Unfettered by Norms

If you like it then you should have put a hat on it!

2011-12-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

How long have I been knitting? (since 2001 but who's counting) And every Christmas I would get all crazy town trying to finish up socks and scarves and sweaters and blankets and fall miserably behind and either have to rush out to the stores for last minute gifts to replace the unfinished knitting or wrap an unfinished object and take it back after they unwrapped it to work on it until January or February or.... But this year I have found the answer. Hats! I have cranked out 3 of these bad boys and it's only December 2nd! (below are Ravelry links to the patterns, sorry if you're not on Ravelry - you should be!)

1. Fish Hat done in Nemo colors. It still needs eyes so I have to figure out how I'm going to do that.

2. Anemone hat by the fabulous Cat Bordhi (this was was so freaking quick I am tempted to make more)

3. The lovely baby hat from the One Skein book. It was awesome and quick and looks super cute.

I'll be posting pictures of the actual recipients wearing MY knitted version after Christmas.

The other really exciting thing is I have been able to use stash yarn for these hats! Double bonus!

Just cast on the Swirled Ski Cap which is going super fast as well. Probably will finish it up this weekend.

And today I see my pal Carrie, aka Irish Girlie Knits has her awesome Snowboarder Hat pattern on sale for only $3! Guess what I'm casting on next?

Our Cruise

2011-10-06T09:20:00.002-06:00

This was our first cruise and while I know a lot of people like cruises (there were tons of people there who said this was their 6th or 7th cruise) we have decided we aren't really "cruise people". (we are more "Disney parks people") That being said we had a nice time and here's the video montage of our cruise:

Happy Anniversary to us!

2011-09-20T06:47:00.002-06:00

As we get ready to head out on our Disney World/Disney Cruise adventure I wanted to share the video we made of our 10 years together so far. :)

Kind of geeky but....

2011-06-10T20:56:00.001-06:00

Even though the show's been off the air for a while (and I was less than impressed with the ending) we went all around the island looking for places where they filmed various scenes from LOST. Good times!

Aloha!

2011-05-26T13:39:00.000-06:00

This week we are vacationing in lovely Oahu on the North Shore.

More to come.

Will May 21 be the end of the world?

2011-05-21T14:38:00.000-06:00

Gosh I hope not! I've got U2 tickets and we are leaving for Hawaiian vacation tomorrow. But if it does I've got the mix tape ready.

List 18: Road Trip must haves

2011-03-18T05:47:00.000-06:00

Oops, I've gotten a bit behind on the list making. So I'm thinking road trip implies driving. I don't take a lot of long road trips, I usually fly. But there is usually at least one annual trip on I-70 from Denver to Topeka (8 glorious hours provided weather is cooperating).

1. Knitting. Assuming I'm not the one driving
2. CDs. I know, I'm antiquated but I don't have a way to play the iPod in the car. Sometimes I even make a mix CD!
3. Bottles of soda (usually Diet Dr. Pepper) and water. Must stay hydrated.
4. Book on CD. If I'm driving by myself this is a must have. However, I learned it's not a good idea to listen to anything by Stephen King while driving alone at night across Kansas.
5. Sunflower seeds.

Of course this is what I usually do on road trips (again, assuming I'm not driving)

List 9: Favorite Websites/Blogs

2011-03-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it, I'm addicted to the internet(s). The computer is the biggest time suck next to the television. That being said here are my favorite websites/blogs (in no particular order).

1. Ravelry

2. Huffington Post

3. Yarn Harlot (and yes, I'm a feminist - see her blog post from March 8, 2011)

4. Weight Watchers etools

5. Ms Bitch Cakes in NYC

6. Magical Days with the Mouse (I love Disneyland!)

7. Disneyland Live

8. Grooveshark (an excellent place to find songs to listen to when you're away from your iTunes)

9. Amazon (online shopping mecca and yes, I'm an Amazon Prime member!)

10. Blue Moon Fiber Arts (love this yarn so much!)

List 8: In My Bag

2011-03-08T18:35:00.002-07:00

First of all I have to wonder which bag. My purse? My knitting bag? My work bag?
And then this song keeps going through my head:

I guess I can list what's in my purse since that's what I usually have with me at all times.
1. Purple wallet with typical wallet stuff (credit cards, money, ID, receipts)

2. Purple LG Optimus cell phone (love my droid!) in a cute knitted case I made at Sock Camp

3. Miscellaneous pens and pencils

4. Key ring with all those "frequent shopper" tabs (Petsmart, Borders, Library card, etc.)

5. Sunglasses

6. A couple of bottles of lotion and multiple tubes of chapstick (hey, I live in Colorado land of zero humidity)

7. Several pads of paper (you never know when you're going to have an idea you need to jot down)

8. My Dell Axim (I know this is kind of antiquated but I still use it like crazy. Maybe someday I'll migrate contacts and calendar over to the droid)

9. Tums, vitamin C packs, cough drops, ibuprofen (standard medical necessities)

10. Pretty little handkerchief along with good old tissues (allergies are a killer)

List 7: Blog goals

2011-03-07T18:18:00.003-07:00

I hadn't really thought about having goals for my blog (goodness knows I'm bad enough about setting goals for other areas in my life, do I really want to try this with the blog?) Okay, here goes:

1. Post 3 days per week (one posting can be a "wordless" post)

2. Come up with a fun contest for my Blogversary (March 25 will be 3 years)

3. Keep up with the rest of the 30 days of lists (which will allow me to exceed my goal of posting 3 days per week)

4. Write the "about me" page

5. Decide if I want to create alternate blogs for other topics or if I want to keep this one as a potpourri of topics.

I found it!

2011-03-05T07:55:00.003-07:00

Just a quick update to post a picture of my watch that I bought on that fabulous shopping trip when I was 16. It's actually a wind up watch and it still works! Or at least the little plane can still fly around the US.

List 4: Today's Playlist

2011-03-04T21:28:00.002-07:00

Okay, I got things a little out of order but this is the list of songs I heard on Friday, March 4th.

Random Friday morning memory

2011-03-04T08:13:00.007-07:00

As I was driving in to work this morning the song "I melt with you" came on the radio.

Remember that one? It always reminds me of the time when I was around 16 years old or so and I went on a trip with one of my friends and her parents to Illinois. I think they were going for some kind of craft show (?) but WE were going for the MALL! There was a mall there with 2 floors of shopping goodness. In Topeka our meager mall only had one level so this was a crazy treat for a couple of teenage power shoppers! We listened to this song about a million times in the car.

I remember buying an awesome pair of silver shoes on the first day. Upon wearing them the second day of shopping they chewed up my ankles so bad I was hobbling around looking for band-aids. But did I change shoes? Nope. Pain is small price to pay for fashion. I also bought a pink watch that had a bubble face with a little airplane that went round and round for the second hand. It kind of looks like the yellow one in this picture. (pic from www.chronophile.com)

I still have it (but I don't think it works anymore)- I'll take a picture when I get home.

I got rid of the cruel shoes long ago. :)

30 days of lists - already I'm behind

2011-03-02T13:34:00.005-07:00

I found out about this fun little project called 30 days of lists from one of my friend's tweets so I thought I'd give it a shot. Of course it started on March 1st so I'm already behind but then again, what's new?

So I got the cute little template for a booklet and I thought I'd print that out on some pretty colored paper and make my lists and take pictures ... And then I thought, maybe I should just start posting here or I won't do anything.

March 2, 2011
List 2: Things I am good at

1. Procrastination

2. Over committing myself

3. Knitting

4. Teaching statistics (especially to people who hate statistics)

5. Making people laugh (did #4 make you laugh?)

A poem for today

2010-12-28T07:29:00.005-07:00

I received a lovely book of poetry from my Secret Santa at work this year. (along with a lovely scarf, pen, bookmark, and photo album. Thanks Fabian!)

It's the Collected Poems of Donald Justice. I've been reading a few every day, savoring the poems. I though I would share one with you today.

Song

Morning opened
Like a rose,
And the snow on the roof
Rose-color took.
Oh, how the street
Toward light did leap!
And the lamps went out.
Brightness fell down
From the steeple clock
To the rows of shops
And rippled the bricks
Like the scales of a fish,
And all that day
Was a fairy tale
Told once in a while
To a good child.

I wanted to add a picture of pretty sunrise here but it was cloudy this morning. Perhaps tomorrow...

Monday (12/27) Morning Jukebox

2010-12-27T08:42:00.004-07:00

While on the way to work this morning I heard an old ELO song (So Fine) and decided I'd make a little ELO playlist to enjoy. Thanks go out to my long time friend Kelly B. for introducing me to ELO way back in the day!

Testing

2010-12-19T17:16:00.002-07:00

I got a new cell phone today. A smartphone that can now post to my blog!

Did I mention it's purple?

Christmas tree 2010

2010-12-01T05:54:00.000-07:00

Every year on the day after Thanksgiving we head up to the mountains to cut our own Christmas tree. We go to Buffalo Creek and find a tall tree. Lucky for us we have a 20ft ceiling in our living room. This year our nephews from Kansas came with us.
Our quest for a perfect tree is kind of like this one (except it wasn't nearly this cold and there wasn't any snow).

Here's Cody contemplating the task ahead.

And here is our tree!

Jesse helped saw it down.

Now to carry it back to the car.

Make sure it's secure, Uncle Josh!

You can see I was a big help.

Josh's dad was there with hot cocoa and cookies! Yum!

Grandma and the boys posed for a picture.

And here's the tree (kind of small picture so I'll post a bigger one soon).

Knitting haiku

2010-11-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love a good haiku? And when The Yarn Harlot asks for some knitting haiku, who am I to back away from a challenge? I suppose all my finger tapping on the desk (while not so silently saying the words) attracted some coworkers attention.

Coworker: What are you doing?
Me: Trying to write a haiku.
Coworker: Um, why?
Me (silently in my head): Um, I'm sure it's not so I can post it on a knitting blog while I'm supposed to be working. (outloud) Um, I don't know.
Coworker: (rolls eyes and slowly backs out of my office)

But it earned me a mention on Stephanie's blog (even if she did spell my name wrong, probably stupid spell check).

On another knitting note I was happy to be able to combine a work trip with a knitting adventure. I'm here in San Antonio, TX for a convention (American Evaluation Association) and my very good friend Stormy (whom I first met at Blue Moon Fiber's Sock Camp in 2008) just happend to have moved here earlier this year. And guess what's this weekend? The Kid N’ Ewe and Lamas Too fiber festival! And a fun Ravelry event at the Knitting Nest in Austin.

So a week of evaluation fun (hey, it is fun to me) combined with visiting a friend and hitting some fiber events. What more could a girl want?

p.s. did I mention it's about 75-80 degrees here and they have snow in Denver?

4th quarter scramble

2010-10-01T10:56:00.000-06:00

Wow! It's already October. And you can see how good I've been with keeping up with the blog (NOT!). So we only have 3 months left of 2010 and I'm gonna hunker down and get stuff done.

Quote of the day by one of my favorite authors: "We all create the future day by day, by leaving the past behind" - Ray Bradbury

Song of the day:

Amusing product of the day:

Beware of Zombies! And remember Rule #1: Cardio!

Need some energy?

2010-07-14T13:22:00.000-06:00

I was feeling a little sleepy today at work and then came across an article in the July issue of "Real Simple" that had a nice little playlist of energy pumping songs. Logged onto Grooveshark and set it up there.

Listen, rinse, repeat!

Vacation all I ever wanted...

2010-07-07T15:24:00.001-06:00

Vacation had to get away! How much longer until our annual trip to Ocean City, MD?

(They didn't have an option to put the time in for MD so I figured Dover was close enough)

This has got to be one of my favorite places for us to go for a super relaxing, recharging vacation. You can catch a glimpse of the fun in the sun here.

Oh how much longer?!?!?!?!?

What I've done in the last 2 months (besides blogging)

2010-05-19T19:23:00.001-06:00

Wow! Here I was with this great New Year's Resolution to blog more and I was doing pretty good and then bam...two months without a peep. In my defense, I've been kind of busy. Doing what you say? So glad you asked...
We had Easter brunch with the in-laws at Mimi's Cafe (not my favorite place but if you are hankerin' for some carbs this is your place).

My sister April, my nephew Garrett, Josh and I went to the Body World's exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It is so amazing to see all that stuff that usually tucked away under your skin. I've got to say, skin is an awesome cover because if I had to see some of that stuff every day I think I'd barf.
Just to prove how insane we are, Josh and I headed to Disneyland AGAIN on April 10th and 11th.

We couldn't help it...Southwest Airlines had such a great deal it would have been a shame to pass it up. And we have to use those annual passes, don't we?

A mere 3 days later I was on a plane to Seattle for Blue Moon Fiber Art's annual Sock camp!

Here I am with my little swatch from Anne Hanson's class.
This was my third year as a camper and I can not tell you how much fun it is. Well, I could try but that would take up a lot of space and honestly, I am just trying to get caught up here. Suffice to say it is the most awesome of awesome events and I look forward to it every year.

I got back from camp and put in a few days work (got to pay for these trips somehow) only to head off to New York City late in the evening of 4/23.
We wanted to see the Tim Burton exhibit at the MoMA and this was the LAST weekend. Hubby wrote a great synopsis of our super quick trip so I'm going to cut and paste here:
NYC Part 1 So. We left the hotel yesterday morning at 7 am. Went to Flushing Meadows and the World's Fairgrounds of 1939 and 1964 (sort of a MIB thing), went back to the #7 and took it to Grand Central Station. Then went to the NYC Library and up 6th Ave to the NHL store, Radio City Music Hall, and eventually the MoMA. Waited there before being let in to see the Tim Burton exhibit.

NYC Part 2 Two hours later got out of the MoMA. Went FAO Schwartz, then the subway up to 86th to check out a bench at Central Park across from the Guggenheim. Looked at the lobby of the Guggenheim and went back down to Grand Central Station. Went over to 6th Ave and walked the other direction down sixth and caught a subway to the Brooklyn Bridge. (he forgot the part where I went into three, count em, three different bead stores to feed my new habit, beads in knitting thanks to a class by the fabulous Sivia Harding.

NYC Part 3 Walked over the Brooklyn Bridge

to Grimaldi’s. Grimaldi’s line was too long, went to Ignazio’s Pizza and it was just as good. Took the F to 14th and walked west to check out the High Line Park. When finished there went back to the subway and headed back to the hotel. Arrived back at the hotel at 8:30 pm. Did we do enough?

Headed out on a plane at 6am Sunday morning to arrive home around 10am after a plane change in Chicago. Whew, I thought, at least I can head back to work on Monday for some relaxation. Oops, no such luck, I had jury duty on Monday. But I thought since I was dismissed so quickly the last time I was called I would get out early and maybe have some time to get some things done with my Monday afternoon. How wrong I was. After waiting around until 11:30am (and you can't take knitting needles in the courthouse, WTF?) I was called as juror #9 to come sit in the jury box/courtroom with 70 other potential jurors and be questioned by the attorneys. After a break for lunch it was back to the courtroom for jury selection (and I couldn't even read at this point). Lots of questions, lot of potential jurors dismissed and still I sat there. Ever hopeful I thought, I'm sure I'll get dismissed, I'm sure I'll get dismissed. At 4:45pm I was still sitting in the jury box, the rest of the courtroom had emptied out and I heard the judge say "ladies and gentlemen we have selected our jury". Crap! I'm still in the jury box! And did I mention it was for a trial predicted to last 2 weeks. Stunned and silent 14 of us (12 jurors and 2 alternates) were shown the jury room and given instructions for reporting the next morning. I was on jury duty from 4/26 - 5/6. I am so thankful my job paid me for those days (although I did have to sign over my $50 a day from the court...dang that would have got me some nice yarn.)

Although the process of being a juror was interesting, the case was miserable. I won't go into it here but I'll just say I had to see things and hear things I will NEVER be able to get out of my head. Here's a quick blurb in the Denver Post as well as a link to his appeal trial that was what earned him this trial. He should have went with the first decision of guilty of 14 out of 18 counts because we found him guilty of all 28 counts. I really hope this sick SOB never sees the light of day again.

Let's move on, shall we? So, back to work for a week and a half then off to the Sanguine Gryphon's dying camp (that's a Ravely link) where we will learn 5 different techniques of yarn dyeing with acid dyes, play with dying the yarn, take a knitting and a spinning class (although I'm skipping the spinning class...I'm NOT going to spin! I'm just not going to do it!).

Oh oh, it's almost time for bed and I've got work in the morning then off to the airport. I guess I better go pack!

Crazy for Disney

2010-03-14T18:19:00.000-06:00

As most of you know Josh and I love going to Disneyland (we like Disney World too but much prefer Disneyland). I got Josh a membership to D23 for Christmas and soon found out they were having a 1 year anniversary party for the club in March (March 10th to be precise). Since I had to teach on Saturday we realized we would have to do a quick out and back trip which was just as crazy as it sounded. We left Denver at 9am on Wednesday morning arriving first at In n'Out for lunch at 11am (PST). Then it was on to the park where we walked in the gates shortly after Noon. Keep in mind Josh just had his ACL replaced just 3 weeks ago but he was trucking around the park like he was good as new. There wasn't much of a crowd so we got on a lot of the rides. I made Josh go to see the newly re-opened Captain Eo. I had never seen it before and was thoroughly amused by the total 80-ness of it. I think Josh wanted to poke his eyes out.

We had planned on going back to the hotel to rest a bit but ended up staying in the park until the anniversary party started at 9pm. We then proceeded to ride every ride in Fantasyland, eat lots of desserts (YUM!) and met Dan Robuck (Dr. Arzt from LOST). He even held my sock (dude, I got some Arzt on my sock)

I also took my Queen Alice socks on the teacup ride (you can check out the picture on my Ravelry project page from the previous link). These are from the Woolgirl Alice sock club. A fabulous design by the wonderful Carrie (aka Irishgirlieknits). I am loving this pattern and I especially like the idea of taking all my Alice in Wonderland socks to Disneyland to visit. Mad Hatter comes out in April so I guess those just have to go to sock camp with me because I don't think I could justify a trip to Seattle AND Anaheim in the same month.

The party was over at midnight and we got back to the hotel around 12:30am or so. Then up again at 7am to head back to the park until 2pm then back to the airport to fly home. We arrived home around 9pm Thursday night and then had to go to work the next day. Crazy? Yes! But did we have a blast? You bet!

I was happy to find some Cheshire cat tails treats that I had seen DisneyD23 tweet about earlier this month. Apparently they are only available for a limited time so I'm glad we got to try them because they were marshmallow, caramel and frosting heaven on a stick! Notice how nicely they coordinate with my outfit of the day.

But shhhhhhhhh....don't tell my trainer.

Must not buy yarn...must not buy yarn...must not buy yarn

2010-01-25T16:04:00.001-07:00

I guess I'll be the first to admit that I probably have more than my share of yarn. I never intended the stash to get so out of control but when I see the lovely stuff I just have to have it. When I first started knitting I only bought yarn for projects. Now keep in mind that I would frequently have several waiting projects but still, the yarn had a purpose when it was purchased.

Then I started buying souvenir yarn when I went on vacation and visited LYS. Then it got really bad when I went to Sock camp in 2008 and brought home not only lots of souvenir yarn from the various shops I had stopped at on a pre-camp yarn crawl but also a giant bag of Blue Moon yarn. Then there was camp in 2009 and a smaller (but still significant amount) of yarn came home with me. And let's not even talk about what followed me home from Sock Summit 2009.

Then I have the sock clubs. The BMFA Rockin' Sock Club was the gateway club. Then there was WoolGirl and Yarn Pirate (who thankfully has put the club on hold for awhile), and Sock Yarn Cinema. Those are just to name a few. I think there were others. It's hard to keep track.

But, since I am going to Sock Camp again this year (Week 2 here I come) and in just a few short weeks I'll be headed to Madrona I am feeling like I must STOP buying any yarn for some time. The stash doesn't fit under the bed and in the closet anymore. Although you can still get in the room...I mean, it's not like I'm this woman. But as I looked at those pictures this time (I've seen this blog post several times since becoming a knitter in 2001...it's kind of passed around via email like an urban legend) I started to realize that's the road I'm on. Soon the yarn will overtake the room. Okay, maybe not today or tomorrow but at the rate I'm going (and not knitting it up very quickly) it could happen.

So, for now, no more yarn. (well, except for the sock clubs I'm already signed up for. I mean, it's not like I can cancel them). And, I've taught my little sister how to knit so I'll be the most awesome of awesome-ist big sisters and share my yarn with her.

Must avoid updates from The Sanguine Gryphon and The Loopy Ewe. Perhaps I need to block the websites.

Help me be strong!

Oh weekend where are you?

2010-01-08T08:58:00.001-07:00

I see you right around the corner. TGIF! Except that means I've got a ton of stuff to do in the next few days. Before you know it January will be gone.

I went to my Stitch N' Bitch group last night...first time in a long time I was actually able to make it. We had to move locations and are now in the coffee shop area of Borders which is actually better than the coffee shop we were meeting in before. I was planning on working on an afghan square but it seemed to complicated to work on and talk so I worked on the second yoga sock. Here's the first one:
See my little dolphin tattoo peeking out?

I cast these on for the Eclipsing Blue Moon Cast On and actually finished the first one that night (well, it was around 2am when #1 was done). It's pretty quick when they don't have a heel or toe. Maybe I'll start making all my socks this way. The yarn is one that I dyed myself at Sock Camp last year. It was my "uncomfortable colors" and I thought that would be fitting to use for yoga socks since yoga is rather "uncomfortable" for me. I should have plenty left after the socks so maybe I'll do some wrist warmers too. I really like the way the colors look as they are knitted up...such pretty stripes.

I still haven't rounded up the UFOs lurking in the spare room (aka the yarn room). That's on the list for this weekend.

The cats are not helping

2010-01-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

I realized I hadn't been very specific with a lot of my New Year's Resolutions. Saying things like "I will blog more" wasn't very helpful so I have revised it to say "I will blog at least every third day, possibly more but not less".

I also wasn't very specific about what I was going to do with my UFOs. The first step is going to be to seriously count them. I think I have 18 in Ravelry but I know there are more of the little monsters hiding upstairs that never even made it to the Ravelry project page. Once I get a handle on how many I have, I think I'll be able to make a real "resolution". But, in the spirit of things I went to my LYS on Saturday for a UFO breakfast and ended up staying the whole day to work on one of my missing 6 squares for the 20 month Afghan I have been working on since May 2008. And I'm happy to report I finished the December square this morning. Here are the squares so far:

That white thing in the bottom right hand corner is the pattern for some of the squares, not some freakish white square (in case you thought I had lost my mind). The nice thing about this UFO project is I have a real deadline...Feb. 7th. That's the day we are all going to get together to sew it together and make a border. So I have 5 squares left, plus tucking in ends, stitching on the trees, little sweater (which still needs it's stupid little sleeves) and any final blocking.

I really thought during these 4 days off I would get a lot more accomplished but alas, I am far too optimistic. I realize I frequently underestimate how long it will take to do things. Something I think will take an hour ends up taking 4 hours and puts me behind schedule. I've got to get better at that.

But I did manage to buy my plane ticket to Madrona this morning! Excellent price on Southwest so I don't have to worry about paying extra to check my bags! Yipee! Maybe I can start thinking about which projects to pack...hmmmmmm.

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

I can NOT believe it's 2010? Where is my flying car? Where is my paperless society? Okay, I'll admit we do have some pretty cool stuff now...like cell phones with texting and sending pictures and surfing the web. I just saw an ad last night for a projector cell phone (but it's still not a flying car).

So, New Year's Resolutions...do you have some? I've got a few. One is to blog on a regular basis. I compose all these awesome blog posts in my head but for some reason I never get them typed up and posted. For example, I have neglected to introduce you to our second kitty, Rtu. (it's short for Rahry two since she looks like our previous cat who passed away in May 09). Rtu certainly does her best to live up to her name and is extremely chatty! Here she is perched on hubby's shoulder.

And here she is giving me a kiss.

Speaking of meowing, she is doing that now. I think she wants some breakfast or something. Crazy cat.

In upcoming posts I'll be talking about my UFO problem (and with the help of some friends and the UFOsmackdown on twitter I may get it under control this year). And maybe I'll dust off some of those draft posts and let you know about stuff from years ago.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone! I'm hoping for a super great 2010.

My new helper

2009-09-29T14:04:00.001-06:00

We adopted a new kitty on Sunday. Actually we adopted 2 (from the Denver Dumb Friends League) but first I wanted to introduce Simba. He is 2 and a half years old and was relinquished by his owner (not sure why). We got to bring him home first since the other kitty (Rtu) had to stay overnight to be spayed.

Simba likes to climb...a lot! He especially likes the precarious positions among the junk on my desk. And I have photographic evidence.

So I say "Simba, get down from there"

When I tell him he is a naughty kitty for climbing on my desk this is the look he gives me:

How can ya be mad at that face?

He also really likes it on my shoulder or my back which makes it somewhat difficult to type. I'm hoping he might help me write my dissertation, what do you think?

So far neither kitty has shown much interest in yarn so that's a definite plus! Next time I'll introduce you to Rtu.

Sock Summit hangover

2009-08-12T16:04:00.000-06:00

I can't even begin to describe the fun and joy of Sock Summit 2009! I left Denver at 8:30am Wednesday morning (8/5) and returned LATE on Sunday (8/9). In fact, my plane actually got in at 11:45pm and by the time I got my bags, got to the car where hubby was waiting and got home it was after 1am. Of course, I hadn't taken Monday off so it was up and at 'em Monday morning. Today I was feeling mighty exhausted but I just felt I HAD to get something posted on the blog, right?
Here's a shot of Mt. Hood as I was flying in...lovely!

Here was the line for registration Wednesday afternoon.

And a picture of the tasty tuna fish sandwich and tots I had at McMenamins. It was delicious (either that or I was really, really hungry...which is possible).

After registration we went back to the hotel and scoured the program book to figure out what else was going on...besides our classes. There was so much happening I was almost sorry I had signed up for classes in all the slots (I said ALMOST). There were demonstrations every hour in the marketplace and let me just say...OMG the marketplace was amazing! (and dangerous to my pocketbook).

I'll post more later about my classes, opening ceremony, sock hop and luminary panel (and maybe get some pictures of my latest acquisitions).

Breakfast in Phoenix

2009-06-10T08:27:00.000-06:00

My first morning in Phoenix (here for this conference) I checked the web for some place yummy for breakfast that might be out of the convention traffic. I scored an awesome place, Matt's BIG Breakfast! A quick 10 minute walk from my hotel and I was there feasting on the Hog and Chick with bacon and home fries. Heart attack on a plate my friends but worth every bite. The bacon was a great peppery treat and the home fries were swimming in butter and sautéed onions. Heaven! And hey, I did walk down there. The place was PACKED at 6:45am (they open at 6:30) and by the time I left at 7:15 there were few places to sit. I highly recommend checking out Matt's if you're ever in the downtown Phoenix area...but you might want to park a few miles away and walk there to burn off the massive calories you will consume!

Okay, guess I'll head to the sessions now.

Outside

2009-05-31T17:56:00.000-06:00

Today was a beautiful day. I wanted to be outside but my to do list said I needed to work on photographing my stash and adding it to Ravlery. I needed to work on this because I realize I have a LOT of yarn and it's taking over the guest room (see photo) and since I'm going to Sock Summit in August I wanted to be sure I knew what I had.
Hey, at least my stash isn't THIS big.
But I really wanted to go outside. Then I had an idea...I'll take my yarn lovelies outside for a photo shoot! The light in the house is usually pretty crummy at capturing the true colors anyway. Excellent idea. However, the back patio was very overgrown and dirty so I had to get the broom and sweep. And then chop down all the weeds growing in the cracks. And since I had the broom I just kept sweeping the deck and the sidewalk and then chopping down more weeds, etc. Finally I realized that while I was doing a fine job cleaning the back yard I wasn't getting any yarn photographed. So quick as a squirrel, I grabbed some yarn from the massive pile and started snapping.

Look, it does grown on trees!

That's just a few of what seemed like millions of skeins I cataloged. But guess what, I'm not even close to done...and it's 6pm and I probably should get things ready for work tomorrow. Not to mention my light is gone and it's starting to rain. Oh well, there's always next week.

A splash of color

2009-04-17T12:27:00.000-06:00

As I work through my pictures from sock camp 2009 (from Blue Moon Fiber Arts) I though I would first post some more of my color study pictures that I took at the Pike Place Market in Seattle.

The market is certainly a "colorful" place.

All the flowers and fruit stands were loaded with color.

I also snapped a picture of the crabs since that was going to be our camp mascot.

At camp all this focus on color paid off when we got to dye our very own yarn!

Here is Tina explaining the dying process to us:

And here is one of mine all wrapped up and ready to steam:

Drying on the rack:

These are my final 3! Love them. (this picture of mine is a little blurry but I figure at least I'll get something posted and try to take a better snapshot later.)

Warning: this process can be highly addictive. I'm now looking around the house for a good place to set up my dying station. :)

Spring green

2009-03-24T20:36:00.000-06:00

I'm going to sock camp in just four short days!!! In addition to packing I have to work on my homework.

One of our homework "assignments" is to do a week long color journal where we take note of the colors we see in our lives, in our homes, nature, etc. Being the total slacker that I am I'm just now getting around to starting my color journal. So here's entry number one: the lovely spring green of my allium plant before it shoots up its stalks of purple bulb flowers. Did you know the Allium is actually in the onion family? Strange but true. Who knew an onion could make such a pretty flower?

I don't have a fabulous camera so it doesn't do justice to the bright green of these leaves but you get the idea...

Of course there is the funny story about me and alliums when I was a little girl but I don't think I'll go into that right now.

Sticks N' Stiches

2009-01-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the upcoming Sticks N'
Stitches event coming up at the end of the month. It's a fun time to
get together with fellow knitters and crocheters to watch some hockey
and help out a good cause. Check out last year's event here.

Here's the details:

Colorado Avalanche VS Anaheim Ducks
Jan 31st , 1 p.m. @ Pepsi Center
Tickets: $27 includes hot dog , soda, $5 ESPN Zone Game card.
To order: 303-405-6074 or go click on this link to order online.
We are sponsoring a local charity this time - Kaps for Kendall - so
folks can bring a knitted or crocheted hat to the game. Some of the
hat patterns are pretty simple and quick so I'm working on prizes for
the knitters/crocheters who can complete a hat by the end of the game.
I'll also have some raffle drawings during each intermission.

If you're a LYS owner/manager (or an indie dyer, spinner, etc) who
would like to donate anything for the raffle, provide info about your
shop, send some coupons, or supply any other giveaways let me know!

I hope to see you all there!

Mixed messages

2008-10-17T08:26:00.000-06:00

In Friday's Denver Post (10/17/2008) on page 2A at the top of the page is a blurb and 2 photos about a fellow in Uniontown, PA who at a 20 pound cheeseburger. It took him 4 1/2 hours to complete this task. Is this a good thing? Something to be proud of? Apparently so since he is shown in the "after" photo smiling and holding up his empty plate. Directly below these photos however, is a story about a study done by Oregon Research Institute researchers that says "Slim people have higher food 'yum'" - essentially saying a study was conducted that suggested some people don't get the dopamine "hit" other get when they eat a tasty treat (like a milkshake) so they could be overeating to compensate (i.e., get a dopamine hit). This seems like a case of mixed messages to me. First, we are told eating a 20 pound cheeseburger is a triumph worthy of printing photos in the paper. Then we see a story about researchers trying to find reasons why people are obese. Ummmmm, maybe it's because we promote this amazing feet of craming 20 pounds of meat in your face? No, I'm sure that's not it.

This reminds me of public service ad I saw on television once that was encouraging kids to leave the house and tell an adult if one of their friends was playing with a real gun. It was highlighting the tragedy that happens all too often when kids find their parent's gun in the house and accidentally shoot a sibling or a friend while playing. Immediately after this public service ad a commercial for a video game that involved shooting the "bad guy" came on and I think the tag line was something like "shoot 'em dead".

Talk about mixed messages.

Not knitting, but...

2008-07-26T07:42:00.001-06:00

I just have to share this listing my sister found on Craig's List (or as my dad calls it "Greg's list"). Check out the mermaid table for sale. I have a couple of thoughts about this:
1. If you bought it for your home in Florida, why didn't you sell it there? Why did you bring it all the way to Colorado and then try to sell it?
2. You paid how much?!?!??!?!? And you are asking how much?!?!?!?
3. I keep getting images of having a party and someone gets drunk and starts making out with the table. Party guests will come up to you and say "dude, someone is making out with your table again".
4. When the drunk person passes out under the table and wakes up in the morning to stare into that frightening, bronze mermaid face I can only imagine the horrified screams that will ensue.

I thought I should put the pictures here since the link will eventually not work.

The meaning of time

2008-06-03T14:46:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I had to take my car in for a routine oil change. When we bought the car 2 years ago we purchased the lifetime oil change option. This is a good thing since I've noticed the price of the oil change has gone up each time I take it in over the last 2 years. The downside is we have to take it to one place, Burt Automotive. It's not a bad place mind you, in fact, the staff there are quite nice. The problem is they are always very apologetic about any wait time there may be on your car repair. Here's what always happens: I walk in, they say can I help you, and I say I'm here for an oil change. They look all dejected and say "It's going to be about an hour and a half". That's fine, I tell them (because, of course, I've got my knitting with me). They kind of look at me as if they don't quite believe me and then take my information. I feel kind of sorry for them because they must get yelled at a lot over time issues.

While I was there this Saturday (5/31) several people walked in and they got the same speech "it's going to be about an hour and a half" and those people got irritated and left. I'm thinking, hey, an hour and a half where I am forced to just sit here? Okay! Sign me up! Here I am!

When they called my name after a mere 50 minutes I said "I thought you guys said an hour and a half". The poor guy looked like he was going to cry and started stammering something about how the time can vary depending on the work, etc. I interrupted him to say I was only joking! Whew, when I think my job is frustrating I just think about these poor guys dealing with people yelling at them about time. Maybe someone should set up a yarn shop in the store and people can learn how to knit.

Oh yeah, I got half of one sleeve done on this little Berroco sweater. I probably could have got the whole sleeve done if it would have taken a full hour and a half.

Camp memories

2008-05-09T16:03:00.000-06:00

A lot of campers have been reminiscing about our super fun camp experience lately. I've listed to podcasts, read blogs, read Ravelry posts, etc. and now I'm feeling a little homesick (or would it be campsick?). I still need to get my pictures edited and posted on Flickr but I did come across the little video (apologies for the poor sound quality) so I uploaded it on YouTube and you can check it out here:

The new (and ever so true lyrics) were written by the super talented Stephen from hizKNITS If you can't hear the audio on my video very well, you can check out the lyrics on his blog.
One of my favorite parts is the bartender who runs by at the end!

And here's a quick shot of the audience (after the song was sung - I can't video AND take pictures with one camera)

How long until next year?!?!?!?!?

Alpaca Sunday

2008-05-06T12:11:00.000-06:00

I decided to go to the Great Western Alpaca Show that was in town over the weekend.

Aren't they such cute little guys? (ok, some aren't so little).

I saw furry alpacas, small alpacas, and.......

NAKED alpacas! These poor little guys just got sheared. Actually, it was pretty warm in there so they might have been happier to be in the buff. Aren't their eyes HUGE when they don't have all that wool around them?

There were alpacas everywhere! Even performing alpacas.

Well, these guys were being judged but there were other alpacas who were running obstacle courses and doing crazy alpaca tricks for their young owners. Kind of like a 4-H event.

I also learned that there are two different kinds of alpacas: Huacayas and Suris. Here are the Suris. (The Huacayas are the ones in the above pictures)

Then I decided I needed to learn more about the alpacas. Here's a good website with some FAQs about alpacas.

I keep trying to talk my husband into buying one but he thinks that's a bad idea. I think if I had an alpaca think of what I would save in yarn! I could make my own. Just a thought.

Guilty Pleasures Ravelry Swap

2008-05-04T18:15:00.000-06:00

I love doing swaps on Ravlery. This time I signed up for the Guilty Pleasures/Good Karma swap. I got my package yesterday and wow - what a treat!

First let me say what an incredible wrapping job Pippin67 did! Even my husband was impressed. Not only did she do one big package but she also individually wrapped the goodies inside.

And what fantastic contents! I love, love, love the misti alpaca she found! I hadn't even see that color before! And the sea silk - I'm in heaven! Yummy chocolate, teas, fabulous addis, some eucalan (which I haven't tried yet) and some awesome Cherry Tree Hill Suri Lace (made from Suri Alpacas which I didn't even know existed until I saw some today at the Alpaca Show - but that's another post).
Thank you so much wonderful swap buddy.

Yarn Retirement Account (401Y)

2008-04-29T06:30:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to get my stash (as well as my knitting paraphernalia) organized and cataloged so I can see (or at least know) what I have. This flurry of organization came about when I returned from the bookstore clutching a new knitting book (Knitting circles around Socks by Antje Gillingham) only to find that I already had it. I've had this same realization with knitting needles but usually it's because I've got a project on one pair of the needles in the size I need for a new project and rather than move that project onto stitch holders or scrap yarn (or finish that project first - a novel idea) I just buy new needles in the duplicate size. This seems to work well but eventually I finish both projects and am left with two needles of the same size. So with the help of Ravelry I decided to start getting things listed. No easy (or quick) task, I assure you. The first step in this process was getting all the knitting items into the same room.

You'd be surprised how many places I had yarn, books and needles stashed around the house. As I was moving everything up to the spare room (I hope we don't have any house guests for awhile) I started pondering what made me think that a house with multiple stairs was a good idea. Once I got everything (or what I think is everything) up there, I started with the magazines. My fears were confirmed when I found that I had three duplicate magazines in the stack.

OK, three isn't a lot but still, it's a sign of a problem that needed to be nipped in the bud so I felt pretty good about lugging all that crap, I mean fabulous knitting items, upstairs. Then I did find another duplicate book. How does this happen? This cataloging of books and magazines took longer than I thought so I didn't really get into the actual yarn stash yet but I did have a realization. It's not that I'm accumulating yarn, I'm actually making deposits into my yarn retirement account, my YRA 401Y if you will. Think about it -- if I buy yarn now until I retire then I'll have a fabulous "nest egg" and I won't have to spend my actual retirement account money on yarn. (Some of you might say I will probably still make yarn purchases after I retire - you can point out your plot holes elsewhere). I think this is a fine rationale and I'm sticking to it as I continue to make deposits into my YRA. I suggest you do the same.

Then I did find another duplicate book. How does this happen? This cataloging of books and magazines took longer than I thought so I didn't really get into the actual yarn stash yet but I did have a realization. It's not that I'm accumulating yarn, I'm actually making deposits into my yarn retirement account, my YRA 401Y if you will. Think about it -- if I buy yarn now until I retire then I'll have a fabulous "nest egg" and I won't have to spend my actual retirement account money on yarn. (Some of you might say I will probably still make yarn purchases after I retire - you can point out your plot holes elsewhere). I think this is a fine rationale and I'm sticking to it as I continue to make deposits into my YRA. I suggest you do the same.

Quick update from Sock Camp

2008-04-16T18:07:00.000-06:00

I'm here at Camp Crows Feet and having loads of fun. Wish you were here.

This was the first night (Monday) when we came into the Discovery House. The camp counselors and sockateers were standing guard over the shop - we couldn't make any
purchases until later. Recognize anyone of the guards?

As you can see here, when they did open the store people went wild!

We all love our yarn.

This is Joan - doesn't the yarn frame her face well?

More to follow... Stay tuned...

Flashback blogging

2008-04-06T09:11:00.000-06:00

Well it appears that finding time to blog is just as difficult as finding time to work on my dissertation. So I'll be doing blog posts in a bit of a flashback manner (similar to the flashbacks in Lost but not quite as cryptic).

So, I'll start with a recent flashback - my evening at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch waiting for and then listening to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I got the the store around 4pm and there were already 20+ people in line. I'm not sure if the staff at TC were surprised by this but they seemed accommodating as they started to snake the queue around the various areas in the store. By the time line numbers were handed out at 6:30pm there was a lot of folks in line (all working on their various knitting projects, of course). I was working on my fan kimono from Vicki Square's "Knit Kimono" book. I found a woman later who was working on the Komon pattern from the same book - Fabulous! After I got my line number (26!) I put my bag down on a chair in the 5th row and headed outside and around the corner to String. I hadn't been to this shop yet and it was quite lovely with all the yarn arranged by color. The owner was giving us all a discount for the event and she even gave away yarn in a raffle before Stephanie talked!

At 7:30 I was back in my chair (and I didn't buy any yarn at the store-I know that's a shock). The TC employee introduced Stephanie.

Stephanie's talk was quite funny (as usual). After she was done, I got in line to get my book signed. I probably shouldn't have tried to keep working on my kimono while standing in line but I did and of course I fudged up a couple of rows (I think I've got them fixed now). When I finally I got up to have my book signed all the witty things I had thought to say all escaped me. But I babbled something about going to sock camp next week where I would see her and she mentioned that she had head about the pre-camp yarn crawl and thought that sounded interesting. And then I tried to take a picture of her and snapped it while she was talking. Sorry Stephanie.

Overall I think it was a very enjoyable evening and I was able to get out of there by 9:20 or so. I don't know how long it took for everyone to get their books signed but judging from the size of the crowd I would imagine it was quite a while.

By the way, I'm in one of Stephanie's pictures on her blog about the event. I'm in the second picture, fifth row back on the inside aisle. My tiny head is peaking out as I'm knitting and smiling. I was sitting next to two lovely ladies (of course I forgot their names) who had made the trip from Wyoming! Knitters are always up for road trips.

Speaking of trips, in my next post I'll give you the scoop on the six yarn stores I visited during my recent trip to NYC. And then if I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll post about my trip to the Great American Knit out at the Mall of America in February. So much to post, so little time...

Look ma, I'm blogging!

2008-03-25T14:43:00.000-06:00

Well it's finally happened. I've tried to resist as long as I could but honestly, it seems like everyone I know is blogging and I just couldn't resist any longer. I have funny stuff to say too, darn it. Besides, if Josh can post videos on YouTube I should have some kind of cyber outlet!

I'm heading out to NYC tonight on a red eye. Yikes! What was I thinking? A friend of mine says red eyes always seem like a good idea until that night. I think she may be right. While the main purpose of my trip is to attend a conference, I have already mapped out an exciting yarn crawl adventure. I found at least 21 LYS (local yarn shops) in Manhattan (and those were just the ones I took the time to mark on the map)! I'll be sure to post about it when I return.

But for now, I submit this entry as my initial foray into the land of blogs. Enjoy.