends baby shower was coming up and that I had to kick it in high gear. No sooner than I said that, she called to get my mailing address and informed me that the shower was January 20th. Now I am in a bind. Do I continue with the blanket as is and not be remotely satisfied with it or do I frog it and start over? You see the problem is that I was making a ribbed/cabled blanket with a seed stitch border and after knitting 20 rows it looked to loose and I am a tight knitter naturally. So I did what some would think as unfathomable, knitters would say, that is life, I FROGGED IT! I just can't gift something that I am not happy with. I have already broke one of my New Year's Resolutions, No knitting deadlines. Today is January 11 and I have as of 11:45am casted on my size 6 needles 220 stitches and have completed 4 rows of knitting. I am hoping to get at least 3 or 4 rows done at lunch and tomorrow I will let you know how late I stay up tonight knitting. Photos of Christmas knitting to come, I promise and progress on the yellow baby blanket that we will call Ursula too.

Santa was good to me

Ok, I guess that I don't know how to blog via email because I wrote this on December 29th, 2006!!

I hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or what ever holiday that you celebrate at this time of year. Santa was pretty good to me this year, I was very surprised. There was minimal family drama, oh come on, you can't expect the holiday season to come around and have NO DRAMA (insert Mary J Blige song.) I am writing the family edited edition of this blog entry, hehehehe.
Sensei and I went to my Mimi's house for the Christmas weekend with Mugsy in tow. She is a real dog lover and she enjoys spoiling him to death, so much so that he got a little sick in the middle of the night on the bed. Merry Christmas to me.
Christmas day was spent over at my brothers house with his family. My nephew Cody is now 14, I can't believe it. He is a very talented artist. He plays the guitar and can hear music and repeat it after a few minutes of picking it out on the strings. He was playing chords of a song over and over and I thought that I recognized the tune so I asked him if he was playing "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones and he said yes. I then told him that he was playing it to fast and he informed me that he was playing the cover version from his favorite band. Then he smartly showed me that he new the correct tempo of the song. He couldn't believe that I knew that song, I think I earned "Cool Aunt" points with him. While I was there at the house for Christmas I knitted him a second Skull Cap, London Beanie, Head Hugger, which ever name you prefer, in a superwash wool brown in color. If my music knowledge didn't impress him, I know that knitting him that hat while I was there did. I gave it to him and I got a "COOL" out of him and then he went to skate board.
Tonight Sensei and I are heading to "The Streets of Bakersfield" (I know another song), to visit with my little brother and his family and exchange gifts. I can't wait to see the look on my niece's face when she opens up her present and sees the little felted purple purse that I made her. I think she is going to love it. Besides having Christmas with my little brothers family we are going to play golf with him and my cousin tomorrow morning, 7am!! When am I going to get a day to sleep in?? But this is just another opportunity to beat Sensei at golf again. Now my little brother, no way I can beat him, but Sensei is within my reach still.
Now on to knitting news...
I have attempted to cast on for my Lady Eleanor Stole 3 times!!! Yes, you read that right, 3 times. I have never done entralac and I thought that I was doing something wrong because it looked horrible, the base triangles looked like cornucopias, there was no way that this could have been right. Last night at Social Knitting I describing what a dork I was with the LE and one of the lady's told me that I had it right and it would straighten out after a couple of tiers were knitted. WOW, did I feel even worse. So I am going to have to try it again. But the good news is that the yellow yarn that I wanted to knit a baby blanket for a girlfriend of mine came in yesterday. So this weekend I will be casting on to swatch for the blanket because I am going to use my new book on cables to make the blanket.

Ok, I have rambled on and on and I know that this was not very entertaining, but I am sure that you will get over it soon. Have a safe and Happy New Year!!

Whew that was close...

Yesterday ended up being a good day for me. It was my birthday. Lately I have not been a fan of getting older and yesterday was no exception, however it was an event filled day to say the least. It started with Sensei and I waking up to go to work, not a mention of Happy Birthday from him. I couldn't believe it!! My mother calls to wish me a Happy Birthday and I missed her call. Sensei called to sing Happy Birthday to me and I missed that call too. So I am in the car in front of the house letting it warm up and I listen to my messages. I proceed to call Sensei and we chat as I now drive away from the house. I then try to return my mothers call and she doesn't answer the phone. I am now on the freeway going to work and listening to the radio, Adam Corolla has Hootie and the Blowfish in studio doing an interview, I love Hootie and the Blowfish. I am zipping along enjoying the radio show and look down to notice that I was going about 80 mph. I am in a 65 mph zone, I said to myself, I need to slow down, I would hate to get a ticket on my birthday! Then 2 things happen at the same time, I look in my back mirror and notice a shiny black and white CHP car 2 cars behind me, but still in FULL view of my speeding Honda Accord and my mother is now ringing my cell phone. I drop speed immediately and pick up the phone. I inform her that I believe that I have narrowly escaped getting a speeding ticket just now and that if I had gotten pulled over that there was no way that I would get a ticket IT'S MY BIRTHDAY. Besides I could talk my way out of it right? So we go on chatting for just another minute and the CHP has now made a move on me, he is right behind me. I signal over, I am thinking that he has some where to go, some bad people to bust. But sadly, he then pulls even with me and looks right at me grabs his seat belt pulls it forward and mouths something along the lines of "did you forget your seat belt?" but it was with a bit of irritation. I then gave him the academy award winning dumb struck look, smiled sweetly and put my seat belt on. I will not be getting the Oscar, he pulled behind me and lit up the lights and pulled me over, on MY BIRTHDAY!!! He gets out of the car and I roll down the window and the conversation went like this:

Officer: You know I pulled you over because you were not wearing your seat belt.

Me: Yes, I know, I am sorry but it is MY BIRTHDAY and I was on the phone with my mom and she was wishing me a Happy Birthday.

Officer: Well that is no excuse and besides you were not on the phone with your mother the entire time. (this is when I figured out that he caught me speeding and was pacing me to give me the ticket, he had been watching me but I slowed down.)

Me: Your right but I had been getting calls since I got in the car and it just slipped my mind.

Officer: I need to see your license and registration.

So I pulled out my registration and got my wallet out. Now my wallet has the trump card if my birthday will not get me off. So I slid my license out and exposed what was hiding behind my license. I would love to say, but since this is a public forum, I should really not expose the exact contents of what is behind my license so that I may protect the innocent. I then prop the wallet open on top of my knitting bag in full view of the officer so that he may glance at it. He did. This is how the event ended...

Officer: Is that your husband or your father?

Me: No that is my brother, he is a Sergent Detective in _______________________.

Officer: Where is that?

Me: It is south east of Fresno.

Officer: Ok, well you really need to be wearing your seat belt at all times.

Me: I understand and I usually do:

Officer: Tell your brother that the CHP rocks! (no lie, he really said that.)

Me: I will, thank you very much.

Officer: Drive safe.

Yes, I didn't get the ticket. Whew!! I called my brother and thanked him for my birthday gift, he said he didn't get me anything and I said thank you for being a police officer, that was gift enough for me!

When I arrived at work this is what I saw...

I got the book of cables that I really really wanted. Thanks Holly!! And a tray of sugar cookies and teas from Jackie, they were yummy too.

After work I went to my favorite yarn store, Purlescense to get some more knitting done before I was off to dinner with Sensei. When I came in Chloe came over and handed me a large envelope that had a gift certificate from Sensei. What a surprise. It was fantastic that he thought to do that, support my yarn addiction, hehehehehe. So Chloe and Nathania are going to be on the look our for the perfect red yarn to make me my first sweater.

Also, I have posted the photos of the Red Felted Tote on my Finished Objects page. I must update that too, because I have many more finished objects that that.

Also, here is the photo of the great things that I have received from my Secret pal in Illinois.

She really has gotten to know me and has really read my blog and it is evident by they things that she has given me, my love of cables and purses, she got me a cabled purse pattern with all the tools need to make it, it was great!

A flower a day...

Will keep the frown away :)

Here is the orchid of the day, that is right, no knitting pictures just yet. I thought that I would go with a classic looking orchid this time.

More of Gma's 80th B-day...

As promised, the lady in the middle is my 80 year young grandmother Jalaine with her two older sisters, Wilma on the left and Beth on the right. My grandmother is the baby of six kids. She had a great time as you can see.

And this is the Clapotis that I knitted and presented to her for her birthday. It is obviously blocking in this photo. But the funny part about the blocking process is that I had to get a box and pins from my grandmother in order to block it at my other grandmothers house because she didn't have any thing I could use. So the Clapotis spent the week blocking in my Mimi's spare room until I could get back down there to gift wrap the wrap. Since I did not have the Clapotis to wrap, I had to find something clever to use to wrap it in that would take only a couple of minutes, see the wine box with the hot pink and purple wavy stripes on the right of her? Clever huh? And to the left of her is the largest wicker basket ever and it is full of yarn for her to crochet her heart out that my mom and uncle gave her. So I have gone full circle with the Clapotis from cast on to birthday gift.










My humble contribution to the party was the table decorations. I decided to make orchid arrangements (surprise surprise?!) with curly willow branches. The photo does not show the curly willow that well, but trust me its there. However it is also an interesting photo of my great aunt Wilma and my 2 year old nephew Josiah. I put rocks and fake water in the skinny vases, I had a really good time making them, 12 of them in all. From the photo here you can see that she thought they were real and had real water in them. Grandma passed them out to her guests when the party was over. She was so happy with them that she wants to make some other arrangements similar to these. So I promised that I would come down after the Holidays and we would go to Michaels and purchase everything and spend the day making silk arrangements.

Desktop Photo

Isn't this a fantastic looking orchid specimen? I loved it so much that it is my new computer desktop background photo.

Monthly Dishcloth KAL

I absolutly forgot to mention that I joined the Monthly Dishcloth KAL. I am so excited. We started a new dishcloth this past Friday, December 1st and I got my first 10 rows done that day. But since I had to travel over the weekend and help with my G'mas 80th b-day party I have not gotten a chance to get day 2, 3 or 4 knitted yet. So I am way behind. I have a feeling I will be caught up by this evening. I plan on getting a few rows done at lunch. Wow, it is lunch time now, got to go knit!

Spelling lesson

Since I can't post any photos of my completed knitting because they are Christmas gifts for some people that read this blog, I thought that I would share my love of Orchids. Here is your Orchid for the day, maybe I will make this a routine in my blog. And yes Mom, your gift is finally finished! I finished it last night while watching TV. And when I have not torchered myself enough, I started my best friend Irene's gift this morning. And later today I am going to be casting on for my boyfriends knitted cap that he requested. Seems that his head gets cold when he goes out to golf in the morning. So I have a brown colored yarn to match his brown golf shoes.

Family news, my maternal grandmother turned 80 this past Saturday. We had a very nice party for her with lots of friends and family in attendance. I think I have mentioned that she crochets, well my mother and her brother bought my g'ma (grandmother) the largest wicker laundry basket that Michaels sells and FILLED it with yarn. I mean lots of yarn. From what I heard, I didn't count them, there were about 58 skiens of yarn. So we all have put in orders for aphgans. Get to hooking g'ma! (OH, I don't think that sounded right, hehehehe) I will down load the photos of my very young 80 year old g'ma for you all to see. I would hope that I look just half as good as she does when I turn 80!

Some of you know this but for the others of you that don't, I was a cheerleader for about 10 years in my younger days, much younger days. And I have a little cheer for you all that I did on Saturday. Here goes...

U-C-L-A (insert pumping fist in the air) RAH RAH RAH !!!

I am sooooo happy that USC lost on Saturday. It was fantastic!!! And if you know me or have ever read part of my blog, you know that I am a HUGE Notre Dame Fighting Irish fan. So ANYONE that beats USC I am a fan of. But I do have a warm spot in my heart for UCLA anyway, my father was a UCLA fan. Which leads me to a story (totally unintentional) unrelated to college football, but it is sort of funny and shows what a real dork that I am.

I am not sure what year this took place but I was not very old, could speak well and had learned to spell some very simple words. So my dad gets tickets to the UCLA basketball game and we go to his mothers house in Panorama City for the weekend. I, being a daddy's girl and wanted to do EVERYTHING that he did, I begged him to take me. He obviously could not because he didn't have an extra ticket and UCLA basketball games were selling out during that period of time. But my dad always liked to play a joke on you and have a little laugh, so he tells me, "If you can spell UCLA, I will let you go to the game." He asked this because he knew I would fail. But I gave it my best... "Y-O-U, S-E-E," then I was stuck, and with my best puckered lip and wattery eyes, I said, "Daddy, how do you spell L?" He laughed and hugged me and said that he would see me after the game. When he got back, he gave me a UCLA key chain showing me how it is really spelled or I guess not spelled. I don't have the keychain anymore, but I still remember that night.

Why do we care?

With the condition that the world is in these days, I don't understand why Britney Spears and Paris Hilton now being "Best Friends" is such breaking news. I understand that we sometimes need a break from tense and emotional situations and a bit of entertainment is in order. Go see Casino Royale, quit caring about Britney Spears, Ooops I Did It Again!

Now on to knitting news....
I can't seem to get my moms Christmas gift quite finished. I need some uninterrupted knitting time to finish it off. And then I can concentrate on the other million knitting projects that have to be done by December 23rd and I have to still block these things too. I have to finish my best friends gift, I have not picked that up in about 3 weeks. But I am finding myself searching out cable patterns now; I think I am hooked on cables now. Anything that has cables catches my eye. I was at the grocery store last night getting a couple of things for dinner and while at the check stand I see this small booklet of knitting patterns for babies. I was intrigued so I picked it up and thumbed through it and pass by a little cabled cardigan, so of course I bought the booklet, it had cables in it!