No camera today...

Ok, so since everything we own is packed and I am not able to post any pictures of the knitting I am doing, I thought that I would use this opportunity to get a little personal. So, without further ado, the 150 things that you never knew about me... (this was sent to me in an email, so I figured rather than send it back to just one person, I would post it here in lieu of anything more interesting).

The bolded things are the ones that I have done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it - many times
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights - I have never once seen these
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly could
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states - How about all the provinces... I have done that.
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day - not lately though. Once you have kids, this is all over.
60. Posed nude in front of strangers - see comments above.
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater - I sure miss ours.
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Gone white water rafting
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason - the first time was the moment I knew I was in love with my now husband.
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house - yes. Just. We moved in this past weekend...
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents - I dread having to bold this one. Not for years hopefully.
93. Been on a cruise ship - We took our honeymoon on one in Hawaii. Best vacation of my life!
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children. - She is 4 today
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived - hit a deer and rolled my car. Scary stuff.
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane - dated a pilot.
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart - not proud of this one at all.
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse - Many times.
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi - almost daily in college
128. Had your picture in the newspaper - I think my mom still has it somewhere
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about - yup and now I couldn't live without them
130. Gone back to school - best decision of my life
131. Parasailed - not well. This is way harder than it looks
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read - The Catcher in the Rye was one of the best books I ever read... I am so glad I waited until I was an adult.
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language - I dated someone deaf for a while. It took me 2 weeks to learn to sign enough that we could communicate.
139. Been elected to public office - no, but I was asked to run
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life

So, there you have it. I really have a lot of things on there that I would still love to do. Maybe I will have to work at crossing the whole list off. Now that's a goal huh?

Anyway, for those that made it through the list, kudos. For everyone else, knitting content will return soon. I promise.

Squee!!

I bet you are wondering about the new house... its been ours for a whole week now and no blog entry about it. Well, that's because we have been so busy LOVING it!! It's fantastic. Dirty, but fantastic. And, to be honest, not nearly as dirty as I would have thought it would have been.

Some discussion of the new paint job? Ok, you asked for it.

We went with Harvest Brown in the Dining Room and Living room. And Baked Scone in the rest of the house. Oh, and as a special treat to Bunny (who will be 4 this Monday!! Already!!), pink and purple in her room. Was she ever happy with it!!


Also, my swap pal sent my stuff to me. Yay! Who doesn't love receiving stuff in the mail. And, so's the better if its yarn stuffs!! And, it works out perfectly with my move from Thursday yarn porn to Friday yarn porn. Thursdays just weren't working for me.

I love everything she sent!! 2 skeins of Paint Box in the most delicious colors. Burgundy, blues, greens. What's not to like?? I don't know quite what they want to be yet, but I intend to find out!! She also sent me a beautiful mole-skin note book and a loverly card with a pop-out birds nest in it. Way cool. Oh, and a very funny bookmark that made me smile as soon as I read it. My swap pal was gimmesanity (Sharon). Thanks so much swap pal. I loved it!!


Ok, and since Fridays (now its Friday, remember) are for yarn porn, please enjoy some shots of the new Malabrigo I bought, courtesy of Make One Yarn Studio. Oh, and though it will be hard, please try not to drool onto your keyboards too much. I know what type of project I want to make with it, but I wasn't sure what stitch pattern I wanted to do the project in, so I wound one of the skeins up into a ball and took it to work with me today. As the day went on, I realized what it wanted to be and can now start on the project. The only problem? It has to be *done* for Monday, and we have to be out of our old house by then. Ergo, we are moving all weekend and I will have to find bits of time to hide away and knit while everyone else is killing themselves moving. Do I feel guilty? Nah, for the same reason that I could justify buying 3 skeins of the softest yarn on Earth... its for a good cause. Hopefully I will be able to show a F/O on Monday and reveal the recipient. Keep those fingers and toes crossed.

Anticipation. Truly greater than the deed?

I suppose we will know in a few hours when we officially take possession of our new house. Yahoo. I am happy and sad and nervous all at the same time. Happy for obvious reasons. Sad because the house that we are moving out of is the only house that Bunny has lived in. And, nervous because I don't know what shape and how dirty the house will be when we get there today.

Moving is so stressful. I recommend only doing it once in a lifetime if you can help it.

Ok, enough about moving. Let's talk about knitting. I was at my design class last night and I have to tell you, the variety of the projects and conversation is amazing. What a wonderful night to myself. I love sitting and watching the projects that everyone is creating. So much talent. All thanks to Amy of course who is teaching the course. And, thanks to her, I am starting to really see my design take shape. I can actually see that my on the needles design is matching the visual creation in my head. I can hardly wait to be finished.

I also joined the Baudelaire KAL and last night I cast on for the toe. This is my first toe up sock and I think that the figure 8 cast on looks great. I am not as keen on how the toe stitches seem a little loose, but I think that given that this is a common issue with this cast on, and that they don't seem overly so, I will leave it and just keep working on the toe. I love love love the yarn that I am using. Its Fleece Artist Basic Merino sock yarn. Its actually much lighter than the yarn in the photo and when I bought it, I didn't see all the variegation in the colorway. Once I wound it though, I was dazzled by the different colors. I think it will be the perfect yarn.

And, last night, of course, I bought some more yarn from Make One Yarn Studio. Thursdays truly are for yarn porn. I really meant to post it last night, but by the time I got home from Knitting Class, watched So You Think You Can Dance and an episode of Law and Order that I had taped, I was too tired to do anything but take the pics and email them to myself.

However, since Thursdays are for Yarn Porn, here ya go....


I bought some Blue Sky Cotton (So soft) in Green. There is enough for an OSK. I am so kicking myself though because last week when I bought the sock yarn, they had just gotten in a shipment of the Blue Sky in a beautiful rich red color (almost a Cranberry) and I passed on it thinking that I would buy it the next week. And, of course, this week it was gone. So, I settled for the green, which, although very beautiful, is not the red.

I also bought another 2 skeins of the Ultramerino from Art Yarns and underneath it all is some Fin roving from Amy. I am going to try and spin and ply it and bring it back next week to the shop. A little show and tell. I wish I had time to dye it and see how it takes color, but I think that will have to wait until we are settled in the new place.

Oh, time to run and see the new house. Wish me luck. I am nervous and excited all at the same time.

6 More days...

The final countdown has begun. We are finally starting to feel as though we may make it out of this house and into the new one without losing our sanity. Although, I must say, its been a bit of a ride. The movers that hubby has hired don't speak much English, which in and of itself is fine. But, when you combine that with the fact that they don't offer a contract, and are coming the second last day before we must be out of this house and it gets a little more nerve racking. Oh, and they are booked for 2pm on Saturday. So, if they fail to show, we will be running around like chickens trying to move everything by ourselves in one day... Scary stuff. Let's hope that all this worrying pays off and I have only good things to blog about next weekend.

Yesterday we had our token garage sale. You know, the one that you have as soon as you realize just how much crap you actually do have that you really don't want to have to move. So, I sat out in the hot sun (and it was hot) and sold off all of the stuff we had bought at previous garage sales. I got one heck of a sun burn, but it was totally worth it. We made a whopping $175.00 (and we only sold half of our stuff!). I figure I will need some serious yarn therapy to relieve the pain of my sunburn.
I also got to knit for 6 hours on and off between the swarms of people driving up to pay us money for all the stuff we didn't want anymore. So, here is the obligiatory pic of me working on the Knit Picks socks. I am doing them using a pattern called "the Ultimate Re-footable Sock" and am making a pair of camping socks for a friend of mine who wears only socks while camping. This way, I figure if she wears out the soles, I can just re-knit them for her and she will be good to go.

I also feel like we are getting closer to having everything packed up. Although, I am starting to wonder why we have all these boxes of stuff when it seems painfully obvious that we can do without them. I mean, all this stuff has been boxed up for 2 or 3 weeks now and I honestly can't even remember what was in them. Maybe it will be like Christmas when we open them again.

Let's see, what else? Oh yes, we went to the flooring place Friday. Squee!! We picked out a carpet sample and the hardwood sample too. We are going with a chocolate colored carpet in the family room and Maple hardwood in the rest of the house. I can't wait. I really think that once we get the carpets up and all the painting and new flooring in, it will all come together nicely.


I think that I will be spending much of this week packing and working on my design project. I can't wait to get that done. I just wish that I had more time to work on it. There are truly not enough hours in the day! And, just because, I will leave you with some pics of the sock yarn that I got last Thursday at Make One Yarn Studio. Thursdays truly are for sock yarn...

See the purple/green sock yarn on the bottom? I think that this yarn wants to be a pair of Jaywalker socks. I am almost sure of it. As for the orange/red and the green/pink colors, I just don't know yet. They haven't asked to be anything specific. If you have any ideas, let me know. I am sure that in time, all will be revealed. I am going now to pack the extra clothes in my closet and then to pack the extra food in our pantry. Boxes and boxes and more boxes...

Am I out of control?

I think that this hobby of mine is getting out of hand a little maybe. Yesterday, I had a spinning lesson at Legacy Studio from the lady who sold me my wheel. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't overspinning my singles, which she assured me I wasn't. So, on my way there, I stopped at this cute little yarn shop and bought some Lorna's Laces in a very pretty pink color. Truthfully, I couldn't help it. I took one look at them and knew that they wanted to be Baudelaire. So really, what is a girl to do? And, because they had so many skeins of Koigu, I just knew that I needed to take a couple home. I couldn't, in good conscience, leave them with that many skeins of Koigu, now could I? So, I did the right thing and took some with me. i promise to give them a good home.

Here's where it gets kinda hinky. I really meant to go out to my lesson and buy some more roving to practice on, but I ended up coming home with a set of Ashford hand cards, some Polworth roving (oh so soft - I can sure tell the difference between this and Corridale), some Corridale, and some Flicker which is a nylon roving that is dyed a number of beautiful colors. I really should be working on my homework for my design class, packing, and using up the fiber that I already have, but I just can't seem to help myself. The flicker was just too sparkly and I weakly justified it by saying to myself that I would spin it and make Bunny a hat and some mitty's for her b-day.

I also got some thread to ply with and I was pleasntly surprised at how lovely the yarn was that I created with the polworth & flicker carded together and plied with the white thread. It made a very pretty, lofty thick and thin yarn. We went last night and bought a DVD player for the Van, so when we drive to Edmonton this weekend, I am fairly confident that I will be able to knit the yarn while she watches a DVD in the backseat. Three hours of knitting there (I will work on my homework for design class) and three hours back. Plenty of time to get everything done right?

Well, we have our first b-day for Bunny to go to. She is super excited. It's for one of her friends from daycare that she adores. Princess theme and all that jazz. Little girls are so much fun...

Oh, and I did pack 2 boxes this morning while I was waiting for the coffee to brew. I think that this week in the evenings hubby and I will need to get through the basement junk. I have a goal.

Warning... Serious Yarn Porn Ahead.

I have made some real progress since my last post. The packing is still weighing heavily on my mind, however, hubby has book some movers. I can now focus less on the move and more on the knitting. But first, since I did promise yarn porn, here it is without further ado.













Recognize any of the yarn in the basket? I'm sure it was easy to identify the Lorna's Laces in Black Purl colorway, especially if you have read any of my previous posts. It's anxiously awaiting its transformation from beautiful soft & silky skein to gorgeous and fantastic Clapotis. I picked this yarn up at the Make One Yarn Studio sale a few weeks ago. I also admit I have a secret weakness for sock yarn and couldn't pass up some stripey Art Yarns Ultramerino in a verigated olive, tan, grey, black and white colorway. So pretty. Oh, also in the basket is the very beautiful yarn that was sent to me by my yarn swap pal. I finally managed to get a picture of it. I also received my Rowan 4-ply yarn that I had been waiting for from eBay. The colorway is called "Ripple", but I don't think that name does it justice. I think that it looks more like "Ghost" or "Cloud". What do you think?

And, I have my 2nd design class tonight at Make One Yarn Studio. I can't wait. I am pretty much done the band part of my sweater and have swatched my gauge swatch with the pattern for the body. I am still having problems posting a picture. Not an excuse I swear, I really can't. Maybe when hubby gets home I will have him fix it. Maybe not. Anticipation and all...

Moving is Consuming my Life

I feel as though we have been moving for the last 5 years. Seriously. Everywhere I go is in disarray and its makin me crazy!! See what I am talking about?? Horrible mess everywhere. Whose big idea was it to move anyway?? Mine??

I must have been out of my mind. Agh. And the worst part? It's only going to get worse. Bah. See all the stuff in the picture with the table? That's all the crap in our house that needs to be garage sale'd. Seriously, just how many empty cd cases does one person need? Not to mention all the weird and ugly coffee cups that we seem to have collected. Very, very strange. I have no idea how all this crap got into our house. Must have been before I moved in. And what's with all the knickety-knackety crap that was caught hiding in drawers, closets, and, believe it or not, under the sink? I hate hate hate knicknacks. Even the word makes me cringe. Dust collectors. And, I just realized that the move is taking over my life so much that it is taking over my knitting blog too.

Let's fix that. We now interrupt your regularly scheduled moving bitch session to bring you some knitting commentary. First of all, I am loving the knit design class I am taking. The gals at Make One Yarn Studio have been absolutely amazing and so helpful. I am taking the class under Amy Swenson and she is so talented! What I am designing will be revealed in good time, however, I will say this, it is cranberry, a garment and will have a band of some sort under the bust. I wanted to post a picture of the gauge swatch that I made, but I couldn't get it to load for some reason, so there you have it. Hopefully by next week, I hope to have the band part finished, but right now I am stuck on what to do with it. I have spent the last 2 days pouring over my stitch a day calendar and Nicky Epstein's "Knitting On the Edge", but so far nothing seems just right. I sent Terry out to get "Knitting Over the Edge". Hopefully inspiration will strike and the band will be finished by Thursday. I promise to post more about the knitting and designing, rather than the moving next time. I promise.

Ok, I have taken my well-earned 15 minutes. Back to packing and intermittent swearing.