Cleanliness is next to…

June 28, 2007 By

Well, dirtiness, if we’re going to be honest. The bathrooms are clean, as of 10:30 PM last night. I took lots and lots of breaks. No knitting though, unless you count casting on a new monkey sock. I knit 2.5 rounds too.

These are the products I currently LOVE:

— Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
— Anything and everything called KABOOM
— Tilex (ROCKS!)
— Anything and everything called SWIFFER (especially the dusters – those things are AWESOME!)
— Windex
— The attachments on my kick ass vacuum (Which I bought INSTEAD of a Dyson. Real life reviews turned me off, even if it looks nicer. I’ve never looked back.)

I cranked the radios all over the house and set to work. It sucked. Please don’t tell me about environmentally safe cleaners – I know they’re out there and this is the stuff I like. Besides, there’s nothing environmentally safe about the disgustingness that is my house.

Do I feel good about what I did? I guess. Except now I don’t want anyone to ever use the bathrooms again. They look so nice and clean. I think I would be happier if the rest of the house wasn’t awful and I didn’t have so much work to do. But, such is life. Georgie asked me if I wanted something special for dinner because I worked so hard and I said YES! PIZZA! So while I completed the task I set out for myself today, I totally blew the diet. And I felt sick after the pizza (even though it tasted great while I was eating it.) Should’ve gone with a Lean Cuisine instead.

A couple things I wanted to point out –

I feel incredibly guilty that I received so many supportive emails in the last week or so and I haven’t responded to ANY of them (at least you can’t say I’m playing favorites.) Please know – I got your email and I appreciate it so much I can’t tell you. I could send out a cut and paste email, but that’s not what I really want to say, and I’m afraid if I really start answering them I’ll never get up from my computer. Thank you thank you thank you! I’m not sure I can say it any better than that anyway. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your taking the time to reach out. (Doesn’t really assuage the guilt, but it helps a little. Trying to be grown up here people.)

Last night I bought the most expensive pattern I’ll ever buy. Right here. Annie Modesitt, a popular fiber artist, is offering her Red Carpet Convertible pattern as a way of accepting donations to help offset the costs of caring for her family and her husband, who’s been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I do not know Annie. I’ve never knit one of her patterns. But I know all too well that cancer sucks harder and longer and not in the good way than anything else out there. Consider downloading the pattern. The minimum donation is $4.50. That’s not asking much from us, and it’s a small price to pay to help give peace of mind to this family while they try to heal. (Thanks to Deb for the heads up.)

And then there’s Liz. RIP. Thanks for making a great pair of pants and for giving me my dressing room miracle.

Back to work. One day I’ll knit again, maybe even for reals and not just in my mind.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Discipline

June 27, 2007 By

No pictures today. I’m pictured out. Feel free to move along if pictures are your thing.

Today is clean the toilets day at my house. I’ve been up since 8 and have only started to blog at almost 11AM and not a toilet has been cleaned. But that’s what I’m doing today.

I’ve been really good lately with discipline. I’m on a diet. It doesn’t have a fancy name or anything just the I’m fatter than I’ve ever been and I can’t stand it anymore so I’m not eating stuff diet. Basically I’m trying not to skip meals and eat more often but smaller portions and better stuff and no desserts and no soda and it seems to be working okay. I’m maintaining at the least and dropping a few pounds along the way. At least I’m back to where I was before the vacation. Vacation killed me. If I could only add the exercise in again I think I’d be golden. It’s too hot to exercise though. I hate Summer.

I’ve also been really disciplined in the work department. Monday I told myself I wasn’t allowed to knit until I had finished a certain amount of work AND fold the extremely large pile of laundry taking over the den. I did both and by the time I was done it was around 11:30PM. I knit one measly row on Moth and went to bed. Tuesday I was up very early because I had a 10AM shoot in Central Park. HOT Central Park. Like get back in my car and the external thermometer reads 110 degrees F Central Park. (That was because my car was in the sun, I suspect it wasn’t really that hot temperature wise, but add in the humidity and I think I’m making a fair assessment.) I SUCK in the heat. I get really really sweaty and gross (and not the good kind of sweaty and gross that comes with exercise) and I get irritable and tired and nasty. I ran a few errands, came home, ate, and set to work again. By the time I was finished with the job I was working on it was around 9PM. I told G that I wasn’t going to do any cleaning, because today is for cleaning, and I was just going to knit. The thing is, though, I got into bed to watch the boob tube and knit and I just couldn’t do it. I was so tired I just layed there and thought about my knitting instead. How pathetic is that?!? But I had discipline.

Discipline sucks.

So today I must clean all the bathrooms in my house. There are three. They are grody. And that’s being kind. Today I take a mini-break from photography work to clean. Say it with me: P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C.

Blogging might be scarce the next week or so for a few reasons:

1) Discipline. Blogging takes up time that I should really be spent doing other things. Mostly I can use it to procrastinate, but I’m way behind and it’s time to prioritize. My house is disgusting and my work is piling up and I’m not knitting…blogging takes a backseat, unfortunately.

2) I’m not knitting. See number 1. I’ve got nothing new to show you! If I don’t blog for a couple of days and that gives me a chance to knit, then I can come back with a fabulous knit to actually blog about. I know I don’t need to knit to blog but cleaning and work are not interesting. If I can find some way to make that interesting, I will try, but otherwise I’m just boring myself.

3) Not sure there is a three. Can’t think of a three. Damn! I thought there was a three! Oh well. Three is that I may blog every day in order to keep my sanity. Or I may not. Depends on how much work I can accomplish over the next week or so. NOW I remember three! My sister and the kids are coming up for July 4th – as they do every year – so I’m cleaning for them and I’m working all weekend and then I’m hanging with them, so yet another reason I might be a bit absent.

Excuses, excuses, but I’m really really tired. There’s all this other stuff going on too, but I can’t talk about it yet and it’s making me anxious a bit and emotional and it’s all good, but with the heat and the work and the cleaning I’m so tired. I couldn’t even knit last night, that’s how tired.

One of the best parts about being an adult is learning your limits. It’s an incredibly hard lesson to learn, but I think I’m getting better at it the older I get. Learning when to say: I would love to do that, but I just can’t right now. In the old days I would try to do absolutely everything and then I would crash and burn – rather spectacularly, if I might add – but I’m too old to crash and burn anymore. And hopefully way too smart.

Wish me luck on the bathrooms. I’m going to need it.
L, C

ETA: I have nothing against a cleaning person – in fact I had one for many years. Then she quit/we fired her and we haven’t had one since. For awhile I looked for one and they were all either ridiculously expensive or not good and then we gave up and the house has been a mess ever since. Now I’m in the position of getting to the point where I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have someone clean it – there’s crap everywhere. Trust me. The goal is to get someone in here again PRONTO! As I said above, the older I get the smarter I get.

Filed Under: Life

So Little Time….

June 25, 2007 By

Thank you again for all the supportive comments and emails! I’m a bit hormonal these days so they all just about sent me over the top. Stop already! You’re embarrassing me! Have no fear, nothing’s changing on this here blog. It’s very hard for me to be anything other than I am. I think I can safely say that I have one of those blogs that is pretty much like the real life person (although in person I swear WAY THE FUCK MORE.) Ask anyone who’s met me. No different. Fortunately or unfortunately, what you see is what you get. And that last post, about the rainbows – kind of a joke. I really did see a rainbow that day. And I really did have that exasperated oh my god is it really worth the aggravation moment about the blog. But I didn’t ask for a sign – not that I don’t believe in them, mind you. I did relax a lot when I saw the rainbow and I pointed it out to another woman and got just the reaction I hoped for (Wow! Thanks for pointing it out!) So maybe it was a sign. I do call myself Chica though.

Let’s get back to the knitting, shall we? That’s what it’s really all about.

I’m in one of those moods again. Which mood is that? Well, take your pick. Moods are flying all over the place like gnats at a bbq. The mood I want to talk about today is the one where you have 80 million projects you want to work on RIGHT NOW and you only have two hands and arms and wouldn’t it be great if you really COULD knit with your feet? Here’s what’s obsessing me at the moment:

— Babette. You readers are SO SMAHT! (You must be first borns, no? I keep meaning to send this link to my younger sisters and brothers. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!) Anyway, Babette. Yes, I bought all that beautiful yarn for Babette. Actually, Ann and I did. It was her idea. And then I was over and there was some crochet going on and it actually felt good (I know – what can I say?) and the idea was born. We bought a ton of yarn and split it. Details to come as soon as I actually start the thing. At this point I might just wait for Ann to finish those miles and miles of moss stitch. Don’t expect anything anytime soon. There’s still a bit of color organization I want to do.

— Larger Than Life Bag. Out of sight does NOT mean out of mind. This will be finished. I have a deadline of Rhinebeck, for anyone who cares. That means lined and everything. Cross your fingers on this one.

Now that we got the crochet out of the way, let’s talk knitting.

— Socks. I’ve got one pair of monkey socks still to finish (for some reason I keep screwing up the last couple rows before I split for the heel. It’s SO annoying) and I could probably knit a few more pairs for sure. But I also got a chance to see the Charade sock up close and personal the other day and I’m very very tantalized. Would be extremely nice for some of the solids in my sock collection. Sometimes when I’m on a jag (monkey socks) and the jag wavers (other stuff) I miss the jag. It’s sometimes very nice to be so single minded.

— Miters. Miters. Miters. If you think I don’t think about this project every single day you’re wrong. I do. Every single day. I want the blanket. And by that I mean I want it seamed and bordered and all that. But the time is not right. Soon. I’m anticipating some craziness coming up and I’m waiting because when I start seaming I’m hoping I won’t be able to stop until it’s finished. I’m gonna use that to my advantage. Trade one crazy life obsession with one crazy knit obsession. Let’s hope it works.

— Lace! I want to knit lace all over the place! Sometimes I wish I had the skills and ambition to be a knitwear designer, but, alas, I don’t. And when I’m really indulging that fantasy, man how I wish I was a lace designer. Really and truly. It’s like my fantasy to be a ballerina. Sadly, I don’t think I have the patience at all. So I make due with the genius of others. Anne Hanson of Knitspot is fast becoming my new Evelyn Clark. I trust her explicitly. Wing O’ The Moth is fantastic – more on that in a minute – and now she’s completely bowled me over with the bee shawl. Have you seen this amazingness? (Scroll down to the bottom of the entry!) Dear god, she’s killing me! It’s not available quite yet and I think it’s only going to be available as a kit but when it is available you will see it RIGHT HERE because there’s no way I’m NOT knitting this. I joked with Anne it’s going to be my summer of flying bug lace. Speaking of which:

I’ve only got eyes for MOTH! I’m on row 26 of the second chart which means I’ve only got 14 rows left to go before I start the edging chart. I am so LOVING this pattern and LOVING the yarn and if I wasn’t completely overwhelmed with work you can bet I’d be knitting this until my fingers bleed. At the same time, though, I’m grateful that I do have a shitload of work because just like a fabulous novel, I don’t want this knit to end. Thank you Anne! You’ve just about made my knitting summer.


To be continued. Because there’s always more stuff I’m on the verge of becoming obsessed over. That’s enough for now.

Filed Under: Wing O' The Moth

The Rainbow Connection

June 22, 2007 By

On my way home from Lawn Guyland yesterday, exasperated by perceived slights, real slights, sleights of hand I said to myself, Chica (I call myself Chica – just trying to keep it real) this blog thing is very very important in your life, but is it worth all this stress? Honesty. It’s such a lonely word. It is worth the agita?

I said, yeah, I think it is. But how to know for sure?

Chica, I said, let’s take the decision out of our hands. Let’s let GOD decide. If we should see a rainbow today, that ultimate sign of peace and harmony and unicorns, then we’ll keep blogging! Chica wholeheartedly agreed.

It was a kind of tense train trip. What was the likelihood of a rainbow? Sure it was kind of overcast and looked like it could rain at any minute. The conditions COULD be right for a rainbow. Maybe. Did we, Chica and me, even really BELIEVE in signs?

As I walked to the shuttle after taking two regional train lines, lugging my big bag and my wheel bag, permanent indentations carving their way into my shoulders, I tried to avoid a puddle and almost falling on my ass, I caught a glimpse of something sparkly in the sky.

Chica! I gasped. God has answered our prayers. Look, out yonder, it’s a RAINBOW!

The blog stays.

Thank you all so much for your emails and comments and notes of support. I’m hoping to get back to each of you that wrote, but it might take me a bit. I appreciate it for me, but really I appreciate it that you all care so much about truth in advertising. I am what I am and I’d hate to feel like I have to change that or censor it or anything. One note though – it’s been mentioned a few times that maybe my yarn store review was what prompted the Yarn Harlot’s impassioned post of the other day. I can pretty much tell you unequivocally that the two situations have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other. Unfortunately, I’m guessing that Stephanie’s talking about something that happened TO her, not passing judgment on what I wrote.

I’ve got to apologize again. When I wrote about the reveal, I meant my new project. Not my new PROJECT. That project, with a capital P, is gonna be a little while longer.


Clue #3
Click for big. (Do IT!)

Thank you again for your readership. I’m fully aware that a lot of these problems wouldn’t exist if no one was reading my blog, so it’s kind of a good with the bad situation. I do appreciate your being here – ridiculous opinions and everything. 😉 (I KID, It’s a JOKE!)

Hopefully, Monday, we can get back to the knitting. No promises though. Life is kind of crazy at the moment. Duh.
Have a great weekend!
L, C

PS – It’s true – I did thinking about closing up shop, but rainbow or no rainbow, I’m not giving up anytime soon. I actually like my blog. A lot. And I would really really miss it (and by extension all of you) if it was gone. It does take a lot of energy and time though and I often think about stopping. For now, though, the good certainly outweighs the bad.

Filed Under: blogging stuff, Life

Trouble. Right here in River City.

June 21, 2007 By

So. I go on vacation 3000 miles away and in some spare moments away from my beloved, I visit some yarn stores. I buy lots of yarn and I generally have a good time. I come home and share my impressions with you all. I was honest – I think fair and honest – but apparently I screwed up. It was intimated in the comments that I intended harm against one of the yarn stores I visited by giving it a less than stellar review. Nothing and I mean NOTHING could be further from the truth. I’m honestly astounded that anyone could think that. I wrote that I visited a yarn store – I’ve been in LOTS of yarn stores all across the United States – and then I wrote MY experience of this yarn store. It wasn’t the best yarn store I’ve ever been in, and it wasn’t the worst. In fact, I spent a decent amount of money in that yarn store. I stated that it could’ve been me that day that caused the bad vibe – but for whatever reason – I wasn’t as comfortable in that particular store as I’ve been in others.

That’s not really the part that troubles me. What troubles me is that I talked about my impressions and feelings in what I felt was a humorous, yet respectful fashion. To be accused of ill intent and downright meanness in tone worries me to no end. Does this mean I can’t be honest on my blog? Does this mean that unless I love something to distraction I’m not allowed to talk about it? Because I really feel that that’s not honest. Believe it or not, I don’t love EVERYTHING. In fact, most things I DON’T like. You might not know it from reading here – but I’m incredibly picky about stuff.

I guess I have more influence than I ever imagined if a sort of ho hum review from little old me can be construed as taking business away from someone. That’s NOT a power I want to have. Not for the first time, I questioned whether or not to blog at all.

I don’t think somehow I’ve transcended above opinion and critique. I stand by what I wrote about this store and I would not be afraid to say it to the owner’s face. I thought they had a beautiful store with an abundance of yarn, but after repeated attempts on my part, I just didn’t feel very welcome. Where’s the mean spirited criticism in that?

I’m not opening the comments on this post because I think a rehash is counterproductive in the end. If you’d like to engage me on this topic, I welcome you to email me: cara at januaryone dot com.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Filed Under: blogging stuff

My love muscle can bench press 250 lbs.

June 20, 2007 By

No, not my muscle, but Ann’s. God I love that woman. Every now and again we talk about a podcast – a one time thing actually – but it probably wouldn’t be funny to anyone but us. Hey Annie – I was telling G about our conversation and he just shook his head and said we were wicked retahded.

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, but this week is crayzee! Usually I’m home all day by myself trying desperately to get some work done or alternately staring at the filth around me willing it to clean itself (which takes A LOT of energy. Almost as much energy as if I were to ACTUALLY clean it.) But this week, wouldn’t you know, when I would just love to sit around and dream about my vacation, I’m out every single day. Today I have a meeting and then I’m off to Lawn Guyland for guild. So no post tomorrow either. I suck. I know. Hopefully next week things will get back on track and all will be right with the universe again – read me sitting inside with the air conditioner on high, showerless, knitting my little heart out.

Just a brief note on yarn store reviews: as I said in my last post and as evidenced by the comments – for every person who LOVES an LYS, there’s someone else who thinks it’s eh or even ick. That’s the nature of human nature. Maybe I caught the staff at Imagiknit on a bad day. Maybe I was in a bad mood. Maybe maybe maybe. I got a vibe. I’m not telling you not to go to the store – I would never say that (unless it was TRULY awful, which it wasn’t) and I’m pretty sure I didn’t say that. I ended up buying close to $100.00 worth of yarn and stuff. If I had really thought the store was terrible I wouldn’t have spent a cent. The truth is is that the “vibe” is something tangible, and if we’re all honest with ourselves, we’ve probably felt it at one time or another in most yarn stores. It may pass quickly and truly we might not get it at all, but it exists. Which is something I find remarkable given that the any person going into a yarn store must truly have some kind of interest in the craft, whether burgeoning or established, it’s there.

The truth of the matter is that I don’t really frequent yarn stores all that often. I wouldn’t say I have my own lys. I don’t knit with a group, period, let alone one associated with an lys. There are a million and one yarn stores in my area – a huge variety – some of the nastiest I’ve ever been to and some of the nicest, some of the prettiest, some of the ugliest, some of the astounding variety nature, and some of the one trick pony type. Between the internet and the yarn stores in my area, I don’t need to go to yarn stores when I’m on vacation. But I love to do it! I love to visit and see what’s out there – most of them are no different really from what I can get at home – but every now and again you find something really special. And then there are the people. The knitters. You can’t discount the knitters.

Without you damn knitters I wouldn’t be having conversations about love muscles and laughing my ass off. For that, I thank you truly.

Next week! Lots of knitting! I’m about to start the second chart of Moth! Maybe a finished sock! AND the big reveal!


Clue #2

Stay tuned folks….

Filed Under: Life

Yarn Crawl

June 18, 2007 By

I ended up visiting five yarn stores on my vacation and, like a good knitter, I bought something at every one! Here you go:

My first visit, like two hours after I got off the plane, was to Artfibers, the fabled San Francisco mecca. If I had to compare this store to another, I’d have to say Habu in NYC. Not because they’re anything alike – really they’re not – but because they’re similar in that they’re SO DISSIMILAR to any other yarn store you’ve ever been to. Crazy different.

Artfibers is on the second floor of a building, so there’s no storefront. When you walk in, there’s a desk straight ahead in front of a wall of needles and notions and then it’s just wire shelving everywhere. Little notes identify the yarns and there are lots of swatches and everything’s pretty much on cones, so it’s not like you can really handle the yarn. (Oh but you can! More on that in a minute!) There didn’t seem to be any specific organization to the place, so I wandered around for a bit looking at stuff and made my way to the front of the store where there were a bunch of chairs and a couple of jars of straight needles. I was in the tasting area.

In case you’re not familiar with Artfibers, probably the most unique thing about the place – besides the fabulously different and varied yarns – is the tasting bar. It is allowed and ENCOURAGED for you to make swatches of yarns you’re interested in. I can think of no better way to sell yarn than to have customers actually KNIT with it! There are bins in the back with smallish lots of all of the yarns in the store – many in various colorways – and you just pick your yarn, take a seat and start knitting! It’s FANTASTIC! I made two swatches:

That’s Ming on the left and Kurosawa on the right. Both yarns are 50% silk, 50% extrafine merino – but oh my god they couldn’t be more different. The Ming is an incredibly soft single ply that knit up shows you that it will probably start to pill the minute it’s off the needles. As much as I loved it, I wanted sweater yarn, not something so delicate. So I went to the Kurosawa which is a FOUR ply. It’s like knitting with a fantastically soft cotton. It was a bit splitty in the knitting but the stockinette is just gorgeous.

Lovely, no? I’m seeing a long sleeve v-neck pullover. Simple – to show off the beauty of the yarn. This stuff will knit up nice and tough. I’d be surprised if it pills badly. Incidentally, I bought two cones of color #5.

While I was waiting to pay, I completely fell in love with Fauve.

It’s a cotton, hemp, nylon mix that’s just unlike anything I’ve ever seen knit up. I didn’t have time to make my own swatch, but the one online shows the yarn pretty well. There’s the muted hemp/cotton, and then this sparkly crazy nylon. I bought a little more than 300 yds – I might even make a scarf, I love this stuff so much. It took me forever to pick a color! I drove everyone crazy asking which one they liked best. I ended up with #4.

If you’re ever in San Francisco, you MUST go to Artfibers and knit up a swatch. It really is so different! I loved it!

The other yarn store in SF I wanted to try was ImagiKnit. This is more of a typical yarn store, but they have a TON of yarn. It seemed special enough to make the trip so on our last morning in SF, I hopped in a cab and went WAY across town. It was…okay. The store itself is very nice with a very shabby chic look and two huge rooms filled with yarn. There really is a TON of yarn – most of it’s your typical LYS fare – big names and some little names. I bought my requisite souvenir Koigu:

P900. I bought the last two skeins and even though they’re the same dyelot, they’re pretty different. I also bought some Claudia’s Silk Lace in the superfun Lipstick colorway.

I just love the color. Imagiknit, though, was a bit of a disappointment. Sure, there was yarn galore. Sure the store setting was comfortable and fun and there was LOTS of room. But I got that vibe. You know which vibe I mean. The vibe that says you’re not part of our little clique, which is the only reason we’ve got this huge store in the first place, so we can knit with our friends, and you’re not a friend, so we’ll gladly take your money, but we’re not going to be encouraging about it. It could’ve been me. I’m sure there are people out there reading this thinking this is completely wrong because it’s the best yarn store in the world, but I tried to engage them and they just didn’t care. I even did the embarrassing old lady trick where you try to make conversation with everyone and I felt like I was rebuffed. Anyway, the yarn is pretty and really that’s all that matters. I won’t make the effort next time though.

My next stop was Article Pract, across the Bay Bridge in Oakland. Now there’s a yarn store! The place is PACKED full and it was funky and seems like a lot of fun and I bought the best bag in the universe and it was ON SALE!



OMG! It’s all velvet and soft and the bl
ue faille lining is fantastic and matches perfectly and it fits great on my shoulder and the cutout is perfect for my arm and I love it so much I’m afraid to use it! It’s Offhand Designs, Ursula style and I was so happy I skipped to the car to show G. It’s the Sahara Stripe colorway. I was sorry I didn’t buy any yarn at Article Pract, and while they had lots of yarn, there wasn’t anything super special for me like the bag. I mean, really, I don’t need any yarn. But the woman behind the counter was very nice and really I was just so happy with the bag she could have called me fat and I would’ve thanked her. Yes – it’s THAT good! I would definitely go back to Article Pract. Very nice store.

On our first full day at the Lake, we drove the 72-mile loop that takes you all the way around and on the way we stopped at The Wool Tree in South Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately, they don’t have a website. It was a small, but nice store, with your typical LYS fare. The woman working there was very nice and chatty with me. I ended up with an older Interweave Crochet. Didn’t want to walk out empty handed.

My last yarn store of the trip was Jimmy Beans Wool. I was really hoping to get here and the last night we stayed in Reno, so it wasn’t very far from our hotel. When I walked in they were getting ready for an event later that evening with Ann Norling. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay, but I was certainly invited to. VERY nice group of ladies at the store. VERY nice. Solicitous without being OVERLY solicitous. Fun and funny and it’s a great little store. They have a SUPERIOR collection of Lorna’s Laces and when I asked for the Tahoe colorway, which I didn’t see on the shelf, they checked their inventory and came out with all I needed. I bought the two prizes while I was there and some other contest yarn and I was happy to spend my money with them. I’ve shopped online with them before, and will be happy to do it again.

So that’s the yarn crawl story. I love visiting yarn shops when I travel – most of them are pretty similar, but sometimes you get a nice surprise.

Here’s what I knit on most of my trip:

I’m loving knitting this! It’s my Wing O’ The Moth shawl (details here.) I love the yarn – the color, the feel – and I love the texture of the unblocked lace.


And here it is pulled out a little bit.

I can’t wait to finish and block this baby! I’m just about to the end of the first chart. I think there’s like 40 rows and the edging after that. Not long now.

And this picture is for Ann:

I can’t wait! More on this as soon as Annie gets her share. 😉

Filed Under: Stash, Vacations, Wing O' The Moth

244

June 17, 2007 By

That’s the winning number. And Alison hit it RIGHT ON! Congratulations Alison! I also happened to pick up two prizes while I was out west, so there’s a random winner as well. Congratulations Rachel! I know you’re dying to know what you win, so without further ado…

That’s two skeins each, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the, what else, TAHOE colorway, a very cute Lantern Moon cake tape measure, and a box of The Color Collection notecards by me. Hope you like your prizes as much as I LOVED my vacation. Thanks everyone for playing!

244 photographs isn’t really that much for me, but the truth is is that I’m not much of a landscape photographer and Tahoe screams landscapes. I’m also not one to carry my camera with me wherever I go. I love what I photograph – children, yarn, flowers (occasionally these days) but that’s it. And I’ve been working a lot lately with many jobs lined up in the next months so I wanted to relax. Photography is serious business for me – it’s not relaxing. Anyway, that’s the story behind the number. On a job it would be WAY more. WAY WAY more.

The vacation was wonderful and while I’m always happy to come home and sleep in my own bed with my own pillow, I’m already missing Georgie. Monday is going to be very hard when we both go back to work and aren’t together all day. Yeah yeah. We’re gross and in love. Deal with it.

There’s lots to talk about – I worked hard on my Moth shawl while I was away and I’m loving EVERYTHING about it. I’m just about through the first chart – I’ve either got half a repeat or one and a half repeats – I’ve got to count the stitches. I came home lots of yarn to start a new project, which will have me doing my best James Bond impression. Any guesses? And, well, it’s always nice to get back to the blog after a break. I missed you guys.

Here are a few pictures of the lake. The first two were taken at our hotel and the third was taken here. I miss Lake Tahoe. And we really miss SF. We’ll be back again for sure.



It was incredibly fantastic to knit my moth shawl (the fir cone section) surrounded by pine trees while lounging at the banks of the crystal clear lake with snow covered mountains in the distance. My photographs hardly do it justice.

Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Contest, Vacations

By The Numbers

June 13, 2007 By

Number of days on vacation: 3
Number of yarn stores visited: 3 – so far here, here and here.
Number of bloggers I had an impromptu meet-up with at Artfibers: three – Cookie, Hannah and Jeni – LOVE you guys! Thanks for coming out! (And hi Matt! Great to meet you!)
Number of yards of yarn purchased: 3064
Number of rows I’ve knit since I’ve been on vacation: about five
Number of gorgeous Offhand Designs knitting bags purchased: one – it was on sale AND it’s fucking fantastic!
Number of wines we tasted: four
Number of boxes of pockies we bought in Japan Town: one – green tea
Number of times we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge: one
Number of times we drove over the Bay Bridge: two
Temperature in Sacramento: 99 degrees
Temperature in Lake Tahoe: 65 degrees
Amount lost at craps table: $85
Amount won at craps table, all while I was the shooter: $100
Amount I’m ahead at craps: $15. Yeah money!
Number of pounds of camera equipment I lugged across the country: 25
Number of photographs I’ve taken since I got here: 0.00

Guess the number of pictures I will take by the end of my vacation and win some kind of fabulous prize. I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m sure it will be FANTASTIC. Leave the number of pictures in a comment on this post and the person who gets closest without going over will win. One entry per customer. Contest ends 11:59 PM EDT Saturday, June 16.

Number of Curious George Riding a Bike T-Shirts that say “Divine Love” purchased on the street in Berkeley, CA: one and it’s priceless.

See you Sunday! We’re having a blast!

Filed Under: Contest, Vacations

See ya! Wouldn’t want to be ya!

June 8, 2007 By

I hate to do this to you, but I’m outie. Sadly, I didn’t knit a stitch yesterday – a predicament which will be remedied next week. We’re off Sunday and between now and then I have every second accounted for – there is A LOT of work to get done before I can vacay with a good conscience.

I will try hard to post at least once while I’m away (a week for blog purposes). This is a true vacation, though, so I’m planning on spending every second with my honey.

I’ve got one thing to ask though…

Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Have fun. BE SAFE.
L, C

Filed Under: Life
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