Thadnbk Ybliuwo!

January 24, 2006 By

What? Can’t understand me? Probably because I had a homemade (yes? no? weigh in BP!) caramel in my mouth!

My BETTER PAL strikes again. This time with a bag of caramels AND a backup emergency supply in the form of JUNIOR CARAMEL baby boxes! YAY! As much as I love me some caramel, the yarn s/he sent it good enough to EAT! Gorgeous, scintillating, fantastic Malabrigo in Valentine’s RED! I love it BP. Love, love, love IT! Thank you thank you thank you!

I do, though, have a bone to pick with you BP. My box came with a lovely return address label from Norma. Now I know for a fact that Norma isn’t my BP. (Don’t ask me how I know this, I just do.) So, WHA? Haven’t we already done this make a fool of the knitblogger thing before? Is this Karmic retribution or something? I called up my favorite super sleuth, Ann (whose birthday is today – but I’m absolutely positive this fact has NOTHING to do with Jan 24 being the most depressing day of the year) and she was, well, bascially, no help at all. Which shouldn’t be a surprise, but like I’ve said before, Ann gives excellent phone. Anyway, I happen to be a pretty freaking good detective myself and I know that my package was mailed from this post office. Again – don’t ask me how I know, but I do and I’m on to you BP. Hell yeah.

My weekend was lots of fun. How about yours?

Seems like there’s always a birthday around here, doesn’t it? This weekend was my nephew’s party. It was great fun – it was at this place where you can do your own cooking. We did the pajamas and pancakes party where all the kids come in their pjs and make muffins and pancakes. They all had a blast and it was very easy on my sister since the place does everything – my sister just had to show up and pay the bill.

I sort of “worked” the party so I didn’t get to taste the pancakes or muffins – but supposedly the kids did a great job and it was all pretty yummy. That was the only time I had the camera out – and I didn’t get pictures of the baby! I’m so sad because he is super duper cute! Curls like his sister (well, almost – they’re coming though) and huge dimples and he’s just all smiles sitting up and starting to crawl. He needs his own photo shoot very, very soon! I’ve really slacked off on pictures of him.

We had a great day yesterday too – Orchestra in the morning featuring the bassoon (I LOVE me some bassoon) and a karate show in the afternoon! Super Nephew actually broke a board in half! Look what you can do when you turn FIVE!

There was some knitting – work on a jaywalker and work on sleeves. We’re going away this week – Thursday morning at a ridiculously early hour we’re going back here. So there will be plenty of knitting next weekend. Plenty.

Filed Under: Better Pals

Birthday Redux

January 18, 2006 By

[Warning – this turned into a really long post. It was cathartic – but don’t feel like you need to read the whole thing.]

I get so emotional baby, every time I think of you-u-u! It’s emotional hangover time here at the blog, yet again. Slap me if I sound like a broken record. Emotions, emotions, emotions! The psycohological equivalent of Jan Brady, if you will. Feelings, whoa-o-oh feelings! Will someone PLEASE turn it off?! Please?

It’s a monsoon outside today, but inside it’s nice and quiet and warm because the love of my life sealed up all the windows this weekend. We live in something of a wind tunnel and the windows seem to have these huge gaps in them. They also line the entire west side of the apartment. That’s a decent amount of windows. There’s one room, when you walk by, your hair starts blowing around and you feel this arctic blast. We keep the door of that room closed until we do the seal; it always reminds me of the kids’ room in Poltergeist – you know, when JoBeth Williams opens the door and all the toys are flying around? That’s our den, possessed, but not anymore! Georgie! My hero!

Speaking of Georgie, he’s partly the reason for so much emotion these days. I’ve now known G for almost 19 years! And in all of the time I’ve known him he’s been living with some kind of pain. Since he was around fourteen he’s been having tons of trouble with his knees – but being the man he is – he played through it by being on the basketball and tennis teams in high school and college and spending his adulthood playing one or the other sport at least a few times a week. Poor Georgie has the body of a scholar and the mind of an athlete. You know how we love to knit and spin and craft? How about if someone told us we’d never be able to knit again? It would cause us to shrivel up into a little ball in the back of the closet and never want to see the light of day. That’s how my darling husband feels about his tennis. Basketball’s been out of the question for quite some time.

Things were looking up for awhile there. After his fifth knee surgery in seven years it looked like things were taken care of – his knees actually felt good! And then the hip pain started. At first he thought it was a groin pull but gradually it got worse and worse and finally he had the hip scoped down in Nashville. That was in ’03 and the doctor came out to talk to me while G was in recovery. His exact words were “he’s got the hips of an 80-year-old man.” My gorgeous husband is 43. It’s some kind of a degenerative tissue thing that’s basically left him without cartiledge. Back in ’03 we were told that eventually hip replacement would be the only option, but that we should try to hold out as long as possible because, well, he’s only 43 and hip replacements, as wonderful as they are now, don’t last that long. In 20 yrs it’s VERY conceivable he will need another new hip. Well, my friends, it looks like the eventuality has come. My sweetheart can barely walk. He is in so much pain and I can’t even begin to tell you the sadness I feel about this. I can’t do anything to help him. And trust me, if there was a way I could give him my hips I would. He’s in the process now of going to the doctors and getting diagnoses and I guess we’re looking to try and schedule this for early spring. Please, if you feel compelled to share stories of people you know having had hip replacements – DO NOT TELL ME ABOUT ANYONE THAT’S DIED. We see enough of it on the news about young(ish) people dying and I don’t want to hear it. G has had A LOT of surgery in his life – five knees, his hip, a hernia – and he’s come through with flying colors every time but I’m scared to death.

Add to that all the grief I’ve been letting myself feel lately about the infertility crap and you’ve got a sure fire prescription for MISERY! HAHAHAHAHAHA! That’s all I can do – try to laugh in the face of it! I’m reminded of that line Dolly Parton says in Steel Magnolias – laughter through tears is my favorite emotion? (I think they’re at Julia Robert’s funeral and Olympia Dukakis and Shirley Maclaine have just gotten into the bitch slap thing – Steel Magnolia’s is one of those movies I can’t NOT watch – not matter how icky it makes me feel.) Or some such nonesense as that? I’m not sure if that’s true, but if I can’t laugh, I’ve got nothing.

My peeps out in blogland have been doing their damndest to cheer me up and I finally got around to some pictures!

So you all know how Ann skims right? Seriously – she’s the ULTIMATE skimmer. I’ll be chatting with her on the phone (Ann gives great phone, btw – you know how some people are just not that good on the phone? Not Ann. She rocks. And Margene too. I get on the phone with them and guaranteed it’s like an hour before I get off. In a good way.) and I’ll say something to her and she’ll be like what? And I’ll just stop. Silence. “Ann. Did you read the blog? It’s all on the freaking BLOG!” And she’ll just start laughing because people SHE DOESN’T READ THE BLOGS! She just looks at the pictures or maybe not even that. Ever notice how her comments don’t really seem to have anything to do with what you wrote about that day? No. Well look. She’s a skimmer. Anyway, I’m READING her blog the other day, because I read your blogs, and leave a comment about the availability of Curious George cell phone charms. I had to have one. For obvious reasons.

Welp not ten minutes later the phone rings. It’s Ann. In a panic. She didn’t READ WHAT SHE POSTED! She only skimmed (so really how offended can we be when she skims HER OWN BLOG) and was all upset that I had run off and purchased a Curious George phone charm, because, she confessed, she had already bought me one.

George and my phone have been inseparable ever since. Not sure what the bunny means, but he came along with George and they seem to get along just fine at the bottom of my bag. I love them. If you refer back to the picture above, Ann also sent me a cutie pie frog prince – a talisman – she explained – against frogging our knitting projects. So far so good. There’s a CG bento box and frankly, a kind of scary snowman basket. THANK YOU ANN! Everytime I use the phone I think of you. You make me laugh out loud every time I talk to you and I so love you for that.

A few days after that my very favorite Bookish Girl checked in for the birthday.

Wendy told me that pretty much everything she sent had been purchased at The Bazaar Bizarre – one of those craft extravaganza flea market type thingies – we’ve got beautiful stitch markers, lovely handspun hand-dyed yarn from Woolarina, super cool patches, a denim zip purse, an orange chibi and a SUNFLOWER! To brighten my day. Thank you Wendy! I don’t think I’ve mentioned lately how much I love Wendy. She was one of my first blog friends that I had met in real life – she took me around Boston – a perfect stranger – and we had an instant connection. She’s as real as they come and she makes me laugh and I know if I called her up crying my eyes out she would listen, not judge, and help me. Thank you Wendy. I love you girl!

This is turning into a pretty long post, but it’s making me feel better, so I’m going to keep going.

I’m also pretty good at making myself feel better. I’ve been feeling guilty about all the talk about stashalongs and such and it’s time to admit, that on my birthday, I did what every self-respecting knitter does on their 36th birthday. I ordered a shit load of Alice Starmore’s Virtual Yarn.

Eleven skanks of 3ply Hebridean. For Crossed In Translation swatches. Right now the front runner is Clover, top row, second from the left. I think it will be perfect for this sweater. Perfect. But I can’t start swatching until I finish this:

TREK WINS! She guessed it – these are the sleeves for Short Rows. Back in the day, before it looked like I’d never knit anything other than Jaywalkers, I’d dare say Short Rows was my signature knit. I finished the back (twice!) and the front and left it. All that was needed was the boring navy blue stockinette sleeves and the seaming and a collar. But the sleeves. I couldn’t do it. But I promised myself I would finish this sweater. I’ve worked too hard on it not to finish and I really love it and I hope to see if it fits someday. So I’m not starting the CIT sweater until this is done. I’ve done about ten increases – I’m doing both at the same time, so it’s kind of slow going. My goal is at least one increase a night. There are 16 before you start to decrease for the raglan. Wish me luck.

Thanks everyone for your comments on my yarn yesterday! I’m very excited about my spinning and I’m so glad to share my enthusiasm.

All right. Enough’s enough. I’ve got work to do and I’ve wasted enough of your day. 😉 Thanks for stopping by.
L, C

PS – Please go and see what made me the happiest of happy today! Margene finished her jaywalkers! I swear it was killing me that she wasn’t enjoying these socks – but that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore. POP ROCKS!

Filed Under: Better Pals, Miscellaneous

Putting the Chan back in Chanukah!

December 26, 2005 By

Happy Chanukah everybody! Did you know that this is the first time since 1959 that Chanukah (yes, I prefer the CHAN spelling) has started so late – specifically on Christmas? Do you know what this means? This means that for the first time in my life, Chanukah and my birthday actually bisect. January 1st is actually the 8th night of Chanukah! WOOHOO! Double presents for me!

Yesterday was a nice day. We went to my in-laws and everyone was happy and nice and I even got to knit a little. The fact that I knit with fun fur and some other monstrosity type yarns is neither here nor there – I was helping out my sister in law. She’s making a fun fur scarf for her granddaughter and a fuzzy frilly scarf for herself and she has trouble casting on – I told her of course you have trouble casting on – look at the yarn you’re using! But I helped anyway. So nice to have someone to knit with on the holidays! I turned the heel on my TENTH sock and am ready to pick up the gusset. If we weren’t going down to Philly for Chanukah today, I’d probably have it finished – but maybe Wednesday. I’m thinking I’ll take a Jaywalker break after that. I’ll still keep a sock on the needles, but let me see if I can finish a plain old stockinette sock first. I don’t know. I’ll probably just cast on for another one anyway. Who says I can’t have one on the needles? Doesn’t mean I have to race through it.

In other knitting news, I’m trying to knit my second Warm Wendy mitten. The problem is I didn’t write down all the ways I changed the Ann Budd pattern so copying it is hard. I think I have it, but I knit a few rows and then go back to the sock. I’d like the mitten finished before the new year too. I WILL get it done.

Look what I got from my Better Pal!

Gotta love a Pal that pays attention! On the questionnaire we’re supposed to say what kind of yarn we’d like to try that we’ve never tried – I put down Fleece Artist sock yarn and guess what I got???? In the Storm colorway. (Another instance of great minds thinking alike.) It’s very muted and it’s very dark here today so I can’t photograph it so well – but it’s got grays and teals and caramel browns and reds running through it. Very beautiful. It will be interesting to compare it to my beloved STR. Speaking of caramels, my pal sent me the most luscious, thick, buttery caramel ever! G and I have really enjoyed it BP! But what is it? Where’s it from? Can we get more? It’s a real treat. Like so rich I can only eat one at a sitting – and that’s even letting G have a little bite. Thank you BP! Thank you!

Hey – don’t forget the SHOWCASE! I’m leaving it open until Friday for all of you holiday travelers to get a chance to win! Remember – you’ve got to be in it to win it!

Okay. Off to pick up a gusset and wrap a couple presents. Hag Sameach!

Filed Under: Better Pals, Life

Better Pals ROCK!

November 29, 2005 By

Yesterday I received my third and final present from my Better Pal. As some of you may know, the Better Pal exchange was purposefully kept small and intimate and everyone kind of knew at least a few of the people involved. I was lucky enough to NOT know my better pal gifter or my giftee (you can figure out which is which.)

My exchange had a decidedly INTERNATIONAL flavor as both gifter and giftee live outside my home country. How amazing is that?! Every time I got a gift from my pal, G would get all excited! It’s like he was a little kid and wanted to collect the stamps or something.

Because of the intimate nature of the exchange, it would’ve been VERY easy for me to find out who my pal was. I mean, c’mon, it’s not like there are a lot of bloggers from her country – in fact, every time I mentioned where my pal was from people were more than ready to tell me who she was. I was beginning to think she was THE ONLY blogger from this country. Alas, I think she’s not. But it was pretty funny when I was googling around the internets one day looking for sock patterns or something and I came across this blogger and I was reading some posts and then I realized SHE WAS FROM NORWAY! FUCK! My better pal is from Norway and she’s the ONLY NORWEGIAN BLOGGER OUT THERE!!!! Damn. Damn. Damn. I wanted to keep it a secret until the big reveal.

So when I got my last package it wasn’t a total suprise to find out that Kris of s t r i k k e r fame was my better pal!

One of the things I loved best about getting Kris’s gifts was that she always wrapped them in color coordinating paper. Oranges, or Reds/Pinks and lastly Blues. So cheery! And besides some decious Rowan Yarn in my first package, all of the items in the gifts seemed to be made in Norway! Even the yarn! YAY! That’s been a real treat! Something different. Something I couldn’t get for myself, you know. This last package had some chocolate, some gummy feet (you guys have the BEST gummies!), some much needed handcream (Thank you! How did you know?) and some delicious silk/alpaca eggplant yarn. YAY for better pals.

I have to say, that while the presents are fun to get and it’s nice to be spoiled, the best part of this exchange is that I really feel like Kris and I made a connection. Hopefully it wasn’t just on my end, but we seemed to have a lot in common and I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with her. Thank you Kris! You made all my secret pal swap exchange dreams come true! And I should know – I’ve been BURNED before!

On the flip side, my better pal giftee was Nicole of Craftapalooza located in The Land Down Under! Talk about intimidating! Nicole is one crafty girl. I’m not crafty. I knit. That’s the extent of my craftiness. Nicole, on the other hand, is one of the founding hosts of Back Tack – that super cool exchange where you actually MAKE things for your pal. Crafty things. So not me. I have to admit, I was nervous – but it was an opportunity to think out of the box. I studied her blog. I read her questionnaire and in the end I think I did a pretty good job! Nicole seems happy at least. So job well done for all of us!

And of course there’s the whole torture Ann thing. Better fun could not have been had. Sheer unadulterated delight. Now that’s the kind of torture I can get behind! The fact that Margene was behind the whole thing – well – let’s just say that it was definitely worth all that postage to Australia! I’ve signed up for the next one and a big thank you goes out to Rock Chick and Shobhana for organizing the whole shebang! Thanks girls! This is the first time I haven’t been burned in an exchange. I appreciate it!

~+~+~+~

Wonderful friends and presents aside, I’m in a shitty mood. Kind of like all work and no play makes Cara a dull girl. The truth is I’m bored. I don’t do bored well. But I’m in that kind of ennui type bored where nothing seems interesting and I still have a lot of work to get done so I can’t really abandon everything and jump into something and my house is a mess – beyond mess – it’s ready to be condemned so I don’t want to even leave the office because it just reminds me what a horrible wife I am that my husband works so, so hard all day long and comes home to a shithole because I can’t manage my time better. Oh and also I hate any kind of work around the house. HATE IT. I’m not satisfied with my knitting, which is my stress relief these days so it’s kind of making me more stressed. Last night, prime knitting time, I just laid in bed and watched my soap operas (Another World, repeats on SoapNet) while my sock sat RIGHT NEXT TO ME and I didn’t do anything. I tried to cast on for mittens but got the stitches on the needles and gave up. I want to be inspired! I want to go to sleep thinking about waking up the next morning because I can’t wait to work on whatever it is I’m working on! Mary is unbelieveably inspiring these days and her enthusiasm is infectious but the idea of casting on for a swatch makes me want to cry. There are so many things I have on the needles or want to put on the needles I’m overwhelmed and nothing feels right, you know. Thank god for the Jaywalkers because I don’t think I’d be getting ANY knitting done if it wasn’t for them.

Enough bitching. Back to the grind. Some Bruce. Some gummy bears. I’ll be fine. 😉

Filed Under: Better Pals, Life

Princess Cara needs lots of luggage for a 3 day trip.

October 13, 2005 By

– cara needs a flesh rocket
– Cara needs 34 tablets of phenobarbitone a day along with potassium bromide.
– Cara needs your help, and your cash.
– Cara needs a little wolfpack shirt!
– CARA needs help!!
– Cara Needs Some Heroes Fast!
– Cara needs a bit of notice – but she is definitely worth the wait!
– Cara needs a tough girl image, rather than a pretty girl one.
– cara needs to start taking her meds again today since she was afraid to talk to people yesterday
– cara needs a sandwich, and i’m not talking about food.
– Cara needs to take a cold shower now!
– Cara needs to adjust her attitude.
– Cara needs more rock ‘n roll in her life
– Cara needs your help in order to achieve her goal of making the US National Luge Team and competing in the 2006 Olympics in Italy.

And last but not least: Cara needs to come out here and bring her camera! from MARGENE’s BLOG!

This is that google “___ needs” going around. Anna’s was the one that pushed me over the edge. I think my name has some weird shit attached to it, no?

This is going to be one of those random ass posts….

First off, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your comments on my cardi. I’m so glad you all love it as much as I do! I’m not giving it a bath since I won’t be taking it off this weekend, and well, I’ll need something bright and cheery to help identify me when I’m floating down the roaring river that used to be the Fairgrounds. What a crappy weekend this is shaping up to be! Weather wise that is.

I have to admit though, I’m getting all anticipatory anxiety-ish about it. I’m excited to see everyone, but I hate leaving my home base. What if I go crazy?! What if I need to go home? What if I ruin everyone’s fun time because I’m crazy and I need to go home? These are the things I think about, you know, just in case I’m not feeling crazy enough. I will have drugs with me – so don’t laugh if I seem a little stoned and too happy to see you. And no, I won’t have enough for everyone. 😉

MY FEET WON! Over at Mim’s. She’s got a great post on feet and the body in general, so check it out! Thanks Mim!

I got a package from my BETTER PAL yesterday! YAY BP! You always know how to brighten my day. This package is ALL local. My pal is from Norway (I’m just betting she’s tall and blonde and gorgeous!) and it’s like getting presents from a far away fairy land!

Look! She wrapped everything in shades of red! My new favorite color!

Sock yarn made in Norway! Norwegian Addi Turbos – oo la la! Super cool coasters with hearts and sheep and a bunny that totally reminds me of these guys! But best of all – GUMMY CANDY! They’re called Laban Seigdamer which I’m pretty sure translates to Jelly Ladies. They’re very good – not sour like I thought they might be and I ate half the bag before I realized a very, very important feature of these ladies. THEY HAVE BOOBIES!!!!!!

How freaking funny is that? G came home late last night and I immediately yelled to him from the bedroom – look at the candies from Norway! They have boobs! Thank you Better Pal for knowing me so well. I did not eat all the candy yesterday, but saved some for today. And the sock yarn, well, right on the money because I just signed up for Lolly’s Socktoberfest and have been thinking about socks. And you know how I hate DPNs. Thank you so much! I can’t wait to really meet you!

Speaking of socks and secret pals, I still haven’t received socks or any communication at all from my Sockapaltwoza sock pal. I’ve given up and you know what – I’m okay with that. No bitterness here because I really, really enjoyed making my sock pal socks for Leslie and by all accounts she loved them and that’s enough for me. I do, though, feel really bad for Alison. The amount of work that must have gone into such a huge endeavor! She says that about 20% of the people who’ve signed up have flaked out. Too many for her. I left a comment on her blog yesterday, but I’d like to say again – I’m right there for SockapalTHREEza. Socks or no socks, I had a good time, which in my book, is all that counts. What I don’t understand is if you’ve signed up for this thing and realize that you can’t hold up your end of the bargain for whatever reason – why not bow out gracefully? Apparently there are many people who signed up and have just disappeared. Why?

Isn’t this funny? My sister was shopping yesterday and found these Jolie Raviolis. Her name is Jolie, which is pretty unusual, so whenever any of us finds something with her name on it, we sort of have to buy it. The kids loved them!

It’s STILL freaking raining. I was supposed to run yesterday. Didn’t. Don’t think I’m going to today either. I’ve been on a very good run (pun absolutely intended) and I hate to stop now but I just can’t do the treadmill. And it’s pouring. If it was drizzling I’d like to think I’d go out, but pouring no.

Yesterday I upgraded my Movable Type software with the hopes of combatting the spam I’ve been getting. Since I’ve upgraded, I’ve gotten 179 spam comments. In like an hour. I’m just saying.

Have a great day!

Filed Under: Better Pals, Miscellaneous

Better Pals are BEST!

September 9, 2005 By

I LOVE to give gifts. I love choosing the gift, I love putting it together, I love wrapping it – I LOVE seeing the giftee’s expression. I really do. I’m very generous. Because of love the act of THE GIFT – more than the sentiment behind it. Do you know what I mean? It’s got to be PERFECT!

So when I saw all the Secret Pal buttons I knew I had to get in on one. I eagerly joined SP4. Blah. Let’s just say it did NOT meet up to my expectations. I tried to do a good job for my SP, and I think I did, but she was very preoccupied with lots of stuff going on in her life and we didn’t make much of a connection. She was appropriately grateful and all, but there was no spark between us. My SP sent one package that really didn’t fit my profile and then nothing until a nice gift certificate from Elann. Which helped me buy a swift so I was grateful for that, but again, no real contact. Next to nothing spark.

So when I was approached to join a small intimiate gathering of bloggers who would be better pals, I jumped at the chance. We all sort of know each other, or know someone who knows someone, so the odds are that there won’t be much disappointment going around.

Well, today I received my first BETTER PAL package! Yay! I was SO excited. The thing that sort of makes this gift exchange unique is that since we’re such a small group – the secret can almost leap out of the bag. My BP does not live in my country, apparently, from the postage, and I’m relatively sure I could find out very quickly who she is! But I HAVEN’T BP! I don’t know! And I vow, right now, on my blog, to do my best NOT to find out! Okay? Okay.

Look how bright and cheery! I couldn’t wait to rip all the packages open. In her note, BP says she wanted to go with an autumn theme – and autumn she did!

That’s three balls of Rowan Felted Tweed in the new Ginger Spice color! Luscious! I’ve never knit with this yarn, but I’m raring to go. When I picked it up the first thing I thought of was MITTENS! (Or gloves?) The yarn is perfect for that, don’t you think? Nice and warm and cozy! And there’s an orange suede pencil case – which I think I’ll use for knitting doodads – I don’t want to mess it up with pencils. And a gorgeous notebook that will hopefully inspire some writing. Thank you thank you thank you BP! Can’t wait to hear from you again!

~+~+~+~

I’ve taken some editorial license over at Knit One Read Too, yet again. Instead of taking regular nominations, I’ve decided that this month’s book (discussion will start on October 17th) will be a book set in New Orleans, as a way to honor the city and its citizens, as well as a way to travel through literature. I’ve never had the chance to visit, and I’m sorry for that now. Each book is VERY different, and if you’re a member, head on over to vote. If you’re not a member, but would like to be, c’mon and join. We’re just getting back after the summer, so you haven’t missed anything yet.

Have a great weekend everyone! See you on the flip side!
L, C

Filed Under: Better Pals, Books