On a Mission

Some of you may know already that I have two brothers, one older brother who is a Sergeant Detective in the Central Valley (related story here) and a younger brother who is a youth minister. For those of you that were entertained by the movie Bad Boys and Will Smiths character, my brother is a real Detective Lowery! Anyway, this entry is actually about the my younger brother who is referred to by his youth group as PK (Pastor Kelly.) Back in July PK took several of his youth group members and his wife to Zimbabwe, Africa on a missions trip. They took hours of video and have put together a little sample of what they experienced and what they had to offer to the children of Zimbabwe. The video takes a little bit to buffer but is worth a look. Click on this link and then you will see three different videos of each missions trip, the Africa trip is the second one. I am very proud of my brother both professionally and as a family man. I was 6 when he was born so I watched him grow up into quite an extraordinary man. I think my father would have been very proud of him.

I Love Lucy and so does Little Bunny Foo Foo

Ahh the details I promised. Well let me first of say, I Love To Knit Socks! I was not sure that I would, but I am a girl that will try anything at least once. Ask my friend Gina, no wait, she has pictures...

Pattern: Sensational Knitted Socks, Slip Stitch Rib

Size: My big foot

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks That Rock

Color: Little Bunny Foo Foo

Needles: Addi Lace US 1

Started: Easter Weekend

Finished: 8:20pm 8-13-07

I am long winded, fair warning. Ok, it does not take that long to knit a pair of socks. I will explain. I got the yarn along with other sock yarn prior to me learning the fabulous world of socks. Everyone has been telling me it is magical, Harry Potter and shit like that. Well behold my Dumbledore, it is magical. You turn that heel and scratch your head and there it is. So I am ALL about socks right now.

My first sock of the pair is when I learned long tail cast on, which will explain my difficulty with the second sock. I went round and round and round until I got the cuff as long as I thought it should be with out "running out of yarn." I would do a few rounds and put the cuff away, then pick it back up in a week or so when I felt guilty. Now the cuff was long enough, I read my book, LOVE THE BOOK, and it says to knit a heel flap, I did. And it was a bit too long, but that is ok, a learning experience. Then came the magic of the heel turn. I was not sure what I was doing was correct so I went to my friend Colleens house for her assistance. (Ironic thing about that is, I taught her how to knit. She started socks before me and got the whole thing down, so she held my hand so to speak.) After the turn, you know the drill, pick up stitches, I knew how to do that from the Lady Eleanor that I knit, and then the gusset decreases. Well, I screwed them up royally because after only about 8 or 10 rounds I was done with the decreases, ummm not good. So I frogged back to where I picked up stitches and re-read the pattern where it said to knit one round between the decrease rounds! Wow, isn't it amazing what you learn when you actually READ the pattern instead of GLANCING at the pattern? Yada Yada Yada, toe decreases. I did not pay close attention again at the pattern, I was just so excited that I was almost done that I did decreases every round AGAIN. But I was not going back, I had gone that far, I was almost done, screw that, move on! Then its kitchener time. Now I had never kitchenered before, I liked the look if it, was a bit scared of the LONG directions and my lack of wanting to read any directions, I did the only reasonable thing, I had Colleen read me the directions step by step so I would not mess it up like I had other sections of the sock. And BAM...my first sock was done. I was so happy, the monkey was off my back, I wore it around the house. I sat there and waited for Sensei to compliment me on my fabulous sock, I would dangle my leg off the couch, stretch and then I got, "do you realize that you only have one sock on?"

Me: Yes, I just finished it tonight, isn't it great?

Sensei: Uh, yeah? But there is only one.

Me: Don't burst my bubble!

Sensei: So when are you going to finish the other one?

Me: $^!&

So now that monkey was on my back again to finish the pair. Made some rules for myself, lets not make the same mistakes in the second one as you did in the first. Broke that rule right off the bat. Remember when I said that I had just learned the long tail cast-on? Cast on, round and round, cuff now is the same length. I was invited to Cindy's house on Sunday for her birthday knit party. It was great. We had wine, food, wine, my homemade salsa, wine, cake, wine. Cindy collects wines and has quite a large assortment, I am not complaining. We had some Pinot Noir, Petite Syrah (my personal favorite if you are ever needing a reason to know) there were Cabernet's and Zinfandel's. And I start the heel flap. After about 6 rows, I look down and started laughing, I was knitting the heel flap inside out. I think that the company and the food was so good that I just didn't notice, others blame the grapes, I would never. So I tear out the heel flap and start over. After I gathered my composure I began the heel flap again. At that point, Cindy says, "Hey, you and Hannah are both on the second sock of your first pair of socks, you should both race to see who finishes first." Great Cindy, I just started my heel flap for my size 10 foot and cute little Hannah the sheep has done her heel turn and was picking up stitches, did I mention Little Hannah? She wears a size 4-1/2! She has such a lead on me that it is not even funny. Then Cindy says the magic words, " I will buy the winner a margarita" We'll bring it on honey! I love adult beverages. My concentration was fierce. I was knitting like a woman on a mission, I had a date with Don Julio. Come on, it was for a margarita.

Hannah actually had me a bit scared cause she started to get real serious about her knitting, her speed increased, she started to not participate in conversation and her foot is half the size of mine. This race was real. The trash talking was starting. She started to get help from the attendees, Janice, Cookie, Kristi, anyone that looked her way. I nipped that in the bud, "No published knitter may help out!" So that put Janice, Cookie and Nathania out, but Kristi informed me that she was not published so she didn't count.

I know I am getting long winded, and I need to get to the part of how I explain the title of this post. Round and Round I was up until midnight Sunday night. Monday, I knitted every opportunity I had, I got to the dojo and I told Sensei, "don't bother me, I have to win" I sat there and was not yet at the toe decreases and I looked down to find a TINY amount of yarn. Yes, a tiny amount. It hit me, I am going to run out of yarn. Now Hannah has been calling me, this being Monday, it started at 8:03am with a message that said, "where are you on your sock?" Then there was something about me being a loser and I was going down. At that moment I did think I was going down like yarn supply I was looking at and I had not started the toe yet, actually I was not close to starting the toe. I called Cindy in a panic, she was on her way to the dojo to pick up her daughter and I told her that I was going to run out of yarn. Why did I run out of yarn? Remember an hour ago when I said that I just learned the long tail cast-on? I wasted a lot of yarn in the cast on. And it looks like had I not messed up the cast on length, I would not have needed more yarn. In through the dojo door walks Cindy and a small bag of sock yarn to rescue me. I open it up and there it is, Little Bunny Foo Foo's first cousin Lucy. Lucy is blue version of Little Bunny Foo Foo. I knit until I ran out of my yarn and then added Lucy to the sock. I only ended up needing about 10 rows of the toe plus kitchener of the Lucy yarn. So one sock has a little blue toe. Socks were finished and photographed for proof of completion at 8:30pm Monday night 8-13-07. I have worn these socks for two nights in a row around the house and to bed, they have their faults and issues but I love them anyway. I took them off this morning and laid them on the couch when I was going to get ready for work. My plan was to wash them this morning and take them to knitting tonight. Sensei came home from work while I was getting ready to go to work. He changed his clothes and settled in to the couch watching the Golf Channel like he does every morning. We said our good mornings and I asked him were did he put my socks? He grinned and I pulled the blanket back and there was Little Bunny Foo Foo snuggled up on his feet. He said, "Babe, these are nice!" He had the biggest Cat ate the Canary grin on his face. I guess I am a sock knitter now.

Photos below are seconds after completion, no washing or blocking had occurred.

Hannah, I <3 you but....I WIN !!!!

I love you but I won. The Great Sock Race is over and I was victorious.

More photos and details in a bit, I just had to post the proof first to win :)

Oh yeah Hannah, what was it you were calling me yesterday? Right back atcha honey, but with much love.

ADDITIONAL INFO FROM THE JUDGE: Cindy (the birthday girl)

Yes it is past 1am

It is past 1am here in San Jose, CA and I am still on the computer. WHY??? you may ask. It is rather simple, I got my invite to Ravelry, FINALLY. I was chatting online with my knitting friend Kristi who was getting a kick out of my Ravelry invite countdown. We came to the conclusion that I would probably not get my invite until Monday. She logged off and as soon as she did, the invite hit my inbox at 11:16pm. Woot! So since 11:17pm I have been surfing Ravelry and trying to set up my part. I see that it is going to take me sometime to get updated. If you are a part of Ravelry, come by and say hello. If you are not, get on the list. My blog will probably be silent for a bit while I am trying to update my Ravelry account. Ok, I have to get some sleep , big day tomorrow, lots of picture taking of stash.

Barry Bonds and Mas Tequila !! Photo Heavy

So last night was the yearly Stitch n Pitch game with the San Francisco Giants. This years game was possibly going to be history making since Barry Bonds is only 3 home runs from breaking the all time home run record. Sadly the knitters did not witness history. We did however freak out the muggles with our yarn and needles. Yes, that is Barry NOT hitting a home run.
Getting to the game was fun. Cindy and I got on the Caltrain in Santa Clara and then Jeni and Becky (below) got on in Sunnyvale and finally Hannah and Cookie (below) got on in Mountain View. Cookie, brought wine, bread and brie for the ride up.

We got the city and went to dinner at Momo's and shared another bottle of wine. Dinner was very nice and the desserts were too!

We got to the game late but it was worth it for the nice meal. We picked up our swag, the Stitch n Pitch gift bag, well 3 of the six of us did, they ran out just when we got there. We made the trek up the stairs and found our seats and the rest of our knitter friends!

Mary (Spinnity) and Lori...

Kevin and Chloe...

Sandi, Ruth and Kaye...

The game went into extra innings, the Giants ended up losing, but we six never saw it; instead we were here...

We ended up at Tres Agave's a couple of blocks from AT&T Park. That you see is a tequila sampler that I ordered. I was feeling brave, like the time I thought I could conquer the mechanical bull at a bar, but that is a whole other blog post! So a yummy pitcher of margaritas was ordered along with some chips and guacamole and we drank and snacked and laughed.

It was not as smooth as I thought it was going to be. But the Irish in me came through and I held it all together. Here are a few other shots from the tequila bar...

For the complete set of photos from our night in San Francisco and the baseball game, including photos of Hannah and Cindy both wearing the sheep head from this day, click here.

Ravelry Update:

You signed up on June 7, 2007
You are #7664 on the list.
997 people are ahead of you in line.
12747 people are behind you in line.
32% of the list has been invited so far

So close, yet so far away!

Happy Birthday Daddy...

Today my father would have been 67 years young. It has been 15 years now that he as been gone. I miss him probably even more now than I did 15 years ago. This photo, though not traditional, shows my fathers personality perfectly, it is one of my personal favorites. Baseball was his favorite past time, so it is befitting that tonight I am going to the Stitch 'n Pitch game at AT&T Park to see the San Francisco Giants play the Atlanta Braves. I thought that Barry Bonds was going to break the home run record at this game, but he is 3 short of the record when the game starts tonight so it is not likely to happen. In other baseball trivia, not only is it my dad's birthday, it is also Barry Bonds birthday too!
Dad I miss you, I love you, and I will be having a beer at the game for you!

Patiently waiting for THE Invite

For weeks now I have been patiently waiting for my invite to Ravelry. I am hoping that I will get my invite in a couple of weeks. But here is the sad fact, 2029 people were faster on the "enter" button than me!

Updates

I have not blogged in a while, shame on me. I have had somethings to blog about but exhaustion and what my family would call pure laziness took over my world and no blogging was done. However I have stole a few minutes of my work day to bring you a brief update.

1. I got new couches, well, new to me. They were a fantastic deal, that is why I got them. I did not choose them for their impression of Picasso or the beautiful color, I got them because they were in my price range, clean, acceptable to R, and I am having company July 18th and I would not have let my worst enemy (not that I have any?) sit on my previous couches much less sleep on them. After moving them I noticed that I have to make a minor repair, I pulled the bottom lining off the frame during the move,as you can see in the photo. Nothing a little stapling can't fix.

2. June30-JULY1, I missed this, and this, the Kristi bon-voyage party. I am sad that I missed the party, however I was needing to see my grandmothers, one of which was not feeling well at all. As I have mentioned before, both my grandmothers live across the street from each other, it is cute huh? And they watch out for each other, that is even better. My maternal grandmother, she has a computer and reads my blog, HI G'MA!! She crochets and she made me a beautiful afghan which I got when I went down to visit G'ma and Mimi. G'ma, don't be mad, I didn't get a photo of it in time for this blog posting, however, I will post soon. R and I love the afghan (its not a blanket, I know, I know, its an afghan!) Also on the up side of missing the party, I got to visit with my best friend Irene and her cuter than cute daughter Allisandra. Alli was born on R's b-day, so I always remember her big day. Tia Lisa loves little Alli!

3. I have been threatening to knit socks. I even have bought sock yarn and needles, that was back at Easter time. So I decided to dedicate a bit of time to get it really going and I am proud to say that I am almost to the heel flap (whatever the hell that is?!?!?), kidding I sort of know, I just have not done it yet. Looking forward to the magic that everyone says that I will experience. So you are looking at 4-1/2 inches of cuff. I am going to knit about 6 inches and then start the heel. I am using Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock in Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway. Some of you experienced knitters will probably notice something really wrong with the cuff. I am almost willing to make it a contest to guess what it is, but there are too many people from Boba Knits that already heard me declare my ignorance. But if you want to comment, feel free. I just know that it can be fixed in about two more inches.

Today is my mothers birthday, she reads the blog too, HAPPY B-DAY MOM. Tomorrow I am driving up to San Francisco where she lives and take her to a couple of local yarn stores. The gift, I told her that she could pick out a pattern and yarn (with my strong guidance of course) and I would pay for and knit. So good luck to us tomorrow. Hopefully I can get it done before it gets really cold in San Francisco.

What to do, what to do?

So my knitting anniversary is rapidly approaching (July 1st, for anyone who cares) and it is a big deal to me in the way of that I have finally found something that really floats by boat. I feel like I have found my passion. My knitting technique is decent and I seem to always want to do more with it and challenge myself. I have had fun teaching basic knit and purl to several of my friends and have opened their eyes to the knitting community. So to mark my 1st anniversary I am desperately trying to complete a fitted garment. I have about 3 I am working on right now, I just have to decide which one to finish first. I should have plenty of time to complete something since I am solo for a while, the SO is out of town at the AAU Karate National Championships and won't be back until July 3rd. Plenty of time right? Maybe if I keep saying it is plenty of time, I will speak it into existence. Power of the mind. Really what I need is some knitting fairies to just show up and work some magic. Wish me luck!

Kimono Project Bags

Two blog postings in one day, I am on fire!! I had a moment that no one was in the office so I thought that I would take a couple of quick shots of my Kimono Project Bags like I said I would earlier this week. First one is the small bag that I found to be a perfect size for socks. It was the very first bag that I purchased from Tsuyosa Creations and it was not my last. In the photo of the bag open I have in there the cuff of my first sock. I am knitting with Socks That Rock, Little Bunny Foo Foo colorway on size 1 Circular Addi Lace needles. What I failed to show in the photo is the point protectors that were on my needles. Even though I believe that these bags are better than most project bags on the market with the flat bottom and lining for more durability, needles can and will puncture the bags, just not as easy with these. Bottom line, get point protectors!

Then the second bag that I purchased was a special request. I wanted a larger bag to hold larger knitting projects and Tsuyosa Creations was happy to accommodate. In the open bag photo you can see that I have the beginnings of a knitted t-shirt with a knitted hem in a contrast color (get out! I LOVE knitted hems, I actually am just showing off that I can really do that) along with 2 and a half balls of Classic Elite Wool Bamboo in Tomato colorway, hand written instructions on a sort of custom designed/fly by the seat of my pants pattern that Sandi at Purlescence helped create with all her knitting math wonderment and my size 5 Addi circular needle.

The brown wrap cardigan by Knitting Pure and Simple is 98% done, I just have the neck back to knit. But the only thing is that it will not fit around my wide hips, that is the only thing pure and simple about that pattern. I have not totally given up but that is why you do not see any photos of the completed garment just yet.

Beautiful Nail

Ok, so I saw this on Hannah's blog and I thought she was so funny!! Her name is Anjelah Johnson and she is actually from San Jose. So I found out that she is performing at the San Jose Improv on Thursday night and I sooooo want to go!! Who is up for a few laughs?
Anjelah Johnson Beautiful Nail Clip
She also has on YouYube another clip about her family, she does voices very well.

Come on you know you want to go, tickets are not expensive...maybe I will see you there!?!?

Yarn Eye Candy Friday

This is going to look very familiar to several of you out there, it is Socks That Rock in Obsidian by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. And as you can see it is wound into a nice little cake of yarn, why is that you ask? I am a little to ambitious when it comes to knitting projects and I "thought" that I was going to absolutely start knitting when I bought it, just before Easter weekend!! Well as you can see, I didn't. So I share with you, my future socks. And the funniest part of the whole thing is, I still have to learn how to knit and entire sock. *shame on me* But they are going to be fantastic when I do...

In other knitting and blogging things, I gifted a fellow knitter/blogger Twisted Knitter (Janet) a sock project bag for being such a sweet person and a great email pal. We have exchange ideas and thoughts and such and I wanted to send her something special. I have a friend in San Diego that makes these drawstring bags out of recycled kimono from Japan. When I saw them over the Easter weekend I knew that I had to have one, okay, okay it was two. I quickly figured out that they are the PERFECT size for a sock project. So Tsuyosa Creations sent me home with a small inventory to show my fellow knitters and see what they thought. They were all gone in a day and a half. No kidding. But I managed to tuck away one for Janet. I thought that it was a perfect gift for her, it covers her cultural background and she is a fantastic sock knitter you can check it out on her blog. I will post a photo of mine in the days to come. If anyone is interested in obtaining a kimono drawstring bag, here is Tsuyosa Creations website, http://tsuyosa-creations.com/ The website is not fully up and running yet, however there is a link to email them and make your request. There is a possiblity of a local retail yarn shop carrying these fantastic bags, I will keep you updated.

Must knit faster, too cold

It is official, the reports are in, my new job IS actually located at the North/South Pole. It is friggin cold in the office!!! And to make it worse, I have 2 locations that I work from now and I affectionately call one, North Pole and the other South Pole. I am sitting at work minding my business (yes, I can do that) feeling comfortable temperature wise when one of the other girls jumps up and yells, "I can't stand it, I am about to sweat!!" and she flips the AC on HIGH. I can't feel my toes or the tip of my nose at the moment. But when I go out side for lunch, it is hot. Layering, that is the only way to combat Mrs. Freeze and the current outside temperature. There are only a couple of the girls that get warm very easy and they are wearing sleeveless tops and skirts or crop pants. No, they are not "going through the change" at least I don't think so, but all I can say is I need to finish the Wrap Cardigan Top down # 263 from Knitting Pure and Simple and then start some Fetching fingerless gloves to complete my work attire. I am almost 17 inches into my cardigan, I am using Cascade 220 in a very gorgeous brown heather #9408 with a hint of red, yes there is some red. Just be proud that I am knitting something other than a totally red object, I have branched out.

London Calling

I have been going home every night for the last 2 weeks saying to myself, "Self, you need to post a blog entry," but that has been just as successful as cleaning out my spare room! NOT. And I really am not prepare to write a proper update on my blog tonight either, but just want you all to know that I am alive, I appreciate your emails and I am not ignoring anyone, I have just been busy, really busy. And I have been behind on reading the other blogs that I read, really behind. But I saw this little fun thing on Lori's blog and I had to participate. This week I will be writing about the new job and my trip to San Diego.

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere.And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

http://www.blogthings.com/whateuropeancitydoyoubelonginquiz/">What European City Do You Belong In?

New Beginnings

Today was my first day at the new job. It was less than eventful but I guess that is a good thing right? However it was not really that great either. I found that the other employees were very nice and warm to the new girl, that was a relief to say the least. I did get to see how fierce my new boss can be. When I arrived at the dealership the computer was not set up for me to use, no email set up, access to the network, access to the DMV program etc. So the new boss called the IT guy and unloaded on him and rightfully so, they had two weeks to get this done. So most of my day was wasted with waiting to get everything set up. But the funniest thing about the new job is that I am now one of three Lisa's working in the dealership, one is not in the office with me regularly but the other sits right behind me, it is going to be interesting. They spent half the day trying to figure out what to call me other than Lisa because it will be way to confusing for all of us. Any suggestions?

And as some of you know about me already, I don't always do things the easy way in life and today was no exception. I started the new job and decided that today would be the first day to start karate training again since my hospitalization back in October, my recovery has taken some time. I really needed to just do it cause my weight has gotten out of control and I am severely out of shape. So after work I went to the dojo and put my gi on and did class. To be quite honest, I felt really good after class, tired but felt good. And I am thankful that my Sensei (who happens to be my SO, huh!) pushed me but not to hard for my first day back. The reason for the lengthy absence is because when I was in the ER back in October, the doctor attempted a spinal tap no less than four times, yes, that is right, four times which has left my lower back in a horrible state. It has gotten better over the months and now with this training, I am working on strengthening my core which should help my back problems.

At this point, it is 10:15pm and I would like to apologize for writing a less than entertaining blog, but I have been up since 5 am and I am to tired to be witty. Let me get some sleep and I will try to amuse you later.

Happy Ovarian Day

I know that it is Mothers Day, but in my family we started calling it Ovarian Day sometime when I was in my early 20's. My fathers mother made little baskets of bath stuff for all the "mothers" in the immediate family and myself also. So to justify me getting a gift that day also she decided to call Mothers Day Ovarian Day since mothers have ovaries. I called my Mimi (paternal grandmother) and wished her a Happy Ovarian Day! Sadly this year it is not a true Mothers Day for me, but I have great hopes for next year if all goes well. But I am very thankful to have my mother a 2 time ovarian cancer survivor, my maternal grandmother "the crocheter" and my paternal grandmother "Mimi." They are all such strong women each in their own way and I owe a great deal to each of them.




This past Friday was my last day at my job at the Honda dealership. I had mixed emotions. On one hand I am excited that I have a new opportunity one the other, I am leaving a place where I made good friends. Speaking of good friends, this is what I saw when I came to work on my last day...

I did have the sweetest desk in the office, it was all the way in the back with full view off the hole office. Love the signs hanging over my head all day!

When ever there was a tense moment in the office I would just look at a couple of the girls and whisper Zoom, Zoom Zoom, telling them that it was not going to be long before I didn't have to deal with the "issues" there and I would be a my new job, working at 2 different Mazda stores, hence the Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.

So tomorrow morning I will be at my new job and I am so excited. I will let you all know how it went.

Surprise...Its a jacket

Forgive me now, I am about to speak not so nice words regarding a pattern that our mother of knitting has created. What the hell was Elizabeth Zimmerman thinking when she wrote the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern? I know that she was not thinking of beginner or novice knitters when she typed that newsletter. I will say that she is an evil genius (term borrowed from one of my fellow knitters, Mary) But this pattern was not the easiest to follow, EZ leaves much to assume. Besides all the assuming that is required, there is an enormous amount of the counting stitches, at least I felt that I had to continuously count every stitch in every row. Because if I didn't and checked it a few rows later, I was off!! This little sweater was started no less than 3 times.

So real details about this FO:

Kraemer Yarn Tatamy Tweed 50% Cotton 50% Acrylic in Walnut Tweed color using a US5 Addi Turbo needle. Buttons with bear detail, not sure what metal type but they looked cute so I got them. I wanted little wood buttons but could not find the right color and size.

This was a gift to friends of my SO and I, they had a little boy this past April and his name is Sol, yes, Spanish for Sun. It fits cause his big sisters name is Cielo, cute huh? What I learned from this project is several things, first, if you knit a BSJ for a baby out of DK weight yarn make sure that you have done "before" the child is born otherwise you run the risk of it not fitting. He was about 4 weeks old when this was done. Second, just because summer is approaching does not mean that cotton is a good idea, this thing is quite heavy and it was a 50% cotton 50% acrylic.
Third, doing a 3 needle bind off at the shoulder seams is quite nice especially since I do not have good seaming skills. I am really glad that Chloe talked me into that option. And last but not least, fourth, if you are not sure that you really figured out how to do the pattern well, cast on right away for another one....I MUST be a masochist I have another one completed now.

Free at last, Free at last....

Thank God Almighty, I am free at last. I have found a new job!!! Does this mean that Lisa will be driving a sports car? No. Does this mean Lisa gets to travel to Italy? No. Does this mean Lisa will get up every morning and NOT dread going to work? YES! My current sentence will be over May 11th and I start my new job May 14th. So I am excited to have the opportunity to grow within a company that appreciates hard working loyal people. And everyone says, Amen (or what every your thing is.)

I know I have not posted anything for a while. I have the Baby Surprise Jacket to show you and the lady Eleanor too. I really should do proper postings for each of these FO's and I will soon. On the needles right now I have several things, 1. Another Baby Surprise Jacket, Sock in Little Bunny Foo Foo, Log Cabin Blanket, Mothers Day gift for my mom that will NEVER be done in time for Mothers Day!, my red sweater (I don't want to talk about that one) and something else that I will remember once I hit the publish button. Oh well. More later, I have a date with some cocktails to celebrate my new job.

Where have you been?

This has been a common question posed to me in my emails of late. The answer, here, there, everywhere! So to make this update short, STOP laughing, I can not be long winded when I put my mind to it, I will offer an outline of the past 2 weeks.

1. I went to Las Vegas for a karate tournament, we go every year, and it is held every Easter. I tried to upload some video to show you but I was not successful. We took 3 students, two took 1st place and one took second place. They did well.

2. We had a long trip back, we drove and there was a TON of traffic, we did not get home until almost 4am on Monday morning.

3. I called in sick to work the next day due to lack of sleep and the fact that I started my cycle and it felt like Joe DiMaggio took batting practice on my lower back and uterus....I know, to much information.

4. Then I got sick, a little cold on Thursday night, so Friday I felt like the walking dead! But what to do? I already called in sick on Monday, surely I can't do that on Friday as well. Hell no, took as much DayQuill as I could and sucked it up, went to work. Did very little, trust me.

5. Felt better by Saturday and had to work on the taxes. So to the dojo I went. Realized that I could only get so far that day, so I went to Purlescence of course to knit!

Now there has been several days from when I started this post to today as I am finishing this post. So cut to the chase, I just have been really busy and really very tired lately and blogging as not been very possibe. I am working on a Baby Surprise Jacket that should be done today if I go and get the buttons and find the other ball of yarn (I must go through my stash and my car too.) I have finished my Lady Eleanor Stole, took it to Boba Knits and Hannah being as small as she is and the fact that I knitted it longer than the pattern called for, Hannah realized that it could be worn as a toga on her! Soon I will get some proper photos of the LE and post details regarding the knitting process. I will say that I have been wearing this EVERY chance that I get because soon it will be to warm to wear. Speaking of Hannah and the Boba Knits group, they are a fun bunch of people and I thought I would share with you a little sampling of a Thursday night at Boba Knits. This is Kristi and Hannah and then my big mouth answering my phone while secretly taking the video with my camera. Hannah and Kristi had no idea that my camera was taking video, they thought I took still shots. I have a feeling when I pull my camera out next time, Kristi will hide quickly.

For some reason I am not able to embed the YouTube file that I uploaded, so here is the link instead, sorry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MuawxsWgcw

I am off to get some buttons.

This is how I feel right now...

I can't knit right now because
1. I am at work and
2. I had a little mishap last night and part of my right index finger nail is GONE. We all say together....OUCH! Yes, it hurts like a MOFO. I have to type with my middle finger instead, he is being over used the last couple of days :)

Now that is sharing!

Who says fish and birds can't get along? Somebody's mama taught them well...

Not one of a kind!?!?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 191 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Mighty Aphrodite

You Are Aphrodite!

A total shining star with a ton of admirers And no wonder: you live life to the fullest! When things get bad, you can easily take off to a happier place But occasionally, you need to deal with problems head on

What Goddess Are You?

Clever Blog Title? Not today!

I had a nice weekend, Saturday after class at the dojo, I went to Purlescence and hung out with Nathania and Kevin for a while. We had a good time chatting about anything and everything. I bought the Ribby Pulli pattern, I love the fact that you get essentially 4 patterns in one. I really want to knit the short sleeve scoop neck version. Maybe some Bamboo yarn will do well with that.

Then on Sunday, Sensei and I went to San Francisco to play golf and visit my mom. When I used to live in SF I would go and play 9 holes at the Golden Gate Golf Course and I thought that Sensei would really enjoy the green hills and the short course. I didn't play that well this time around until I got to the last hole and I just nailed that ball, out drove both men that I was playing with. It was great! Then I chipped it up on the green and single put for par. Too bad that I could not have gotten in the groove a bit earlier.

After golf, we went to my moms to visit and she was showing me all the great stuff she has been doing. My mother is a second time ovarian cancer survivor and she has been involved with volunteer group at California Pacific Medical Center where she herself has spent many of weeks as a patient. As a part of her volunteer work she has used her hobby to spread a little joy and strength, the Bravery Bracelet. She has given several out to patients at CPMC and they all have seemed to really enjoy getting a handmade gift from someone who knows exactly what they are going through.

She has a fantastic inventory of beads to make just about anything you can think of. She also showed me so other pieces at she has created and I of course said that I liked one on particular if it was in shades of red, what else would you expect? So that was on Sunday afternoon around 4pm. What did I get in the mail today, Tuesday? You guessed it, she made my red bracelet. My mom loves me. Now if I could only knit as fast as she can make jewelry I would be thrilled!! So anyway, I put it on immediately and have been showing off my mothers piece to everyone here at work. Lots of oooh's and ahh's. I am pretty proud of her volunteer work and her hobby that keeps her busy in the big city. Here is her eBay store.

On another note, I was asked recently if I ever found my phone, the answer to that is yes. My friend Micki showed up at the dealership the day after I bought the new one and explained that she had not checked her email and didn't know that I was looking for it yet. She happened to need something out the of glove box of her car and when she opened the door, there it sat. So I have the sliver shit back. She is pretty scratched up (I have dropped her to many times) but she works great and has every number that I have ever needed stored. So I am happy to have gotten her back. The other thing I am happy about is the Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo that I bought at Purlescence. It is great yarn! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It is springy and shows great stitch definition. I made a swatch of stockinette and rib together and have carried it around in my purse for about 2 weeks to see how it would hold up (a suggestion from Janet, she is quite a great help to me, I *heart* her.) I am soooo excited to knit this yarn. I am going to make a t-shirt or vest or tank sort of thing. I have some patterns that I have in mind, but please if you have any recommendations, now is the time to speak or forever hold your peace, ( that is a phrase that you don't hear that often. I know of one occasion that I should have heard it!)

Late Eye Candy Prize

I was the lucky commenter, I mean tenacious commenter on Janet's blog, Twisted Knitter. I received my lovely prize of Noro Kureyon 148, enough to make a Booga Bag. I would have had this posted in my blog already but my battery ran low on my camera and I couldn't find the power cable to download this photo. Story of my life, I lose everything. I think I might have left the power cable at my grandmothers. G'ma if you have it, let me know before I run out and buy a replacement. But I am excited about this yarn, I am not sure if I am going to do the Booga Bag or use it for something else. I have been eyeing the Lizard Ridge Throw which uses Kureyon too. So we will have to see. But I wanted to thank Janet for having such a fun contest on her blog.