The Diva Knits

Moving House

2006-11-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

I moved over to my wordpress blog... Hopefully everything's working there now :) That's why in about 1 minute after you are on this page (just the index page, not any of my archive pages) this page will redirect you to my parent directory where the wordpress blog is at: http://theknittingdiva.com It's much easier to remember that way, isn't it? And, just my luck! After all that fussing to get THE perfect halloween template... Halloween is gone and done with :)

See you there! There's gonna be pictures of zombies, yarn PoRn galore from Secret Pals, Spookie Pals, and just yarn-y goodness in general, and I will be showing off my sadly lacking in growth... something on the Simple Knitted Bodice. My hope? That I will have it done my Christmas... and it will still fit.

Angela

giggles

2006-10-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

doesn't everyone know I live in a trailer park yet? lol. if not then they might not understand why I just had to get this bookmark and why it considerably brightened my day.

The writing in yellow which is hard to read even on the bookmark itself says "The uncensored confessions of a trailer camp tramp"

This just struck me as really funny. Ok, I live in a trailer park not a trailer camp, but still. I am dying to get my hands on some garden gnomes and a pat of plastic flamingos.

Tonight I am working and reading Squire by Tamora Pierce, maybe carrying on to Lady Knight, who knows. Tomorrow afternoon kiddo is going to a Halloween party and I am off to The Prestige, all by my onesie, and I am very, very excited. I hope it is good. But before I do any of that, I have to get 4 super special packages together, 2 for just pals, 1 for my Spookie SP, and one for my SP9. I also have RAOK Halloween cards and Halloween Postcards for the Knittyboard Postcard list that need to be addressed and mailed off and I need to figure out how to let the ring mommies and the SP mommies and anyone else who needs to know that I am moving my blog from here to http://theknittingdiva.com as my wordpress blog. This blog is going to stay up as an archive link on that blog (archive)(or something I have decided) but the time has come.

I am still feeling down, but thanks to a sister who knows how to figure out everything there is to know about any drug known to man or any medical problem known to man... I am definitly going to the doctor next week, due to the fact that I am most assuredly on the wrong dose of Topamax... I am having splitting headaches and am becoming stupider and stupider every day.

lie to me

2006-10-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

i want my grandma.

it's funny. this should be one of the happiest periods of my life ever. for the first time in my life I have less than one hundred pounds to lose before I am normal sized. I've gone from 385lb to 227lbs in 10 months. From a BMI of 68 to 40, so from the extreme extreme of super extreme morbidly obese to the very low side of extremely obese which starts at 40. ( Overweight is from 25-29.9, Obese is 30-39.9, Extremely Obese is 40-50, and Super Obese is over 50 I was 68 and now I am 40.) I weigh less than I did in my FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGHSCHOOL I so weigh less than I did when I got married, met my husband, etc etc etc. I barely remember weighing this little. I looked in the mirror the other day and couldn't recognize my BODY. It was missing.

so ontop of the depression thing there's also an identity crisis thing that I wasn't really expecting to happen quite yet. oh it's been on the sidelines here and there creeping up, but I've been pretty good at beating it back. Unfortunately, when I get depressed, my defenses are not so good and it gets the best of me.

Me and Barry were talking about what to do as an anniversary celebration. Originally I was gonna do Disneyland, but I decided that 3 themeparks in one year was fucking insane and a waste of money (seaworld, knotts and disney? no way) so nix on that one. Plus I want to save it for a different day and disney at christmas time is a little to hectic. How about a different idea? Oh I was going somewhere with this but my mind totally blanked on me. crap. *yawn* I am so tired. and angsty. the stupamax as my sister told me it is sometimes called-- apparently if you are on the wrong dosage of topamax it can make you 'dumber than a box of rocks' hmmm sound like anyone we know of lately?! but also in accordance with this breaking the dosage up into two doses morning and night isnt reccomended either, so I am going to smoosh them together and see if that helps. either way im gonna see the doctors.

oh. anniversary. what should i do for my 1 year anniversary? I am going out on a limb here but I can say with reasonable certainty
that I will be pretty freaking close to being 200lbs or less by December 12, making my total weight loss for 1 year post op 185. (squeeeeee) I should start a stitchmarker sales thing for my reconstructive surgery. The power of the internet can be such a powerful thing, you know?

Meanwhile, I continue to wish I could just crawl under my bed, summon the tardis and find a way back to 1996 or some other date back in my childhood when my grandma was still alive and able to comfort me like nobody else. I'd miss my daughter and husband...

scraping the barrel

2006-10-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

maybe it's headaches in constant, nonstop succession. maybe it's midsemester slump. maybe it's just a bipolar thing. I feel like crap and I want to freaking cry. Actually I want someone to remind me why I should stay here. Not here, in my house, or here in Lancaster, but here-- the metaphysical here. Here with everybody here.

I am having a moment of pure and utter tiredness that can only come from running around and around and around. I did a stupid thing not long ago and said, I need to up my dosage and waited to refill my medication until I could see the doctor about doing that, but by the time I could see my doctor about it, I couldn't afford to pay for my prescription so I had to wait until I could and ran out of medication. When I went back on the medication I went back on the medication at the new dosage which was considerably higher of a dosage than before, but not that much if I had been taking it without a break, which I hadn't been.

So I have been experiencing really strange side effects like: memory lapses. Problems with concentration, getting lost in areas that I have known all my life, moodswings (when the drugs I am taking are to counteract mood swings), having problems with my judgement, being down, and just having problems in general.

Overall I am sad and just blue. My earlier post was raging and mad, but I was still kind of sad and tired, right now I am tired and sad and just want to sleep. I wish that I didn't have any of my regular responsibilities and I could go check myself into a ward for a couple of weeks to they could fix my medicine and get me on track but in saying that I realize that I am probably being self indulgent and am seeking more of the calm regulation of the routine than the actual getting straight of the medication. (and if I really wanted the routine I could do it myself, I am just too damn lazy, so really I just want somone to do it for me)

im just so damn tired

seeing red

2006-10-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I really shouldn't listen to podcasts and drive at the same time.

Once I was driving and listening to KnitWit: Ravings of A Rabid Knitter I think it was episode 16, "Misperceptions" I like her because she's one of the knitting podcasters I can listen to when my husband is in the car without him groaning and rolling his eyes. When you find a podcaster who can talk about knitting and capture your husband's attention too, you tend to like them and adopt them as your own, you know? The same with Brenda Dayne, but everybody worships her so I don't need to pimp her out or anything. Back to Carry, and seeing red. I was listening to her podcast while driving down to see Barry and damn, it just occurred to me, he's been in San Diego ALOT this year. Anyhow, the people who were down on her podcast just pissed me off so much I had to pull over and I was foaming at the mouth, intent on leaving an audio message on her podcast. :) I ended up emailing her as soon as I got to his hotel instead, but my point is I was quivering in anger.

Now then, to the last episode of Cast-On, talking about the saga of the Tilli Tomas yarn over at Sarah's Yarns. Since I am currently knitting the Simple Knitted Bodice, I thought, oh, I looked at this website and perked up. And got more and more and more pissed off and Brenda went on. Let me say that I do not believe that Sarah's yarns was discounting it like all that incredibly much, say, 75% off of what everyone else was doing. I think it was $10 off or so. That pissed me off, that the other retailers would kick up a fuss over it, but that Tilli Tomas would not have disclosed a keystone pricing agreement at the beginning of their contract with Sarah's Yarns is just unbelievable. It's one thing to say, you must adhere to our pricing fixture, and it's quite another to change the rules of the game right in the middle. It's fucked-- plain and simple. And quite simply, between you and me, I have been somewhat disgusted with the Tilli Tomas line of yarns for awhile. They are beautiful yes, but they are overpriced-- there are other yarns at lower prices that are just as pretty. And when it comes to finding it in your brick and mortar stores?! My LYS has it marked up even farther! Wild Fiber has rockstar for $48 a skein. *faint* I think it's ridiculous.

Then, to turn around and issue a statement saying that they have removed their Keystone Pricing Structure knowing that it would be displayed on Sarah's Yarns blog, but without resuming their relationship with Sarah's Yarns? To me that's just like saying, let's appease the rabid people who are frothing at the mouth and sending us all the nasty emails while not truly backing down. Because until they actually resume their relationship with Sarah's Yarns they won't have backed down or changed their ways.

And it makes me glad that I didn't choose their beautiful yarn for my SKB. Because the whole idea that the price for yarn has to be five hundred and seventy five percent above lionbrand's in order for it to be considered "luxury" is pure baloney. It's based on the fiber-- not the freaking price. IMO.

my brain hurts.

I have spent far too much on yarn and far too much on secret pals in the last week. lol. I get carried away. :)

Do you wanna know what I am hoping to do some day soon? LAMPWORKING! I want to take a class @ www.stitchcafe.com with the woman from www.beadbrains.com I am very excited.

Take care

satisfied

2006-10-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

No yarn goodies yet, but my oh my.

I went on a yarn crawl with my daughter and my sister today. We started at Wild Fiber, in Santa Monica (the only yarn store in my 3 year old nephew's opinion, he actually cried because he was getting left behind with daddy. This is because he has a hat fetish, I am sure and just loves trying on hats.) Megan had a cow when she got there and saw all of the fantastic things she had JUST SEEN the other day on the Martha Stewart show!!! Seriously, she practically wet her pants. When I pointed out Mel Clark, the shop's proprietor and co-author of Knit2Together, Megan was awestruck. She was amazed and terrified to speak to Mel in that, OMG I CANT BELIEVE THEY ARE RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF ME WAY. It was cute and staggering because my baby's got a chatterbox inside her that never shuts down or takes a pause for air, especially around strangers. Mel was very nice and chatted with Megan and even signed the copy of Knit2Together to Megan, which was very awesome indeed. Megan drove home with the book on her lap--after she went through it page by page, describing all of the things in the book to us.

Then we were off to La Knitterie Parisienne, home of the Mother of Purl, Edith Eig. I have one word for this store. WOW. It's like a shock to the senses, I have been in bookstores like this one that have made me nearly pass out from a 'joygasm'... but wow. There was just so much yarn. I mean holy cow! I wish I had brought my camera in. And Ms Eig helped Megan find a button on their enormous double sided wall of buttons. When I get finished with my Modesitt corset tank, I know where I'm going for the buttons.
That said, the labyrinthian layout of the stores, with the yarn piled high up to the ceiling, and the narrow walk ways between the display shelves very ended our little yarn crawl. Both me and my sister are heavy, so we felt very crowded. I was starting to get dizzy with a crushing sense of claustrophobia and if it weren't for the buttons and two balls of Noro Aurora I had in my hand, I may have run for the door. It started slowly, and at first I attributed it to just sensory overload. I meant it when I said there was just so much yarn. But the longer we were in there the more I felt this dizzying need to be OUTSIDE. However, it could have been that it was Saturday afternoon and there was a boatload of customers inside. Also, another thing I didn't really care for was a complete and utter lack of pricing displays. almost nothing had a price listed on it, near it, around it, or in clear view. As Brigitte said, it gave you a sense of the restaurants without prices-- if you need to ask, you shouldn't be here. How terribly gauche of you to inquire as to the price of that ball of yarn that's only got 63yards! (I am not sure that this is what they are going for, and overall I did like the selection and will totally be going back for buttons.)

After that it was off to Unwind, which was a spacious and airy and alltogether delightful yarn store. They had the 1000 Motifs book I have been looking so hard for and not finding, a book on designing kidswear, which looks promising, some awesome yarns, and a really friendly, helpful staff. Plus they have a card, for every $10 or $20 (can't remember) you get a punch on your card and you get a discount or something when it's full; plus they give you a discount on your birthday. (mine's coming up you know.) I just loved the wide open airy feeling of the store, and their discounted yarn & pattern sections. :) Oh, yeah. They had an awesome scrumbled handbag that I really really liked.

And finally, our last stop was Stitch Cafe. Now, I have been going to Wild Fiber on a regular basis for a little over a year now, but I can see me frequenting Stitch Cafe alot more. First it's closer and I don't have to fight the 405 to get ther (yay!) Second it's just so... inviting! Third, it's really amazing. Wait till I post pictures. The staff was really cool and I can see myself getting into a ton of trouble with their WIP bags. :) I think I stomed on someone's toes. Another customer was knitting a sweater and when she came to the end of her one ball of yarn, she was at a loss for how to join the next ball. The clerk told her to leave the old yarn down(it was at the beginning of a row) and just start with the new yarn and NOT TO KNOT IT! And as if my mouth had a life of its own (this is embarassing) I said, "Is that wool? Will it felt? Because if it can you can spit felt/splice the two ends together seamlessly." I tried to explain it and when explaining failed, ended up showing it to this poor lady (gorgeous sweater btw--- too much ribbing for me, so I told her she was amazing and totally meant it. Anyone who knits a sweater with more than an inch of ribbing---especially all in ribbing---deserves a knitting valor medal or something.) But yeah, pretty soon I had spit slickened fingers toying with this poor stranger's yarn and rubbing it between my hands... and viola! it spliced and felted perfectly, and you can't tell when it's knitted in. I learned this from A Gathering of Lace, the rainbow shawl, shawl of my dreams... I want the yarn to make it badly, even though it's not very lacy.
I walked away with loads of yarn and a pretty green Stitch Cafe bag.
As I put my last round of purchases in my trunk, I gazed in completely relaxed awe at the manifestation of the day's activities. And that's when my sister asked me what size my pants were and told me they looked HUUUUUUUUGE on me, like you could hardly tell they were pants; and here I thought they were cute turqoise capris. *groan* I looked like a lunatic. Maybe not that bad, but definitly not my best. sigh. crazy knitter lady in horrible baggy clothing-- seriously I could almost hear "Send in the Clowns" when I looked at my picture on the little lcd screen after she took a pic to show me. LMAO

I had a great time! until we got to cocos. LMAO

Angela

um... moving? when?

2006-10-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

I was so gung ho about moving to wordpress and now I have stalled. I haven't managed to import this blog, so I am going to manually link to the archive pages here. :)

Anyhow, what a weekend.

I made pemmican, and got back to cooking real food.

The pemmican was an experience, but believe it or not I think I could get used to the taste rather quickly. The major problem is the taste of the fat (I cheated and used Crisco this time) and I was not too sure about using dried blueberries (mmmm dried blueberries) but they don't alter the flavor too much. Next time I am considering adding a couple of teaspoons of dry roasted nuts to the mix to amp up the protein. :)

Check out the wordpress blog!

blog things, yet again + more

2006-09-29T00:08:00.000-07:00

So... snicker. I have just finished watching the Libertine with Johnny Depp. It was an out there movie, but I loved it. Girls, if you can still have the hots for Johnny after you see this movie all the way through (with his face sloughing off during the last stages of syphillis, one blind eye and nose caved in) and if you can still find him attractive despite how wrong and dirty his character is... well, you must be me. (lol)

anyhow, my blogthings:

My Aliases

Your movie star name: Cheese Boyd

Your fashion designer name is Angela Hackney

Your socialite name is Freight Train Los Angeles

Your fly girl / guy name is A Fol

Your detective name is Penguin Pearblossom

Your barfly name is Cookie White Russian

Your soap opera name is Michelle Jubilee Run

Your rock star name is Reeses Dsl

Your Star Wars name is Angozz Folbar

Your punk rock band name is The Quirky Dildo

The Amazing Meganame Generator

and an update on the sockwars.

ALAS! I am dead. I was slayed! and hows this for bizarre? my victim and my assassin share the same first name, which they also share with me!!!

Angela

Welcoming Noah

2006-09-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

We have an influx of babies. My friend Melissa is due around November/December, the greatest shopkeeper person EVER @ Avenue is expecting in December, and a girl in my class had hers by c-section the week before last. She's back in school and I just had to do something.

Enter the Kate Gilber Bunny that I had had my eye on for just about forever and finally bought but never knit. Well now, I have!

Isn't he cute? I used Moda Dea Beloved from JoAnns, and added a couple of jingle bells to the stuffing so he rattles. I used scraps of rainbow sock yarn for the embroidery and a scrap of some LUSCIOUS ribbon yarn from my Elann knittable samples subscription.

Have you ever?

2006-09-22T01:12:00.000-07:00

Been so dedicated to a series or group of characters that when the writer takes one of the characters so far beyond the pale that you just CANNOT finish the book, but at the same time you have been with them for so long that you NEED to finish the book?

Let me give you some backstory. I'm sure I have said on here before that the day I first met my husband(in person) one of the first things he said to me was, "There's 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days and X ammount of hours until Star Wars Episode One is released." A large part of our courtship was taken up chatting about SW and I remember one night, the night of the internet release of the SWE1 trailer he called me in hysterics because his computer DIED, seriously DIED. He called me just so he could listen with me as I watched the trailer (which took forever because, hello, we were still jazzed about our 56 modem, hehehe). When the news of our pregnancy hit, friends and relatives begged us not to name our child Luke, Leia, Anakin, or Padme. (and as a side note, I have long hoped that after Megan if we had a boy we could name him Corran Alexander Michael, Corran after my favorite Jedi, and Alexander after... Xander Harris of course!) He made me watch copies, including a bootleg of Episode One, of StarWars at least once a month throughout the pregnancy, hoping to brainwash our unborn child into liking StarWars. It worked. One of her first words was Maul--as in Darth Maul. Her first favorite movie was Episode One, and she has had more lightsabre training than any other six year old girl I know...
Somewhere during the past 8 years I started reading Star Wars novels. I cheered my way through the cleanup of the Fall of the Empire, cried my way through the birth of the twins and Anakin. I read the children's novels, and the young adult novels. As my thirst for StarWars grew, so did the heroes and the children of my heroes.
Right before Megan was born they started a new series, The New Jedi Order. The first book was controversial, it started and finished with a bang. Not only was the new enemy alien and undetectable through the Force, but Chewbacca died and Han Solo stopped talking to his family. Core beliefs that no one important every really dies were forsaken. Star Wars novels had grown up. The plots were gripping, people got hurt, heroes ran away instead of facing their duty. And, in the midst of all this, the New Republic fell.
The Solo's didn't just lose a trusted friend and co-pilot in this series, they also lost a son; their youngest. Anakin died and in the aftermath of his death Jaina went a little Dark Side herself. Jacen was captured by the Yuuzhon Vong (the baddies) and put on a path that might yet lead to his (and his family's destruction).
And when the story arc came to a head, dissembling the Force and asking us to seriously question the rationale behind the Old Republic Jedis... I was curious. I loved it. Then I had to wait for what seemed like forever until they came out with a new bunch of books. A trilogy that dealt with some of the characters from the book in which Anakin dies, Jaina gets ready to go dark, and Jacen is taken. And in that series, questionable things happened, but more importantly, Jace is made a father. In secret.
So now we are arrived at the present time and present story arc. Legends of the Force. There's an intergallactic civil war going on and it seems that everybody is starting to think maybe the Empire wasn't so bad after all. Jacen and Jaina are 31, Jaina isn't married, but Jacen is (secretly) and he has a four year old that no one knows about. Jacen is walking a narrow path; his skill in the Force outdistances Luke's. He is torn, worse than he was torn in the New Jedi Order series. Only now, there's someone to help him, and she's helping him right to the Dark Side and beyond.

I thought I could stomach it. I really did. But I can't. I can't stomach watching/reading as a character I have watched grow up (and really, grown up with myself, I was a very young 18 year old when I started reading these books) turn into a monster. Every chapter makes my skin crawl and my stomach hurt. And the scene I just finished? Where shortly after throwing himself into the past and watching Anakin mow down the Younglings, Jacen begins raiding Coruscanti Corellians to send to internment camps, with his very own elit gaurd... the parellels between Jacen and Vader are creepy. I don't think I can continue. Honestly I don't.

I feel like writing a eulogy for Jacen.

And now for something completely different.

I watched the Season Premiere of ER. The last time I cried that hard was when Gallant died (or before when he returned) I cheered out loud at the end. That was a great Season opener. I cleaned out my Tivo, and got it ready for a thorough cleansing this weekend. Knitting and Television, who could ask for more.

I didn't knit during ER, I needle felted a larger ball using an atumnal colorway of Rowan Biggie Print. For some reason, it reminds me of Jupiter. I think it needs sparklies. :)

TTYL angela

Deck the halls with balls of... merino?!

2006-09-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

So, knitting magazine addict that I am, I just had to buy the fall/winter 2006 issue of Knit It! magazine. I just love that they all come out in this huge swoop. Interweave, Vogue, Knit It!, Knit1, etc. It's like yarn pOrn for days. Oh yeah, and in the midst of it, what else shows up in my mailbox? The new knitpicks catalog, lionbrand catalog, and patternworks catalog... oh joy. There's something I want from every magazine and something I want from each catalog.

Today it was the Needle Felted Christmas ornaments from Knit It! Somehow I had lost half of the size 10 dpns I was using on my legwarmer and unable to knit in class I started twitching. ALOT. And then I couldn't concentrate. Do I need my medicine? um... yeah. Jussssst a leeeeetle bit. Tomorrow's payday, so no prob.

I skipped class and drove to Michael's. Yay! Bought some styrafoam balls *in two sizes* checked out their prices on the dpns, but they only had 10 1/2 and I am using 10s. Sigh. As soon as I got home I started needle felting.

This is in the process of needle felting. In the background you can see the balls for the magazine.

And here it is finished!! I had some funky yarn from NobleKnits (remember when I just had to buy their grab bags???? sigh.) and I needle felted the yarn to the ball in places. It's really cool because this yarn is like a wool, rayon, metallic, and paper mix. We're talking hardcore novelty, hehehe. But the contrast between the merino and the rayon just glimmers in a way that I can't capture with my cam. I considered adding beaded detailing to the bottom, but I wasn't using the proper weight of wire for the hanger, etc. And I think that the simplicity just speaks volumes. LOL.

I have some brown, rust, cream, etc fall colored Rowan Biggie Print that I am going to be needle felting onto a bigger ball, and I am thinking about adding some really nice beaded accents to it. Mmmmmm I love Fall!!

Note to self on growing pile of WIPS

Cabled Knee High Legwarmers
Simple Knitted Bodice, ok I haven't cast on yet but that's due to a problem (namely I didn't read the pattern clearly when I went shopping for my size 4 circs... and now I need 2s or 3s or maybe 1s to get the small needle gauge.
Market Squares Bag
Kitty Pi (this is so almost done that I might start working on it tonight whilst watching the SEASON PREMIER of ER
Grandma's afghan (crap crap crap)(Maybe I will do that instead... it really needs to go back to my sister...
Felted Mice for Jennifer (who may or may not be my freaky cross country soul mate. Hey Jen, guess where I'm gonna be on Oct 3rd!! Meeting NG that's where! Oooh. I hope he's nice and will sign two books for me instead of just one. Anthony Daniels--C3PO was a bastard at a signing. Ok, I understand you're stuff is worth $$$ but if the person WORKING at the exhibit where you are signing asks you to sign something for him and something for his supervisor... you could be a little nicer. Afterall, you were only a freaking robot with an ego complex... hmmm, truth mimicking fiction?!)
The surprise for my SP
Baby socks
My sister's Bear Fur rug from Knit1mag
Rogue, the WIP of shame for taking so damn long
~~irish hiking scarf~~ oh wait! I forgot that I pawned that off on Johnathon, mwahaha!

I have decided that with the ammount of knitting I have been doing in class *ahem* (see above) I am going to divide my knitting by the class period, and do so appropriately. For instance, in English 252, my m-w class, I was considering doing Rogue because I don't really need to take notes and the teacher is super nice. Then for BritLit and Geology my tue-th classes back to back, the Simple Knitted Bodice, and then for my Tuesday evening class (the longest---3 hours) I will take Market Squares. Since I am planning on plowing my way through the legwarmers (they are a speedy knit, I'm almost done with the first one, and it only took me 2 days of class-- about 7 hours) and Kitty Pi this weekend, I will start the WIP rotation on Monday. Then if I still feel like knitting (as if I wouldn't) @ home I want to be working on the SP thing and Jen's mice during the week and then the Bear Fur Rug on the weekends. I have tivo and payperview, so that shouldn't be too hard. The afghan for grandma goes back and forth between me an sis as we finish parts of the log cabin pattern in crochet (sis) and knit (me). :) :)

Stuff planned in the works:

The Sock Wars Socks
Stan from South Park hat for my friend Daniel
Popcorn Pillow from Knit1

That's all I can think of now. I am sure I will find more at a later date.

sheeeeesh.

Oh, look out cuz tomorrow I will be flashing my bag stash. Suddenly, as if overnight, it has grown to monsterous proportions! I just got 2 new ones off of the knittyboard. An olive green Fossil bag from Bluecanary and a beautiful handstitched corduroy one from YarnMe. Both were swapped for (imho) signifigantly less than they are worth stuff. Really, I mean it. I love them both. The corduroy bag makes me happy I didn't get the knitting heaven bag from Wildfiber, and the Fossil bag? It's so me that I just love the crap out of it. I forgot how much I miss tiny handbags. I can't wait to knit the 3way bag from Bags: A Knitter's Dozen in regal silk and make my husband line it with the ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS brocade that I bought to match... oooh! I forgot, I love my legwarmers so much that I have decided to do matching fingerless mitts with the same cable... and then I was looking online and found the http://www.margaretnicole.com/clutches/ purse and thought *ding* Halloween is on a school day. Would it be really horrible if I incorporated a purse to match my legwarmers and fingerless mitts into my costumer?

I smell change on the wind...

2006-09-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

Yep. This weekend I installed a wordpress blog and pretty soon, once I get everything ready I will be moving over there. :) Yay! Of course I still haven't figured out how to import my previous blogposts into wp (they are there... I figured that much out, but having them show up on the webpage is another story in and of itself)

I have lots and lots of knitting porn for you. First, let me introduce 3byte, my trilobyte from Loxosceles. For the life of me I can't remember just how I manged to find this pattern, but omg! It's even better than the spider @ Knitting Fiend and that is saying something. I love quirky little knits, which is why I really like Jess Hutchinson, Alan Dart, and Jean Greenhowe.

So without further ado, here's 3byte, who is going to be given to my Geology teacher tomorrow. I just realized that I have knit something for almost all of my teachers and it's only like the 3rd or 4th week of class. I made the Jayne hat for my teacher Susan Lowry (love taking classes with her, she is very laid back, but if you take the time to listen you can learn alot from her.) I was knitting the Day of the Dead dolls from the summer issue of Knit 1 magazine (also known as the compendium of knitted crap, but addictive knitted crap... see footnote) in class and found out that her husband collects DoD stuff. Cool, so I gave it to her. She seems nice, and we share a name--we're both Angela. Finally I made 3byte for my geology teacher Mr. Balogh because he cracks me up, it's an enjoyable class (for science) and I couldn't resist.

3byte:

As per usual, click for an upclose view. 3byte, you had me at hello.

I seriously need to get back on my meds. I'm dizzy and almost ready to keel over but the thought of sleeping is like, abhorrent. WHO NEEDS SLEEP? In my mind I know I need it, and I am desperate for it, I've been really ~~bitchy~~ crabby lately and I don't like it. It makes me with PMS seem like I'm ebullient and overflowing with joy. Sigh.

However, everyone wishes they could sleep less and have more time for knitting... so....

My Mohawk Hat from Fall (the tv special) issue of Knit 1 mag (remember, footnote) that I made for Johnathon/Noodles because what teenage boy doesn't want/need a hat so fuglicious it would get his ass beat up in school? No seriously, it's more of a gag, but fun because WHO KNEW HATS WERE SUCH FUN?! I don't wear em as a rule, so I never really made more than the odd 2 or 3 for Megs. I like this hat, don't really care for the line of seven 2.5 inch pompoms that create a "mohawk" *shudder* but it looks funny... I didn't secure 6 of the pompoms in the mohawk down, they are completely detatchable and all it takes is a needle and 3 minutes to get em back on (if you're slow).

Aren't I fetching?!

And the hat laid out on its side. The pompoms rock... I <3>

And finally, tomorrow is my big day (if I can get some size 3 or 2 circs... gah.) I will be casting on for the Simple Knitted Bodice. Here's my swatch:

Do click and see the upclose view. The clear beads are MUCH brighter (read-loud) in real life. I think the flash tamed them. I wish I had read the pattern and figured out the big needle/small needle thing. *sigh* oh well I can't wait to cast on and get started. A sweater all for me!!!!

Finally. What we've all been waiting for. THE KNIT1 magazine footnote. LOL.

If I had to admit to a dirty little *knitting* secret, it would be that although this magazine has managed to reach astounding heights in terms of the banal, fugly, and just plain ridiculous (please, a jumpsuit made out of Magic Stripes? A duster with fun fur trim EVEN IN THE ARMPITS that makes the wearer look like she needs to shave?!!?! and much much more...) I am thoroughly addicted to it. Because between the madness and insanity, there's several good, interesting, and just plain odd (read=must knit able) patterns. Like the Day of the Dead doll or a knitted/crocheted chandelier.

Where else could you have awesome cabled garments and then flip a page and have a KNITTED TV COZY?!?!

I love it.

eeeeeeeeek

2006-09-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

::crossing fingerss:: god I hope this works

Weather Musings

2006-09-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

Remember the post "Did You Hear It?" where I talked about the change from Summer? It's hopefully finally sweater weather. All day long I have heard Brenda Dayne's voice telling me that "If you're cold, put on a sweater, that's what they're for." No nice sweaters to be had. :( I must knit faster on my Simple Knitted Bodice... but I am still at the swatching stage... and then there's the beads to string...

sigh.

Back to Did You Hear It? I wrote some more to go along with it today in class.

Yesterday the weather was hot, stifling. Though Summer had released Her deathgrip on the world weeks ago, She was still the reigning power here. The earth, asphalt, people and cars baked in the unrelenting heat of the day. But today all is different. The wind is howling through the streets, racing down the avenues and tormenting the trees.
Branches and leaves flutter, shiver, and twist on the wind. Skirts, blouses, and hair are thoughtlessly tossed on the wind and put out of place. With the wind came a rapid and blessedly welcome drop in the temperature. The world is sighing its relief into the wind. No longer is it under the cruel dominance of Summer's heat.

I stopped because the emo-kid who was sitting next to me started peeping over my shoulder and I was dangerously crossing over into the land of purple prose...

Still, yay! Fall time!

Twice Upon a Time

2006-09-14T00:40:00.000-07:00

Medium is about one of the only shows I watch with any regularity. I love it for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that they have my bed!! Seriously though, I just enjoy it all around, the writing is good, the story is nifty (she's a side-kick, pardon that's six year old speak for psychic) and I love watching Joe and Allison. The writers have such a great knack with a real married couple. They argue, Joe worries for Allison, they are equals and not equals, it's all good.

Let's get onto tonight's title, "Twice Upon a Time." That was also the title of the rather meek but beautiful season finale from season 2 of Medium. Allison gets caught as a psychic, a trial goes pearshaped, the defense puts out a press conference saying that the DA was working with a psychic, and she decides that she should have squelched her psychicness and just become a lawyer like she wanted. She wakes up with her college sweetheart, and she is a lawyer who doesn't dream or follow her instincts. K. Standard let's re-live our lives fantasy BS. Right?

Until... Joe shows up as her expert witness. This episode was NOT long enough. They could have made a romantic movie out of it and even though it played like a dozen different romance novels, it still gave me the weepies and the happies all at once. Mostly because Jake Weber, the guy who plays Joe, YUM!

I should start a meme:

Top Five Television Males
1. James Marsters, Spike from Buffy, because every girl wants a little of the 'Big Bad' sometime...
2. Hugh Laurie, House from... House. First cuz he's Hugh Laurie and second, because he's just so damn prickly, and I love the stuff that comes out of his mouth.
3. Jake Weber, Joe from Medium... oooh I've liked him for awhile... since American Gothic, but holy crap, have you ever looked at the man's hands? yummmmm
4. David Krumholtz, Charlie from Numb3rs. I don't care if the math is made up, he can teach me algebra anythime... I'd probably still fail. I like his assuredness but frailty.
5. Only gonna say this once, Patrick Stewart, Capt. Jean Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise... holy cow. Ok yeah he's also Prof. Xavier from Xmen, but have you seen him in Dad Savage? Wowser. Got to love a man with range...
---
And just for the hell of it:
Top Five TV 'men' From Childhood/Adolesence.
1. Fred Savage, The Wonder Years. I had a huuuuuuuuuge crush on Fred Savage and watched all of his movies, even the one where they travel and play video games...
2. God help me for admitting this, Wil Wheaton, Wesley Crusher. Up until he went to Starfleet and became a putz.
3. Richard Dean Anderson, MacGuyver. Mostly because he was just cool and awesome...
4. David Duchovny, Fox Mulder. HOLY ----- I was crushed beyond all reason when I found out how much older he is than me. This was when I was younger and didn't appreciate how much more experienced (and fun) older men can be...
5. Neil Patrick Harris, Doogie Howser. He's a doctor, he's smart, and he was like the PROTOBLOGGER OF ALL TIME! He blogged before there was a word for blogging! I lived for the moment the little white cursor came up on his bright blue screen.

Some of the guys on my childhood list are still on my adult list, just lower down. The two that aren't, are the first 2. *shudder* fark this wil wheaton. But you know who really caught my eye? Neil Patrick Harris, because he is so funny that it's--- "leg-en-dary!" I just realized something, Doogie all grown up also has a blog on his new show's website, but I think almost all shows have blogs now. *gack*

I'm up past my bedtime, dreaming of people when there's only one I should be dreaming of. TTFN

========
knitting content: I cast on and swatched for my Simple Knitted Bodice, and am loving it. I also found a few things in the new Knit1mag that I must have. Namely the cabled legwarmers, because they'd totally go with my halloween costume: goth fairy. Yay! Who doesn't love a Halloween costume they can wear regularly just by nixing the funky tights, wings, and fimo "hornays" as the Simi from the Sherrilyn Kenyon novels would say?

Spontaneous Human Combustion

2006-09-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

I used to be really interested in SHC. I read lots of books on it. There's some pretty nifty facts about SHC that if I was thinking straighter I could rattle off. Oh like even if you douse a person in gasoline they still wouldn't burn hot or fast enough to leave the traces SHC leaves. One of the books I read had an excellent hypothesis: Far from being something supernatural or paranormal, the author suggested that SHC was probably a defect on a cellular level where the mitochondria in a person's body started acting wonky and the chemical reaction due to that is what caused the body to combust.

Right about now I can think of several people I'd like to see combust. Maybe that's not true, but it feels good saying it.

I am tired of life kicking me in the stomach this year. It's starting to suck major donkey nads.

anyhow a meme from MeiFlower over at meiflower.blogspot.com:

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Snail stomper (10c a snail)
2. Telecommunications Rep (fancy way of saying chatline operator in a call room locale)
3. PSO (acronym for phonesex operator
4. Caregiver

Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. Star Wars, any and all
2. White Christmas
3. An Affair to Remember
4. Shaun of the Dead (I love Shaun of the Dead!)

Four places I have lived:

1. Lancaster, CA
2. Palmdale, CA
3. Montpelier, VA
4. Hackney, London, UK

Four TV shows I like to watch:
(only FOUR?!? How can I list only four? That is like Sophie's Choice to me!)

1. House
2. Medium
3. Psych
4. Numb3rs

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. New Orleans
2. Niagra Falls, Canada
3. Inverness/Loch Ness, Scotland
4. Las Vegas

Four websites I visit often:

1. www.knittyboard.com
2. myavc
3. bloglines
4. craftster

Four of my favorite foods:

1. cheese
2. mushroom soup/soup in general
3. pineapple orange juice
4. crackers

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In San Diego, with my husband. :( (god this is a crappy day)
2. In London, @ forbidden planet, shopping for Christmas etc.
3. Fall, 1996, armed with the knowledge I have now, and knowing I only have a couple months left with my grandma.
4. Moab, Utah. Camping with my husband and Megan and no worries but what we are going to do that day. Moab is kind of scary, it was hauntingly perfect when we were there, so much so that the both of us are afraid to go back, lest we are disillusioned and it ruins our memories of the time we had been there before. It could have been the endorphins of new love, the excitement of travel, and all of that bs, but we really enjoyed Moab.

School knitting

2006-09-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

I am down with this knitting while learning thing. It's cool. I made a cozy for my remote thing. I am in a big class for Geology and the teacher loves tech gadgets, so most of the class participation is done with this whizzy little gadget that tells him who's in the class (when the unit is on) and lets you answer questions which in turn lets the intsructor see imediately what the class answered, so if he finds that a majority of people are answering the wrong answer, he can clear it up in class before a test. Plus all of our quizzes and tests are taken with the doohickey. I have to have it with me at all of our class meetings and the box it came in was clunky, so I made it a happy snuggly home out of touch me!

Here is my cozy (with the remote inside) along with the super cool knitting bag my KSKS pal sent me, which I have been using.

And here is the remote next to my cozy. I did too many decreases I think, and I should have knit longer, but you get distracted in class, esp if you're winging it.

ttfn

I'm AWAKE?! (and a shout out to my SP8)

2006-09-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

I'm FREAKING AWAKE? WHICH IS SECOND ONLY TO HOW HORRIBLE I WOKE UP. Dazzedly, I touched a puddle of reeking cat urine in the small of my back (well, on the blanket, in the small of my back.) I then, because it's so freaking early, tossed said blanket off of me (not a good idea people, there was a lot of f---k cat pee on the blanket) and laid there while I tried to get my brain to rev up.

I'm so freaking pissed. He's a kitten, but c'mon. I guess his litterbox needs changing, he's mad at me for not letting him on my lap last night while I tidied my desk, or he just felt the need to mark me. Um. Yeah. Little punk ass better watch it because I'm so pissed off,(hahaha bad pun) the next time I have to pee I might just do the little terrorist like he did me, you know what I am saying?

christ it's early. the smell of masculine animal urine is enough to make me want to gag and that was a BRAND NEW DOWN COMFORTER! DRY CLEAN ONLY. goram it.

-----breathe------breathe--------breathe-~~~~~~~~~~~~exhale
ok, my SP8 sent me a box which I need to photograph. It had lots of cool stuffies in it and I can't wait to show it off. She cracks me up, makes me wonder how old she is (is she a crafty youngster, or a super crafter older person?) and she sent me a pattern for the ballband dishcloth from Mason Dixon knitting so I could jump on the bandwagon but avoid purchasing a book, which was nice of her. ;) She sent me 2 balls of sugar and cream, a ball of Opal sock yarn, some paper crafty stuff, a wooden crown sign for Megan's room, some soap, and other bits. I'm sorry it got lost in the fray of getting Megan registered for a new school, she's back to school tomorrow (hallelujah!)
THANK YOU SP! I am looking forward to my next box!!!!

So I finally made a new knitting buddy. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to ask anyone from irc for their screen names on like yahoo or something, but there you go. Women intimidate the hell out of me. So I made friends with Noodles/Johnathon and he is going to be knitting something for me (since MY SP found me and I'm still hard at work) and I sent him some fiber in exchange for that. He's also going to finish the knitting on my Irish Hiking Scarf of pure delirium bringing boredom for me in exchange for the rest of my merino/silk mix roving. Ahh sad, but the boy can spin like a dream and his spindle he made himself out of the bottom of a broken wooden bowl! can you imagine? It makes me green with envy, but not quite enough to give up my wheel. hehehehe.

Talking to Johnathon's been fun. It's reinvigorated my knitting, which was kind of going to pot, which sometimes happens in my retarded effing cycles unfortunately. (Why is it you can tell a psychiatrist, I have these cycles where I do this.... for years and the one day you finally get diagnosed and it's like, "oh, books when I am in a depressive cycle, knitting when I'm somewhat balanced, cooking and crazy ass crafting when I'm manic. Huh." I mean, I figured out for myself that I read more when I was depressed because I realized I was hiding from the world in my books and using them or the act of reading to shut myself off from human contact for hours at a time. But I didn't realize that my sudden need to glitter glue a million styrafoam balls and cover them in sequins was suspect...

So far I have knitted the front and back of my DoD, the head and shoulders of Bad Juju, and almost finished another one of my things which I am not mentioning! hehehe. Oh, and since I was flashing my stash, had lost a ball of alpaca then subsequently found it, I went through my knitting bags and I found the pink/green artyarns regal silk and size 5 denises that I thought I had lost on my way home from New Mexico! They were in my ridiculous floppy hat!!!! Yay! everybody cheer.

Now I am off to crash. I can't believe the freaking cat peed on me. I'm so tired my eyeballs feel like they are packed in sawdust.

Ay Caramba!

2006-08-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

So it's what, 5 am? I went to bed at a semi-reasonable hour and thanks to the dulcet tones of my husband I managed to fall asleep. I should provide a little backstory here: although we only just found out that I am bipolar (technically they told me this back in 2001 but they also told me I had PPD, which would you choose to believe if you had just had a baby? PPD, bipolar disorder... hmmm??) I have had had trouble getting off to sleep since like ever. I remember when I was 12 or 13 I'd get sent to bed and I'd jump up and do like a million and three jumping jacks...

Anyhow, when the husbeast and I were *dating* since it was a long distance quasi internet relationship, involving many long hours of phone calls, alot of those phone calls would occur right around bed time. Somehow I got "programmed" to fall asleep to the sound of his voice. Oooh, this annoys him to no end after 7 years of marriage, but I don't mean that him talking to me sends me to sleep. I just mean that it relaxes me and comforts me enough to send me to sleep.

We had bad news yesterday. His Aunt Ann passed away. He wasn't close to his Aunt Ann. But his Aunt Bryn had passed earlier this year and his Uncle Jim is already gone. That leaves just his mom on his mom's side of the family. With my dad dying in March it suddenly hit me that his parents could die. (They are old enough to be my parents' parents; aka my grandparents) I don't want them to die. I love my mother in law more than anything. She may think it's only because she has pulled my ass out of the fire financially more times than I can help, but it isn't just that. She's a strong woman who I can look up to, and I can honestly say other than my grandma she's the single woman I know who I most want to be like when I grow up. She's just amazing. I miss her, I am sad sometimes that I didn't realize what a wonderful person she was when we lived there, or get the opportunity to know her as I do now. If we lived there now I would be taking her on yarn crawls (despite her insistence that yarn should be cheap, hahaha) and knitting with her and learning all I could from her. I'd hug her even though it's not the done thing, you see. I just hope that I get a chance to do all those things.

Anyhow, it's still five am. Barry talked me to sleep again last night, second night in a row. He said some lovely things to me. There are times when I think my husband is the most obstinate, unobserving person in the world, and then he turns around and does or says something that has me melting. Like telling me that no matter how many times I have screwed up, he still loves me and he knows that I unequivocally love him. I hope I spelled that right. I slept, and dreamt funky dreams, and then woke up in a fright and couldn't tell what time it was. I must have dreamt that I had been being woken up by Megan repeatedly because I feel really tired (well, it is only 5) but I still had that feeling. But for some godawful reason I thought it was 5 pm instead of am and that I had been in bed all day long. And my heart nearly broke. Because I promised Megan that we'd go to the fair today. But parking after 5 would be a bitch, especially on $15 day... and I am reeeeeeeally tired. So I rolled over for a minute to sleep a bit more. Then my conscience caught up with me, and the fact that she has been worrying about me "not feeling good" on the day and using it as an excuse to bring a friend, so I rolled out of bed and started rushing through the house like a madwoman... only to find the house dark and quiet... peaceful. Megan asleep, the cat nestled down for the night, and Ozzy not even in need of going outside for a bathroom break. Because it was 5 in the morning. No wonder I am so frigging tired. :(

And then I wanted to weep. MAYBE I will manage to get back to sleep. But I woke up like someone turned on a switch and 5 is officially the earliest. Which makes it kinda obvious. I am heading up into a manic swing. Well that's what the Dr said anyways when he told me to see my GP and up my dosage. :(

Serendipity

2006-08-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Merriam Webster.com (m-w.com) defines serendipity:

serendipity: ser·en·dip·i·ty
Pronunciation: -'di-p&-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: from its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip
: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also : an instance of this

I've had instances of serendipity of late. Mostly linking the movie I just saw, Little Miss Sunshine (soo soo soo good) to the ugly/beautiful dichotomy of the modernist lecture we had in English lit, and then linking that to Phantom of the Opera and my predeliction for falling in love with The Beast. See, I love Phantom of the Opera, but it breaks my heart every time because I think that although the Phantom is a raving sociopath, if Christine had been just a little less shallow, she could have been the salve to his wounds. Just like it pisses me off that Esmerelda always has the hots for Phoebus and Quasimodo ends up saving her anyways. ::sniffle:: I cried for hours at the end of reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame when it gets to the part about Quasimodo dying with Esmerelda in his arms in the catacombs under Paris. hours people... I cried for hours. Like almost as long as I cried when Anakin Solo died... (not going there) sniffle. Anyhow, I was cruising on home from Little Miss Sunshine listening to Phantom on my iPod and it got to the song, "Music of the Night." This is one of my favorite songs, but I think just about everyone loves this song, don't they?

I love it because it's a passionate plea on the Phantom's part to bring Christine over to his side. Here's what I have to offer you, he's saying to her. It is one of the most romantic things ever, and if that makes me sick, so be it. But it's right up there-- I cannot believe that I am saying this after I spent my childhood afriad of him-- with Jareth the Goblin King kidnapping a baby because the love of his life asked him to do it, yes Jareth was evil, and yes he puts Sarah through hell for spurning him (as does the Phantom) but really, they are acting like men-- just slightly more bent. I can love Jareth now because I'm not afraid of being an adult (looong story but the bubble scene in Labyrinth scared the CRAP out of me. Not the puppets or the goblins. The bubble scene where Sarah is getting her first taste of adulthood, and like 3 hours of her time to save her brother goes by like *snap* before she realizes it. If you watch the behind the scenes on the DVD they do some pretty twisted stuff/sexy but undersexed if you know what I mean... and maybe I picked up on that but mostly what horrified me about the movie was the fact that you could be tempted my something you wanted so much that you would lose sight of the goal (saving your baby brother) also I had this really wierd attraction/repulsion thing for David Bowie that I still can't figure out) But when all is said and done, I still fall for the fictional bad guys. The Riddicks, Phantoms, and Beasts.

After all... you may not know this, but when we met, my husband's screenname was BarryBeast (we have the same fav. fairy tale) care to guess?

10 more minutes disease...

2006-08-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

I think I have succumbed.

I just wanna crawl back in bed. It makes no freaking sense. I woke up at 5! I was like, "La la la la la, let's play!" But-- the real me was warring with the crazy me and stayed hibernated and fought for two and a half hours and now I am tired and cranky. Maybe I should have just woken up and played.

What if I'm not bipolar at all but just experiencing renewed energy after a lifetime of being sluggish? argh. Everyone is telling me I am bipolar and I hate it. I hate that in a lot of areas of my life it certainly fits. spending, impulsivity, promiscuity, not knowing limits... but still... that could just be a product of my upbringing and I know it. 3 of them could be blamed on my freaking job.

sigh. I am cranky. 10 more minutes? please?

and where's my secret pal? its the 27th... sniffle nothing. not even a card. Just an email and that one awesome (lonely) box sooo long ago. (sniffle)

for my soul

2006-08-22T22:42:00.000-07:00

I need to calm down. I feel that familiar titchy feeling coming on strong. I wanna jump out of my hide, and just, I don't know pace the floors, holler at the top of my lungs. I'm starting to get stupid impulses to do retarded things again, but not necessarily self destructive things, which is good. Nothing as scary as driving to my sister's house to douse myself in gasoline and set myself alight, just random stuff like, it's ten o'clock let's exercise! Let's go for a walk! Let's order stuff on ebay!

Speaking of ebay, I just found my dream hiking boots there. These were the hiking boots that I wore to England and then on my trip across country to Pennsylvania the same year, and the following year around the US. They don't make them anymore. I like them because they have the regular holes and then the little hookie thingies up at the top. I loved these hiking boots. Yay!

On September 30th I will be walking in Longbeach for the American Society for Bariatric Surgery Foundation Walk From Obesity. I will put a donate button on my sidebar if you wish to donate to my walk. It's a three mile walk and Megan and I will both be walking. Barry will (hopefully) be cheering us on from the sidelines! I *heard* from someone that there is a yarn store somewhere near the Aquarium (which is where the walk is being held, on Aquarium Way) it's probably in Shoreline Village, if you know of it... please tell me. The only other one I know about in the area is Noble Knits... and I've been in their store a couple of times recently. :) Oh, and if you live in Longbeach or near there and want to cheer us on, please come out! The walk starts around 8:30/9 o'clock I think.

Angela

Happy Birthday (soon) To Husbeast(ly)

2006-08-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

This is mostly pictures. Today Megan and I baked a cake and made little cupcakes for Barry to take with him since his birthday is Monday and he leaves for San Diego tomorrow. I spent the day knitting, cooking, and watching horror movies. We saw The Hills Have Eyes, Demon Slayer, House of the Dead, and I finally finished Firewall. All I can say to Firewall is... DID HE KEEP HIS DAMN JOB?! gaaaaah. I made mushroom soup from the Les Halles book (but off the internet from epicurious.com) and I must say it was DAMN TASTY, omg. Here's the thing though. Cuz we had the ac going and my stove is unreliable at best... an hour on simmer... rendered the liquid enough for one bowl of soup. Which means it reaaaaaaaaaly REALLY reduced! It was POTENT! I added about four cups of water and brought it back to heat and it was still quite strong, but delicious. And I have never had non-cream of mushroom soup. I have had homemade or restaurant cream of mushroom soup, but never mushroom soup sans cream. It was really, really fab. So now I want to buy as many soup cook books as possible... and eat soup.
Earlier this year I was saying, "wouldn't it be fab if there was a place that had just soup on the menu and it wasn't freaking chicken noodle, brocolli, or freaking clam chowder all the time?" Apparently some clever people in New York (it's always New York) already thought of that and started a chain called Daily Soup, and it was sooo popular that they sold it this year. DAMNIT. But they published a cookbook, yay! It's on my WISHLIST in case anyone were wondering... lol.

While I was hard at work knitting, hubby was hard at work CRAFTING!

This is an upclose view of the wire hangers he made. 22 of them!! OMG Why?!?!

He doesn't look too very pleased...

OH MY! How many candles is that!?!?!
Happy Birthday early to my hero.

When you're talking in your sleep...

2006-08-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

So, I have been a blabber mouth lately. As in... my sleep.

Not real life blabbering. I have woken myself up shouting at strangers in my dreams, in a very strange, Tourette's kind of way. "You stupid cow!" I was screaming at one woman, "You shouldn't drive up this hill!!" My dreams have been very frightening and vivid... when I finally get to sleep.

Back in March before I finally went and saw Dr Berman, when I was staying up till 7 am in the morning and forcing myself to sleep, only to wake 2 hours later I was pretty bad. I am sitting here asking myself this morning when I rose for the third time in a row before 7 (unlike me in the worst way) after being dead tired but unable to fall asleep... am I being paranoid, or is it happening again??

Apparently talking in your sleep can be a symptom of stress; well dh has been home for 4, almost 5 weeks, Megan is home, my sister hasn't been talking to me because I was a complete shmuck to her, my work isn't going swimmingly well, and I've been having cramps like mad. Life hasn't exactly been a rosy bowl of cherries, so it could just be that.

So, if it is stress related... what's a knitter to do (who hasn't been knitting) to destress, than pick up her pointy sticks and cast on? oooh I stole that one I know, sorry Ms Dane (who, incidentally has one of THE BEST podcasts and her 3rd season is FINALLY underway. check it out!) I am finally knitting again... woo! Yippee, I am so happy. Aloo on aluminum size one dpns. It's slow going, but not so bad. Barry is making me 22 tiny little somethings to go with this projects, because he is an amazing awesome husband.

Let me digress about my amazing awesome husband for a second.

On Monday he will be 28 years old. For the last three days he has been filming his latest project, Random Acts of Violence (and comedy) with a bunch of teenagers. LMAO. He keeps staggering in around midnight or so with a shell shocked look on his face that says, "I'm an old old man." I feel for him. I really do. Poor guy. But he is an amazing husband. Even if the placement of his stupid wireless router caused the death of my printer/scanner/copier combo.

TTYL

Taffeta Cacaphony

2006-08-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

My tent, it seems, was displeased at having to lay quietly dormant in our shed these long summer months since its purchase. To be truthful, a camping trip had been planned quite soon after its arrival, but we ended up sleeping in the car instead.

And now, long months after its original outing, it saw the light of day! Oh what a magnificent flutter and ripple it made—like a child bursting at the seams, eager to gain freedom from the tethers which bind it to the stroller, my tent struggled to break free of its bag and romp on the high-spirited desert wind.

Once it was somewhat firmly lashed down in one corner it would playfully tug up one of its stakes and go dancing off on the wind yet again, playing and stretching itself on the breeze, free of the awful dank and cramped space its vacu-sealed factory assigned bag and box in my shed had afforded it.

Finally, as I possess not only the superior intellect, but the opposable thumbs of MAN, with much colorful language as well as even more help from my husband, I beat the damn thing into submission and am now lying prone, slack in awe and exhaustion, staring up at the ceiling of my tent watching the way the light refracts through the nylon and mesh, and listening to the tent dance in the wind in a joyous taffeta cacophony.