07/09/2008
Are Bugs in Rugs Really That Snug?
Since today was Joey's first day at work and I was home alone with a monster headache brought on by being in bed all day yesterday with an atrocious stomach bug, I decided to stay in today and finish off an armwarmer.
This one is a wee bit snug on me which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't originally intended it for Joey. Now I'm wondering if I should forge ahead with the second one, potentially creating a situation in which I have a really cute knit that I don't wear that often cause I can't seem to get it off once its on. Or maybe I'll block it and see if it grows any.
16:25 Posted in knitting | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
07/07/2008
Hanging On For Dear Life
Remind me not to drunk-blog anymore. Sheesh. Thanks for the kind words, though. I'm already in a much better mood. This weekend was a blast.
We headed over to our friends' apartment, where they were hosting a rooftop barbecue complete with fajitas, grilled corn, hamburgers, hot dogs, homemade blackberry cobbler and homemade ice cream. We were joined by tons of people who we didn't know and we partied with them all. Then came the fireworks, which were three times the size of any fireworks show I've seen. Here is a picture that doesn't show the two identical scenes to the right and left.
On Sunday we decided to go for a bike ride around Brooklyn which became a bike ride around Brooklyn and Manhattan. Now, I am not an in-shape person. I get winded climbing the stairs in my 3rd-floor walkup, but I thought I was getting better after all the walking I've been doing around here. Those hills were killing me! We went from our apartment to this beautiful park in Brooklyn called Prospect Park, rode their bike trail, went up to the Brooklyn Bridge and biked across it along with the hordes of tourists, ending in Manhattan. Then we rode along part of the Hudson River bike trail, passed by the WTC site and the Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial, and Pier 17, with all the cool old ships docked there. Then we headed up to the Williamsburg bridge and biked it back home. Actually, I had to walk my bike up the first part of the Williamsburg bridge because it was too steep for me. Then I had to hang on white-knuckled as I zoomed down the second half, feeling my bike vibrate so hard I thought the back wheel was going to fall off. By the time we got home, I thought I was going to die. My legs were shaking so badly I could hardly stand. My hands were in an semi-permanent claw position and I uncurled them to reveal two nice swollen bruise-spots on my palms, which are still hurting me today.
This better not interfere with my knitting
13:45 Posted in Brooklyn! | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
07/03/2008
Peter Pan, Where Are You?
So the yarn store never called me back. I'm floored as to why they didn't call me back- I reorganized my resume to show off my customer service and retail "skills," as well as wrote a nice intro into how much I love knitting and the whole fiber world. Plus, I knitted a bad-ass lace swatch at my interview. Actually, I wasn't even interviewed, I just went in and was asked to knit a lace swatch. Then they said they'd call for a second interview and they never did. And I KNOW I didn't make any mistakes on that dang lace swatch. So I chalked it up to maybe they interviewed someone who knew someone and it just didn't work out for me. But then I saw that they RELISTED their original help wanted ad. Maybe I should apply again just to piss them off. Actually, no. I will just not buy from their store. There's one that's way closer to my apartment anyway.
So, since I last posted I not only didn't get hired for the yarn store job, but I did get hired for a personal assistant job. And I worked one day and then turned it down. I've never done that before, but I came home from my first day and just bawled my eyes out at how horrible a day it was and then took it as a sign that I probably shouldn't do that to myself on a daily basis. And today, I went for another interview, doing the same thing I did back home. It actually seemed to go pretty well for an interview and I want to say that I'm a shoe-in. I guess I'll go ahead and post this and then we'll all see what happens together.
It has been an amazing but emotional month here in Brooklyn. I love this city and I'm so glad I moved here, but I miss my family and my dogs and I'm anxious to get settled and comfortable again.
So as not to have a completely depressing post, I'll end with some fun, upbeat commentary:
Joey got a job and it is one he really wanted- he starts tomorrow.
We live in such a fun part of the city and have had a complete blast every day that we've been here.
If I get this new job, I'll have plenty of time to knit and read on the subway ride in.
I've basically just had a month-long vacation in NYC with my favorite person in the world. Now we get to start new lives here and keep on enjoying ourselves.
21:22 Posted in Ranting | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
06/24/2008
Yah Mo Blog Here
Right before our move Joey started a blog to document the trip and our new experiences in Brooklyn. I've joined in blogging with him there and plan do do most of my "Brooklyn-themed" blogging there. I will of course keep up with my usual knitting banter here. If you'd like to visit the other blog, go to http://yahmobloghere.wordpress.com
15:43 Posted in Blog , Brooklyn! | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
06/23/2008
Rainy Day Knitting
Today is a peaceful rainy day. Joey and I have been sending out resumes and hoping for the best. I had an interview on Saturday at a yarn store and am waiting for a call back. A. YARN. STORE. Talk about a dream job! Spending your entire day surrounded by yarn, talking to people about yarn, teaching people how to play with yarn... sounds like heaven to me! It is a really cute store that sells coffee, too.
I'm getting close to the end on my first of the pair of Dashing I'm knitting. It is coming out smaller than I planned, I don't think Joey will be able to get his hands into these, so they'll just have to be mine. (Oh, darn)
Have you ever seen a plant like that? It is called a String of Pearls, and my Nana always has one when she and my Gampa come visit in their motor home. This year she propagated hers into three new plants for my mom, sister and me. I like looking at it and waiting for new stems to develop. It reminds me of home while I'm here waiting for new opportunities to develop.
10:55 Posted in knitting | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
06/16/2008
Texting
So I got this text from my sister the other day:
Now I get to go on a yarn hunt, which is going to be fun. I've always wanted to knit a February Baby Sweater.
(No, they don't know what it is either and they don't plan on finding out which is killing me!)
17:42 Posted in Family , knitting | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
06/12/2008
Proof Of Life
Proof that I do still knit and that this really is a knitting blog.
This is the first of the pair of Dashing that I thought I would have in the can by the end of my road trip. Obviously I did not consider how much I enjoy sleeping. Those cable rows are a little hellish (as in: I've dropped plenty of stitches every time I did one.) But the rest of the way it is a really simple rib pattern. I think they're going to be really cute!
18:26 Posted in knitting | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
Spotted On The Street
There's always something to surprise you in New York. Like this guy- he completely didn't strike me as the thong-wearing type.
14:35 Posted in Ranting | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
06/09/2008
Things You Need To Survive in Brooklyn
1. Comfortable shoes. Not just shoes that "don't hurt," but shoes that are like freaking pillows to your feet. My little toes are both so swollen and blistered right now and I have no idea what shoes I have that won't cause them more pain.
2. An air conditioner unit or gigantic box fan parked right in front of you at all times. Seriously, I completely underestimated how hot it gets up here.
3. A good map. I have three of them in my purse right now, but we've still managed to walk fourteen blocks in the wrong direction more times than I'd like to admit.
4. A camera to catch all the crazy awesome sights.
10:29 Posted in Brooklyn! | Permalink | Comments (5) | Email this
06/03/2008
Thought You Might Want To Know
That's Brooklyn outside my window...
Here's us in our new place after we moved half of our stuff up three flights of stairs.
20:37 Posted in Brooklyn! | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
05/15/2008
The Power of Hand Knits
First off, let me say that today has been much better than yesterday. There is a little light at the end of our apartment search tunnel. All hope is not lost. On top of that, as I pulled into the driveway today on my way home from work I had a sneaking suspicion that there might be a little something waiting for me and I was right. Leah, of theweatherinthestreets.blogspot.com sent me a goodie package from Brooklyn!
A while back, I won a blog contest Leah was having. I think all I had to do was tell her about my favorite food and she offered to knit me a pair of socks! I was pretty flabbergasted when I found out that a complete stranger wanted to do something that nice for me. That's what's so great about the knitting and fiber world; so many good-hearted strangers coming together because of a common love for knitting. Pretty amazing.
Speaking of amazing, did you see the socks? She used green and brown, which I told her were my two favorite colors. She also used Koigu, which I've wanted to check out for some time now. I really like the slight variegation in the single-color skeins.
I have to say my favorite part is the toe. I love how her shaping turned out- anyone know offhand what kind of toe shaping this is?
She also included some awesome Mentha lip shine in spearmint- (mmmm!) along with some cute birdy stickers. This was such a great mood-lifter. I will smile every time I put these socks on, Leah. Thank you for the socks and the smiles.
17:53 Posted in Brooklyn! , knitting | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
05/14/2008
Instant Karma's Gonna Get You
You know the feeling: things are going along swimmingly, so great that you amaze at how well things are working out. You go out and buy a ton of lottery tickets because your luck is actually that good. Then something slightly negative comes your way. You optimistically bat it away because you are not going to let things worry you this time. This time it is going to be fine, like it always turns out to be fine. Then the whole roof starts caving in on you.
First, it was the slight worry that the landlord didn't really want to rent to four people. That was quickly resolved with the suggestion of paying a little extra in rent to cover the wear and tear on the building and the extra cost of utilities. Then it was the fact that our move might get pushed back a few days, but for good reason because the band might be able to play a record label showcase in LA the week we were supposed to move. Then it was last night at 11:30 when Henry jumped off the bed, vomited up his dinner and his first round of heartworm preventative, and started panting and hyperventilating like there was no tomorrow. That was nicely resolved with a late-night trip to the emergency animal clinic, a steroid injection, an anti-nausea injection, and $130. (It was an allergic reaction to the preventative.) I was able to deal with these things- mainly because things were still turning out pretty well.
Then there came the call Joey got from the broker today saying that the other two of our four in the apartment situation would need co-signers. That was supposed to be resolved with a few phone calls, but one of them hasn't been able to find someone who could co-sign. Joey is working on remedying that situation, asking that maybe if we offer a larger deposit that person's co-signer could be waived. If not, we have to find another place, and our four might be whittled down to three.
It is at this point that Joey actually thanked me for being so cool and logical about everything, thanking me for being optimistic and reminding him that we can always find another place if we need to, that not all hope is lost. So I made myself a sandwich, using the last of the turkey breast that Joey picked up last night. I poured the last of the iced tea into a glass and sat everything down on the coffee table in the living room as my phone rang. Joey and I were discussing how things will work out- not to let the fact that we've already put in our notice at our jobs, or the fact that we've already sold both of our cars worry us. I was then distracted by seeing a man through the window. He was putting on a camouflage hooded jacket and was carrying some weird looking items. One of them looked like a stick with a tennis ball on the end. Another one of them looked like a metal pipe. He started walking through our front yard and I thought he might be coming to knock on the door. Daisy was barking at him through the window, and I'm on the phone trying to relate to Joey what I'm seeing. I ran into the other room to get a better look at this guy when he stops in the yard and opens the sewer drain with one of his tools. Oh. He's a utility guy just doing his job, not some psycho killer come to murder me and my dogs. Phew.
Then I hear the crash of my sandwich plate on the floor. The dogs knocked it down and were moving in on my sandwich when I finally lost it. Poor Joey got to hear my breakdown over the phone. There was much cussing and stomping and asking the dogs if they were 'happy now?' I actually said, "I'm not good right now, Joey." He said, "I know." Then I stormed into the kitchen with my messed-up-dog-hair-encrusted sandwich and set it on the kitchen counter, hard enough that the plate broke in two. "Now I've broken a plate," I relayed to Joey.
The idiocy of my breakdown was starting to flood my brain so I told Joey I would call him later and lay down on the couch. I started to think: that was the last of the turkey, there's nothing else in the house to eat, it's 2 o'clock already and I need to eat lunch and get back to packing...
Then I quit whining and got back up and went to make myself another sandwich. I might not have anymore turkey, but I just found some tuna.
PS- The dogs apologized.
"Well we all shine on,
like the moon, the stars and the sun."
14:35 Posted in Brooklyn! , Pets , Ranting | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
05/12/2008
Cross-Country Knitting
We found out today that we were approved for our loft in Brooklyn. Did I mention that we're going to have four of us in one loft and try to retain some sense of privacy? We might be looking into pressure walls. I hear they're a sanity-saver.
So, less than three weeks left and not much has been packed. I hate this part. I've never moved more than an hour away, so this is going to be interesting. I started thinking that I might need to have a good knitting on the road project- to commemorate the drive. Nothing too intense, cause I don't want to get carsick (it happens when I read). Maybe a scarf or wristwarmers or something simple, something that can be done in a 24-hour drive cross-country.
Any good ideas?
18:00 Posted in Brooklyn! | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
05/05/2008
You Know What This Means, Right?
Yes my friends, that red light means that the rat zapper is right now, a mouse morgue. Until Joey gets home and I make him officiate the burial ceremony. At least it wasn't another rat.
18:41 Posted in Ranting | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
05/04/2008
Un-Spinning
You know how in Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter celebrates his Un-Birthday? Well this weekend, we were Un-Spinning; doing anything and everything but actual spinning.
We soaked, simmered and steamed:
We let our semi-clean wool dry in the sunshine:
We made our own drop spindles:
And we tried:
And we even got Dad to try:
We were not successful:
We even took a mid-spinning-session trip to the store to buy dog slicker brushes thinking they would be similar to hand carders in getting our wool straight and fluffy. We did have a reference book with many helpful pictures, but as none of us has ever seen any actual spinning, the pictures weren't enough to grasp the actual movements. I chalked it up to the way we processed our fleece. Mom chalked it up to us not trying hard enough. My sister probably chalked it up to her morning sickness. Dad chalked it up to us getting in over our heads without doing enough research first. He is probably the most right. The learning curve rears its ugly head.
17:55 Posted in Family , spinning | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
04/30/2008
"Under My Feet, Baby The Grass Is Growin"
Joey, his brother Aaron, and a friend Eric are all flying up to Brooklyn this weekend to hopefully succeed in finding a safe, affordable apartment for us to rent. Fortunately, they're staying with a realtor-friend of Eric's, so that will hopefully help them zone in on the good stuff.
I'm going down to my parents' farm this weekend for a girls knitting weekend with my mom and sister. My mom scored a few bags of wool from a neighbor who raises sheep and we're going to try to clean it and spin it. And no, none of us know how. I've printed out a few instructions I found online, but we're just gonna see what we come up with. I'm sure hilarity will ensue. I'll make sure to take lots of photos for you guys.
In other news, we've still been fighting off a few remaining mice. About a month ago, Joey and I purchased "The Rat Zapper," in high hopes that we could just get these mice out of our house already. Basically, you throw some dry dog food into one end, and the mouse gets a high-voltage-battery-powered-so-quick-its-almost-pleasant-zap on his way to the food. Within four hours of setting it up, we had our first contestant. He quickly won the grand prize all expenses paid trip to mousie heaven. For the next few days and then weeks, nobody else showed up and I thought we were in the clear.
Moving on, we found out last week that Henry is heartworm positive. The vet said that he was in great shape and his heart sounded excellent, so he was probably still in the early stages. (Meaning they probably hadn't done much damage to his heart.) She said she would have no worries at all putting Henry though the painful and somewhat risky procedure to kill them. We took him in on Monday morning and received his first injection. We called the vet and checked in on him later that day and they said he was doing fine. He received his second injection yesterday morning and we were able to pick him up last night. The injections are extremely painful, and Henry is sore as all get out on his back. He really doesn't feel up to moving much right now, which is a good thing because he has to be extremely calm and inactive for the next two weeks. The injections are a form of arsenic that kills the worms and also a little tissue at the injection sites. Henry has disintegrating worms and arsenic floating through his bloodstream right now. He even has to eat a special dog food to help ease the load on his liver. He's pretty mopey and tired, but I've taken the next few days off of work to take extra special care of him.
11:25 Posted in Pets , Ranting | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this
04/08/2008
A Doggie Slumber Party
Nope, not spoiled at all.
19:10 Posted in Pets | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
Must Be My Lucky Day
I’ve never considered myself as having good luck, but I did win a radio contest once. Joey and I were driving down the highway listening to the radio and the DJ mentioned something about calling in to win a 6-pack of Lenny Kravitz CDs. I had my cell phone in my hand and for some reason got a wild hair to call in. Surprisingly, I won. I was pretty non-plussed as I gave the DJ my info to send out my free CDs. Then about a week later, I got a call from the radio station telling me that my name had been put in the drawing for the Grand Prize and that I had won. The guy was kind of put-off by the fact that I wasn’t screaming with joy. “Do you know what the grand prize is?” he asked me. “Actually, no” I said. Turns out, I had won an all-expense paid trip for two to Miami to see Lenny Kravitz and his band perform at their practice studio right before he kicked off his 2002 World Tour. I was pretty surprised; as I hadn’t even heard anything about that when I called in. It turned out to be an awesome trip, we stayed at a really cool art-deco hotel right on South Beach . Mr. Kravitz was actually really sick the night of the “intimate show,” so he ended up performing acoustic, but it was really fun.
My good luck streak has resurrected itself this week, as I won Leah’s blog contest. As my prize, she is going to knit me a pair of socks! That has to be the most generous prize I’ve ever come across for a blog contest. I have to say that I’m really excited as I’ve never had someone (other than myself) knit me a pair of socks. I can’t wait to see how wonderful they are!
Oh, and my mom sent me some better pictures of Doc the horse, so I’ll share one of my dad riding him.
14:50 Posted in Family , Music , Pets , socks | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
04/07/2008
Things I Did This Weekend
My grandparents from Arizona are down at my parents farm visiting for a few weeks, so Joey and I were planning on heading down there on Saturday. I was awakened by an excited phone call at 8:44 Saturday morning with my mom screaming, "I got a HORSE!!!" Joey and I quickly got ready and made the hour and a half drive so that we could meet Doc, the 10-year-old paint horse.
As soon as we got there, Daisy rolled in some cow poo and Henry rolled in some dead fish guts. He smelled so bad that if he walked within 5 feet of where you were standing, you would start gagging from the smell. Ah, dogs. You gotta love 'em.
Doc is such a sweet and gentle horse. He was completely comfortable meeting everybody and was really easy to ride. (I've only ridden one other time in my entire life and found him really easy.) Another really cool thing about Doc is that he has light blue eyes. He was hard to photograph, because the sun was setting and he was moving around a lot while eating, so you get a blurry pic.
18:34 Posted in Family , Pets | Permalink | Comments (3) | Email this
03/27/2008
Proof Of Life
19:06 Posted in Master Knitting Level 1 | Permalink | Comments (4) | Email this