The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

It was a very long weekend, filled with ups and downs. I think I will start with the bad and end with the good. That way it will feel upbeat at the end. Plus, there are photos today. I know, it is too exciting!

THE BAD
Last Thursday I received a phone call from my husband telling me that The Girl had been suspended from her new school for drinking. Apparently, she has been drinking on a regular basis. However, she did not bring this alcohol to school, she just helped drink it. She was suspended for the rest of the day on Thursday and all day Friday. She insisted on taking the bus home and she threatened not to come home at all. She was extra surly, which is a sign she knows that she totally screwed up and does not want to face the music. We have had several talks with her, mainly focusing on the fact that SHE was the one who choose this school and SHE managed to get in trouble the very first week. It was not a pleasant evening.
Plus, her doctor kept calling because she needed to talk to her. We gave the doctor The Girl’s cell phone number and that leads to…

THE UGLY
The Girl’s Pap smear was abnormal and she had to go see an OB/GYN ASAP. So on Friday, which I had already taken off to get the oil changed and spend time with my honey, we hauled her downtown to the OB/GYN’s office. They cut off bits of her cervix and told her she had genital warts. Apparently, she was having unprotected sex. Her response was, "I only did it once". I told her that it only takes once and that she would have to notify all the people she had sex with and let them know they may have been exposed. We will know in a week or so if she has cancer or anything. It was a miserable time and The Girl declared it the worse day of her life. So even though she was not in school, she was not having fun, so I guess that is a plus.

THE GOOD
Yes, there were several highlights to the weekend. On Friday morning, my husband and I went and got the oil changed on the car. On the way home, we stopped at our local thrift store and I hit the jackpot. I bought 18 knitting magazines; most of them were copies of Knitter’s, which I just really like. They are not overly trendy, plus there were several with great info about techniques. Plus, they were only $0.69 each. I was so happy.
On Saturday, I went over to the Needlework Unlimited Outlet, which was having a moving sale. All the yarn in there was $2 / ball and sweaters were $15 each. So I bought a ton of yarns.

A mitered blanket, which cost $15

A couple of sweaters, one of which I spent Saturday afternoon ripping out. It was a long coat made out of bulky yarn. I retrieve about 27 balls. All this yarn for only 15 bucks! Can you believe it? I was so happy. I am going to make a shrug and something else, not sure what yet, but I know I have plenty of it.


On Saturday night, DH and I went to a small local theater (Bryant Lake Bowl, yes, it is a bowling alley as well) to see a production called Stitch, Bitch and Die. It was hilarious. It is playing next weekend as well, so if you live in the Twin Cities, go check it out.

On Sunday, I finished the rug for my mom for Mother’s Day. I just need to weave in the ends.

I finally finished The Girl’s poncho, it only took 1 ½ years, but it is done. She wore it to school on Monday. I personally think it is hideous, but she thinks it “sweet”.

Spring, such as it is

It is very grey out today. Yesterday was sunny and breezy and today, it is cloudy. It makes me tired. I actually have been off kilter all week. I am not sure why. I know that last night instead of working hard to get done with my mom’s rug, I played some stupid game on the computer. Off course, I had worked on the rug for a little bit and then put it away before I went to bed. However, The Girl’s kitten LOVES Sugar N’ Cream yarn and pulled it all out of my bag today. My husband called to tell me the there were 3 balls pulled out of the bag. I am hoping she did not pull any of the stitches off of the needle. It would be a pain to figure out which of the strands went where since I am using 4 strands held together.

We ordered seedlings for my salsa garden. And my lovely husband cleared all the crap out of my raised bed, so when the plants come, we can just shove them right in.

The Girl has to take the bus to her new school and every night this week she has pretty much come home and just crashed. So maybe this extra activity out in the real world is good for her.

I really don’t have much to say today I guess. I had hoped I would, but alas the words are not flowing as they should. One week until a new Lost. I guess that is something to look forward to. Later.

Where have I been? Working hard!

I know I have AWOL the last couple of weeks. Things have been really crazy, so here is a little update.

Yarnover was on Saturday. It went well. The only problem I had was I got a headache about 10:30 and it hurt for the rest of the day. Yuck. I struggled through, but I was very glad to be done with the day. There was a lot of planning for this event and I hope everyone who came had a good time. I took a class with Lucy Neatby and I would like to say it was awesome. If you ever have a chance to take one of her classes, jump on it. She is a wonderful teacher and very fun. The class I took was Equilateral Triangles. I think I could come up with some fun stuff to do with it and it is really easy. Best of both worlds. In the afternoon I took a class with Beth Brown-Rensel – Latvian Wristers. I am not as good at the Latvian knitting. Well mainly I can not do the braiding deal. I will keep trying, but I really did not know what I was doing wrong and truthfully, my head hurt so badly by that point, I could not even think.
I did not spend too much money at the market. I bought another cup from Jennie the Potter this one has purple yarn on it with the sheep. Her stuff is so fabulous. I bought a skein of alpaca from Alpacas of the Ark. Their yarn is so soft and yummy. It is some of the softest yarn you will find. I also bought a couple of skeins from Blackberry Hills. Their yarn is very nice and reasonably priced.

The Girl started at her new school on Friday. So far she loves it. She really likes her advisor and she has started on a project already. So hopefully this will be a good move. They said she will be able to make up any missing credits over the summer by doing projects instead of going to summer school. So that will be a good thing. Getting her moved over was a huge hassle. I hate dealing with the school system, any school system. It is just so much bureaucracy. It has always been the thing that has bugged me the most since The Girl moved in with us.

Knitting update: I am working on a rug for my mom for Mother’s Day. It is a pattern that was in my 2008 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar. It is just pretty much seed stitch, but it uses 4 strands of Sugar N’ Cream held together so it is getting heavy. Plus, it makes my hands hurt because of the cotton and the weight combined, and I really do not like working with such big needles. This is something I discovered quite some time ago, I would rather work with size 2 needles than size 15. I think it is because my hands are small and I hold the needles oddly.
I have also started making the Hoppy Easter Bunny from Simply Knitting. I believe that I mentioned this before, but I have made progress on it. I have completed the back, 2 ear fronts and 2 cheeks. I have started the belly and that is where it is at right now.
There are so many things I want to knit. I have already begun to think about what I want to knit during my vacation this summer. I don’t know if I want to bring one big thing or several little things. I have thought that it might be nice to make afghan squares as I travel, perhaps picking up some local yarn in each place we go and making it to a trip blanket as it were. I do have an old pattern book with all these different afghan squares in it. It is meant to be used for learning to knit new stitches. That might just be really fun. I will have to think on it though.

MOVIE REVIEW
I have not been to the movies in just forever, but yesterday, the whole family went to see “Run, Fat Boy, Run”. It is an English comedy. I t is a very cute little movie about a guy who leaves his pregnant girlfriend at the alter and then 5 years later decides he wants her back and decides to run a marathon to win her back. It is not a deep movie, but it is fun and it made me laugh. You can not think to hard about the plot because, well, it is a light fluffy comedy full of plot holes. I enjoyed it and there were several nice knits in the film. In particular, there is a grey sweater that I absolutely loved. I give it 3 knitting needles.

Lots of Topics, Just One Blog

WEATHER
It snowed here yesterday. We got about 4 inches or so at my house. I know what you thinking… what the hell is with this woman and the weather? Get over it! I am a born and breed Minnesotan and weather is very important to us. It has been a long time since we have had snow on the 31st of March. It was all gone on Sunday and now the ground is again covered. It is amazing to me. Plus, by the weekend, it will be in the 50s and all of it will be gone again.
However, it did make me realize that my shoes I wear to work are definitely NOT water proof. It was so slushy when I went out to my car last night after work and my feet were soaked by the time I got to my car. Yuck! I really should buy some boots.

REVELATIONS
On Saturday night we were talking to The Girl and she revealed that she wanted a career where she could make good money and have a big house and live comfortably. And, are you sitting down? so she can take care of us! Who knew? When we acted surprised, she said that had always the plan. It was nice to know that she is willing to take care of us in our old age. Of course, she then said that we would be free babysitters. I think she must think we are older than she can image since I think she is talking about having us live with her when we are in our 50s. Kids. They are too funny.

SUPERTASTING
The hubby and I have started watching a show on TLC called “I Can Make You Thin”. I know, it is a terrible title, but it really is very interesting. Basically there are 4 rules. Eat when you are hungry. Eat what you want. Eat consciously. And stop when you are full. We have been doing this for 2 weeks now. I am amazed by how much less I eat when I eat slowly and really taste the food. The Girl has dubbed it Supertasting, as in popcorn is good when you supertaste it. Which I will agree with. I have also discovered that most French fries are really not very good when you eat them slowly and I find that asparagus tastes like dirt and grass. But more importantly, it feels like you have eaten the same amount of food because you have tasted the same amount of food. Plus, it fills you up like nobody’s business. I know I have lost weight because my coat is fitting better, not a lot of weight, but it is amazing because I do not feel like I am being deprived and there are things that I just do not want to eat any more.

KNITTING
I am almost done with my shawl! Hooray! I would have had it finished over the weekend, but on Sunday I had a Yarnover meeting to attend and then we all went out with my husband’s uncle, who was in town visiting his son. Regardless, I will finish it tonight and then I can devote myself to Alan Dart’s Hoppity Bunny out of Simply Knitting issue 39. I had to order the yarn from England, so of course when it came I had to cast on with it. I have done the belly. If this goes well, I have enough yarn for 2 bunnies. It is incredibly soft yarn. I will probably make one for me and give one away.
Yarnover is in less than 2 weeks, April 12th. I will be glad when it is over. I do not think I will volunteer for next year’s event. It is just really time consuming. Plus, I do not think I am really very good at event planning and coordinating activities. I always feel like I am behind the eight ball.

Lots of Thoughts and Not Much Cohesion

I spend every Saturday night tinking or frogging my shawl. I am sick of re-knitting the same rows over again on Sunday. Oddly, I can knit all week and not have any issues and then whatever I knit on Saturday morning or afternoon is wrong. WTF is up with that? I will never finish the shawl at this rate. I feel like I should be done with this shawl by now. Sigh. I sort of would like to just cast on something else, you know just to take the edge off, but that is not the solution. I need to finish this project and then finish another project I have started. I am trying very hard to stay on course so I can get rid of some of my WIPs.

Yesterday was Easter. We did not leave the house. My lovely husband made pecan pancakes for breakfast, mmm; they are one of my favorites. On Friday, it snowed, actually, it pretty much snowed all weekend, but most of it came then. Overall, we received about 7” at my house. It was beautiful. On Saturday we were out and about and the trees were all coated in snow. It will be probably all be gone by the end of this week since they are predicting highs in the 40s all week. Ahhh March.

I recently watched “Gone, Baby, Gone” on DVD. My husband did not want to see it, so I watched it by myself. It was good, but it left me with thoughts in my head that I have to express. Since my hubby did not see it, I can not discuss it with him, so you my dear readers are going to be stuck with my random ramblings. I will be discussing the whole movie, so if you have not seen the movie and do not want to know how it ends, stop reading here. SPOILERS AHEAD! You have been warned.

The movie focuses on a young girl who is kidnapped and the girl’s aunt hires a local P.I. to help find her. The mother is a questionable sort… one character calls her “a crack whore”. She is a drug mule and her and her boyfriend steal money from the drug dealer she hauls for. Her brother finds out and works with some cops to kidnap the girl and frame the drug dealer for it. They make it look like the drug dealer took the kid for revenge and then killed her during the exchange for the money. The drug dealer died as well. The P.I. figures it out and discovers the cop who headed up the task force has the girl. The cop tells the P.I. that the girl is better off with him and his wife and he should not tell anyone what happened. The P.I. states that no matter how many desserts and road trips they give the girl, they are not her parents and it is not their place to decide they are. Plus, he says he does not want a grown woman coming to him and asking him how he could let her stay with people who were not her parents. So, he does call the police and everyone goes to jail, the girl goes back to her mother and the P.I.’s girlfriend dumps him. Perhaps not the happiest ending ever, but somehow appropriate.
Now, this brings up the issue of what is best for children. Would this kid have been better off living with a stable family who love her and dotes on her? Yeah, every kid deserves that, but they deserve it from their parents. If the parents can not provide this, then the system should work so the kid is put in a home that would provide this so the child can say goodbye to their parent. This is not how it always works out of course. I know from experience that it is nearly impossible to get children out of a bad home. But kidnapping a child is never the right thing to do. Eventually, the child will question where they came from. They will want stories of their birth, their infancy etc. How do you deal with birth certificates? Eventually, all children grow up and they need to know who they are. When they figure it out, they will be lost.
This issue was brought up again today when I was listening to the “This American Life” podcast. It was a program called “The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar”. It was very interesting and I highly recommend everyone go onto Itunes and give it a listen. It was about a woman who decided to look into the kidnapping of her grandfather Bobby Dunbar, which occurred when he was 4 years old. He was recovered 8 months later. The “kidnapper” said the kid was not Bobby Dunbar, but rather he belonged to another gal named Julia who had not seen her son in over a year. Neither one of the women who claimed to be the boy’s mother could really id the kid as their child at 1st and the court decided that the boy was the Dunbar boy and that is where he went. This is long before DNA testing existed and the Dunbar’s were a good solid family and Julia was a single mother whose boy was born out of wedlock and who worked as a field hand. So the boy really went to the “better” home.
As the woman kept digging in the past, she talked to the family of Julia and of the “kidnapper”. All of which had different versions of the same story. Eventually, it began to look like perhaps her grandfather had not been Bobby Dunbar. Finally, there were DNA tests done and sure enough, he had been Julia’s son and he had been sent to the wrong home. Now, on the surface, I am sure he went to the better home, but there were repercussions to the decision and the Dunbar’s eventually split up. And the kid himself thought something was askew.
Today, the woman who opened this can of worms was shut out by her family because they did not want to know they were not Dunbar’s. It is fascinating how much we put in to who we are by who we are related to. So at the end of “Gone, Baby, Gone” even though most people would want the kid to be with the better family, you need to step back and think how you feel if you discovered your grandmother had been kidnapped and you did not know who you were really related to.

Snow, Snow, Snow

Last night we received a couple of inches of snow, thick, wet snow. Here is a photo for proof.
I took it in the bank parking lot because it was too dark at my house this morning. The trees are all coated this morning and it looks like a winter wonderland. Here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we often get snow in March. It used to be that we would get big snow storms (7-8 in), but now, it is like 2 or 3 inches at a time. It makes me very sad. On Sunday, I was sorting through some boxes and came across a photo of my youth. My little sister and I were sledding down a snow drift in my grandparent’s yard. It was huge. Today, we do not get drifts like that here. Sigh. This is part of the reason I am thinking of moving. I need to go somewhere that still gets snow in the winter, lots of snow. I think some lake effect snow will do.
I was reading in the paper, on Sunday it think, an article written by some guy in D.C. Sorry I am being so vague, but I was not paying much attention. Any who. This guy was talking about how the weather center somewhere had declared that winter started December 1st and went to February 28th (or 29th) and spring started March 1st. I did not really read much after this because I thought, what a bunch of horse hockey. Here in MN, we will get snow and cold usually starting in November and we can get snow as late as April (which is very cruel when the robins have already arrived, they look so confused). Now I am thinking I a far southern state like Texas or Arizona winter, such as it is, really only lasts a couple of months and a northern state like MN or Maine, it would last more than 3 months. I just thought it was really arrogant for any one to declare March 1st as Spring. Crap, sometimes people really bother me.
This morning it was slushy coming in to work and I seem to have a small hole in my one shoe as my socks got wet. I was walking in wishing I was wearing my wool socks so it would not be so uncomfortable. I should knit more socks, but I really do not love knitting socks. What I need to do is find someone who LOVES knitting socks and I can trade like hats and mittens for socks or something.
It is funny that sometimes I knit something and I just love doing it and other things I just do not care for. It does not seem to be based on being more complicated or more interesting. I would rather knit 10 stockinet hats than one pair of socks and I only wear anklets. It is quite fascinating to me. I know people who all they knit are socks or sweaters or whatever. Is there something in people that makes them say, “I am good at X so that is all I will knit.”? I am in a little knitting group at work and when I remind some of the newer knitters that I have only been knitting a couple of years, they are all like, yeah but that must be all you do, you are so good and you do such complicated things. Now, I do not think I do anything terribly complicated. I have done some simple lace; I have not even touched the more complex lace patterns I have mooned over since I discovered lace knitting. I think the most complicated thing I have attempted is the stranded knitting and even then, it was just hats and it is far easier than it looks. And again, its not like I am doing a Bohus sweater or something, In fact, I can not seem to knit a sweater. I turned the Sweater of Doom into a vest rather than bother with the sleeves. So I still feel like a beginner, just one that is a little more adventurous than others. For example, I spent my Saturday night tinking two rows of my shawl, because for some reason I knit row 7 instead of row 5 and did not discover this until I went to knit row 7 and thought, mmmm I already knit this row. I even kept checking back while knitting the wrong row. Of course, I had not done a life line because the knitting was going so well. Lol.
I have Guild tonight and I am very excited. I have not been to a meeting since November and I really am looking forward to a night out on my own. Of course, I always have to worry about what to bring to knit on. I would like to bring my shawl because it is a little more impressive and I would like to get it done this week. However, it is fiddly and I do not want to screw it up because I am not paying enough attention. I am also working on some baby sock to go with the hat I knit, so those might be good because they are not as complex. I am doing the after thought heel on the one I have made and then I will cast on for sock #2. I also think we are turning in stuff for the charity of the quarter so I will need to remember my hats I have made. Not the baby one, because I want to do the socks to go with it, but I have 3 others I can give. I always seem to forget my stuff when I go. Tonight though I have a ton of stuff I need to remember: my hats, the Yarnover vendor forms, the returned mail from Yarnover vendors, my knitting. Uff da, it is going to be a busy night when I get home.

Lost in Time … and Lost in Space … and Meaning

Today I am in a Rocky Horror mood, hence the title, and I am going to discuss Lost. Plus, there will be photos of knitting!
So I believe all of the Oceanic 6 have been revealed: Jack, Kate, Hurley, Aaron, Sayid, and Sun. So I am declaring myself right on my guess a few weeks ago. Even though I was counting Aaron and Claire as one unit. The 2 survivors who “died” on the island which Jack mentioned in his testimony at Kate’s trial are Jin and Claire. 8 make it to the boat and 2 die there and they have to explain away the dead bodies. WTF was up with no one trying to stop Regina from jumping off the ship? That was too bizarre. How many of the crew have ended their lives on this boat that they can not even be bothered to notice? And if it continues, is it any wonder that only 6 people “survive”? Michael is Ben’s man on the boat… no surprise there, I think everyone knew it was coming. Where is Walt? Probably being held hostage somewhere. Michael may not be the father of the year, but he does seem to know that he is responsible for Walt and would do what it takes to save him.
Now, let’s discuss Ben a little. I think he is working for Hanso. I know that there is some idea that Ben is the end of everything, but I know Hanso has something to do with this whole thing. The Dharma Initiative might have become a security risk and Hanso ordered Ben to join up with the Hostiles in order to save the island. My crackpot theory is that Ben and Alvar Hanso are twins. I realize that this makes absolutely no sense, but I like it anyway. I think Hanso and Widmore are rivals and they both want control of the island. Why, because they are old men and they want it for it’s fountain of youth properties.
Time issues: I have been thinking about this and I am not sure that I have a good grasp of it, but I am going to make a guess anyway. What if time on the island actually is accelerated, not slower, but since there are healing properties on the island it seems like it is slower? So one day in the real world is like 3 on the island. So if the Losties think they have been on the island for 90 days, in real time it has only been 30. Here is my reasoning. It seems like time on the boat is different than time on the island. Also, when Juliet showed up on the island, there was that scene where they showed her a x-ray of a woman’s womb and she thought it was an old lady’s and they told her the woman was in her twenties. So when the Oceanic 6 are rescued, the world thinks they have been gone for a shorter period of time then the 6 think. This would explain why Aaron is one of the 6 because the world thinks he was born before getting on the plane and he would not have been on the manifest since you do not have to buy a seat for a baby. It would explain the death date on Jin’s tombstone. It would explain the fertility issues on the island. Just a guess, who knows what the truth will be.

On to knitting:
I have been working on the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Folk Shawls. I have just started the lace part last night. I am enjoying the knitting, but I think next time I knit this I will use a heavier weight yarn so it will be a little bigger. I am worried it is going to be too small for my large frame. Regardless, here is a picture of the shawl in progress. It is actually a deeper red than what my camera captured, more of a beet red.


Here is a photo of a couple of hats I made recently for charity, one baby hat out of sock yarn and one toddler hat out of some Japanese yarn.


And lastly, here is a photo of Vickie Powell’s Kick Ass-cot I made out of Twize. I have wore it to work a couple of times and I really enjoy it. It makes me feel like Fred from Scooby Doo.

In Order To Form A More Perfect Union...

I know I promised photos in this edition, but I have not had time to take them, much less down load them to the computer, so again, it will be photo free today. However, I wanted to talk about the big excitement I had over the weekend. I was a delegate at the district level DFL senatorial conference. Okay, that is not the official title, but I can’t remember it and I am too lazy to look it up. I was part of the political process. Since I was trained in history, I would like to diverge here for you folks who are not from the fine state of Minnesota to explain why our Democratic party had extra letters in the abbreviation. The FL stands for the Farmer-Labor party. What, you ask, is a Farmer-Labor party? Well, my little ones let me tell you… Minnesota has always been known for some pretty serious and somewhat radical politics and back in the 1920s, the farmers and urban workers formed a coalition to fight the railroads. The Farmer-Labor party was nationwide, but it was really only successful here in Minnesota. In fact, there was basically the Republican Party and the Farmer-Labor party in the state for most of the 1930s. Many of the governors in the 30s were members of the Farmer-Labor party. However, farmers and urbanites have very different needs from the government and they began to divide. In 1944, the Democrats merged with the Farmer-Labor party and became the DFL. There has been talk of dropping the FL, but I truly hope they don’t because I think it reflects the fact that MN is not the rest of the country.
Now, I do not normally associate myself with any given political parties because I believe that people should vote with their conscience, not because a party tells them for whom to vote. But, I went to the caucus and got swept up in the fever of being part of the process and well, I signed up to be a delegate to the district convention to support Al Franken. My husband, who is a yellow dog Democrat, was doing it and asked me to join him. It was actually a lot of fun and very informative. I think everyone should go do this at least once just to see how the political process really works. Plus, there is a lot of sitting around so I got a TON of knitting done. That is a win-win situation in my book! On Friday I received the yarn I ordered from Little Knits to start the Wool Peddler’s Shawl in Folk Shawls. It is very fun. I would highly recommend it for someone who is just starting out with lace. I am almost to the serious lacey part of the shawl, although none of it is extreme. I am enjoying it so far and I can see making more than one. I got a lot of it done on Saturday while at the convention.
This was the highlight of my weekend really, Sunday was spent just sort of sitting around the house knitting and watching TV. We also had to kick a bunch of boys out of The Girl’s room on Sunday morning as she had 3 boys who had spent the night without our permission. The one was supposed to be picked up at 11 and the other two “did not have anywhere else to stay”. I think she is trying to turn out house into a hotel and I told her that I was going to start charging these kids. I mean, they took a shower and everything. What is up with that? I can not wait until she has to pay her own utility bills. Aaarrgh!

The Week in Review

I turned 39 last Tuesday. I took the day off work and hung out with my sweetie. We went out for breakfast, renewed my license, went to a wine sale and hit a yarn shop. Big Day! I started to get sick on Monday afternoon and felt pretty cruddy by Tuesday. Just a cold, no big deal, but it meant that I really did not want to go out to celebrate my birthday. By Thursday, I felt better, but I could hardly speak. I was fine by Friday.

GLORY DAYS
On Thursday, The Girl had to go to the orthodontist. I do not know if I have mentioned this, but she has had braces forever (about 4 years) and even I am sick of going there. Anyway, I was sitting in the lobby, knitting, when Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” came on the radio. Now, I was a teenager when this song came out in the eighties and I know I did not really like it then because I could not relate to the subject matter. Sitting in there in the lobby, I realized that I am now of the age that I should be able to “get” the song. However, I have never really had any Glory Days. I was not popular in High School, I was not a star athlete, nothing like that, I was just me. Fact is, I would rather have my fingernails pulled out than go back to my teen age years. In reality, my life now is way better than it was then. Are these my “Glory Days”? They do not seem very glorious, just better than the past. Perhaps, my glory days are yet to come, maybe I will be like Grandma Moses and be glorious in my old age.
When I think of glory, I think of this quote from Euripides’ play “Medea”: “Let no one think of me that I am humble or weak or passive; let them understand I am of a different kind: dangerous to my enemies, loyal to my friends. To such a life glory belongs.” I used to have a t-shirt with that quote on it. We went and saw a production of Medea at the Guthrie about a bazillion years ago. It was excellent and I bought the t-shirt at the gift shop. I would like to think that I strife for such an existence, but I know that I am not that passionate about anything. I know for instance, that no matter how mad I got at my husband, I would not kill my kids to spite him. That is just too cruel. However, I have become less passive so perhaps there is hope for glory yet.

KNITTING NEWS
I finished my vest, formally known as the Sweater of Doom. I do not have a picture yet, but I wore it to work on Friday. It is the 1st real article of clothing I have made for myself. The most exciting part is that now I have something to wear to Guild meetings. I always feel so left out when everyone else is there in their beautiful hand knit sweaters. Of course, my vest is pretty plain Jane, but I think it looks good and it fits so I am happy.
Currently I am working on a baby hat while I try to decide what to do next. I have a lot of options and I just need to figure out what I am in the mood for now. I spent most of the weekend looking at my options and I am thinking I will wait until I get the yarn I ordered for the wool peddler shawl in Folk Shawls. I have been obsessed with the pattern since I bought the book. I will finish up the baby hat today and maybe make some little socks to go with it. I did not do much knitting over the weekend, just sort of hung around the house watching TV.

WEEKEND DRAMA
On Saturday afternoon, we were all sitting around, arguing about what to watch on TV (Saturday is "Torchwood" night and The Girl wanted to watch her own TV shows) when The Girl received a text message and left the room. She was obviously upset. A bit later, hubby went to see if she wanted some sushi and she said she was not hungry. Now we knew something was very wrong since she loves sushi. However, she said she was fine. Hubby went to get sushi and as soon as he was gone, The Girl came out of her room in tears with her arms covered in blood. He boyfriend had broken up with her. She had been in her room cutting herself. It has been many months since there was any cutting and I honestly thought maybe we were past it. I held in my lap for a little while she cried and then I brought her into the bathroom to clean up the blood. The cuts were not severe, thank God, but I explained that she needs to come to me before she cuts herself not after. However, her coming to me at all is a step forward since before she would do the cutting and hide it from us. I explained to her that we loved her no matter what and that in high school, boys are not very mature. In a few years, she will be able to have mature relationships. She seemed to buy that explanation. Mostly though, I wanted to make it clear that we loved her and that she is beautiful and lovable. God, this parenting thing is hard. She went and spent the night at a friend of hers and on her way out I said she was my girl and she said she would always be only my girl. And she gave me a hug and a kiss, so I must have gotten through to her a little bit. Here’s hoping.
Just so you know, by Sunday night they had worked out their differences and were back together. Teenagers are maddening.

Pictures next blog posting… I promise.

Look at me I’m stranding hats!

I did not post the hat I finished on Friday night. It is Lillehammer from Cider Moon.
So here it is now.


It was a great pattern and I really liked how it came out. I knit this for a friend’s birthday. It is tomorrow, same as mine. Of course, I did not mail it out in time, because, well I was too lazy to go Saturday before the movies or to the airport post office on Sunday. He is only one state over, so he will probably get it on Wednesday. However, who knows, maybe the mail gods are looking over me and he will get it tomorrow. I really like this stranding business and I think I am doing a pretty good job. Who woulda thunk it? Maybe I will make a wooly vest. I have started working on a design for a hat. Just need to do the gauge swatch and figure it all out. It is times like this that I like knitting best of all… when the creative ideas start pouring out of my little brain. So many projects, so little time.

Other knitting news, I ripped out the partial arm on the Sweater of Doom and have started turning it into a vest. I am almost done with the arm holes and then will just have the neck to do. Possibly could finish it tonight. It is very exciting. I have been thinking I should look over all of my WIPs and figure out what I will finish and what I should frog. I feel like I have started stuff I will never finish and maybe I could use the yarn for something else. Well, whatever I decide, I am going to try to alternate between projects that I have started and new projects so I get some stuff completed, but I do not feel like I can not be creative. I usually am doing more than one thing at a time anyway. I get bored easily.

Oscar Movie reviews

Yesterday the hubby and I went to see all 5 Best Picture nominees. We did this last year as well. I enjoy it, although it is a long time in the theatre and I do not drink enough water, so by the end of the evening I am feeling a little off. I will say this year’s nominees are not as strong as last year’s movies.
I will review them in the order we saw them, not in the order of which I like best.

1) “Michael Clayton” This is a solid film. It is not wondrous, but it is enjoyable. It is about Michael Clayton, who is a “fixer” for gigantic law firm. He is sent to fix a lawyer who has gone off his meds. However, they mess around with the timeline at the beginning. So the stuff at the beginning actually happens in the middle of the narrative. There did not seem to be a reason for this. I do not mind messing with time if it matters to the story, like in “Memento”, but I did not see the point of it in “Michael Clayton”. It is a good movie, but not a phenomenal movie. I will be the first to admit I am not a huge George Clooney fan. He does a good job in the movie. However, Tom Wilkinson does a great job as a lawyer gone rouge. There were no really nice knits in which of course also knocks it down a bit. I am giving it 2 ½ knitting needles out of 4.

2) “There Will Be Blood” This is old school drama. It is a period piece that takes place in the western US at the turn of the last century. It tells the story of Daniel Plainview, Oil Man. It is based on the book “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair. I have not read this book but I have read other Sinclair novels. Sinclair was a socialist so the character of Daniel Plainview is a villain because all he cares about is money. This movie is great because of Daniel Day-Lewis. He puts in a phenomenal performance. I liked this movie a lot. It is well made and the acting superb. There were people who complained about the ending, but I am sure that was the ending in the book. I am also sure there was a lot more stuff in the book which no doubt contributed to the ending. However, the movie was 2 ½ hours long as it was and I think whatever they did not put in did not take away from the film a great deal. There were no nice knits, but there some great lamps so it sort of evens out. I am giving it 3 ½ knitting needles.

3) “Atonement” I am not sure why this movie made it to the top 5, I know I saw better movies than this last year, “3:10 to Yuma”, “Waitress”, and “Lars and The Real Girl” to name a few. It is about a girl who lies and what damage it causes. They also mess with the time line. Why? I assume so at the end we can be shocked and stunned, but I reality it was just sort of irritating. The movie was okay, it is watchable, but there are parts which seem to drag and other parts that seem to be missing. It is trying too hard to be arty and beautiful and meaningful and it really does succeed as a movie. Although Keira Knightly and James McAvoy are very pretty. Plus there are very few knits, which is wrong since this is England in the 30’s and 40’s and there would have been a lot of people wear hand knits. I give it 2 knitting needles.

4) “Juno” This was the only film I had seen before so it has already been rated and I am sticking to that rating. It is a good film, funny, touching etc. However, seeing it again, I noticed a couple of things. Juno is wearing some really cute fair isle vests at the start of the movie. Also, there is a driving scene and you can see mountains in the background. Now this movie is supposedly taking place in MN, there are no mountains any where near MN. I have lived here all my life, it is pretty flat, there are some parts of the state which have rolling hills, but nothing that you could mistake for mountains. This is something that bothers me, just because I think it can be avoided by being careful with the shots.

5) “No Country for Old Men” This is a great film about a guy who stumbles across a crime scene and gets himself involved. It is a tight film, has great acting and it is wonderfully shot. I love the Coen brothers movies and this one does not disappoint. Javier Bardem is amazing as a hired gun. As is Tommy Lee Jones as the sheriff who has seen more than he cares to of humanity. This is my pick for the academy award. It is excellent and I give it 4 knitting needles.

I also discovered that I can knit in the movies, but I can not tink in the dark.

Two Fisted Knitting

Okay, I love stranded knitting. I was able to cruise through all the color work on my hat in under a 24 hr period. That includes sleeping and reading the Sunday paper and playing some solitaire on the computer. Woohoo! I finished my hat for class and cast on for another one last night. I am hoping I can whip it out in the next couple of days and send it to a friend of mine who has a birthday coming up. Of course, the class hat was actually too big for me. I do not think I am very good at reading swatches. It does not matter though, as it fit my hubby to a tee and he looks marvelous in it. I only had one major screw up with the pattern, totally my fault as I charted it wrong, but no one will probably notice anyway. So I am very pleased with myself.
Here is the photo of it. Isn’t swell?

Land of TV shows

I watched both “Lost’ and “Supernatural” last night. They were both stressful. When did TV become so stressful? When I was a kid, there were not shows that caused me to worry or think what will happen next. Well, except Robotech, which I watched when I was in junior high and was really an animated soap opera. But it did not make me wonder what was really going on. There were alien robots trying to invade Earth and we were trying to fight them off. Not exactly overwhelming in possibilities, either we won or not.
I remember reading some article about how “Law and Order” was causing TV shows to become episodic rather than linear since there is little background of the characters and the crimes could happen any time. This was portrayed as a bad thing; however, this is how I remember most of the shows in my youth being like. I do not recall there being much substance to “Beretta” or “Kojak”, I did not have much supervision as a child. Or even something like “All in the Family” or “M*A*S*H” which would deal with some really serious issues, but it would be in one or two episodes. Of course, you did know stuff about the characters so perhaps that is the issue the author had with “Law and Order”.
Regardless, “Lost” was very good. Sayid IS one of the Oceanic 6. Yeah for me in guessing correctly. And there is a time anomaly on The Island. So, I am doing pretty well on my guessing. Sayid is too beautiful. And last night we got to see him in almost no clothes… mmm. However, seeing him being a hired gun is not a great feeling. Although it not like he really was a great humanitarian to start with and since we do not really know who he is eliminating, so it is possible that he is doing the world a favor.
So far, being off the Island seems a lot worse than being on it. As Sawyer pointed out last night it is not such a bad place. There is food and water and electricity and books and you do not get sick. So really, if you did not have any family or friends in the Real World why would you leave? I find it interesting that it is getting to the point on the show where a person watching would start to think that way. I would assume that it is written that way so viewers will not feel so bad for those who get left behind. I have a feeling that in the end, the Oceanic 6 will end up back on the Island. I think it is how it works. The Island keeps what is it considers its own.
In Supernatural, Sam lived the same day over and over again and every day Dean died. It was a trick by a Loki or Coyote like trickster god. Not sure what name they are giving him. However, it did give a glimpse into what Sam will be like when Dean does really die and it was just so depressing. I wonder if they are planning on ending the show this season. I hope not as it is what The Girl and I watch together. It would be nice to have it last a little longer. It is good bonding time.

Ennui

Yesterday I was feeling a little down, as you could probably tell from my blog posting. Sorry. I left work a little early because I just could not concentrate. I decided I would take a walk when I got home, I thought it might improve my mood. I went walking in the nature preserve next to my house. I do not go there very often because they do not let dogs in and when I go out for a walk, it seems like I should take the dogs with, or at least the crazy one. However, I felt like going alone. It was a balmy 16 degrees so it was not very crowded. I took some pictures to share.

About 50 years ago, this area was a lake. Apparently it was several miles wide. It was drained to put in the interstate next to it and now it is just a swamp, although it is still a “lake” in name.


I did not see much Nature. Well, I mean, there was trees and cattails and snow, which I know are technically “nature”, but I saw no animals. I saw evidence of animals. I think these are rabbit tracks, but I do not know for sure, Nature is not my specialty.


Towards the end of my walk I heard birds, but I could not see them. The only birds I saw were the big metal kind with red tails.
Here is a picture of the old people condos they built a few years ago. This used to be a cute little single family home and the VFW. They torn those down and put in these condos and after much fighting, the VFW was made smaller and added to the side of the condo building. Behind these condos are more old people condos which they torn down the local hardware store to put in. Richfield is a 1st ring suburb so it is an aging suburb. We have a lot of old people condos and just a block away from these is an assisted living center which replaced several blocks of single family houses. I always worry that our house will be next on the chopping block of progress.


Anyway, the walk wore me out, but I do not know that it made me feel better. I went home and worked on the Kick Ass-cot from Vikki Howell’s website. I am knitting it with Twize in Twack. I had knit up almost one whole side per her instructions and I did not like it with the fingerling weight yarn in it so I ripped it out and redid using different size needles instead of changing the yarn and I like I a lot better. I practiced knitting with my left hand while watching the Westminster Dog show, which I watch every year. I still do not like knitting with my left hand and my tension is not as even. However, I can do it I guess and that is what my goal was for the class. By the by, the Beagle won the show. It is the 1st time a beagle won at Westminster and he was very happy. He barked and jumped around. It always good to see the dogs excited.
I still did not feel great, especially since during every commercial they played these sad ads about dog in animal shelters. I can not adopt any more pets right now and I just felt bad that I could not bring these ones home too. I know I could end up being one of those crazy people you see on TV with like 100 cats in their house if I am not careful. Only I would have dogs. I know if I lived some where with more room I would have at least 4 dogs, maybe 5. I know, it is a sickness, I just love dogs. I am a responsible pet owner though and all of my pets are spade and neuter, except the littlest one because she has not been old enough until now to get it done. We just need to make an appointment. I take them to the vet every year to get checked out and they really have a pretty good life. I would never leave them behind if I had to move or whatever, not even my crazy dog Strider who has ADD.

The thing that made my night though was an ad I saw while watching the 10:00 news. Here in the fine state of Minnesota we have a “professional” basketball team. They are called the Timberwolves. They have a mascot called Crunch, who is a wolf, presumably one of the timber variety. Well, apparently Crunch’s birthday is fast approaching. Who knew that fictional mascot had birthdays? But the Timberwolves organization does not want to over look the birthday of their most valuable team member and they are having a special event to honor him. That’s right, if you come to February 24th game and are one of the 1st 5000 guests, you get a special gift to honor the birthday boy, A CRUNCH PUNCHING BAG. Who doesn’t celebrate their birthday by giving out images of themselves for others to beat upon? I know I am having a bunch made up of myself for my friends and family! LOL. Sports teams make me laugh. This has got to be the lamest promotion since the turkey drop on WKRP in Cincinnati. As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

A wandering mind

I can not concentrate today. First off, I have thought it was Wednesday all day and then when I remember it is only Tuesday I become sad. I don’t know why exactly, but I really am sick of work this week.
I have tons of stuff to do at home.
I need to get my taxes off to my sister; she is a CPA and does my taxes for almost nothing. Normally, I drive down there, but I do not know that I am up to that task this year. One never knows what the weather will bring and I have been crazy busy on the weekends lately. Plus, I must face the fact that her 3 kids are getting to the point that they drive me absolutely nuts.
I have knitting to do. I am taking a class for a Fair Isle hat so I can learn to knit with both hands. I am a thrower, but I am quicker at it than most. Mainly, because I hold my knitting “incorrectly”. It works for me, but it is making learning picking difficult. Our homework this week is to practice knitting with the other hand. Bleah. I can do it, but I am no where near as fast and it hurts my hands. I need to learn how to do it though because I would like to make a Fair Isle tam and I think in the end it would be quicker to use two hands.
I finished up a pair of wristers for The Girl. It is the Little Green Wristers pattern from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. Of course, she wanted them longer so I repeated the cuff pattern so it is 6 repeats long and they are red, not green. She did like them and she said she would wear them today. I did not take a picture because I was not thinking, so hopefully I will be able to corner her tonight and get picture.
I have been thinking that I should try to finish up the Sweater of Doom. The more I think about, the more I think I should just rip up the sleeve and make into a vest. I would like a vest and I think the sleeve being at the wrong gauge is going to bother me more than I care to admit. I think the bigger problem is that I would have to knit the other sleeve at the same gauge and it took way to stinking long to knit a ¾ sleeve at that gauge.
I have a ton of stuff I have started and never finished. Why do I do that? I know that I should be able finish some of them. So I think before I cast on anything new, I am going to have to finish up at least a couple projects. Some I think I might just rip up. If I haven’t worked on it in a year, will I ever? I doubt it.
Over the weekend, one of the cords on my Knitpicks Options set came out of the metal ends. I was so bummed out. I have asked my husband to give them a holler and get a replacement, but part of me thinks I could just shove some glue in the metal end and stick it back in. Would that work or would it cause problems? I am very disappointed that it does not seem to have any adhesive on it all. It is just stuff in the tube. That does not seem like a quality product in my opinion.
I have to work on The Girl’s rainbow socks. I am worried that they are too small and I will have to rip them up. The sensible thing to do would be to have her try them on so I know, but I am filled with dread at the prospect of being correct.
I also have been working on a vest that I have the entire front and back panels all knit, but I need to stitch them together to finish it up and I have been too lazy to do that. Here it is almost half way through February and I have not finished anything for me to wear for winter. I had better hurry.

Here is a photo of a boat off the coast of Bonaire. I wish I was there right now. Knitting in the sun.

“Lost” in thought

I thought I would spend a little time discussing “Lost”. I am so happy it is back on the air. Although I find each episode leads to more questions. So I am going to put down some of my theories. I will not stand by these if things are revealed to counter them. They are just random thoughts.

1. The Island is in a parallel universe, sort of like Bizarro world in Superman. The electro-magnetic property is what controls the “gates” as it were, to get in and out. Perhaps in this world all of the Oceanic 815 passengers are dead and in the other one they are not. Or perhaps it was supposed to be the other way around and they switched places.

2. The Oceanic Six – Jack, Kate, Hurley and who else? I am guessing Sayid, Sun and Claire. Why? Because I think it is too cruel to abandon a pregnant lady and a baby on the Island. And Sayid because I love him and I want him to survive, plus he can fly a helicopter. My thought process is this: They leave the Island with the intention of going back to get the rest and can not return due to the electro-magnetic “gate” issue. Hence, Charlie telling Hurley that he has to go back to help the others.

3. Who the Hell is Ben? Why does he know so much about everyone? Did he really come to The Island when he was 10? Okay, I am not sure who he is, but I have always thought he had something to do with the Hanso family. Don’t know why, just a gut feeling. Perhaps he is psychic. It would explain why he knows about things that seem to be very private, not just names and crap. Does he have a contact on the “rescue” ship? I doubt it. I think he states what he thinks will help him survive. Why do the guys on the “rescue” ship what to get at him? Because he is a trouble maker, of course. LOL.

4. Time / space continuum – the time that occurs on The Island does not seem to jive with the time line in real life. The plane crashed in September 2004 and Oceanic air just started to fly again in December 2007. And it seems to be after that, that plane is “discovered” at the bottom of the ocean. So, why have the survivors only been on the island for 90 days or whatever it is? Hmmm, perhaps time is slower in The Island universe, which would help to explain why people do not seem to age much. Of course, this could be incorrect.

5. Why has Jack become so irritating? I used to like him, but he really has become such an ass. Maybe it is the whole “I am a doctor” attitude has finally become more than I can bear. Why can’t he listen to anyone? Arrrgh!

6. Can the dead come back to life on the island? Is Jack’s dad still alive? Is he one of the Oceanic 6? This seems like a stretch since I thought Jack’s mom was alive when Jack went to go get his dad’s body. I would think it would cause a scandal for him to come back from the dead in the “real” world. When Jack is ranting for the hospital staff to go get his dad in last season’s finale I think it is just drug induced confusion. However, wouldn’t that be a kick in the head if he was alive? Or perhaps, the Oceanic 6 do not come back to their world, but the parallel one and in that world; Jack’s dad is still alive. Hmmm. That would explain why they would not want to talk about what happened and who was left on the island.

Power to the People

Last night the Hub and I went to caucus. This is the 1st time I have ever done it, so it was quite exciting. There were TONS of people there. 293 people voted for a DFL presidential nominee in our little precinct. I do not know how many voted in the district, but the place was packed. I think we were in line just to get our ballot for about 30 – 40 minutes. I brought some knitting so I was content. We were going to caucus so we placed our vote for the presidential nominee and sat down. The room itself was packed too. I think it may have discouraged some from staying to actually caucus, but it was really heartwarming to see so many people doing their civic duty. There were high school kids there and a lot of other 1st timers like us. We did caucus and we were there until about 9:30. DH got a resolution past on to the next level and we both signed up to be delegates. Plus, I got a lot of knitting done. It was win / win.

If you had not yet had your primary / caucus in your state, I highly recommend you do it when it comes up. It is very empowering.

Major Award and other news

A couple of weeks ago I was sent an e-mail stating that I had won a contest. I was one of 101 people who won a skein a month contest hosted by Storey Publishing and WEBS. This week I received my January prize. It is a skein of Sheep 3 yarn and a new pattern (not yet released to the general public) from Sheep Shop Yarn. It is a wool / silk blend; it is too awesome: 325 yards of soft DK beauty. I love the tangerine color too. The pattern is for a scarf which is very nice, but I am not a huge scarf knitter so I do not know if I will make it or not. I probably will eventually because I think it would be a nice present, but I think it would look good in green or brown or maybe a golden brown, something leafy.
Here is a picture of my Major Award.

I have been very busy. Last Sunday, DH announced that he had lost his scarf and would like another one. Luckily, we were in the Needlework Unlimited Outlet store so he picked out some nice bulky yarn and I have been working on it this week because it has been colder than a mother in law’s kiss here I have put aside my other projects in order to finish it. I had him pick a pattern out of Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns volume 1 and have been plugging away. I hope to have it done by the end of the week. I will post a photo when I am done.

“Lost” is on tonight at the same time as “Supernatural”, which really sucks. “Supernatural” is what The Girl and I watch together to bond. The whole family watches “Lost” together. DH is going to see if we can tape, yes tape, Supernatural upstairs while we watch “Lost” downstairs. Perhaps it is time to invest in a DVR, sigh.

I thought I would include a picture of a moment of peace in our chaotic household. Here is The Girl’s kitten and our crazy dog sleeping on Sunday morning.

Movie Review 1-24-08

Last night we went to the movies. The Girl called and said she wanted to go see “Cloverfield” as a family. So my DH gave up going to improv and off we all went to the movies. On Wednesday nights at the AMC theaters here, you get a free small popcorn if you are a movie card member, so all we bought at the concession stand was a large pop for The Girl. Plus the tickets were only $6 a piece. So overall it was a cheap night at the movies. As I am want to do, I will now review the movie.
“Cloverfield” is a monster movie all shot with a hand held video camera. It is a good film over all. However, if your stomach is not feeling 100% or you suffer from motion sickness, it can make you ill. As you know from my previous blogs, I have not been feeling well AND I have suffered from motion sickness since I was a child, so there were parts in which I shut my eyes just to keep from throwing up. Since I still enjoyed the film with these problems, I must recommend it. There are NO good knits though and that of course reduces it score. I am giving it 2 ½ knitting needles.
Just another note... you will want to stay until the very end of the credits as there is a thing at the end. We did not stay for it, but my husband went on-line after and said we missed this thing. Also, there is a ton of background stuff about the movie on-line if you are interested in that kind of thing. I am not, but DH is, so I know about it anyway.

Where have all the spoons gone?

Why don’t restaurants have spoons any more? I like to partake of an iced tea when I dine out and no longer do I get a spoon with it. They give me a straw and then put so much ice in the glass that I can not actually stir the sugar in to the liquid. Instead, there is a layer of sugar sediment at the bottom waiting to form into limestone. I hate it. However, if my husband orders coffee, they will bring him a spoon, even though he ALWAYS orders it black. So spoons do exist in the restaurant, I just do not get one. If I ask for one, they look at me like I just ask if they could go out and wash my car while I dine. I want the freaking spoons back! I realize that some study was done and some restaurateur discovered he could save a couple of bucks by not just handing out spoons, but I don’t care. I want a spoon at my place setting when I sit down. I want to stir sugar in my tea. I want to be able to pick up saucy foods without drips falling from my utensil. Is that asking too much?

Sorry for the rant. I have been ill. Again. On Friday night I was violently ill. I have never been that sick ever. So I am not sure what ails me, but I have narrowed it down to food poisoning, e coli, colon cancer or those aliens from Stephen King’s “Dreamcatcher”. I am feeling better today, but still just eating bland food.
The Girl is sick too, she puked in her bed in the middle of the night. And it is her 16th birthday. Poor little tot.
My knitting has suffered from all this illness. So I do not know how much more I can take.

Winter of my discontent

January has been very cruel. I have had in-laws visit, I was sick and an old friend (who I have discovered is crazy) has contacted me and The Girl was sick for a week. And The Girl will be 16 next week. I am completely discombobulated.

It is going to be very cold here this weekend (highs below zero F), so I knitted my oldest dog the Cables & Bits Shrug from Knitty. It was very easy and quite quick, plus she actually likes it. Normally, when forced into a sweater or jacket, she simply freezes up and refuses to move, but in this little shrug, she walked around and even lay down and slept in it. Hooray! Here she is modeling it.


Yes, it is done in Vikings colors. The Girl thought I should have done it all in yellow, but I had the purple and I wanted to use up both. Which I didn’t, but now I have a more even amount.

I am not done with The Girl’s rainbow socks and as her birthday is on Tuesday, it seems very unlikely they will get done. I should have one done by then and she can try it on so I know it fits and she will actually wear them before I start on sock # 2.

I also have been working on a vest for myself. I need to put the back together and attach the back and front at the shoulder and then I can finish up the trim etc. I will post a picture when I get one.

Illness abounds

I have been sick, miserably sick, to sick to knit sick. I have felt like crap since Tuesday afternoon. I did not come in to work yesterday. I spent the day sleeping, reading and going to the bathroom. I did finish “The Ruins”. It is a good book, but not exactly an upbeat story. It is a horror book about tourist in Mexico. I will not say anymore since it would give away a major plot element. Hollywood has made a movie about it, I saw a preview for it. I must say, I can’t image that it is going to be good. Just from what I saw of the preview, I could tell they had changed it. Plus there is a lot of internalizing in the book which almost never come across well on the big screen. I would recommend the book. It is well written and very interesting.
Here is a picture of my cat Buttercup. Isn’t she regal?

Why I am not a movie critic …

I had recommend “Sweeny Todd” to some people here at work. Since I loved it, I figured others would too. Apparently not. They both declared it too bloody. I guess all the years of horror films have distorted my view of what is grim. Of course, I had seen it in play versions and perhaps that skewed my views since I knew when the bloody bits would be coming up. I still loved it. So if you are queasy at the sight of blood, do not go see it.


It has been a few days since I checked in because I had all the in-laws in town. It was exhausting. Hopefully I will be able to have a full blog entry tomorrow.

So This is New Year's

Happy New Year.
It is that time of year when we tend towards looking backwards and forwards. In ancient times, the new year was celebrated in the spring, when the world was renewed. This to me makes a great deal of sense. Why do I want to change in the middle of winter? Why would the darkness bring forth a renewal in my life? I have decided this year that I will follow the ancient calendar and come up with resolutions in the spring. For now, I will continue to exist. I will think about the future, but I will reserve the right to not change until March. This seems fair to me. Of course, it is probably just me procrastinating, but it is the course I am sticking with this year.
As far as looking back at the last year, I have never seen the point of it. In reality the last 12 months of your life is still too close to look at objectively and actually learn from it. Really, it is best to look at how your life was, say 5 years ago. Look how far you have come... I know that 5 years ago, I was not in as good a place as I am now. I hope to be even better off 5 years from now. That is not to say bad things haven’t happened, they have, some of the quite bad, but over all, things today are better now. I think I like to solve a problem when I occurs and revisit years later as to whether or not it was the correct solution. So there will be no yearly highlights here.
So, just a wish for a safe and happy new year. I hope 2008 brings peace to the world. And be careful out there.

Happy Boxing Day

It is snowing here today. I have to work, so no after Christmas sales for me. It is quiet at work, of course, because a lot of people took the rest of the week off.
I figured I would do a quick update.

1st off: FOs
Here is the elephant I made for my littlest niece for Christmas. It is from Debbie Bliss’ Knit Toys. I think it turned out pretty darn cute.


Here are some Angels
These are from my 2005 Knitting calendar. One is made from Sugar and Cream cotton and the other from crochet cotton. Note the size difference. I sent the little one to a former co-worker as a gift.


2nd order of business: Movie reviews
We went and saw 2 movies yesterday. It is our tradition to go to the movies on Christmas Day. We had planned on seeing only one, but decided we had plenty of time, so why not 2. We saw “Juno” & “Sweeny Todd”. Both were very good.

“Juno”: It is well written and very funny. Parts are sad as well, so you may cry. Not a complete tear jerker, but tears may occur. Don’t say I did warn you. If you do not know what it is about, in a nutshell: Juno, 16, gets pregnant after having sex with her best friend and she decides to give it up for adoption. It has potential for melodrama, but does not ever reach that point. It has a very good soundtrack as well. I give 3 ½ out of 4 knitting needles

“Sweeny Todd”: I have seen this in the play form so I knew the story and the music ahead of time. Not sure everyone in the audience did. Sweeny Todd is a barber who was wronged and has come back for revenge. He is helped by the meat pie maker, Mrs. Lovett. It is a musical. There is a lot of singing in it. I say this, because there were some people behind us who did not seem to know it was a musical. There is also a lot of blood. However, most of it occurs during a singing montage, so if it bothers you, you could just close your eyes and listen to the incredible score.
This movie is a stunning adaptation of the Sondheim musical. Everyone sings beautifully and the scenery is incredible. You do feel like you are in Victorian London. Johnny Depp does a magnificent job in the role of Sweeny. This is probably one of the best films I have seen this year. I give it 4 out of 4 knitting needles.

3rd order of business: Christmas
My mom did seem to like the tank top I made her and it fit. I was very relieved. She is going to wear it like a vest, which I think will be nice.
The Girl liked all of her gifts, I did not finish her socks, but I showed them to her and told her they should be done by her birthday. She said she had seen them already and knew I was working on them. She was very happy.
My DH gave me a set of Knitpicks Options and “A Gathering of Lace” so I scored big time. Overall a good Christmas.

another day, another dollar

I hate work
I hate work
I hate work
I hate work
I hate work

Today is a bad day at work. I actually like my job most days, but today not so much. I really don’t know that I like working in an office any more. It just seems to me that there must be more to life than worrying about shipments and deliveries of parts.

Yesterday I left work with no energy and so I did not take a picture of my elephant. I did almost no knitting. Well, I did teach myself to do mosaic knitting out of Barbara Walker’s book of the same name. So I guess technically I did knit. I watched the Vikings beat the Bears. It was not a pretty game, but they won and that is honestly all I care about.

I am supposed to go the Knitting Guild Holiday party tonight, but I can not remember if we are supposed to bring something or not. I do not want to show with out the proper food or drink so I think I might just skip it. I have a ton of other stuff I need to do tonight anyway. I have yet to actually attend a Guild party in the almost two years I have been a member. I am not good at going to social events. I never have been. I take after my father. I have been trying to get better, I attended the company holiday party last Saturday for example, but it is hard for me.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a brighter day.

Movie review and knitting news

The family went to see “I am Legend” on Saturday morning. It was very good, 3 out of 4 knitting needles. It was very psychological. Will Smith was fantastic and he is the main reason to see the film. I love him. There were no hand knits in the film, which oddly makes sense as he is the last living person in NYC; not like you can’t find clothes there. It is not very gory so if that sort of thing bothers you, you might still enjoy this film. There are some jumpy bits, like well, I am not sure what to call the infected people, but sometimes they jump out. You know, it is sort of a horror film, for lack of a better word. However, I think of it as a more thought provoking and questioning film, in the vein of “28 Days Later” and “The Mist”. It brings up the ever present question of what if we are messing with stuff that we really don’t know how to control? The premise of the movie is that a miracle cure for cancer mutates into something deadly to humans. Think of all the drug ads we are subject to every day. They all look alike, regardless of what they are “curing”. They all show people outside biking, gardening and crap. This is the case for almost everything from allergy medicine (which makes sense) to erectile dysfunction and herpes (which really doesn’t). I do not have either one of the last two listed, but I am pretty sure neither one impedes one’s ability to garden or ride bike. Could all of these drugs really be good for us as a nation or as a world? Could the cure be worse than the disease? I know sometimes I read or listen to the side effects of some prescription drugs and think that it really doesn’t seem that the drug is any better, like the drug for the toe fungus where one of the side affects can be liver damage. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I would rather have my liver intact than beautiful toes.
Just a few things that the movie made me think about. You can take it or leave, it matters not to me.

On to knitting news. I finished the elephant I was making for my littlest niece. I will take a picture tonight before I send it off. It was from Debbie Bliss’ Knit Toys book. I like the book. The patterns are fairly clear and straight forward. One complaint I do have, is that sometimes they say how many stitches are at the end of a decrease or increase row and sometime they don’t. I personally like to have them there, but I feel it is better to choose one way or the other.
I have been working on The Girl’s socks, they are going well, but I really do not think they will be done for X- mas. I think they will have to be for her birthday (it is in January). I will keep plugging away at them though. I also have to do a few more things for the in-laws. I think it will be fine.

FOs

Here it is. The infamous tank top…I hope my mom likes it.


Here is a close up of the collar. As you can see it is a little wonky. The other side is worse. I am not sure what happened.


Plus a bonus FO: the hat and neck warmer for my co-worker’s husband. I brought it in today and she is not even in the office, so no paycheck today.


Next up, I am going to finish up the elephant I have started. That should only take a couple of days since I have already started it.

Weekend update

The tank top is done. The collar is a little hinky, but it will have to do. If my mom does not like it, she can send it back and I will fix it. I have pictures in my camera. I forgot to download them so I will have to wait to post them.
I am almost done with the neck warmer for my co-worker’s husband. I should finish it up today. Tomorrow I should get my 1st payment for a knitted garment. Pretty exciting. I had hoped to finish it over the weekend, but I went shopping on Saturday and I fell asleep during the Vikings game yesterday. So that was valuable knitting time lost. The shopping was pretty fruitless. I really have not been in the buying mood. I picked up one thing for my husband, which I can not reveal here as he does actually read my blog. HI HONEY!
The Vikings are on their way to the play-offs. I just know it. I realize they will not probably win a playoff game, but a month ago I was getting worried they would not actually win any more regular season games. Skol Vikings!
The Girl was late coming home last night and we were getting ready to ground her when she finally arrived and told us she had lost her cell phone. She noticed it on her way home and went back to look for. She did not find it, of course, because it was 10 at night and dark out. She also was on her way to a nice case of frostbite when she finally did get home. She will be the death of me. DH went out to look for it this morning, but also no luck.
We have 30 days to get her a new phone or else the line will be cancelled and I will have to pay a cancellation fee. This is very disheartening. I think I will wait a little while and let her stew a bit.
Last night I watched the 1938 version of “A Christmas Carol”. I think I have mentioned before my strange obsession with Dickens’ tale. The 1938 version is fairly condensed as far as the story goes. It does not have Scrooge’s fiancée or going abroad on Christmas Ever. It does however have the sickliest looking Tiny Tim. I think sometimes the boy playing Tim must grow between the casting and the actual film and they really don’t look like they might die in less than a year, but this Tiny Tim does not disappoint. He looks very ill and he seems a bit addled in the brain. So I can recommend this “Christmas Carol” mainly for that. Reginald Owen does a fine job, but he is no Alistair Sim, who is hands down the best Scrooge ever. Normally, seeing “A Christmas Carol” puts me right in the Christmas mood, but not this year. I am not sure what is going on this year. I do feel stressed out or anything, in fact, sort of the opposite, I feel very lazy. I know I have a ton of stuff to do, mainly knitting and buying the DH some more stocking stuffers.

Mini Update

I have new tires! It took them forever and they called me on my cell phone while I was in their lobby to ask where the flat was. Very bizarre. They are Nokian Tyres. I was a bit leery about getting tyres that seem to be made a cell phone company, but it was all they had that would fit on our Passat.
I only have to knit the collar and weave in the stitches and I will be done with my mom’s tank. I was going to knit seed stitch around the arm holes, but I tried it twice and did not look right. So I just did a single crochet stitch around them. Hopefully tomorrow I will have photos. Then it is on to the next project.

Mini Update

I have new tires! It took them forever and they called me on my cell phone while I was in their lobby to ask where the flat was. Very bizarre. They are Nokian Tyres. I was a bit leery about getting tyres that seem to be made a cell phone company, but it was all they had that would fit on our Passat.
I only have to knit the collar and weave in the stitches and I will be done with my mom’s tank. I was going to knit seed stitch around the arm holes, but I tried it twice and did not look right. So I just did a single crochet stitch around them. Hopefully tomorrow I will have photos. Then it is on to the next project.

Tires are the bane of my existence

My beloved called the tire shop to make an appointment to get new tires on Monday. They said sure we have those tires, come on in; we’ll take care of it.
So we showed up a little after 5 and they looked over the tires and got all the numbers, blah, blah, blah and told us it would be about an hour. Now keep in mind, I had to stay late at work and did not have time to pick up my knitting before going to the tire shop. We sat through almost 3 sessions of news, local, national, more local. I was thinking it’s been more than an hour and I hear the clerk say bring the Volkswagen around. Hey, that’s us! Well, they brought the car around and told us that they did not have the tires after all. We sat around for 1 ½ hours and still no new tires! Arrrggghhh. Think of all the knitting I could have gotten done.
So they called yesterday to say they found some tires for us and we made an appointment for 5 pm again. Well, it snowed yesterday. All day. Rush hour was a nightmare. It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get home. Normally it takes me about 20 minutes, 30 minutes if there is bad traffic. So we cancelled the appointment because I was not going to make it and even if I did, I would be really crabby. I hate traffic.
Tonight, is the night for new tires, I know it. The sun is shining and I should be able to get home on time, get my knitting and get to the shop by 5. Wish me luck.
I should be able to finish my mom’s tank top tonight. I will post a picture when I get it done. I promise.

Bad Weekend Blues

I didn’t finish my mom’s tank top…oooooo
And it needs to be mailed…ooooo
Nothing can stop the bad weekend blues

I blew a tire out on my car… ooooo
And missed my Yarnover meeting... oooo
Oh I got those lowdown bad weekend blues

Ah, Robert Johnson, eat your heart out.
Seriously, it was a bad weekend. I hate it when I am glad to see Monday come around. It snowed here on Saturday, which I love, but I was driving around in it and my windshield wipers decided that it was too much work to move snow off the windshield and just sort of went over it, leaving lovely smears.
Then on Sunday, I was heading over to my Yarnover meeting and my tire blew. It did not go flat, it actually came apart. I have never actually changed a tire and it took me over an hour to get it done. It would have been longer, but a very nice driver for the St. Paul Hotel stopped and helped out some. He loosened the lug nuts which I was not able to do. But then he had to get going as he was on the job. If you ever are in St. Paul, think of staying there since he was the only one on the busy highway to even stop. So I missed my meeting, even though I had left early. Plus I missed the Vikings whomp on the Lions to boot. And I hurt my back pulling the spare out the trunk. Sigh.
The worst part is that both of these problems are caused by me not taking care of just regular maintenance. Well, that is not totally true, the wipers were working fine until Saturday, but the tires should have been changed this summer. Enemy thy name is Procrastination.
I worked on my mom’s tank top and I had hoped to get it done by the end of the weekend, but alas I did not. I got past the arm hole bottom so I am working on the front. The end is in site so long as I have time to work on it. The other must do before Christmas is The Girl’s socks.
On a semi related note: in the USA Weekend dealy that comes in the Sunday paper, they had a list of gifts to give to your teen. Having a teen, I figured I could get some good idea’s. Well, not really and fresh ideas here, but there was one bullet that caught my eye. It said that teen like clothes for Christmas, just not the ones you have knit by the fire. They want them from Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, or American Eagle. Phooey I say. I read this paragraph to The Girl and she agreed that she would rather have something knitted than anything from one of those stores. She said she would be pissed off if she received clothes from any of those stores and so would a lot of her friends. Of course I know that my little punk rock girl does not shop at these preppy paradises, but what of people who might not. Plus, I think you can knit some pretty cool stuff for a teen that they would want even if they liked these store. So I must say do not take their advice for teen shopping as every teen is different. My advice is to ASK the teen what she or he wants. Trust me, they know.

The husband’s family is all coming up for his 40th birthday; they arrive on 1/3/08, so they will get their presents then. I have a couple of those done already so I think I will be okay, as the biggest thing I plan for this holiday was my mom’s tank.

Here is a picture of one of the Scrabble bags I have made for the in laws.