Forget the Lambz - Where is Mary???

Hola gang - I have been on a surgery induced hiatus - but I am back now - look for more updates this weekend - I am in HOT-lanta ready to return home .....

Thanks to Knitty Mc Purlypants for this great quiz - try it - it is a hoot. Talk to y'all later...gotta go knit at the airport - my fave - you know from the last post!!





You are pink aluminum.
Retro, straightforward and fun, you love classic things. If they're 99 cents at Goodwill all the better! You are moved by striking colors and tasty morsels, and you like a stitch-n-bitch session in the sun. Just remember, while you're being kitschy cool, don't get too cold. Ice cubes are best kept in your cocktails, baby!

Love is in the air.... or is it?

I mean come on. We all have been watching CNN and network news. Lines all over the airports. People waiting hours to get on the planes.

wow.

Don't get me wrong. I am ALL for safety and security. I don't really mind. I usually thank our friends running the checkpoint for keeping the air safe.

So here I am, knitting. Watching CNN. Thinking 'Hey - I have a work trip coming up - I better take note.'

As I was watching, I was thinking - not too bad. Even if I have to get to the airport a few hours early.

REALLY. I don't mind.

Nope.

Actually, it's not that bad. It really gives me a few hours where I can sit and uh... oh no.

Admit it my sisters and brother (or two) in knitterdom. You just went there. Admit it. Yep. Just like I did. I actually dropped a few stitches on the WIP in my hands. Holy Sheep Shearing Scary Scenario! Hours at the airport. With NO KNITTING.

This is not the time to panic.

Pick up those dropped stitches. Secure the WIP so the feline cannot nest in it. Get the pc logged on. Why does it seem it is takin friggen forever. (pardon my language - I am on a mission here people!)

OK - I get google up and find the security website. Find the section on the updated list. Click the link.

tap. tap. come on....

The list comes up. The first section is Makeup and Personal Items. What is more personal than knitting? I start to scan the list.

Body Cream. Ok - I can pack my L'Occitaine lavender lotion in my checked bag. sigh. (see the 5 by 5 meme a few posts ago.)

Not to be deterred - I keep reading. A few items catch my eye. Mosquito repellent. Bubble bath. uh...ok. no problems here.

Hand sanitizer - sure I like keeping my hands germ free...but I can deal.

Mascara. Lip Gloss. Foundation. Hair spray. Gel Deodorant. Nail polish, mouthwash, hairspray, hair gels, perfumes, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner. Still ok. ...Hey wait. All of a sudden, I get this weird feeling of deja vu. Remember the first Tim Burton Batman film (1989)? Where the Joker puts different chemicals into grooming products, that when used together in different combinations people laugh to death. Next thing you know, the inhabitants of Gotham city stop using their personal hygeine products - with the expected results - less pretty people...and some really funny movie moments. Hmmm...could this be the new terrorist plot?

Focus. ok - I don't see anything about knitting here. Scroll down through food and others - nothing.

There has to be something somewhere. Finally I spy something that says - full list of prohibited items

Paydirt.

And there it is. In black and white. Lo and behold. You can all breathe a little easier.

Bottom left corner of page two. Knitting and Crochet needles. Carryon - Yes. Checked - Yes.

I can almost hear the sigh of relief. Echoing my own.

Yes - get past the 'crochet needles' reference. Hooks.

At least for now, the air is safe. Possibly a little less fresh and pretty maybe... but safe. AND so is our airport knitting time.

The Best Little 'Harlot-House' in Texas?

Yep - you guessed it - I finally got my post together and decided to finally share about the AMAZING time had by all last Saturday in Austin, TX.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot) was in Austin - a mere hour or so drive from San Antonio. The event was hosted (and hosted well - more later on that) by Hill Country Weavers (HCW) - at the Baptist church across the parking lot from the store. (Here she is taking a pic of us with her sock - check out her blog)

That's right - you heard me right. The Harlot. Speaking in a Church. Ya gotta just shake your head at the irony of the Harlot speaking in a house of worship. yup. You got it.
True - you are saying to yourself (and to me - and I can hear you...) 'But isn't knitting a form of prayer, meditation, worship even?' Yes dear friends it is.

Even better....I discovered - yet again - WE ARE NOT ALONE. I feel like Fox Mulder - with his 'The truth is out there' poster - When reading the essay 'Archeology' in The Secret Life of Knitters, I was saying to myself - FINALLY - I know I am not alone - well it happened again at the church that Saturday morning - look at all these KNITTERS!!!! dang!

Stephanie talked about so many things - she is just as well-spoken as she is an amazingly funny writer. She talked about knitting as a sport - the Knitting Olympics were initiated by her. Stephanie also talked about how non-knitters just would not get it - people sitting in a church listening to someone who writes about knitting (she calls them muggles [think Harry Potter] - funny huh? it made me laugh out loud); about how she tries to explain what she does to people at parties - man - she was FUNNY! If you ever get a chance - GO! Drop what you are doing and GO - you gotta learn about 'Make Your Own Fun Mondays' and 'Find Your Own Food Friday'.

I won't spoil any more of the details - but as promised earlier - lemme tell ya - HCW were the hosts with the most. They organized the book signing so people could attend in shifts - making it easier for you to buzz into the front of the store and shop. BUT WAIT. There were pecan pralines, brownies....AND BEER! Yep. That's right. BEER. Yarn shopping WITH beer. Harder to fondle the yarn, yet so much easier to pull out the plastic to pay. - pictures of the results of my afternoon's fiscal irresponsibility later.

First - a little about my NONI KAL progress. The flowers are felted and awaiting their creator to get a needle that will fit through the stinkin beads I wanna use on them. Here is the body of the bag, pre-felting - with the only money I had left after the trip to Austin as a size gauge. I love the ruffle - I am wishing now that I had made it wider - buy the extra yarn and a 2nd circular needle and do the extra rows mentioned in the pattern.
and here it is after felting. Again - with that same, lone sawbuck as a reference point. Some of you are wondering - 'how the heck is that darn bag floating upside down? And how did she manage to get it so perfectly shaped? Crumpled paper and bags don't work that well for me?'

OK. I confess. The little lambz donated some of their favorite movie time treats to the cause. Here is my secret weapon. Pupcorn. The container is PERFECT for drying your bag - the right size and height..well almost the right height. Add one of the wells from a McDonald's coffee carrier under the pupcorn and you got it. (note - it is behind the pupcorn in the picture - lt gray. Anyhoo- I still have to find some fun material for the innerds, and something to keep the sides upright after adding the flowers and the handle. Oh yeah - the handle I got seems too small, so I gotta find a bigger handle. So I still have some work to do - AND I wanna start some socks or my Picovoli that I got some BEAUTIFUL silky wool for at HCW. Some of our local SA knitters are doing our own KAL for the picovoli - so I will have to gather up my courage to have one of my buds help me ...ugh...get my measurements.

more later - more pics of Austin and the stash to follow - plus pics of the pin for my friend Janna's birthday...

until then - ttfn - and lets all - Keep Austin Weird

Here's a story...'bout a gnome named Grimmy...

My friend Josie gave me a cute little gnome earlier this year - b/c she knows how much I LOVE gnomes! Well - Grimmy was sitting on my desk, keeping me company each day - helping me with my managerial decisions. Well - one day, one of the trainers on my team decided to STEAL Grimmy! The NOIVE. Anyhoo - my manager was visiting and saw the 'wanted' posters and shared with me that the stealing of gnomes is what they are all about - next thing I know - Grimmy has gone 'a-wandering' and I started receiving photos of him roaming across the country as he visited all the different call centers my company has. Anyway - the first picture here is from his first wanderings - Unfortunately, Grimmy fell in with a bad crowd who influenced him to start smoking....eek! (The title of this picture when it was anonymously sent to me was 'Gnome gone bad'










next, we have Grimmy recreating with some new friends, playing air hockey...










Most recently - Grimmy had come home and was back to helping make some pretty hefty corporate decisions - it was GREAT having him back helping me each day - well - we hosted a group of facilitators from across the North American Continent (people from as far away as Surrey, BC- near Vancouver) and someone asked about the gnome - so Grimmy decided to come down and visit the group. Later that day - Grimmy had decided to indulge his wanderlust again - and today I received a few pics!! He is definitely feeling very pretty in the first pic. He is so secure in his masculinity - I would not be surprised to see him in a utilikilt soon!!!










And this last picture is the most disconcerting - the title was simply 'LUNCH'. I hope to see some new pictures soon that indicate he has escaped from this perilous situation!

Takin time to smell the...flowers?

So here is the third of my little lambz - Stefen. He was so thoroughly intruiged by my newly-felted flowers for my garden party bag, he had to stop his roaming of the house to check them out!

n.b. - I have found that after a good felting and swirling through the spin cycle - these gorgeous flowers love an evening sitting in a double-walled tumbler or roll of painter's/packing tape (depending on whether they are 10-petalled or 5 petalled flowers respectively) to assist in their ability to hold their curvy-ness.

After the first 30-40 minutes of reminders that it is fine to smell the flowers - not chew or roll on them, Stefen finally settled down for a short summer's nap.
once he settled down for his nap and the pups were tucked away, I was able to plow into my first box from KnitPicks - some lovely Wool of the Andes - to work on a holiday gift - blueberry color - and wool for my entrelac bag I wanna work on...


Oh- it is time for my first TAG!!!

Thanks Janna!

5 Things always in my purse:

- L'Occitane Lavender Hand cream
- Bare Escentuals' Escentual Cinnamon Quickstick (lipstick and liner in one)
- magnetic clip on sunglasses
- Santa Fe Hemp mint lip balm
- my cell

5 things always in my wallet:
* driver's license
* Debit Card
* Borders Rewards Card
* Starbucks rechargable card
* miscellaneous receipts

5 things always in my fridge:
- Simply Limeaid
- bottle of wine - current flavors (white merlot and a malbec)
- various cheeses
- little cups of sugar-free jello and fruit
- cans of La Croix water (usually lime flavored)

5 things always in my closet:
* piles of shoes
* a dress I want to fit into (again...someday - turquoise raw silk)
* some sari silk my mom gave me from when she was in India
* various tees and blouses for work
* knits my grandma made me - cable sweater, lacy scarf, and the Dr Who-esque scarf that was the first thing I knit when she taught me

5 things always in my car:
- St Christopher medallion my folks gave me with my first car
- lots-o-change
- my Lone Star Espresso frequent drinker card (only two more and I get a free coffee buzz)
- a Canada charm my friend Bob gave me
- navajo beads and elephant bell hanging on the rear view mirror

5 things on my desk (at home)

* sharpie marker for labeling cd's
* pens and pencils
* advance screening card I got when I saw Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Wererabbit
* html cliffnotes Kim printed for me
* millions of cd's - the 5 in front of me now - Josh Groban 'Closer', Paul Mc Cartney's 'Chaos and Creation in the Backyard', Del Amitri 'Change Everything', 'Big Band Favorites' and Tori Amos' 'Tales of a Librarian'

What color are YOU? I am....

Hmmm....funny thing - same color as my fave - Tigger..... (thanks enid!)

Your Aura is Orange

You're a bit of a loner, but you're never lonely. You know how to entertain yourself. Whether you're trying an extreme sport or a new weird food, you always live on the edge. The purpose of your life: testing limits - both physical and mental... and then telling people about it. Famous oranges include: Timothy Leary, David Blaine, Tony Hawk, Carey Hart Careers for you to try: Snowboarder, Circus Performer, Undercover Agent

What Color Is Your Aura?

Knitters A-NONI-mous

Bwah-hah hah - Ok - so it is only funny to me.
That's what happens after 5hrs, 45 min at the drs office in one day.
No fun...but lots-o-knitting goin on!

Here are the pics of my NONI bag in progress.



Here is the body of the bag - almost done - 14 stripes and working on the bottom of the bag with my new rosewood dpns.




Voila!! The bottom of the bag is done! I love the effect of tying off the last stitches in the center! The rows look really even - not too shabby.






The first petal of many - done!

The first flower done! I increased the center bobble by two rows - I think I will inrease the # of stitches across from 6 to 8 and increase the # of rows by 2 for the pink flower.



Started this at 1pm today sitting in my two dr's office waiting rooms - cranked through all the petals on the needle by 4:30. At least all the waiting time was useful!


More to come as the bag progresses - next - finish the pink flower and quickly knit up a swatch of the cascade 220 with Crystal Palace squiggle worked in to test feltability.

Feltability - is that a real word?

Yawnnnnnn

Too tired for pictures tonight - but I am jazzed to note that I have completed 10 of the 14 stripes on the Garden Party bag since I started it on Sunday. The stripes are a little off where the round begins - by about 1 or 1.25 stitches - I am thinking I may have to use that point to be where I attach the flowers....maybe have one that goes almost to the bottom point of the front of the bag. Check out the link on my sidebar and tell me what you think. I should be done with stripes by this time tomorrow and will then start on the flowers. I will wait till the weekend to start the ruffle since I need to test the felting power of Squiggle yarn (see the belt from earlier post this week.- btw - people at work were looking for its appearance today..hmmm stylin...I knew it.) I am thinking of doing less of a ruffle at the top and adding in the squiggle for a fun effect. Must. test. feltability.

Hmmmm...maybe I could felt my booga bag that is FINISHED and sitting next to the door to the garage yelling - felt me! every time I walk out to the washer.

Anyhoo - gotta hit the sheets - ttfn

A few of my non-knit creations

A picture book necklace on homemade copper wire wrapped chain and black and white pearls














pins made with microscope slides and copper tape. Top one has wire and bead decoration on one end. The other has stamped sentiment with different coffee mugs layered on top


two family charms. one on left is different photos of my grandmother - who taught me to knit - and pressed flower. the one on the right is of my 'rents on their honeymoon on one side, my sis holding me as a infant on the other (might have been last time we got along so well)


More pendants - frida, art deco, another picture book and pressed flower with silverleaf


two bracelets. one made with blue glass and silver stamped images on both sides. Other one (my personal fave) is handmade paper on one side and one of my favorite neil gaiman images on the other

Hot off the needles...and have you seen my little lambz?

Hot off the needles - it is the new scarf/belt/wall decor item! Made with less than one skein of my nifty Squiggle yarn by Crystal Palace. Color used was Firecracker, needles US15, CO 12, knit till ya can't knit no more, BO.

Here it is artistically arranged in a cool spiral pattern - wouldn't it be cool on a wall? (really...it is a belt and scarf. gonna go wash a blouse so I can wear it tomorrow!)


Here is the close-up. You can see that it is really a warped version of stringy dental floss with fuzzy bits added into it at different points to make life interesting and knitting it just lovely (read sarcasm here).

And here are my little lambz - ok two of the three. Amber is the one on the right. She is the smallest of the crew - 4lbs dripping wet - and the oldest. She is the shepherd of the flock - keeping us all in line. Tigger - aka ratdog - is on the left, and is also the victim of a kind-hearted haircut gone awry. She gets sooo hot in the summer, I decided to shave her down. I do all their grooming myself - who knew that under all that hair was a little rat! Anyhoo - they are great with not touching yarn. or FO's. I love them little lambz!!

How I spent my 4th of july week!

Well - to prove that I do more than just knit... I did some bowling with my team - lemme tell ya - it was a blast - here I am launching ten pounds of some really hard substance down a slippery wooden lane...and some of the team went sliding down the lane too - my best score? you ask - I think the best score was just shy of the century mark - at 99. Not too bad! And note how good the form is...

And not to confuse anyone, there was some knitting going on too - I am eagerly awaiting the Noni KAL....so I got a 2nd project to work on while I wait for it to begin - I picked up the Garden Party Bag with luscious ruffle...I started it tonight at the Candlelight stitch n b**** gathering and already have 8 of 56 rows done on the body of the bag!!

This is what it should look like when I am done - just swap the colors...my lys did not have enough of the pink, so I swapped colors. And I have to admit, I am toying with the idea of using some of my squiggle yarn on the ruffle...or instead of the ruffle....not sure yet - more to follow...


ok. Mea culpa - So we all know I finished the moebius - here is the final pic of it!

A sense of loss? FO - what does it really mean?

ok guys - I don't know about anyone else, but here goes.

As I sit here with my unblocked but FINISHED moebius around my shoulders - I am feeling like I lost my best friend...what about you guys. I have been working on this sucker for so long that now it is done, I don't know what to do!

Part of me is saying QUICK - start another project - sigh.... - the other part of me is saying - GO TO BED.

Clapotis is calling my name, or a felted moebius bag....socks...human sized ones...so many options....I will post a pic tomorrow once I have this puppy blocked - it is not as huge as I feared, but a little big for a shrug....hmmm

FO - what does it really mean? finished object? Final obit (for the project)? Fond oh-revoir (ok - so I spelled it wrong...on purpose) - but anyhoo - it is done! and the search for my next mission is ON!!!

Its realllllly late

ok - so everyone was right - this blogging thing sucked me in and it is now 2am, but the blog is completed!!

What's on the needles tonight?

The infamous moebius is almost off the needles at this point! The applied i-cord is 1/2 done as you can see here! I really hope to have this completed by tomorrow night.