Zarah... With a Hook

Be In The Know

2008-07-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

Not that anybody has wondered where I went, but if you're curious, I went over here.

Also I finally have my own site, dis-associated from Geocities, etc. It's here, and has links to my new blog, some photos, and my Ravelry and MySpace pages.

Lolz - I haz them

2008-06-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

*edit* I had a pic here, but it didn't fit right. Instead, go see it here.

This is Isis. My roommate took this pic and captioned it, and since it's cute, I thought I'd share it with y'all.

Yarn Delivery!!!

2008-06-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

Came home to the delivery of my first ever (and surely not last) KnitPicks order! Say it with me now: "oooooooooohh!!!"

I got three balls of Felici in Mixed Berries

Four balls of Palette (two in Purple, two in Grass)

2 hanks of Gloss in Cosmos

and two balls of Shine Sport (one in Violet and one in Leapfrog)

I also got the first of my collection of KnitPicks Options interchangable needles - a 60" cable (two actually, I didn't realize they came in pairs) and a pair of US 4 nickle-plated tips.

I'm so excited! I can't wait to start using them. In fact - here I go!

To lace, or not to lace

2008-06-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

I found myself, not long ago, enamored with Anne Hanson's Fiddlehead Scarf pattern. Not sure why, as I've never really been drawn to knitting lace. But this one called to me, and I answered. Or at least, tried.

I made my first trip to the Yarn Garden last Saturday and picked out some Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb (here it is in my Rav stash). The fine gauge was a little daunting, but I forged ahead and tried casting on that evening. Try as I might, I couldn't manage to loosen up. Ok, so maybe laceweight yarn is something I'll have to work on.

I really wanted to try out this pattern though. I couldn't get it out of my head! So I decided to improvise, a little, and cast on using some Mirasol Hacho and US 10's. The pattern as written is 9 repeats (or 10, I don't have it in front of me) wide, but I shortened it to just 3 repeats.

Here was my progress yesterday afternoon:

And by this evening I had this:

I did goof somehow. I was watching Brother Bear (GREAT movie!) and knitting at the same time. Beginner knitter + lace + distracting movie = OOPS! Click here to see it. Somehow I ended up knitting a wrong side row on a right side. It was at the end of a repeat anyway though, so I just knit another wrong side row (this time on the ~~right~~ ~~wrong~~ correct side) and started over with the first row of the pattern. It's character, right? :)

It's a great pattern though. It's working up so fast, and I can't wait to see it blocked.

Other fun thing this weekend, watching the Dock Dog Competition at Oaks Park.

I would love to do this with my dog, Malakai. He's not interested though.

Picture-less craft update

2008-06-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Tesserae Socks: Stalled. Actually, I'm not sure where they are. Probably in one of my yarn bins, but I can't access them at the moment. Last I worked on them, I was working on the heel flap.

Through Any (Blue) Window: Making very slow progress. I leave it at my desk to work on during my breaks and lunches, but it's slow-going. Since being busted for being online during work time, I've been trying to be good about using the internet on breaks only, which is cutting into crochet time. But, it isn't quite stalled.

Sunflower Purse: Stalled. It, too, is probably in my yarn bins. I'm shooting for finishing it by September. Truthfully, all I have left to do is crochet the "trellis" and sew on the outer lining, and find (or make) some handles for it.

So what AM I working on? Well, not much. Swatching, mostly. Just small things to keep my hands busy and practice the knitting skillz. I found my Knitting Stitch Bible, so I'm having fun playing with new stitch patterns.

I've added some yarn to my stash. I've become a bit of a yarn snob, but I've decided I'm ok with that. My favorite recent addition is some bulky black superfine Alpaca from Lavish Fibers. I also bought my first laceweight yarn, Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb. I was going to make the Fiddlehead Scarf with it, but it's causing me some major headaches so I'm going to re-evaluate that. I also ordered some sock yarn yesterday from KnitPicks (this in Purple and Grass, this in Cosmos, this in Mixed Berries, and this in Violet and Leapfrog), along with the beginning of my collection of KnitPicks Options circular needles (the 60" cable and size 4 nickle plated tips). I hope they're as great as I've read. I want to try my hand at two-at-a-time socks, both the toe-up and cuff-down versions.

Let's see, what else. I'm trying to keep my Ravelry notebook up to date with the new additions to my stash. I'm also building up my collection of bamboo needles. I bought some fabric that I want to use for a needle case specifically for the bamboo needles, and since I couldn't find a pattern online for exactly what I wanted, of course I'm making it up myself. I've got a schematic-type-thingy drawn up with measurements, so I hope to start work on that tonight or tomorrow. Malakai ate some of my bamboo DPNs the other day so I need a too-big-to-eat place to keep them all organized.

Speaking of Malakai, check out this video of him and my roommate's dog, Isha, finally playing together after a week and a half of nothing but barking at each other. (Oh wait, I can't get to YouTube from work. Well, do a search for "Malakai & Isha" and you should find it. If I remember, I'll update when I get home) **Ok here's the link**

Upcoming projects! I've decided to make the Shifty sock with my Knitters Without Borders skein of STR. I only have one skein of it, so I'll have to buy more and hope that the lots are close enough in color to pass. Other than that, I think I'm going to stick with small things, stash busters especially, until I can do some sorting out of my stash. Yarn snob that I'm becoming, I'm thinking of giving most of it away on Freecycle.

I finally started a notebook for my patterns, rather than having the pages scattered about willy-nilly. I'm also hoping to change my yarn storage method from the giant purple Rubbermaid bins to the sleeker, see-through, stackable Sterilite drawers.

I just realized I forgot to blog about my trip to LA. But that has pictures, so it'll have to be later. Look for it!

Food P0rn

2008-05-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Something I made several weeks ago that sat on my camera til now. Bay scallops and asparagus in a citrus sauce with lots of fresh ground pepper.

Looking downhill at 30

2008-05-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was my 27th birthday. My mom, who works (or worked, since she's changing jobs) on the same team as I do, brought in a cake for me. I love how the flowers look like hibiscus.

That night we went to Joe's Crab Shack for buckets o' crab and trash cans o' booze.

Carol and Sue, long-time friends of my mom

Linda (my new roommate) and Shylent (my old roommate)

Amanda and Ben, both a little incognito

Me and my mommy :)

Some of the Mags (Mag 7, who aren't really 7 anymore) - it really touched me that they came because they were "Annie's friends" at first.

My dear friend Sarah, who has known me for 20 years. Yikes!

At Joe's, they don't just sing happy birthday. They make you dress up like a total dweeb and do really embarrassing things. Much tequila was necessary for this, where I had to wear a crown and big goofy sun glasses and bang together two lids and make a full run through the restaurant while they sang.

And the best part is that my friends A) really know me and B) really love me. They bought me a bottle of Patron!!

Much birthday happiness.

Updates, updates everywhere, but not a stitch of knit.

2008-05-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Busy week. Well, week plus.

On April 25th, my roommates and I applied for an apartment. We got the official Yes on the 29th, and picked up keys and started moving on the 3rd. I am not good at planning ahead, and even worse at packing, so on Saturday morning there was still a lot to do. Most of my usual moving crew was unavailable, so for most of the day it was just one of my roommates, Shylent, and my sometimes-step-dad to help. By the afternoon, Todd and Angie of The Bridge came over and finished moving the last of the furniture (except the washer and dryer, which we forgot). We didn't get to bed til about midnight Saturday night, but we were (mostly, we thought) moved. Except for the washer and dryer which we realized we forgot about 20 minutes after everyone left.

Sunday morning, my grandmother took Mom and I out for brunch at Salty's to celebrate our birthdays (Mom's was the 2nd, mine is the 16th) and, I decided, Mother's Day. After a hard day of moving, there is something to be said for all-you-can-eat Crab (King and Dungeness), peel & eat prawns, and much other fresh seafood. The bottomless Mimosas weren't so bad either. When I got home it was time to go to work on the old apartment again, getting things ready for the GotJunk? guys to come get what was left, and for my dad to come help move the washer & dryer to store at my grandmother's for when we move again. We realized there was a lot of stuff that hadn't been taken to the new place on Saturday, but should have. But we got it all moved eventually. I decided, given that I knew I wouldn't get my deposit back anyway, I wasn't going to go out of my way to clean. That took a lot of the stress off.

So, now it's Wednesday and I've only unpacked one box. I'm going to have to try to do laundry tonight because I'm out of clothes for work. There's barely enough floor space for my twin bed (I miss my queen, but I gave it to the roommates since there's two of them and only one of me). On the plus side, all the animals seem to be settling in really well, and today Comcast came to hook up our TV and Internet (we've been without both, and it's killing us). Plus our dog, Malakai, has had a total attitude turn-around. The new place, being new and all, is clean enough (as far as no stray garbage/junk/socks/etc on the floor) that he can be out of his kennel without fear that he's going to eat something he shouldn't, so he's out all the time unless nobody is home. He's not getting into things, not having accidents on the floor, and not chasing the cats as much as he used to. Plus, not having two flights of stairs, he's getting walked more often too. We're all pretty happy.

More crafting soon, I promise. Everything is packed except for the Through Any Window Baby Blanket (blog/ravelry), which I keep at work. The next co-worker giving birth is having her shower on the 21st, so I've got to get moving on her gift too. Plus pregnant co-worker #3 was supposed to find out today if she's expecting a boy or a girl, and pregnant co-worker #4 just found out within the past few days she's expecting. Much baby crochet/knitting on the way.

Oh one more thing! I'm a licensed driver!!! I took my driver's test today and passed (with 75%, but it was nit-picky stuff that I almost argued with the test-giver about - like when I was doing 28 in what he said was a school zone, but the sign said "20 when lights are flashing" and the lights weren't flashing). Anyways I passed, so I'm driving again, which is nice. And no panic attacks, which is also nice.

Life Update

2008-04-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no knitting/crochet here. Maybe later.

I've found a place to live - an important thing to have by most people's standards. It's lower level (only 2 stairs), and allows both cats and dogs. It's more than what we were paying before, by about $50, but I think we'll be ok. Plus it's only 2 blocks from where we are now, so it's still not too out of the way for my mom and I to carpool to and from work. I was worried about how I would come up with the deposits to move, but I have been blessed by many people who have helped out and I'm pretty sure it's all under control now.

My roommate, Shylent, came back from California with his girlfriend, Linda, in tow. She was going to just visit, but now it looks like she's staying, which is good. That also means that he is staying, so I'll have roommates after all (this is good, and bad). If When Linda finds a job, things will get even easier for all of us (2.5 incomes is better than 1.5). She has even expressed the desire to find things she can do to contribute until she gets working, which is a nice change of pace from previous living arrangements.

I forgot to post a while back about ~~our~~ my car. Annie and I bought a Jeep Cherokee back in January of 2007. ~~We were~~ I was paying way too much for it (payments over $300/month) and the interest rate was insane (33%) but it was a reliable vehicle. When Annie vacated the relationship, the plan was that she continue to drive it - and carry the insurance on it - until I got my license again. When her move to Florida got moved up, we had to make some quick decisions. I couldn't afford to make the payments on it. Thankfully, the company that held the title was willing to work with us me and lowered my payment to $200 and my interest rate to 15%. It's only til the end of the year, but it gives me time to work out the finances.

On a similar topic, I have made the first step to becoming a licensed driver again! Last Saturday I went in and took the knowledge test to get my permit (passed with 82%) and have been doing most of the driving since then when Mom and I are together. I can also drive with Linda in the car, since she's licensed in California. I've got to get the insurance thing figured out on the Jeep, since it was previously in Annie's name only, but that shouldn't be too rough (I hope). Re-learning to drive hasn't been nearly as scary as I thought it would, and I'm looking forward to the freedom it will bring.

So, life is finally starting to settle down. Hopefully that will mean more time for the important things like knitting (those two hanks of STR are still taunting me from their ziploc baggies). Thanks for all your positive thoughts during this time - keep 'em coming!

Harlot Wrap-Up & Scavenger Fun

2008-04-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

WOW.

Besides the stitch I still have in my side, and the screaming muscle pain in my hip and back, yesterday was pretty fabulous.

Let's go back to Saturday though.

This is... well ok, I didn't get her name. She was volunteering at the Cully Neighborhood Cleanup, though, and I got her to hold my sock. She got a kick out of what I was doing.

So, yesterday. Turned out my dad had the morning off, so he was nice enough to drive me out to Scappoose and back to get my "At the Scappoose Post Office held by a postal employee" picture.

Apparently I was the first person to get out there because she was really confused at first. But I warned her of the approaching hoards. The weirdest thing about the SPO is that the building appears to also hold the offices of a psychiatrist. Not sure if that's for the benefit of the postal employees, or just a unique use of federal building space. Hmmmmmmmmm.

When Dad and I got back into town, he drove me around to a few of the non-downtown pictures I needed to get. First, East County Recycling, which is apparently now known as Environmentally Concious Recycling.

Seems a bit redundant, but good on them for getting the point across.

Next was this Horse Ring Project shot.

There were three right in a row on this street, but this one had the prettiest attachment to the street.

Finally the Joan of Ark statue which, contrary to what was on the Scavenger Hunt checklist, is NOT in Laurelhurst Park. It's down the street. But you get the idea.

The statue is at the center of a very busy roundabout, and rather than risk getting struck by inattentive motorists, I stuck to my own side of the street.

Oh he also brought me by work where my sock got to visit our photocopier and "My Boss" (who is actually my boss' boss, because MY boss was in a meeting.

I did get a photocopy of my sock as well, but alas no scanner to show you with.

So we headed back to my house where I picked up my friends/roommates Shylent and Linda, and we began our adventure by taking the Max to Lloyd Center. I stopped to get "In any of Portland's many parks with visible signage."

Although Holladay Park is not one of the most senic, it was on the way. I should have also used the opportunity to get "At the bottom of any large tree" but I intended to get that one Downtown in the Park Blocks.

This is the Made in Oregon Store at Lloyd Center, and one of the employees. She gave me a funny look, but she was a good sport.

I also got a sign in multiple languages back at the Max station.

Next it was down to the Convention Center to get the MLK statue and a building mural.

And we timed it well because another Max came as soon as we got the building mural.

Next stop was Skidmore Fountain where I got the fountain and a Benson Bubbler in one stop.

Then we walked up to Voodoo Donuts for what was by far the dirtiest-in-a-good-way picture I got.

Much Donut Awesomeness.

We walked up the street to get the Chinatown Gate

Then hopped on a bus to get lunch and more pictures.

At a red light I got the bus driver - very puzzled - to pose for me

Lunch was at Ringlers

And if you've never had a McMenamins Ruby Ale, you're seriously missing out.

So, at lunch, I thought I'd take the opportunity to count up my pictures and points so far, and re-evaluate what we had left to do. I opened up my purse to get out the ziploc bag with my checklist and My First Sock (which I brought to show the Harlot) and it was gone. I had everything else - current sock-in-progress, camera, wallet, pen, etc - but no First Sock and no checklist. 'Scuse me, another beer please!

So the next stop was to find a Kinkos so I could print out a new checklist. My sock was gone, but I'd have to try not to dwell on that. We headed back to central downtown, stopping at a Stumptown to get the Stumptown Rooster (you can see it, barely, up at the top center in the dark)

and I realized - it was 2:37 already! I was supposed to meet with Phil Margolin at 3, and I didn't even have half of my pictures yet! And did I mention that it started to rain right after lunch? So here I am in this swanky author/lawyer's office, a drowned rat, face red as a radish from all the walking. He, too, was a good sport though :)

Outside his building was another multi-language sign

On the way to Kinkos to get my checklist, Linda and Shylent wanted to stop and we had passed Buffalo Wild Wings so I left them there, got my list, and then joined them. The bartender was a (very nice looking) non-knitter so I introduced her to my sock.

She didn't charge me for my iced tea either. And I made Shylent, also a non-knitter, hold my sock for that point.

We walked back up to Pioneer Square and on the way shot the Animals in Pools fountains

And then three in one place, the Weather Machine, the Allow Me statue (love how Shylent posed) and a street vendor.

Those Mexican guys backed away slowly once they saw I had my camera out!

We caught the Max one stop up to the parking structure at 10th & Yamhill and took the elevator to what we thought was the top floor. Turns out there's a very top floor that you can only get to via stairs, so I made Shylent go up and get that picture.

Across the street we got the Windup Toy Station at Finnegan's and the nice guy that was in charge back there.

By that time, Shylent and Linda were ready to head home. So was I, actually, but I wasn't going to give up! Walking back to the Max I ran into my friend Ken, founder of HomePDX. Hadn't seen him for a long time, so it was a pleasant surprise. While waiting for the train I saw some folks with handmade-looking felted bags and wondered to myself if they were headed the same place I was. Sure enough! So I got points for "On the Max on your way to the signing with fellow knitters."

When I thought about my day, I forgot that it would be rush hour time on the train, standing room only. Ugh. Enough standing. Srsly. Then when I got to the Washington Park/Zoo/World Forestry Center station, go figure, the elevator at the WFC-end of the station wasn't working. More walking. In the rain. Uphill. Did I mention the rain?

Finally got to the WFC, bought my book and my one skein of Socks that Rock in the Knitters Without Borders colorway, and got settled.

Ahh, seated, relaxing, knitting time. I got into The Zone and when I finally looked around this is what I saw.

Knitters. Everywhere. I'll bet there weren't more than 20 people in the whole place that weren't knitting. It was awesome. Much yarn fondeling, project comparing, etc. Lovely-ness.

*And yes, that woman on the left is the same woman who held my sock on the train

The first thing they did was points for the Scavenger Hunt. Everyone around me was rooting for me, but I ended up being the last person who DIDN'T get a prize. The cutoff was 65 and I had 62, thanks to all the time it took to hunt down a new checklist.

I took some really bad, blurry, unflattering pictures of Stephanie, but you don't get to see those. But you do get to see Duffy

singing "My Travelin' Sock" to the tune of "Little Deuce Coupe" - ROCK ON!

I stuck around to have my book signed and was one of the last people in line. When I got up to her, I told her about my Sad Sock Story and that I would have had probably 70 points if I hadn't had to track down a new checklist, and everyone felt sorry for me and they let me pick a skein from the prize bucket anyway :)

Socks that Rock medium weight in Titania

I was so ready to go home. I laughed so hard and my body was so worn out that I barely made it out to the car when Ben picked me up. Oh Thank God for Ben!

This was the best part. "I'll hold yours if you hold mine!"

I gotta say, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is one fabulous woman/writer/knitter/human being.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

2008-04-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

It just keeps getting better!!!

One of the things on the Inexplicable Knitting Behavior scavenger hunt list is:

"With any independent film producer, published author, or cartoonist"

I've been mulling that one over all week. Who can I think of? Where can I find them?
This morning, it hit me.

DUH.

When I was in high school I participated in their Job Shadow program, and two years in a row I got to meet with Phillip Margolin. Mr. Margolin is an attorney who also happens to write some of the best legal thrillers/dramas around, IMHO. He's also a very down-to-earth, nice guy.

So this morning I sent him an email, and he called me right back. I'm meeting with him tomorrow at 3 (which is about the time I was going to head to the WFC anyway) to take his picture with my sock-in-progress.

I'm over the moon. I'm so sillyexcited I don't know what to do with myself. GEEK. Srsly.

Got my first picture for the hunt on Saturday, at the Cully Neighborhood Cleanup. I'll update this post later today so you can see it. The woman whose picture I took was a real hoot - she even bumped us up in line to drop off our junk after I took her pic.

This time tomorrow, I'll be digesting my cock 'n' balls donut and hopefully be more than half-way through my picture list.

OMGOMG - Portlanders Look Out!

2008-04-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

What's more chaotic than a town full of Knitters?

A town full of Portland Knitters.

Did I mention that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is coming? I did? Oh. Well, here it is again, in case you missed it.

STEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEE IS COMING TO PORTLAND!!! In a week!!!

Remember all that Inexplicable Knitter Behavior I mentioned a couple of posts ago - Well thanks to the folks at Blue Moon, we get to have it here too!! WOOHOO!!!

I'M. SO. GOING.

Srsly.

**Update!! My boss is giving me the whole day off!!! So I'll have time to get my scavenger hunt pictures AND get in line early!! OMGOMG!!!

Through Any Window Progress

2008-04-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

And that was a couple of days ago.

It's going pretty quickly, with the exception of the light blue rounds that are done in every stitch instead of the chain spaces. And I wish I had done the colors differently - I would have switched the dark blue and white, I think. But it's great, I like it, and I get lots of compliments on it when I work on it in public.

The baby that I'm making it for was born this week, about 3 weeks early, so I better get my rear in gear.

Stephanie's coming

2008-04-11T14:08:00.001-07:00

Oh, hadn't you heard? The Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, has another book.

Ok I feel a little weird saying that, seeing as how I'm new enough to the knitting world that I didn't know she had ANY books, let alone five of her own plus one that she contributed to.

Anyway, she's coming. Portland might not get to have all the fine knitting fun that Toronto had, but that's ok. I want to go. The problem? It's a work day. Doors open at 5, but I have images of people starting to line up the night before. If I leave work on time, I might get lucky and be able to stand outside the building waiting for a glimpse. Plus, I hate going to things alone. Of the two knitters that I know in real life, one's not going to be in town and the other already has a group of people she's going with - and since both those people are acquaintances from work, it's a little awkward. I thought about inviting Amanda, but she works too (Amanda, if you see this - let me know if you want to bail on work and go anyway). I even thought about inviting my friend Joey, even though she A) is not a knitter and B) hasn't made any attempt at getting in touch with me since Annie left, but she works too.

So I'm tossing it back and forth in my head. Do I really, REALLY want to go? Do I want to tell my boss that I have an appointment that day and leave early? Do I want to take the Max out there during rush hour and back in the dark? Am I going to kick myself if I don't go?

*le sigh*

We interrupt regularly scheduled blogging for this political message:

2008-04-10T10:56:00.001-07:00

Politics is something I usually stay out of, but Barack Obama's interview with The Advocate is worth sharing.

Among things I was glad to see in the article:

"I reasonably can see "don't ask, don't tell" eliminated."

(On what Obama can get done for the LGBTQ community)
I hate DADT with a vengeance. I don't support the war, but I do support the people fighting it, and not allowing gays in the military to BE gays in the military is reprehensible.

"I have been clear about my interest in including gender identity in
legislation, but I've also been honest with the groups that I've met with
that it is a heavy lift through Congress."

(On an Employment Non-Discrimination Act being transgender-inclusive)
I'm glad he's being honest (or, as much as a politician can be) here. He's not making promises for the sake of getting votes, and that means a lot to me.

"You always want to be careful comparing groups that have been discriminated
against because each group's experiences are different."

(On comparing the struggle for gay rights to the African-American civil rights movement)
Soooo many people do this - compare each culture's struggle to every other culture's struggle - but they are all so much different. It's good to see someone who wants to run our country that knows the difference.

So, that's all. Read the full article here. And vote. It's important, whatever you believe.

Word of the Day: Inefficient

2008-04-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

Main Entry: in·ef·fi·cient
: not efficient: as
a: not producing the effect intended or desired
b: wasteful of time or energy
c: incapable, incompetent

Well I certainly spent the past 6 days being inefficient. There's something to be said for laying in bed though. Even a not-so-comfortable bed can be of great comfort in times of stress. In fact, going to bed is my favorite part of my day, I think.

I did make some progress on the Through Any Window Baby Blanket that I'm making for Cute-Guy-At-Work and his wife. It was a test at first, even with the tutorial, but I figured it out. I'm not looking forward to all the ends, though. (I should make a point to say that the difficulties at first are no reflection on Laurah and her design skills, they're more related to my own stubborn brain.)

Unfortunately I was supposed to spend those 6 days packing and clearing junk out of my house to get ready for my forced move. I didn't pack a single box. I did dig through two cupboards and come up with 4 bags full of garbage though. My can only holds 3 on a good day. I didn't apartment hunt either, but I did find out that I'm totally on my own when I move - roommate and his girlfriend are not going to be moving with me.

I had some good Pizza and Beer with my friends Ben and Amanda. We had some decent cheap mexican over the week too. No pictures. I really ought to start carrying my camera. Much loving of dogs happened as well - both theirs and my own.

FO Alert! Half Moon Shawl

2008-04-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Just finished up the Half Moon Shawl - YAY!

I get excited about FOs because they're so few and far between.

The first pic shows the color better, but I really like the professional blogger quality of the second pic :)

I hope the recipient loves it as much as I do!

Moving Forward

2008-03-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Life is about moving forward. It's not unreasonable to look back on the past from time to time, because without looking back and seeing what didn't work, how will we figure out what to do that will work? But we can't dwell. The what-ifs and why-didn'ts won't get us far.

I'm going through a lot of changes right now. The relationship that I was in, which I had thought would stand the test of time, has changed into a friendship that is, at its best times, very rocky. The BFF that I have relied on for support - both physical and emotional - has gone to take care of someone other than me (not that this is a bad thing, just a change). My home, which has felt less and less like home over the past two months, is now truly just a place to stay for the time being. And, while I have to look back over the past 8 years or so to figure out what hasn't worked, I also have to look forward at what is to come. Where is my life going? What do I want to accomplish? What will make me happy?

Yesterday, on my way to "church" (quotes because, try as I might, I cannot think of The Bridge as a church), I opened my mail. In it was a 30-day no-cause eviction notice from the new management company that has taken responsibility for the duplex where I live. Since I am on a month-to-month lease, they have the right to give me 30 days and no reason (I am grateful, because if they did have a reason they could give me as little as 72 hours). I had intended on moving anyway, since this space has several features which are not ideal to my lifestyle. It would have been nice, though, to be able to do it on my own time rather than on someone else's schedule.

So I'm moving forward. I'm looking back at what hasn't worked for my living situation (lots of stuff, none of it all that very important or useful) and examining what will (paring down to the things that are basic necessities, plus a small amount of things that are special to me for sentimental reasons). I'm looking back on what hasn't worked in my relationships (dishonesty - more with myself than with my partner) and examining what might (self-discovery and friendship before emotional or physical joining).

It's a new beginning. Time for a clean slate. A chance to grow up a little more and make my life my own. Wish me luck.

Yay for productivity!

2008-03-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

Oh where oh where to begin!

Went to Fabric Depot yesterday and bought some new fabric to line my Sunflower Purse with:

Not quite as cool as the first one I found, but good.

Today I worked on - and finished! - the lining:

(cell phone pocket):

I do have enough of the original fabric to line the inside of the outside with, so I just need to cut it to size and crochet the "trellis" (which I'm also re-vamping to make it sturdier). I'll work on that later this week.

I also got a couple of yards of some fabric to goof around with, and a couple of fat quarter packs. Look, my first quilt square!

One pack came with the above fabric and these two:

And the other came with these (they're much more lavender in real life):

I'm on row 23 of the Half Moon Shawl, which I'm going back to working on right now - just wanted to share the progress :)

WTF???

2008-03-28T08:04:00.001-07:00

March 28th in Portland Oregon (which varies from sea level to 500+ feet). It's snowing. The Weather Channel says it's 37 degrees (F, of course). Even KOIN News says it's 37 degrees. And yet, it's snowing. And even sticking, a little bit. WTF?

Apparently it snowed in May here in Portland in 1993. I would have been 12, and I don't remember that.

I'm totally confused. Snow is supposed to stop mid-March.

Some pics, just for you

2008-03-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

Mom's older-than-dirt sewing machine that I'm using

The back side of the outside of my now-deceased Sunflower Purse

The outside of the outside of my now-deceased Sunflower Purse

The booze that killed my Sunflower Purse

ohmygawed!

2008-03-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

A whole week between posts??!! You must all feel abandoned!

Nothing much has been going on. Well, ok, some. Lots of drinking. Not, like, "I can't function at work cause I got schnockered(sp?) last night" lots, but lots relative to the past 5 years.

Note to self - do NOT craft while drinking. My beautiful Sunflower Purse met its demise when I tried to work on it after an evening of tequila and mango lemonade. I have enough yarn to start over, but I'll need to buy more fabric. That's ok though. I'm really enjoying using my mom's old sewing machine, and might try my hand at some quilting (like I need another hobby).

Progress on the Half Moon Shawl is going well. I'm somewhere between 50% and 80% done, depending on how you figure it (I've used half the required yarn, but done 80% of the required rows). I love how it's turning out. This was my first attempt at using LB Jiffy yarn and I really like it.

My other WIP, the Tesserae Socks, are on hold pending completion of the shawl and the purse. The shawl is time-sensitive (I have as of now one week to finish), and the purse is for my mental health. Yes, I said it, I need to make a purse for my own sanity.

I finally joined Ravelry, and of all the addicting web-based things I do, this is the best because I can do it from work. If you're a crafter and haven't signed up - DO IT! My Ravelry ID is ZarahPDX for those of you who want to see what I'm up to. I have all but Monday off work next week and my goal (along with spring cleaning and some serious home de-cluttering and rearranging) is to take stock of all my needles, hooks, yarns, etc and get everything organized in my Ravelry Notebook. Plus upload all the pics that I've taken and haven't done anything with. *sigh* so much to do, so little time!

Annie is almost completely moved out of the house, I think. I've spoken to her a couple of times and things are back to being civil - even NICE - but it's still a bit awkward. I might be going to The Bridge with her on Sunday, and then out for pool and maybe dinner. I've finally gotten used to having the house to myself, and now Keight will be moving in next week. Sounds like my roommate that went to Cali might be back not too long after the first of the month, too. So much for all my privacy!

My new weight-loss program

2008-03-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Fidgeting and eating spicy food. LOL

I'm totally going to give this a shot. It'll crack me up if it works.

A real post later, for those of you interested in my purse progress.

*Afterthought. Since I use knitting and crochet as something to do to keep my hands busy, and it does (especially in knitting) require additional muscle use (small, but additional), does it count as exercise?

Weekend Part Deux

2008-03-17T18:02:00.001-07:00

Went to my dad's last night for dinner - something we try to do at least once a month or so. It was my turn to cook, so I made Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Red Potatoes in honor of St Patrick's Day.

Went very basic on the corned beef - just baked it at 325 for about 3 hours, covered but for the last few minutes. It was pretty AND delicous.

Went pretty basic on the potatoes, too - just olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and a bit of rosemary.

Had to use the convection microwave, which I wasn't sure about at first, but it worked great.

Got a little fancier with the cabbage, using something akin to this recipe from Orangette. Super easy, and super yummy.

While dinner cooked, we played some cribbage

(Yeah, my dad is sort of a goof, but we love him)

(Nice hand!)

Dinner was all done about the same time (score!) so we dished up

And after a couple of helpings each, this

turned into this

I loved corned beef before, but I have a new respect for it after baking it (instead of the all-day slow-cooker method). It's cheap, easy, and provides leftovers (sometimes) so this is going to become a staple in my house. I even made Dad run me by the grocery on the way home so I could buy a couple more :)

Blog Makeover

2008-03-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

In talking to my dad's wife this weekend, it was brought to my attention that my blog fonts/colors were a little hard to read. So I've given my blog a bit of a makeover in an effort to make it more reader-friendly. Please do let me know if there's anything difficult to see or if you have any other comments.

Weekend part II post later tonight once pictures are transferred at home.

Weekend Update

2008-03-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

First off, sock progress! I went to lunch yesterday with my mom and a friend and got lots of progress (a full repeat) on the sock.

Question: If you're still participating in the conversation, is it rude to crochet/knit at the table while you're waiting for your food, or once the plates have been cleared? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

Newly started project last night is the Half Moon Shawl from LB. I used LB Jiffy in violet. I like the pattern, and the bobbles stand out much better in person than they do in the pic on LB's site.

Not yet started but probably starting today is a new purse for myself. I dug out my mom's old sewing machine this past week, and yesterday went and bought a new presser foot for it, as the old one was missing. Also armed myself with some new bobbins and some fun sunflower-ish fabric, and yarn to make some sunflower motifs from Coats & Clark's Crochet Sunflower Afghan. According to their specs, each motif should be 10.5" x 10.5", so I'll use that plus a couple/few rows of boarder for each side of a tote-style bag, and stripes (probably) of the same colors will make up the sides and bottom. I'll line it with the sunflower fabric, make a couple of pockets/sections on the inside, and off I'll go with a fancy new bag.

I also took stock of my knitting needles and supplies yesterday

(before)

(after)

And made lists of what needles I have and what needles I want to get. Geek much?

Heading off to dinner with Dad and his wife later this afternoon. Corned Beef & Cabbage with Red Potatoes, in honor of the holiday tomorrow. Have a good one!

Lonely in the Crazy House

2008-03-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

My BFF/Roommate, who has been quite a buffer between Annie and me and K8 (the new roommate) and me, got a call yesterday from the grandmother of a very good friend of his in California. His friend has been having a pretty rough time of it for the past couple of years (pretty much homeless, some drug issues, and I think some mental health stuff) and it's gotten bad enough that now she's talking suicide. Enter BFF, nice guy that he is, to the rescue.

He could be on a plane now, for all I know. The grandmother was going to wire him the money to get a plane ticket so he could go immediately. No idea how long he's going to be gone, could be a couple weeks, could be a few months.

Last time he went to Cali there was some drama and he ended up being gone for much longer than anticipated. I hope that this trip will be safer, shorter, and calm.

In the meantime, I'm home with no buffer but my knitting.

Eh well...

2008-03-11T13:39:00.001-07:00

There was a baby shower today for Cute Guy At Work and his very pregnant girlfriend/wife.
Oh well. Maybe I'll make them an afghan or something.

My Love Affair with Socks

2008-03-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Isn't getting any better. Well, the socks are, but the affair is not.

This shows the color best, and the progress. I love the way it's striping, it's just perfect.

This shows a bit of the texture/pattern better. I'm only 1.5 repeats into it, so it's not looking like too much yet, but it's already addicting. I'm a little worried that I won't have quite enough yarn, so I might go buy another hank in a different color for the heel/toe.

The pattern is the Tesserae Sock by Anne at Knitspot
The yarn is Koigu KPPPM

Feel the sock love.

I've been Tagged!

2008-03-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

The fabulous Christina tagged me, so here goes!

The tag rules are:
1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 7 things about yourself
4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs
5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged
So here are 7 random things about me:

1. I listen to audio books all day at work. I've listened to over 200 since I started keeping track about 2 years ago. The librarians have my library card number memorized.

2. When I graduated high school, I missed the all night grad party because I had to be at the hospital at 6 the next morning for knee surgery.

3. I'm addicted to kitchen gadgets, and love watching infomercials about anything kitchen-related.

4. I host online card/board games with a league called Monkey Royale, which uses Yahoo games. Gin, Go Fish, Dominoes, and Cribbage.

5. My two BFFs are both guys that I dated long-term. One of them is now my roommate.

6. I used to volunteer with Basic Rights Oregon, a gay rights organization. At 17, I was the youngest member of their Board of Directors. I was also on the steering committee for SMYRC, the Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center.

7. I love knowing random things, like why the numbers on a telephone are organized opposite of the numbers on a calculator.

I'm tagging the following 7 people:
Aurora, Lesa, Ben, Annie, Tim, Pam, and Caroline

Flirting, Food, and New and Improved

2008-03-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

Cute Guy at Work: "What's goin' on Zarah?"
Me: "Not much, you know, trying to see what kind of trouble I can cause. Got any?"
CG (grinning): "Nope"
Me: "Darn" (thinking, "Want to get into some with me?")

Me, totally swooning that Cute Guy at Work knows my name, and actually used it. Not just a passing "hey" to a co-worker, but a directed-directly-at-me greeting.

Not that I'm really expecting to get anywhere with Cute Guy at Work, or with anybody, but my skills at flirting have been severely under-used for the past five years and I'm looking forward to getting lots of practice now that I'm free.

No Sesame chicken salad yet, but huge thanks to Amy O'Neill Houck at The Hook and I for encouraging me to make dinner last night. We had oodles of leftover noodles so I made spaghetti pie inspired by her well-timed post. Next time more sauce, more cheese, more olives. Have I mentioned how much I love nearly-burnt mozzarella cheese? The kind of nearly-burnt that you can only get at really good Italian restaurants (not the OG type) or by baking your own at home.

This morning I bought three sock patterns from Anne over at Knitspot. I got the Dolomite Sock, So Square Sock, and Tesserae Sock, and can't wait to get started. I'm thinking the Mirasol Hacho in Deep Blue Ocean for the Dolomites, and Koigu KPPPM in the purples/browns color I've got for the Tesseraes. I might get some Wooly Wonka BFL Sock Yarn for the So Square Socks. It's a bit pricey, but I do love that Geisha colorway.

Best of all, my new digital camera was delivered today! So, new and improved pictures are on their way. I got the camera I wanted, a 2GB memory card, and these nifty USB-rechargable AA batteries, all for a steal. So look for lots more pictures soon. Guess it's time to get a Flickr account! Too bad I can't access it at work :(

One Finished Sock!

2008-03-05T10:03:00.001-08:00

Woohoo! My poor toe-less first sock got finished on my morning break. Toe grafting is not nearly as scary as it sounded. Oh happy day!

Also more progress on sock #2 - I've finished the first 9 rows, and even my ghetto paperclip stitch markers have been a great help.

I've also realized it's time to make a holder for my needles. I think I might venture into the land of fabric for this one - wish me luck.

More sock love

2008-03-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

I know, I know - shut up already about the socks. Just be glad that you're not my mother, roommate, roommate's girlfriend, or ex - they get the sock excitement even worse than you do!

My friend Sally (blogless) last night asked me how many pairs of socks I'd finished, because I was so excited I wouldn't shut up. The answer is, sadly, none. I apparently have caught singlesockitis. And honestly, I haven't technically finished the first sock either, because it's still on its last two needles waiting for me to get over my fear of toe grafting.

But never have I let lack of finishing one project keep me from starting a second. So I've started my first "real" pair of socks.

The yarn: Hacho 100% Hand Dyed Merino Wool by Mirasol in color #303, Coral Reef

The pattern: Based on Silver's Sock Class, with a little twist of my own

And yes, in the picture, I'm using paper clips as stitch markers. Ghetto, I know, but my real stitch markers are at home. I've already frogged this (rip-it, rip-it) twice, but I think I've got it this time. I'm using a stitch pattern that is 16 stitches wide and 8 rows long and I was having trouble keeping track. Repeat after me - stitch markers are my friend! And having both a chart and written instructions on hand - on the same piece of paper even - helps tons too.

In other news, I'm going to be teaching a crochet/knit class for The Bridge. Any Portland-area folks are of course welcome to come along. Leave your email in comments if you're interested in learning or co-teaching. If all goes well it will probably be a monthly class, with perhaps a 2nd night each month for coffee/beer/SnB.

No sesame-flavored love the past few days, but I'm going to make some chicken salad tonight, and I'm sure sesame will make an appearance. Stay tuned!

What a heel....

2008-03-02T16:56:00.000-08:00

Progress!

I successfully knit the leg, turned the heel, knit the gussett, and am now knitting around for the body of the foot. And I'm so excited I can't help myself. It was much easier than I anticipated, thanks to this site. Very clear instructions and lots of good pictures.

When I picked up the stitches along the edge it was really tempting to pull out a crochet hook - is that bad? Can't tell so much in this pic but I even figured out how to carry the ribbed pattern down the top of the foot - very proud of myself.

What, you wonder how I turned a yellow/orange/pink sock into a neon green one? Well I hated the color and texture of the first ones. I like the green much better, both color and texture. Don't know if I'll feel that way when they're done, as they're acrylic (Caron Simply Soft Brites in Limelight, which, by the way, says it's a medium weight yarn but I think they lie). The yarn I have saved up for the "good pair" is Koigu KPPPM in a purple/brown-ish colorway (maybe P534 or P206?). I also have some slightly thicker peruvian merino in some unknown at this moment brand that I picked up at Fabric Depot, gorgeous blues. I'm going to force myself to knit this first sock a mate before I get carried away though.

Now that I've gotten the semi-instant gratification of doing my first sock, next pair will be much taller, too. Well maybe not MUCH, but at least a little. Maybe. >shrug<

Sesame Shrimp Love

2008-02-29T08:38:00.001-08:00

Another fabulous meal for dinner last night that I had to share!

1 lb. of shrimp (see note)
garlic salt (or garlic powder, if you have it, which I didn't)
sesame oil
rice wine vinegar
teriaki sauce (optional)

Place shrimp in a ziploc or container with a lid and sprinkle liberally with garlic salt/powder, stirring to coat. Add a few tablespoons each of sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. If desired, add a small amount of teriaki sauce. Stir again to coat and refrigerate for half an hour or so.

Pre-heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Place shrimp in the pan in an even layer, reserving the marinade. Cook on one side until pink, then flip shrimp over. Once shrimp are mostly pink on side 2, pour marinade over shrimp and toss together. Serve over rice.

*Note about the shrimp: I used de-veined 10-20's with the shell still on, so this is what I recommend. But this should be just as good with any other kind/size of shrimp you want, so long as they're not precooked "cocktail" shrimp. If you prefer not to get your hands dirty, use already peeled shrimp, but you'll be missing out on the fun ;)

HA! Now I know

2008-02-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm going to make some of these Ami from Lion Brand to use up my RHSS and similar textured stash.

And I'm going to make piles and piles of coasters with my cotton stash.

And miles of scarves with the rest (mostly LB Homespun and Chenille T&Q).

So there you go, uninspired crisis averted!

And hopefully I can build up a stock and maybe participate in our next craft sale at work, or or start selling a bit on Etsy.

Uninspired

2008-02-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

Now that my swap projects are done, I'm feeling uninspired.

I started a knitted sock the other day. Ripped it out because it was waaaaay to big, started over with smaller needles. Got about 5 inches done, started to do the heel, and got frustrated and ripped it out again.

This morning I stuck some LB Homespun in my purse, and a giant (I think Q) crochet hook, figuring I'll just make a mile-long scarf to keep my hands busy.

But I really want a project. What I really NEED is a stash-buster. I guess I could do some more dishcloths - I've got plenty of cotton left. I could try again with the sock, but I really need to sit down and go through the book, or have someone who knows what they're doing sit with me, before I try that again. Plus the plain sock wasn't really holding my attention anyway, I want something with pattern and texture and excitement.

So give me some ideas. What do those of you who knit and crochet do when you're in a slump? What's your go-to project for keeping your hands busy?

What I Did on my Swap Vacation

2008-02-26T08:56:00.000-08:00

The swap package I sent has arrived at its destination, so here's some peeks at what I sent

This bookmark (minus the border)

A set of four Coasters (this is the unfinished pic - they have a white border when finished)

An Ami penguin from the Lion Brand website. Originally meant for Christmas but with a little color change and a heart-shaped tummy patch, perfect for our All About Hearts theme.

Unfortunately there was one more thing that was supposed to be sent, but I couldn't for the life of me find it. Well go figure, this morning I found it. So Laurah gets another little package in the mail soon, and I'll post it once she's got it in hand.

Oh and since I finally gave mom her Christmas present, here's a (bad cell phone) pic in case you missed it.

Got my swap package!!

2008-02-23T18:42:00.000-08:00

It's so fabulous!! Christina you are so kind! Here's pics of what I got, sorry they're so awful (cell phone camera).

The first pic is a gorgeous shawl with hearts in it, and a scarf of hearts. Also in the package was the CYOOTEST ami fairy, a pose-able heart-covered guy I've named Gus, a little beating heart (has a string to pull and vibrates), a cookie, a heart shaped box that I'm going to decorate soon, a cute bucket tin, and some candles.

I also sent out my package today so hopefully it will arrive at its new home soon!

I'm hooked on socks!!

2008-02-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well, so far at least!

When I bought my first (3) sets of dpns, and told the woman at the store that I had just taught myself to knit and hadn't tackled anything with dpns yet, but was looking forward to making socks, she sorta rolled her eyes at me and told me that I really should start with something more simple like a hat. Well HA! Who needs hats when you can go straight for the big fish and make socks?

After some brief initial confusion (why does this say four needles? the picture only shows three? Do I knit one stitch from each needle to the next and turn it as I go?) I've got it down and am almost done with the suggested 2" of 2x2 ribbing.

If the yarn looks familiar, good for you! It's the same stuff I used to make my bamboo hook case. I didn't want to use anything superspecial, in case they didn't turn out, but I also didn't want to use RHSS. I have a whole bunch of this and a whole bunch of light blue (both worsted weight) that I'm going to practice with before I get into the two superspecial handpainted 100% merino sock yarns I bought as incentive.

Think sock-y thoughts for me!

Condo Update

2008-02-22T08:11:00.000-08:00

Well there's good news, and there's not-so-good news.

In the good news department, my credit and all things related to it could be a lot worse. There's a couple of things on my report that should have been discharged with the bankruptcy, and I'm going to look into those. There's also a couple of more recent things that hopefully I'll be able to negotiate and pay off in the near future. Having paid down my credit card will help, and keeping the car for as long as we can would help too. We'll see about that one.

In the not-so-good-news department, all this means that I do not qualify for a loan to get into my beloved studio right now.

But more good news is that there are still two phases of this building project to be completed, and in the time it takes to build them I should be able to repair much of my credit. Also my good buddy and licensed real estate agent Amanda is going to walk me through some other opportunities that might help me get into a place sooner.

Sesame Coleslaw

2008-02-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for all things sesame-flavored. It began with ramen, sad to say. One of those 10 for $1.00 brands had a sesame chicken flavor that came with an itty-bitty package of sesame oil. No wait, it was before that. When I was a kid we used to go to this chinese restaurant in St. Helens and I'd eat BBQ Pork with that funky red sauce and then covered in sesame seeds. Anyway, it was love at first taste. So here's a sesame coleslaw recipe I cooked up this morning for breakfast (yes, coleslaw for breakfast).

1 bag of coleslaw mix (mine is mostly plain cabbage with some red cabbage and carrots thrown in for good measure)
Mayo
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
Black pepper
Sesame seeds (toasted pref.)

Empty the coleslaw mix into a large bowl (big enough to have room to mix)
In a separate container, mix about half a cup of Mayo with a couple of tablespoons of rice vinegar and maybe 1/4 cup of sesame oil, and a dash (or a heavy dose) of pepper. Taste it and adjust quantaties as desired.
About 15 minutes before you want to serve it, pour the "dressing" over the cabbage and mix well. Just before serving, sprinkle liberally with toasted sesame seeds.

*Afterthought: After eating half of this delicious batch, it needs something more. It's good as is, but might be even better with the addition of some cooked/diced chicken, and maybe something crunchy like some chow mein noodles, celery, waterchestnuts, etc. If you try this yourself, let me know how it turns out!

My 5-Day Weekend, Part II

2008-02-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

The hit counter at the bottom of my blog is over 700. Who are all you people reading about my life?

Part I is here.

Part II starts with Saturday, when we packed up the Wubsters and headed to the Lloyd Center Ice Rink to celebrate Chyanne's 9th birthday. Thankfully we didn't actually have to skate, just watch. I did have my first Jamba Juice experience, which was pleasant if a little pricey. Something pomegranate, strawberry, yadda yadda. Yum, but nothing special that I couldn't do at home with a high-powered blender. After skating, Jen and Annie and the girls went to Red Robin for lunch, while my dad and I went back to The Perfect Condo.

Dad's $0.02 was that if I bought a studio, it might be harder to sell when I was ready to move on, but if I bought a 1 bedroom it would be easier to get rid of. Plus, the 1 bedrooms were on the first floor - no stairs. It sounded good at the time, so I broke down and agreed to the bigger space. It would end up being a bit more than what I'm paying now (and barely making it from one payday to the next), but in all the chaos I didn't really think about that. I did take some pictures though. That night, post-chaos, I realized that it would be better to for sure be able to afford the place now, and maybe have a little trouble selling in the future, so I'm sticking with the studio.

(View from the front door)

(View from the "living room")

(View from the "bedroom")

(View of the kitchen/bath from the front door)

That night was part II of Chyanne's birthday - pizza and a giant chocolate chip cookie-cake. It was loud, fussy, and chaotic, but Jen bought beer so it was ok. I gave Chyanne the hat that I made and meant to give her for Christmas, and she seemed pleased. Plus it's way big enough for her to wear it for several years.

Sunday my dad and his wife took our friend George and me on a road trip up to Astoria, the long way. We drove up Highway 30 through St. Helens (where my mom grew up and some of my family still lives) past Columbia Meadows (where hundreds [thousands?] of rock/chaos lovers converge every summer for RockFest), and up to the Wahkiakum County Ferry. I would have enjoyed the ride more had I not been desperate for a bathroom. Once we got to the Washington side of the river, we drove through Cathlamet, Skamokawa, Rosburg, and Naselle, and then crossed the Astoria-Megler Bridge back into Oregon. We stopped for lunch, appropriately, at the Fort George Brewery and Public House. The food was good, but not great. The beer, on the other hand, was delicious. Cranberry Peppermint Wheat is not nearly as scary-tasting as it sounds. Next door was a bakery where we each stopped and picked a sweet - mine was a Pear Tart with some sort of white cheese baked on top. It was good except rather than tart dough it was made on something akin to pizza dough. Then it was all over but the drive home. The day was perfect though. High temp that day was 60 degrees (F) and the sun shined (shone?) all day. I'm ready for spring to come back for an extended stay.

Productive weekend

2008-02-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

I can't wait til Friday, when I get to send out my SSG package. I finished item #2 last night, worked on item #3 at work today and should be able to finish it tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest (and that's just working on it at work, not taking it home). Item #4 has yet to be started but that's because I'm missing an important piece which I'll find this week. Item #5 is about half way done thanks to a long car ride yesterday.

Just a short post for now, maybe more about my weekend later.

A little late, but...

2008-02-15T21:30:00.001-08:00

My favorite Super Bowl commercial, in case you wanted to know.

Updates Updates Everywhere

2008-02-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

Craft update:
Almost done with item #2 for the SSG Swap. Just have finishing to do. Any more than that would give it away. Also purchased item #5. So items #3 and #4 to do. Goal is to send it out next Friday (which is payday, which is important). Laura, if you read this, will you send me your address please?

Life update:
I am TOTALLY in love with this condo. I went and saw the inside on Wednesday and it is absolutely perfect for me. I'm going to try to borrow money from my dad to pay off my one credit card, and sell the car that Annie and I bought last year and hopefully be able to pay that off too. Then hopefully my credit will be clear enough to get a home loan. If I can't get into this place now, they have two more building sites going up next door and the first of the two should be finished in the summer. Annie wants to leave before then, but I'm hoping that our roommate might pitch in an extra $100 in rent and I could probably afford to stay here for a while. Even better, roommate's girlfriend just got her SSI (social security) and I told him that if she's willing to pitch in $200 or so in rent she can move in here and then we'd be even more set. Roommate's girlfriend isn't my favorite person on earth (she drinks a bit, and gets a bit annoying) but it would be worth it to be able to stay here until I get the condo thing figured out.

Soup update:
I was craving soup. So I made some.
1 whole pre-baked chicken of unknown flavor from Freddy's
some butter. 1/2 a stick or so?
1 sweet onion very chopped
several carrots sliced bite-size
1 head of celery, chopped (including a good amount of the leaves, they're good)
1 package of beef polska kilbasa, halved and sliced into half-moon shapes
1.5-2 pounds of baby gold potatoes cut into halves or quarters depending on size
-Remove chicken from bones. Keep good chicken in one bowl, and place all skin/bones/etc in a large soup pot.
-cover skin/bones/et with cold water and bring to a boil. Boil until it looks yummy. Then strain and reserve the "stock" and toss out the rest.
-Melt butter in the soup pot, and add the onions and some salt & pepper. cook until the onions are soft
-Add the leaves of the celery and cook a little longer
-Add the celery and carrots and the kilbasa and cook a little more
-Add the chicken and the potatoes, then the reserved "stock"
-Cook until the potatoes are done, and then enjoy all your hard work.

Wubster Weekend and more

2008-02-12T08:19:00.000-08:00

The chaos never ends.

This past weekend, Annie and I babysat Tabi and Rhionna allllllllll weekend. I am never having children. Friday night was pretty ok, but Saturday we all went bowling and Rhionna only played about four frames before she desintigrated into a full-blown hissy fit. By the end of it, all four of us were cranky and exhausted.

Saturday night I went to dinner with Mom and a couple of friends from work. It was nice to get away from the kids and all The Breakup drama. But Sunday Annie got me back by going to church and leaving the kids with me. Chaos, yelling, pouting, lots of "I'm never coming here ever again! You're never going to watch me ever again!" Didn't get away from them until almost 8:00 Sunday night.

The hardest part of the weekend was having to pretend that everything at home was hunky-dory. We haven't told Annie's mom about The Breakup yet (gee, I hope she doesn't read my blog), so we haven't told the girls either. I did find it a little odd that neither of them asked howcome we weren't sleeping in the same bed, but horray for small miracles I guess.

Monday after work I picked up Rhionna and took her back to Jen's house, and stayed there until almost 8:00 waiting for Jen to get home and helping out where I could. But it was more of the same, chaos, yelling, arguing, etc. I need a break.

The good news, today is my Friday. Tomorrow I'll get to sleep in, but then we'll be off apartment hunting. I've got an appointment to see this condo that I'm really interested in, but the thought of owning my own place is a bit daunting. Thursday will be a lay around day. Hopefully Friday too.

I finished the first item for Laura's All About Hearts package, and I'm working on item #2. So hopefully I can get that (and items 3, 4, and 5) done this week. If I focus it shouldn't be a problem.

Never trust take out

2008-02-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

When I go to McDonalds, I expect to have to check my bag and make sure that everything is there. And, of course, the more people ordering, the more likely there will be an error.

But that's McDonalds. I do NOT expect such behavior from the 2nd best bento place within 10 minutes of my job.

What I wanted was 1) A jumbo bento with chicken and beef, 2) A 6-piece gyoza, and 3) a 4-piece veggie spring roll. When I arrived to pick it up, the price was a bit more than it usually is. I didn't want to fuss, so I didn't say anything, and when she handed me the gigantic bag of food, I thought she had mistaken 4 PIECES for 4 ORDERS of spring roll.

I got back to my desk with a mere 2 minutes of my half-hour lunch left, opened the bag, and discovered that I should have made a fuss. A very large fuss. I got the wrong wrong WRONG order! Not even CLOSE to what I was supposed to get! And with 2 minutes of lunch left, I was stuck with it.

So I'm stuck eating stir-fry veggies (x2), pork katsu (x2) and chicken teriaki (x2). Obviously a great deal of this will go home with me, or stay here at work with my name on it in big red letters so that nobody else eats it or throws it away.

Next time, I'm checking.

Do's and Don'ts

2008-02-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

Do:

Check your library out! I just checked mine and it says:

Duma key (Spoken CD).
1 of 30 holds on 5 copies
Hollywood Library
12-09-08

Yesterday it said 0 copies. It's on order, and it's been on order for a while. Showing actual copies means I'll hopefully get it in the next week. And yeah, that says that my copy is the first hold out of 30, so I'll get the first copy that comes out. For those unfamiliar, Duma Key is Stephen King's latest novel. And if you're one of those people that says, "Oh I don't like Stephen King, I'm not a horror fan," you should read the Dark Tower series. Well at least the first 4 books of it.

If you don't love your library. Well. Shame on you.

Don't:

Let your puppy get ahold of your very nice, very expensive, Koigu KPPPM yarn! This is what happens!

And for the record, this (very crappy cell phone) picture was taken when I was already about half way through unraveling and winding it. Which, for the first half, took me about 2 hours. The good news is that he doesn't seem to have damaged the yarn itself, just made a gigantic messy knot out of it (it was still in its original hank when he got ahold of it). I have two balls of this stuff and I'm saving them for my first pair of socks. Well maybe not the first pair. I should probably save it for when I've had some practice. Well, whatever.

In other news, I'm half way through the first thing I'm making Laura for the February SSG Swap. I probably could have finished it last night if I wasn't dealing with the Koigu mess. It's payday today, plus I got my tax refund (8 day turnaround, not bad!), so we should be able to pay our bills. We're Wubster-sitting this weekend. Should be fun explaining to them why their Aunties are not sleeping in the same bed anymore. Oh, and I took my wedding ring off last night.

Yay for swaps!

2008-02-07T13:32:00.000-08:00

Our swap-mom, Lesa, posted the list for February's "All About Hearts" swap. I'm excited because the two people I'm swap-connected to are both sort of craftblog-idols of mine. Christina was the first person whose blog I added to my Google Reader feed, and I love seeing what new projects she's working on and hearing about her life. Laura aka the Kidney Bean is another nifty crafter (not to be confused with a knifty knitter) who is also on my favorite blogs list. (and OMG I just noticed that I'm on her blogroll as well, now I feel special).

So, I've been digging through the web looking for cool-and-useful patterns with hearts. Of course, I can't talk about what I'm finding, but suffice it to say that I hope Laura is as tickled to open her package as I am to fill it.

Having a hard day.

2008-02-05T12:58:00.001-08:00

The Breakup (yes, capitalized) must have officially hit me today. Nevermind all the apartment-hunting I've done over the past couple of days, the mornings of having to remind myself NOT to cuddle, the nights of "I'm going to bed now" and NOT expecting a goodnight kiss. Today it hit. This was my lunch.

One of my good friends - she'll remain nameless though I shouldn't encourage protecting the guilty - berated me last night about my post-Breakup "behavior." So I'm a smart ass, big deal. I'm not going to hide how I feel (which is finally moving from "numb and a little mad" to "full on pissed off" with "fucking depressed" visible over the hill). If I have something snarky and a little (or more than a little) mean to say, I'm damn well going to say it. My heart is broken, and I'm supposed to worry about Annie's (or anyone else's) feelings? But she has decided that if I can't play nice I can't play with them at all. How's that for a support system?

The hardest part is that the rest of life doesn't slow down or, God forbid, stop just because my relationship is crashing to pieces around me. Still have to pay the rent, still have to do the dishes, still have to work. Still, still, still. Yay.

So, I'm having a rough day. I'm pissed off. I'm depressed. Good thing I refilled my Zoloft last weekend! Leave me some comment love. Then invite me over for non-date movies and tequila. Then come to my house and help me pack.

I have the best friends - EVER!

2008-02-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

In light of the recent breakup news, my good friends Ben & Amanda came down to work today to have lunch with me. They even brought me bento from Du's Grill. Now that's love.

It was nice to see them. Ben and I have been friends for... gosh... 13 years? His wife, Amanda, is awesome too. They brought their dogs, Duck and Goose, with them. Goose is just a pup but growing like a weed and too cute for words. Duck is a little older, and in the brief visit I got to have it seems like having a puppy around has made Duck mature a little ;)

It was nice to have not only the distraction, but the support. My mom's been great, but there's a big difference between the mothering, concern kind of support and the commisserating, good friend kind of support. It's good to have both. The offer of a couch to crash on and puppies to play with helps, too.

In other news, the apartment search is underway. Not a whole lot of luck yet, but I have a list of a few places to look at. I don't think I'm asking a lot, just a studio for under $550 that will let me keep my pit bull-mix dog and is on one of the three bus lines that runs near my office. Is that too much to ask?

Not so great news

2008-02-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

If you're someone I know IRL, you're bound to hear about it someway or another, probably in the near future, so let's just get it out there in the open.

Annie has decided that we should not be together anymore.

So, yeah. That's fun. If anybody has any leads on places for either of us to live, let us know. Other than that, just thing healthy healing thoughts for both of our hearts and be there for us. We're going to try this still-being-friends thing I guess. Hopefully it will not be too difficult of a transition.

For those readers not too familiar with my life, Annie has been my wife since September of 2006, and we've been together since March of 2002.

This is pretty sudden, on my end at least. So, if my blogs have a larger hint of sadness or depression in them, you'll understand I hope.

Uh, you can have that raise back, thanks.

2008-01-31T10:59:00.001-08:00

I just did my taxes. Yes, I am totally on the ball. Last year I owed. Year before that, I owed. This year I was determined to get money back, so I lowered my exemptions to 1 and crossed my fingers. I'm getting a whopping $230-something back from the feds, and I get to send the state a check for an additional $15 that they can't live without.

I think I'd rather go back to two raises ago before I owed so much, when I actually got more than $500 back from the feds and usually at least half that back from the state. Actually three raises, since I just had my annual review and got another one.

No, I don't care that they're supposedly going to be sending us all checks this year just out of the goodness of their hearts. Economy boost, my ass. How many of you will - like me - be using that money to pay bills that are piling up because you're living check-to-check anyway? Oh yeah! I've got an extra $600 to spend! Rather than pay last month's cable bill and this month's car payment, I'm going to go buy an LCD TV! Woohoo!**

Bastards.

**Ok fine, I admit it, I would LOVE to spend that rebate on more yarn. But my priorities are not always the same as the rest of my household. And a happy wife (or at least one who isn't stressed out about money) is sometimes more important than my yarn stash. Sometimes.

This is a test...

2008-01-26T15:36:00.001-08:00

This is a test of the mobile blogger system. This is only a test. If this had been an actual blog entry, I wouldn't have been sitting at a Starbucks in Troutdale for over 3 hours waiting for Annie to be done at the darkroom. Oh well, at least I've been productive. I taught myself cables! I was hoping to go to the knittin' kitten to buy some dpns but it looks like they'll be closed by the time we head back to Portland. There is a very gay man at the next table talking about going fly fishing, which is a little funny. Coffee should not take longer to order than it does to drink. I wonder why Starbucks doesn't sell steamers or italian sodas. They're a little evil (Starbucks, not steamers and italian sodas). I wonder if I could fill up all 2521 characters I have left with random thoughts about my day. Probably.

Woohoo, look what I can do!

2008-01-24T09:55:00.001-08:00

Nope, you're not seeing things. That, my friends, is KNITTING! And I did it! Woohoo!

So it's not greatly pretty, but I'm happy. I can't knit to save my life but I am bound and determined to learn. I even picked up Knitting for Dummies. This is definately a start.

It's Lion Suede, which I picked because A) it's chunky, B) it was in my stash, and C) I won't be able to insert my needle between plies. And I'm using acrylic needles, size US 10.5. Just knit stitches for now, but once I get the hang of it I'll try some purls. The hardest part has been tension. I was keeping the yarn WAY too tight at first. Now it feels a little too loose, but that's better than tight. Practice, practice, practice!

Shepherd's Pie

2008-01-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Sally bragged yesterday that she and her (going-to-be) husband Phil were going to have Shepherd's Pie for dinner. It got me thinking. I had only tried to make Shepherd's Pie once, several years ago, and at that point had only a very vague understanding of it. Meat. Potatoes. Cheese. How could you screw it up? Well I didn't, but it wasn't anything to write home about either.

So I decided to give it another shot for dinner last night. What follows is what I did. Not a recipe, per se, but a general guide. My methods might be a bit odd, but I got the job done.

I started out by washing what was left of a bag of potatoes. I'd guess there were maybe 3 pounds. We like us some taters. I then used the mandoline that Jen got me for Christmas to slice them. I learned that my mandoline would rather cut long strips of short vegetables, than short strips of tall vegetables. Potatoes went in a pot with water and a handful of salt and left to their own devices.

Next up I melted some butter in my big happy pan and added some garlic-in-a-jar. Rinsed off the mandoline and used it - this time with the "julienne" blade - to chop up half a sweet onion. It turned out more grated than chopped, and I would have done the whole onion but I was getting a little ticked off at the mandoline. But it was fine. With those softened a bit, in went half a pound of pre-cut baby portabella mushrooms, plus a generous pinch of salt and several shakes of pepper. Let them be at not-quite a sautee for a few minutes, stirred once in a while, til the shrooms started to give up some liquid. Then in went two pounds of ground beef. Stir stir, smoosh smoosh (that's a technical term), sit sit. Repeat until ground beef is almost nearly done. Then I added what was left of a bag of frozen mixed veggies we had in the freezer and let it all come back up to temp and let the beef finish cooking. Finally, added two cans of undiluted cream of mushroom soup, mixed well, and turned the stove off and the oven on. About 350.

By then the potatoes were done, so they got drained and put back on the stove. Added a stick of butter and let it sit for a few to let the butter melt. Then I discovered that my potato masher was at the bottom of the pile of dirty dishes. So rather than wash it and mash them, I just went at them with some tongs. I know, not exactly the usual implement of distruction to use on potatoes, but it worked. Added a can of cheddar cheese "soup" to the potatoes, salt & peppered it all, and stirred til it was all the funny off-white color that the soup made them. Might be good to mention here that I did not PEEL the potatoes, because I'm too lazy for that and the skin won't kill you.

All this went in a pan - the ground beef mixture on the bottom and the potatoes spread on top, and then a layer of shredded cheese (I used mexican style pre-shredded because it was what we had) on top of that. Stuck it in the oven and crossed my fingers.

Five minutes later I realized the funny noise I kept hearing was the overflow of burger grease in the pan burning onto the bottom of our oven. Locked up all the animals and opened all the doors. Did I mention it was something like 20 degrees with the wind chill last night? Finally decided that the cheese was melted enough, pulled it out of the oven and let it cool for several minutes.

Annie and Shylent were impressed - Hell so was I. But next time I'm using the giant turkey roasting pan instead of the pyrex 13 x 9. And maybe some french fried onions on top.

Ok, Seriously? That's enough.

2008-01-23T12:00:00.001-08:00

The father/step-father of two good friends of mine had a heart attack on Christmas

Annie's dad is having heart and kidney problems, and will likely be going on dialysis and having a pacemaker of sorts put in.

My own father was in the hospital for a weekend with what could eventually, if he's not careful, turn into cancer of the esophagus.

Annie's grandmother was in the hospital for her first three days of dialysis, which she'll now be doing three days a week.

My own grandmother has been having some health issues and won't go to the doctor.

Last night my dear friend Ben's great-uncle passed away.

Also last night, Annie's mom was admitted to the hospital with chest pain. She's had two heart attacks and 5 stents put in previously, and they'd be doing another angiogram as I type if she was stable enough, which she's not.

Plus the whole Heath Ledger thing.

Seriously. Enough. This is all since Christmas. NOT ok. Quit it.

Baby Crochet!

2008-01-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

Not for me though

My friend/co-worker Andrea is having her second child, due in September. I'm excited for her, of course, not only because she's such a great person, but because it gives me an excuse to do some baby crochet!

I did a blanket for Andrea's daughter when she was born, but... well ok, it wasn't very good. I had only recently become yarn-obsessed again. I used LB Homespun Baby and the long purple Knifty Knitter. Ok it was awful. Mostly because of the yarn.

Another co-worker of mine recently got her first grandbaby and I made a sweater for her. It turned out much nicer (even though she won't be able to wear it for another 6 months or so).

So this time I'm thinking about making the Through Any Window baby blanket. I love me some Granny Square. Picking yarn will be fun, now that I'm not obsessed with all things boucle. Andrea was pretty anti-Pink with her first baby, so I'll have to make sure there aren't color limitations for this one. Thank goodness I have so long to figure it out! Ok secretly, I'm hoping for a boy. I'm seeing blue/grey/green non-baby colors. Hmmmmm......

My Garden

2008-01-19T08:32:00.001-08:00

I don't do well with plants. Never really have. This past spring, Annie and I planted lavender and sunflowers (started from seeds and sprouted in mini-greenhouses made of 2-liter bottles) and the sunflowers got about 5 inches tall before they died. The lavender barely poked their little heads out of the dirt.

But this is totally a garden I could get into:

**Yes, again with the crappy cell-phone pictures.

Have I mentioned how obsessed I am with this pattern? I think the lower left corner, with the black background, is the one I'm going to send to Krystal for her charity project. I don't get as excited about the black and white backgrounds as I do about the colors.

On another note, just want to give a shout-out to my dad, Mykall :) He was in the hospital last weekend, but he's home now and getting better. Poor guy doesn't get to have alcohol or spicy foods for a while (two of his favorite things), so have a drink and something with jalapenos in it for him. He's the only person in my family who actually talks to me about my blog so I know he reads it. So, Hi Dad! Love you!

Thou Shalt Not Covet...

2008-01-18T12:05:00.000-08:00

Thy Fellow Bloggers Projects!

Thanks to Susan, I have a new project to put on my list.

I want to make This out of This

(ok, maybe this instead - same yarn, different color)

This yarn was part of the first batch of Yarn of the Month that I got and I LOVE it. It's soft (softer than it looks in the close-up) and yummy.

I think I'm going to start buying myself $20 gift certificates each pay day to The Yarn Garden or another LYS that carries this stuff. That's the only way I'm going to be able to afford enough of one dye lot all at once. Unless I get visited upon by the yarn faerie.

No Swap For You!

2008-01-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

Well, my first attempt at joining a swap has gone down in a burst of flames. Thankfully, not due to my own procrastination. For some reason, my swap partner deleted her blog, and is not responding to emails from our swap hostess. I'm pretty disappointed, since I really was looking forward to this. Oh well, maybe next month?

Daisy Geek

2008-01-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, I SWEAR this wasn't on purpose. I got back to my desk from getting lunch and this is what was there:

Do we see a pattern here? A theme? An obsession? Hmmmmm

Not such a productive weekend...

2008-01-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

I was going to be REALLY productive this weekend. Really, I was.

Here's what I didn't get done:
I didn't finish copying Interview with the Vampire
I didn't track the 45-minute chunks that I'd already copied
I didn't clean the kitchen
I didn't host 6 tournaments
I didn't exchange the pants from Catherines that I so desperately need to exchange
I didn't work on Mom's poncho
I didn't sit down with Annie and figure out what we're doing with what's left of her financial aid check.

Here's what I did instead:
I finished crocheting Mom's Christmas present (yes, I'm aware we're half way through January)
I blocked Mom's Christmas present (yay!)
I went grocery shopping (twice) on an empty stomach (not a good idea)
I finished two Daisy Squares
I visited my dad in the hospital (he was rushed to the ER late Saturday night, vomiting blood, but we think he'll be ok)
I visited Annie's grandmother in another hospital (twice - she was there Friday to Sunday for her first three days of kidney dialysis)

If you are NOT my mother, you can see a picture of what I made for her here. It turned out much larger than I anticipated, but I'm still pretty pleased. I am no longer scared of filet crochet!

Daisy Square

2008-01-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

While perusing CPC several days ago, I ran across this Daisy Square pattern. The designer offers the pattern for free, and only asks that you send her at least one completed square, which she then joins and gives to charity. It's totally cute, so I decided to give it a shot. It calls for 4 colors: CA for the center color, CB for the petals, CC for the background, and CD for the border. I used only two colors (two very clashing, random, verigated colors) because I was on my way out the door for work and there were only two skeins easily grab-able. So my CA and CC are the same, and my CB and CD are the same. Oh here, see for yourself.

(Apologies for the green-ish picture. I took it with my cell phone, and for some reason everything I take with my phone turns out with a green-ish tint. I really need to get a point-and-shoot digital. Really.)

So yeah, it's pretty wild. But I'm totally in love with it! I decided to make a negative of it (using the darker yarn for the petals and border, and the lighter stuff for the center and background) which I'm nearly done with. Then I decided, why not make a whole bunch of them in random colors, in pairs (a positive and a negative), and make my own afghan out of them. So, last night I went through my stash (two giant rubbermaid bins) and separated out the worsted weight acrylic from everything else. I was surprised (pleasantly) to find that fully half of my stash is WW acrylic. I've definately got my work cut out for me.

The pattern is pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and it's a good carry-along project.

Oh and Krystal, if you're reading this - I promise I'll get a square out to you soon. My guage ended up with a 6.5" square instead of 8, but I'll do some tweaking and color picking this weekend.

Malakai Learns a New Trick

2008-01-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

He ain't stupid, he's my puppy! =D

First FO of 08!

2008-01-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

Yay!

I created this hook case for my brand new set (E through K) of bamboo crochet hooks. They are REALLY yummy and they needed a yummy place to live. This isn't the yummiest place I could think of, but it's a good home.

I used RHSS in the "Sunshine Print." I picked this up on Freecycle and wasn't sure what to do with it, and it was the closest yarn at hand when I decided to make this up.

**Well then. This is several days later now. I picked another of these skeins out of the bag, same print, and this one happened to have a label on it. Serves me right for guessing. It's actually 100% virgin wool Maypole Yarn by Oregon Worsted Company, and the color is called Indian Sunset. And I happen to have at least 4 more skeins of it, which makes me want to experiment with felting. I still don't like the colors much, but it's a little more cool now that it's wool and not acrylic :)**

I used a stitch pattern I found when I was making Holiday Dishcloths. Sc in 1st stitch, insert hook in same stitch, pull up a loop, insert in next stitch, pull up a loop, yo, pull through all three loops. After a few rows, I did a few slip stitches, then chain 2 and slip stitch in a few more stitches, rinse and repeat. I ended up with three chain spots, which I slip the hooks through to hold them. Next row I use the original stitch but the places where there are chain loops I just to single crochets under the loop so it pushes my loop to the front. I did that every several rows until I had enough loops for all 7 hooks, then a few more rows of the stitch pattern. Then I slip stitched until about half way across the row and did 4 single crochets, turned, 2 sc, turn, 2 sc, back and forth til it seemed long enough, then slip stitched back down the edge of the first tie to the spot where it split, then 2 sc back and forth for the second half of the tie.

Anyways, other than the color, I'm pretty happy with it. For your viewing pleasure.....

New Year, New Focus(es)

2008-01-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

While sitting around the brunch table yesterday morning (ok, early afternoon), we all shared what we hope to accomplish in the next year. Call them resolutions if you must, I prefer not to.

One of my big ones was to become a finisher. I love projects. I'm addicted to starting new things. But I really need to be more focused about finishing the projects I start. This morning, Dawn over at Crochet Compulsive blogged about the subject. Gee, thanks for the reminder Dawn!

So, here's my photo-less confession of the things that I need to $%*! or get off the pot about.

#1 - Mom's Christmas present, a filet piece I've been working on since about 2 days before Christmas. I'm on row 28 or 29 of 50, so it's close. And I have been working on it, sporadically. The goal is to finish it this weekend. Since it's a chart, it's mostly a sit-in-front-of-the-computer project. Just means I need to spend more time there.

#2 - Mom's poncho. Yeah, I started it, got several rows done even. Then Christmas came and I got to be drowning in the sea of dishcloths and it got put on the back burner. But I have all the yarn for it, so I really have no excuse. So when I'm done with #1, this is next. Though this is a spread-out-in-a-pet-free-room project, so maybe I can train myself to work on it for an hour each night before bed.

#3 - My shrug. I hate to say it, but I think this one is toast. I free-handed it, which was the first problem (oh why oh why do I hate patterns so much?). The second problem is that I used LB's Chenille Thick & Quick. Really chunky yarn on already really chunky arms - not a pretty sight. It's a cute idea - fingerless gloves that turn into sleeves, which are then connected to each other by a strip of three granny squares - but the yarn was just not right. I don't even think I'm going to bother frogging this one. It might just disappear into The Void.

#4 - The hook case for my bamboo crochet hooks. This is in progress, and is doing pretty well as a take-along project to carry in my purse. Freehanded, again, but turning out nicely. I just need to stick with it. This is my travel and at-work project.

#5 - Socks. Horrible, ugly socks. Made with really cute yarn (lime green with multi speckles, fingering weight acrylic I think?), but with the way wrong hook and pattern. Definitely frog-able. I'll revive them into better socks with a different hook size and different pattern, but in their current state they're not going to work.

#6 - Nancy's Mickey Mouse afghan. Annie's going to have a cow when she reads this, but I need to scrap and start from scratch with this one. I went though a phase where I was in love with LB Homespun and started it then. Now I've burnt out on it and don't want to touch the stuff. This is going to join my shrug in The Void, and I'll re-group. But not until I've finished #2.

#7 - My Hoodie. This needs more yarn, since I ran out. Well ok, first I need to FIND it. Then I need to buy more yarn and work on it. This comes after I've finished #2. But before I re-start #6.

So that's it, I think. I have two scraps, a frog, and three WIPs. One computer WIP, one travel WIP, and one spread-out WIP. I'm not going to allow myself to start anything else until I finish these three! But don't worry, I have plenty of things to tackle when these are done!

...Well, unless I make something up quick for the Swap

Pictures galore!

2007-12-31T22:20:00.000-08:00

These are the ladies that Annie and I are spending NYE with - her sister Jen and our friends Karie and Michelle.

Tonight's dinner - Flying Pie Pizza. Yummmmmmmmmm

Annie's, Jen's, and Michelle's shoes :)

Most of the following are from the turkey dinner we made last night. For two holiday meals we got sent home with barely any leftovers, so we made our own and kept all the leftovers to ourselves.

A close up of my infamous World's Best Green Bean Casserole

Annie with the wishbone from our turkey. She's a silly goose.

Just a cute picture of a picture from our wedding, with the wine we drank last night.

Annie's plate - stuffing, taters, WBGBC, Yams, turkey, cranberry sauce. And wine.

The Wilson family cat, Pelly, in his tissue paper hiding spot at Christmas.

Yummy skin-on mashed taters from our dinner. Simple, with just butter and cream and a little salt.

Our turkey. It's not burnt, just well carmelized. I stuffed it with lemon and easy-peel tangerines and basted it with syrup. It was an experiment. Turned out pretty good, it was just the very outside that wasn't quite edible.

Annie carving the turkey

My WBGBC in its pan. I usually put it in another casserole dish for the final bake, but since I have the kind of pans that can go in the oven, I cheated. Annie burned her hand on it :(

The matching pic of Annie from the wedding.

The Cat in the Hat. This is our roommate, Shylent Cat, in the hat that I made for Annie but she didn't like so I kept for myself. No, it doesn't really fit like that, he just didn't put it all the way on.

Our pup Malakai eating a tangerine from inside the turkey.

Malakai being cute. No, that's not a muzzle on his nose. It's called a Gentle Leader.

Malakai waiting for some scraps. He didn't have to wait long.

Happy 2008!

Do you, uh, Swap?

2007-12-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

I'm going on a new adventure and joining a Swap. I read about this one on Christina's blog, and since it's just starting I thought I'd join in. So here's my intro and wish list:

I've been crocheting on and off for several years, but the past year or so have really gotten into it. I've finished a few small things, like scarves and hats, and for this Christmas everyone in my family got dishcloths. I even did a stuffed bear - now THAT was an adventure. I'm excited about moving on to bigger things like ponchos, sweaters, afghans, etc, and trying out new yarns. You can only take so much worsted weight acrylic.

Wish List: Swap Swap Gals

Hobbies? Crocheting and other yarn-related stuff. I latch hook a little, when I'm feeling patient. I cook and love trying new recipes. Oh and I crochet. I watch way too much TV, but justify it by calling it crochet time :) And I'm a geek and spend too much time online. And did I mention crochet?

Crafts? Crochet, latch hook, knitting (I'm teaching myself, slowly but surely). If I had more time and space I would enjoy things like creating greeting cards, but scrapbooking is way too much for me. If I knew how to work my 70's era sewing machine I'd do that too :)

Favorite Colors? Purples & Greens, just about any shade. I like heathery colors too, especially dusky blues and dark reds. Not so much into pastels.

Favorite Animal? That's a tough one. I love dogs, especially puppies. Lately (ok, since Happy Feet came out) I've had a soft spot for penguins. And I've always liked big cats. Do gargoyles and faeries count as animals?

All Dislikes? Most chocolate candy (exception is below). I know, freakish. I'm not really into sweets in general. I don't like perfume much either. Or sappy romance novels. Or brussle sprouts.

Favorite Candies? The exception to my dislike for chocolate candy is Moonstruck Chocolate. When I die, bury me with a piece of Moonstruck in my mouth please. I like Pay Day bars too, and I'm game to try any non-chocolate candy. The other chocolate exception is hot cocoa. Oh, and things like Junior Mints, Peppermint Patties, etc.

Favorite Smell Goods? Vanilla and Lavender are tops, lime is very close behind. I also like spicy smells like pumpkin and chai, and coffee. Those are favorite flavors, along with smells.

Other things you may like or may not like? I'm a kid at heart sometimes. You might find me playing with play-doh or coloring in a color book. I also like brain puzzles like Sudoku and other puzzle-related things, but I'm not a fan of crossword puzzles. I like mystical things like faeries and gargoyles, and small things I can enjoy at my desk at work like desk-top zen gardens and cute magnets. I believe you can never have too much yarn, too many crochet hooks, or too many WIPs. :)

Christmas, Part II

2007-12-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

Well, all that's left is Mom & Grandma Sally!

Christmas Eve I was able to get off work 2 hours early. Went home and relaxed for a while, listened to Christmas tunes, goofed off, made some Curry Crab Dip, and headed to Jen's for the evening. Shylent (our roommate) joined us, and Matt (Annie's brother), and eventually Tim and Darin as well. Lots of food, good company, a few gifts to open (for those who weren't going to be around Christmas day), and one very late night. We didn't get out of there til about 11, but it was still a good time.

Christmas morning I got up early (but not as early as I should have) to get showered and dressed and start making the WBGBC (if you don't know what this is, you need to start reading my blog more often!). I used fresh green beans this time, which was much more time consuming but did create a nicer texture than frozen. We ended up leaving the house nearly an hour after we intended to, but it was alright. We stopped by Jen's to pick up some presents and food to transport out to Don & Nancy's, then had to drop Matt off at Jim & Cece's house (that's Annie's Dad and step-mom). Finally out to Sandy to Don & Nancy's... almost 11am and still none of us had gotten anything to eat! But once we got there and got settled, we got some food in our tummies and were all much happier.

Then the chaos began. 7 adults and 3 children's worth of presents to unwrap - and every one of us spoiled :) Gifts of note include Phantom of the Opera tickets for Annie and I, Bright red low-top Chuck Taylors for Annie, a bunch of kitchen stuff for me (including a mandoline, silicone baking cups, and pyrex custard cups), and of course dishcloths for both Jen & Carolyn's household and Don & Nancy's :) Nope, still no pictures.

The best part was that just before we started to open presents, it started to snow. Not inches, but enough that it accumulated on the ground. We got some pictures of that, and I'll upload them later today. After all the presents we relaxed for a while and then started to get dinner ready. Delicious, as always. I was a little heavy-handed with the garlic in the WBGBC but everyone enjoyed it anyway - even Don who is not a vegetable fan!

There was sad news in our day, though not for our family. I have a dear friend, Joey, who has been my favorite boi since high school. Her step-sister, Miracle, has also been a great friend though I haven't seen her recently. Miracle's father, Joey's step-father, was found dead of a heart attack (I believe?) on Christmas morning. Miracle, who has had several rough years since we all got out of school, is not an easy person to reach and I don't even know if she's heard about her dad yet. So if you have a moment, please say a little prayer for my friends, their mental/emotional/physical health and peace for them and their families.

Hope you all had a nice holiday - thank goodness it only happens once a year!!

Christmas - half way there

2007-12-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well we're about half way through the Christmas celebrations, and things are going well so far!

Saturday night we went with Jen & the Wubsters to see Maryann & Don (Annie's paternal aunt & uncle) and Grandma Holly (paternal grandmother). On the way out there, we all sang Christmas carols. Got a fine rendition of Jingle Bells from Rhionna (Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, jingles all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a once open sleigh, HEY!) and Santa Claus is Coming to Town from the hit group, Tootie and the Wubsters (aka all three girls). I've got recordings on my phone, so if I can figure out how I'll post them.
*UPDATE!* I did figure out how to get it from the phone to the computer. Rhi's version of Jingle Bells is here. It's late and I'm going to bed but I'll upload the other one tomorrow or Wednesday.

Maryann enjoyed her dishcloths (nope, we didn't get pictures of hers), and Annie and I will certainly enjoy the goodie bag we got from them that had a mixed bag of regular popcorn, cheese popcorn, and caramel corn, a bag of cheesy poofs, and a box of almond toffee chocolate. It was really good to see Grandma Holly, though she's not in the best health and will be starting dialysis soon (hopefully after the holidays). And Maryann made her famous (to us at least) manacotti - YUM!

Sunday morning we went to the Bridge and I spent the time trying to finish up Dad's Amigurumi Dancing Bear ala Grateful Dead. I ended up finishing it at his house before dinner, and no, we didn't get pictures of that either. Anyway, sang some Christmas carols at the Bridge (Annie was not impressed) and got to hear three amazing people talk, and best of all got a free turkey out of the deal.

Sunday afternoon we went to Do Jump! with Dad & Marcella. Think Cirque du Soleil meets a sidewalk carnival meets a toned-down version of Stomp. It was neat! Lots of gymnastics and acrobatics, juggling, dancing, etc. Very cool. We then headed to Dad's for dinner and gift exchange. Dinner was a hit as always (lamb shanks and roasted artichokes with olive oil & balsamic vinegar) and the gift exchange was great too! I think Dad liked his bear, and Marcella liked the dishcloths we gave them. I got this fabulous page-a-day calendar, a new desk fan (yay!), a beautiful Zebrawood and Maple cribbage board with brass and steel (I think?) pegs, and a new gargoyle. Annie scored with a flexible tripod and a frosted glass bowl that matches one we got as a wedding gift.

Next up is Christmas Eve at Jen's tonight, with the gang plus Shylent and Matt (Annie's brother). Appetizer potluck including Curry Crab dip (drool!!). Tomorrow we'll head out to Nancy and Don's (maternal aunt & uncle) with Jen, Carolyn and the Wubsters, which I think Shylent is also joining us for. That will be an all-day adventure with brunch, presents, relaxing, then dinner (gotta love food!). I will once again be making The World's Best Green Bean Casserole, which I highly suggest you try if you haven't yet. It's not as hard as it looks and it's delicious!

Past that, the only Christmas left is with Mom and Grandma Sally. I am so thankful that they don't fuss about whether we get together ON Christmas, or only near it. Rumor is we'll be going to Chang's Mongolian Grill for our Christmas dinner - gotta love it!!

The best things in life are simple

2007-12-19T20:49:00.001-08:00

Annie made dinner tonight :) She doesn't cook super often, but when she does it's GOOOOD!

She bought some hunks of pork at WinCo. I wasn't so sure about them, because they didn't look like much in the package. But she bought some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, marinated them overnight, and took my advice when I suggested she cook them low (275 actually) for a few hours (I think they ended up being in there for about 3 hours). When they hit 180 we turned off the oven and let them sit until the rest of dinner (rice and some baked beans) were done.

This is what was left after we all filled our plates:

Dessert was a score from the office Christmas party and gift exchange we had today. I scored some AWESOME homemade cookies from Carol. They're the best - legendary in the office. Also pictured are some ornaments that our boss gave us. The two on the left are glass teardrop-type ornaments, and on the right is a rainbow colored mini disco ball.

I know, the pictures are crap. I took them with my cell phone. Maybe someone will buy me a point-and-shoot camera for Christmas :)

Where have I been?

2007-12-18T16:14:00.001-08:00

Well, busy.

I've got nearly all of the gifts made that I need to have done, with still a week to go. I've started another project which of course is a gift for someone else so I can't talk about it. Suffice it to say that I've taught myself Filet Crochet, and it's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

We've been watching mass quantities of TV at home, too. Thank goodness for whole commercial-free seasons on DVD available from the library! Shylent and Annie have got me hooked on Grey's Anatomy (finished season 1, working on season 2), plus I've got Law & Order (season 3), House, M.D. (season 2), Frasier (season 7), South Park (season 5), and L&O SVU (seasons 1-3 and 5). Oh and I just yesterday finished season 1 of the American version of Whose Line Is it Anyway. That's some funny shit right there.

After the holiday I'll post some pictures of my Christmas Crafts, and the December installment of my Yarn of the Month Club review (better late than never, right?). Plus a couple of dishcloth patterns I've come up with.

Oh and today I got a big fat raise. I'm not supposed to tell anyone, according to my boss. But it's my raise and I'll gloat if I want to! I got a 7.5% increase, not merit-based. Plus next month is my review and I'll get my merit increase on top of it all. So HA!

Friends Christmas

2007-12-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

(I drafted this post on the 10th but I guess I didn't get around to finishing it. Huh. Well here it is)

Last night was the Mag 7 8 Holiday Gathering. Every year, somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we get together to have dinner, exchange gifts, and swap stories about years past. This year (and last) it was hosted by Michelle & Aaron (and Tara the dog). It's a drive, but they have a really cozy home (and a fancy new wrap-around deck) and Michelle makes a mean turkey.

We all bring a dish and a beverage (I brought this amazing Green Bean Casserole and some hard cider, Annie brought Yams with a Twist and Key Lime Martinis), and a gift for our not-so-secret Secret Santa exchange. I made Karie, who has a thing for lips, a plastic canvas wall-art of lips with her initials on it. It was my first attempt at plastic canvas, and I did pretty well (so long as she doesn't take it out of the frame and see what a mess of knots the back is). Darin got me some lotion, body spray, candles, and really pretty candle holders. Annie got a book for her new Mac (The Missing Manual) and gave Tim an Amazon gift certificate and some Martini wall art.

We watched Jeff Dunham and everyone but Tim laughed their butts off. Oh and it snowed! Not enough to stick but enough to see falling from the sky. To me, that's the best part of the holidays. Sitting around with good friends, eating, laughing, and reminiscing.

For those of you unfamiliar with Our Fair City...

2007-12-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

I submit this comprehensive article about Portland.

How could you NOT want to live here?

Weekend Re-Cap: A ~Hoodlum~ Adventure

2007-12-03T11:25:00.000-08:00

Friday night ended with the threat of snow on what was supposed to be our day trip to Eugene. Why Eugene? Well because that's where you get Chocolate Milk From Chocolate Cows.

Saturday morning Annie - who had spent most of the past 48 hours in bed with a respiratory something-or-other - had to go out to Beaverton for a dentist appointment. Since she was feeling so crummy, I went with her. No snow on the ground, but while I sat in the waiting room reading Reader's Digest the flakes started falling. They built up a little, but not enough to get in a fuss over. Not even enough for the news stations to break into their regularly scheduled infomercials to report on "Storm 2007." By the time we got done at the dentist, Annie was feeling well enough to give the go-ahead for our Eugene trip, so we packed up ourselves, Shylent, and Rufus the ferret and headed out.

Oh, and did I mention that the Civil War was this weekend? Thousands of football-crazed maniacs were due to flood Eugene to watch OSU and UO battle it out in the mud.

Before we could head south we had to drop off some equipment with one of Annie's classmates, who lives in Gresham. Innocently (or maybe not) I suggested that we meet half-way on 122nd & Stark. Well that also happens to be where Fabric Depot is. Like I said, maybe not so innocent. So while Annie and Shylent - and Rufus of course - waited in the car, I ran into FD to scope out some yarn. Ended up getting some LB Microspun to work on a project for Annie (she wants crochet sushi), some TLC Amore just to play with (it's turning into a scarf for myself) and some Christmas-sy yarn for one of my Christmas projects.

Thankfully by the time we got on the road, most of the crazed fans were well into their tailgate parties and traffic was light. It was even mostly dry until we hit Junction City (right about the time I texted Mom to tell her it was dry... sure, make a liar out of me).

First stop in Eugene was our favorite burrito joint on 5th & Blair. It's such a hole-in-the-wall that it's not listed in the YP. Ginormous burritos though, smothered in sauce and cheese and totally to die for. Annie even told the guy that we drove all the way from Portland just for the burritos. Not quite true, but true enough!

Our next goal was to find Shylent's friend FerretMike. We took Rufus down there so that he could bunk with Mike's ferret, Bug, for a while. Only problem though, we didn't have a phone number or address for Mike, so it was going to be a hit-and-miss adventure trying to find him. Our first attempt was at the Eugene Holiday Market, which is just like Saturday Market but goes indoors when the weather chills. We wandered around for a little while, saw some neat things but nothing we couldn't live without. No sign of Mike though, and no luck asking around. We headed down to the neighborhood that Shylent and I used to live, drove around a little hoping to spot Mike's van or motorcyle and actually did! The whole small world thing really comes in handy sometimes. While Shylent went inside with Mike to get Rufus settled, Annie and I sat out in the car - me crocheting and Annie surfing on some found wifi - and it dawned on me... Eugene is full of hippies! I bet they have some neato yarn shops!!

So we left Shylent and made our way (thank goodness for some of the net service I get on my cell phone) to a place called Soft Horizons Fibre, located in a cute little house and packed to the rafters with yarn of all sorts. After talking to a sales person (who was a knitter, but God love her anyway) I picked up a couple of hanks of some 100% Merino Wool in what I'm pretty sure is fingering weight (it's not so well labeled, so it might be sport weight, but I don't think so). The goal was to pick something up to make a pair of socks with, and according to the pattern I was looking at (found in a book at the shop... a book I didn't end up buying) 300 yards would be enough. So I got a total of 350. It's beautiful, all purple-ish colors. Pictures later. When I got home I discovered that all of the sock patterns I see online call for more than what I bought. So I've started inquiring about the availability of the same brand here in town. I don't even care if it's the same color scheme or not.

Anyways, back to pick up Shylent and then we had dinner with FerretMike and our friend Jamie, who I hadn't seen for years. Neat little cafe that had a little bit of everything and served whatever you wanted - breakfast lunch or dinner - regardless of what time it was. The food was just so-so and the coffee wasn't that great, but we had a good time catching up with old friends. By the time we left it was pouring down rain and we still had one more stop to make before heading home! Dari-Mart! We had to get our Chocolate Milk from Chocolate Cows!

If you've never had the chocolate milk from Dari Mart, you're missing out. It doesn't separate, doesn't require shaking, and doesn't get that yucky chocolate buildup on the bottom of the container. Dari Mart also carries the best egg nog you'll get without making it yourself. When people know we're going, they send us with their orders! We ended up leaving with a dozen half-gallon containers. Got lots of funny looks from the cashier and the other customers. But it was fun anyway, and well worth it!

The drive home was rainy, dark, and did I mention rainy? But we made it home in one piece and only 3 hours later than we expected to!

Self-Doubt in the Face of Do-Gooding

2007-12-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

Why do we do good? Why do we help others? Is it to make ourselves feel better, more important, etc?

This weekend I gave HomePDX some donations that we'd collected for them at work. Blankets, socks, etc, and some cash. I thought it would be neat to hand it over to someone from Home at the Bridge, but now I'm questioning that decision. Maybe I should have just had Annie take me downtown to deliver it straight to them.

I really just wanted to do something good for them. I know they're in need and I thought I could help. Now I'm questioning my motives. Did I just want to make myself feel important? Did it seem like I was just trying to get the most appreciation for my time?

Word of the Day: Annoypid

2007-11-28T08:27:00.001-08:00

Click Here for the Definition

(Sorry, but I couldn't get the whole picture to show up readable - just click it)

Gripe: What has the world come to?

2007-11-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

There are plenty of signs of the crumbling of humanity around us. Yesterday, I saw another. TV commercials advertising books.

Are we so wrapped up and plugged in to the television that we need reminders of those paper, word-filled things that used to be entertainment?

I saw two yesterday. One was for James Patterson's latest, Double Cross. The other was for Dean Koontz's new one, The Darkest Evening of the Year. Both are definately on my reading list, and had been before I saw these ads, but it was really sad to see that authors (or more likely, the publishers) have lowered themselves to advertising right alongside the Swiffer Wet-Jet and 1-900-dial-a-date.

So do me a favor. Go pick up a book. Your brain will love you for it.

In case you were wondering

2007-11-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

I added a list over there --------------->
It's things I enjoy and places I shop.
Y'know, Christmas and whatnot.
Not a hint, just a place to keep track :)
Oh and they're all clickable links, too.
For convenience, y'know. :)
Merry Merry!

#16 - In which our friend whines about her job...

2007-11-19T15:29:00.000-08:00

It was bound to happen, wasn't it?

It's not that I don't like my job. I like what I do, fairly so. But I don't think I can do this the rest of my life (if nothing else, I'll run out of audiobooks to listen to).

I find myself often lately being envious of other people's jobs. In a perfect world, I would be able to support Annie and myself (and our pets, and future children) by doing any/all of the following things: crochet, plastic canvas, latch-hook, sudoku, listening to audiobooks, cooking (without a deadline/timeframe) or watching movies/television.

So, I guess I'm going to sign up on Etsy and see if I can make a few spare bucks selling dishcloths, potholders, and coasters. Pitty a girl and buy one, k?

YotM November

2007-11-17T16:58:00.000-08:00

My beautiful, loving, wonderful wife - who doesn't always "get me" but totally comes through when it counts - signed me up for a Yarn of the Month club (like I said, she's awesome). I just today opened up my first delivery (though apparently it came in the mail a couple days ago and has been buried under a pile of stuff on the couch).

It all came nicely packed in a Tyvek-like envelope with a pattern (knitting, unfortunately), a bi-monthly newsletter (this one about fibers from Camelids - camels, llamas, alpacas, etc), and four samples of yarn. No cheapie Red Heart Super Saver here, this was awesome stuff!!

It didn't come all crocheted up like this, by the way. Just wound in a little ball. I used the same process to crochet all four samples: My favorite hook (which isn't anything special, just an aluminum H hook, but it's purple) 10 sc wide and however many sc rows I could fit without running out of yarn.

The first one I pulled out and worked with was Camelino by Knit One Crochet Too. Felt like worsted weight, I'm pretty sure. It's 90% Merino Wool and 10% Camel. I've never worked with wool before, or camel for that matter, so this was a new texture to me. I'm not sure I like wool. But it was fairly soft and on a slightly larger hook, perhaps a J or something, probably would have draped nicely.

The second was Pastaza by Cascade Yarns. It was chunkier, not quite bulky but thicker than worsted weight, and 50/50 Llama and Wool. It's got some stray fibers (you can see it better on their website than in this picture) which I didn't like, but it was neat to try out anyway.

Third out of the bag was Camelon by Zaol, 80% Merino and 20% Camel. This was my second favorite of the four, not too fiberous and fairly soft. It's also about worsted weight (4.5 st/inch according to them, but that's knit).

Last, but by far my favorite, was Lacampo by Karabella Yarns. 60% Dehaired Llama, 40% Cotton, DK weight, and ooooooh so soft. This felt SO good to work with, I WILL buy it in the future. And until then, I will visit the website often to covet and drool.

And so ends my first month of YotM. My swatches have gone back in the plastic baggies they came in, and the baggies have gone into a Crocs shoe box. I'm going to keep them all and eventually patchwork afghan them.

Until next month (or, next blog)!

Go Granny!

2007-11-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

This is Kim Werker. I don't know her (hadn't even heard of her til recently) but she seems like good people. She crochets and she likes sushi - she's already a winner in my book. Anyway, she doesn't know me either. What's funny is that she was just here in Portland not long ago and I found out about it the day after she left. My luck.

Anyways, this girl GETS IT! She totally rocks socks. This is why.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled project...

2007-11-14T19:57:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, Ma - it'll get done eventually!

But for now, this is my project of choice! It's the first arm of a shrug. Second arm is in progress. Once arms are complete, the back will be joined to them with a series of granny squares.

It's made with leftover Lion Chenille Thick & Quick that I had after I finished this afghan for my grandmother.

It's lovely luscious stuff. Mmmmmmmmm

Shock, then awe. The good kind.

2007-11-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

I hope you're sitting down, because what I'm about to say might shock some of you.

I (occassionally) go to church.

Yep, there, I said it. Right out there for everyone and their dog to hear. The Bridge isn't really like church though. If you walked by the building we inhabit, you might think that some group of riff-raff had rented out the building to hold a rock concert/open mic/jam session. Well basically, it would be true.

The original source of this riff-raff are Ken and Deborah Lloyd. And yesterday in the Oregonian there was a HUGE (not to mention beautiful) article about Ken and his newest flock, HomePDX. Go read it and then come back.

I'm in awe of Ken and his vision. You should be too. Give give give. Ken does. And he's a badass. Don't you want to be a badass too?

Yes, there is crochet in this blog.

2007-11-12T10:21:00.001-08:00

Current WIP is a poncho for my Dear Mother. She found a pattern she liked, and I just happened to have yarn in my stash (inherited from her) that would work. It's soft and lovely, and other than the colors being such that I wouldn't personally wear them, I'm totally coveting. She got this yarn at the Knittin' Kitten, and I might have to go and see if they have some more in more appropriate colors. It's niiiiice (that's for you, Ubbieten).

Other UFOs (UnFinished Objects) include my Hoodie from this pattern, done in Lion Suede, and a gift for someone who might read this so I'm not talking about it :) Both require the purchase of more yarn, but thankfully the Lion Suede is available from Smiley's for cheap. Well, relatively. Oh, and a bunch of small, quick projects also for gifts so that's all the info you get. Christmas, here I come!

Speaking of Christmas, I've started getting questions about gift ideas for Annie and I. So look for another blog soon with a list.

Three Wise Monkeys

2007-11-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

No real context for this picture, but it's cute so I had to give it its own blog. Sorry it's so dark. Stupid Mac camera.

Living Like Rockstars (but without the drugs)

2007-11-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, Annie and I decided to go live like rockstars for the weekend. Friday night we left right after I got off work (and after we stopped to gas up and replace her dead headlight) and headed for Lincoln City. After checking in at our hotel, we went up to the lounge and had Key Lime Martinis and appetizers for dinner. I forgot how much I love Key Lime Martinis. and actually I had a Chocolate Martini too that was pretty good, especially considering I am not typically a fan of chocolate.

Saturday morning we ordered room service for breakfast and sat in the room, enjoying our beautiful view of the ocean and the amazing food we ordered. Annie had Creme Brulee Stuffed French Toast, and I had Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. After breakfast we lounged around for a while. I read most of a really bitchin' book, Skinny Bitch, and Annie read Nikki Sixx's book, The Heroin Diaries. The morning passed nice and slow, just like beach time is supposed to do :) We finally got moving and went to our favorite Lincoln City Rock/Gem/Crystal shop, Crystal Wizard. Picked out a few cute things and a couple gifts for others, and headed down to the outlet mall. I was on the hunt for Crocs, but soon discovered that thanks to my square feet, I'd have to get a pair three or four sizes too long in order to get the width to fit. On the bright side, we also got to stop at Bath & Body Works and I got some more Mandarin Lime wash. MMMmmmmmm. We also stopped at a kite shop and bought a pretty rainbow-striped kite, but by the time we got back to the hotel it was time for dinner so we skipped kite flying for the day. We went up to Fathoms, the restaurant at the top floor of the hotel, and watched a beautiful sunset while we had dinner. Mussles Dijon for appetizer, more Key Lime Martinis of course, Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna for Annie and Seafood Lasagne for me, and for dessert Bananas Foster for Annie (which she said wasn't that good - well how could it be good with bananas in it? ugh), and Pumpkin Creme Brulee for me. Drooooooool. SO good.

Sunday morning we just had cereal for breakfast, and then took off down to Newport. We stopped at a turnout just north of Depoe Bay and got an amazing view of the ocean and some great pictures.

I know Seagulls aren't much more than overgrown water pigeons, but they're so pretty sometimes :) In Newport we went down to the docks and Annie took some more pictures, then we stopped to see the NOISIEST Sea Lions you could ever imagine.

They were soo cute though!! They just laid around in big puppy piles, and it would be quiet for a minute and then one would start barking and they'd all get in on it. It was so fun. When we got back to the hotel, it wasn't quite time for dinner yet, so we went out onto the beach and flew our kite :)

We were pretty much the only ones on the beach, but we did get a bit of an audience of people in the hotel coming out on the balconies to watch us. Dinner that night was at Fathoms again, this time Annie had a Kona Coffee and Peppercorn Encrusted Filet Mingon (SOO good!) and I had the Cioppino that Annie had the very first time we went there, and it was delicious. Everything was great.

Monday morning Annie just HAD to have the Creme Brulee French Toast again so it was another dose of room service. I had an omelette with chorizo sausage and red bell peppers. It was only so-so. But the Bloody Mary was good :D

As we were leaving town, I said to Annie (like I do every time we go to the coast), "Let's go up to Seaside and get tattoos!" Well this time, instead of just laughing it off and thinking longingly of doing it, we actually DID IT! Well, sort of.

We got up to Seaside around 2 and stopped at the tattoo shop, a place called Lucky Dog Tattoo. The door was locked but the guy had just gone across the street for lunch and was just coming back as we turned to leave. We told him what we wanted, and he said he had someone coming in at 2:30 but to come back at 5 and he could take care of us. I wasn't sure about waiting around that long, but Annie talked me into it. We went to Taco Time for lunch (boy has THAT chain gone downhill) and mooched someone's Wi-Fi so Annie could blog about the upcoming tattoos. We went to another Crocs shop and Annie got a new pair of shoes, and then we went and blew $20 at the arcade playing SkeeBall.

We headed back to the tattoo shop early, about 4pm, only to find the sign turned off and the door locked.

WTF???!!!

So we called the number in the directory, and low and behold the guy answers. Conversation went something like this:

Me: "Um, yeah, hi. We came in earlier and you told us to come back at 5, and it's 4, and you're not here."

Asshole: "Yeah well I'm done for the day so you're going to have to find someone else or come back another day."

Me: "Well, it would have been nice to know that two hours ago, since we told you we were from out of town and were leaving today."

Asshole: "Well I've got carpal tunnel and when I'm done, I'm done, so you're just out of luck."

That was it. No apology, no nothing. ARG!! What about our fucking tattoos??!!

So as we got back on the freeway Annie says, in her infinite wisdom, "Call Sea Tramp." Bingo!! We told Billy (who happens to be the guy who did my Celtic Knot) what happened and he said to stop by the shop when we got into town and we could see how much longer he'd need us to wait. We did, and he said to come back around 7:30, so we went home and unpacked and went back to the shop, and about 2 hours later Annie and I were the proud new owners of MATCHING TATTOOS!!!

Yeah ok, so it hurt a little.

Alright, it hurt A LOT! But beauty is pain, right? And they are BEAUTIFUL!!

So that was it, our weekend of living like rockstars. It was SO nice to get away and relax for three whole days. And now, back to my regularly scheduled life....

Wubster Wednesday: The Halloween Edition

2007-11-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Three little witches flying on their brooms. The first one said, "Gimme candy!" The second one said, "Where's my hair?" The third one said, "Auntie Zarah, do you know what the most poisonous spider in the whole world is?" Man, those kids are the best.

On the menu was (among other things): Pimples, Bellybuttons with Blood Sauce (cheese tortellini with marinara), Werewolf Fingers with booger sauce (chicken strips with honey mustard), and Snake Bites . Next time, more planning ahead. I'm not so good at that. Spent half the night in the kitchen wearing myself out instead of with the family enjoying the party.

On the craft front, I'm putting my shrug on hold for the moment. I'll just wear a jacket. I need to find a pattern and a yarn that I like, instead of making it up as I go along and using whatever I have on-hand. Instead I'm teaching myself to make Granny Squares because they're so versatile and are a good travel project, and a good way to use up yarn.

Tomorrow after work, Annie and I are headed to the beach to stay at our favorite hotel for three nights. Key Lime Martinis, here we come!! We'll be sure to take pictures. And I'll start posting some. I promise!

Halloween with Cartman and the Devil

2007-10-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

'Nuff said, yo'

Rata-tat-tat-touille

2007-10-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my costume! Wore it to the Bridge yesterday and was having a great time. Then Annie's ex showed up. Awkward!

It's not like there's really anything to be awkward about, at least for me. It's not like I "stole" Annie from her (they'd been broken up for a looooong time before I came along). But I think it was just knowing that we'd all been sort of friends at one time, and then all of a sudden this girl is straight and into Jesus (not that being into Jesus is a bad thing) and Annie's left going, "huh?"

So, it was weird. But Annie's costume was a total hit, and so was mine, and that was the important part.

Rhionna's birthday was also a huge hit. Super-kudos to Tim for doing the bulk of the work to make this way-too-genuine Ratatouille recipe I found. It was a pain but it was also delicious. The kids didn't like it, but it was vegetables so I don't think anyone expected them to. I'll post some pictures from the party later. Hmmm, that makes me wonder if anyone took pictures of the finished ratatouille before we devoured it.

Next crochet project on the list is the shrug I have to make (and wear) so that Mom will get off my case about not wearing a jacket :) Oh and I'll post pictures of my finished costume later, too.

Not quite, but almost

2007-10-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

You know it's been a productive day when your fingers start cramping up from holding a crochet hook. My costume is really REALLY close to being done. The top and fringe are all done, and all my ends are weaved in except for the skein I'm working with right now. It's long enough that it doesn't look funny, so I've decided I'm just going to finish off the current skein and when it runs out I'll call it done. I also glued my horns onto my hair clips today and they're all dry. Just in time for the Bridge tomorrow!

Next project up is a shrug. Mom had a "Mommy Moment" the other day and told me it was time to start wearing a jacket or something to cover my arms. We compromised and a shrug will do. I was going to use my Knifty Knitter, but now I think I might just crochet it. Hopefully something in my current yarn stash will do. Decisions, Decisions....

Alright, back to work!

Time to get cracking

2007-10-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

Annie's in Seattle with Jen and Michelle until tomorrow afternoon/evening, so I've got 24 hours of home alone time. Time to finish my costume!! I've also got the first season of House and the second season of Law & Order waiting for me to finish watching them. I might be up all night.

Speaking of Halloween, here's Rhionna and I carving her pumpkin together. She's going to be my apprentice.

Restaurant Review: Meeka Japanese Restaurant

2007-10-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Meeka Japanese Restaurant
730 NE 181ST Ave
Portland, OR 97230-6706
Phone: (503) 667-1000

Last night we had dinner at Meeka to celebrate George's birthday. Sushi connoisseurs that we are, I was a little dismayed that the place is in the middle of a strip mall, tucked between a cleaners and a tienda. I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Seating includes booths, tables, as well as more traditional Japanese low tables. The place was pretty quiet and the wait staff wasn't pushy, but didn't ignore us either. The sushi was fresh and there was a generous menu of both raw and cooked options. The "Sushi Pizza" was a neat invention - a piece of nori covered with sushi rice (like a roll, but not rolled up yet) and covered with I think 3 types of fish, spicey sauce and mayo sauce, then baked long enough to heat it through and cook the fish a little. The tempura could have had a little more flavor but was light and crisp. Prices were about average for a sushi place, but keep in mind you're buying a whole roll, not by the piece/plate. Very easy to over-order for those of us who are used to Sushi Takahashi :) We'll be back for more!

Wubster Wednesday

2007-10-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Wubster Wednesday. I love Wubster Wednesdays. I'm glad that they're close enough that we get to spend one night a week with them pretty much every week. Not that we couldn't see them pretty much any time we liked, but having a set day gives us all something to look forward to. Usually we pick the kids up, have dinner at Jen & Carolyn's, and watch Kid Nation. Last night was a little off because Carolyn was recovering from eye surgery and we had to leave before the show started to head to my dad's birthday party. Chyanne learned a new word, "hospitable" and Baby learned to correctly pronounce "envelope" (she was having trouble with the V sound). This weekend is Rhi-Rhi's third birthday. They're growing WAY too fast.

The birthday party was alright, nice to see Dad and Marcella and a few of their friends. Plus Dad's always good for a shot or two of scotch or a pint. We celebrated George's birthday too (which is today) and he got the coolest kitty-dragon t-shirt. I gotta say, for 55 years old, my dad's not looking too bad. He's got the memory of a 70-year-old, but he's still having fun so I'm happy for him.

I've got about 68 hours left to finish my Halloween costume. I'll spend at least probably 11 of that at work, and about 24 of it sleeping. That leaves just 33 hours. I've got to be able to finish it in that time! All of the small parts are done, so all that's left is the cape, but that's taking the longest (duh, it's the biggest). I thought I picked a pattern that wouldn't take very long, but I guess I was wrong. When it's all done, I'll post pictures and probably the pattern (which I made up along the way).

Until next time, Wubsters!

How did I get here?

2007-10-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well, that's a good question.
The thing is, MySpace is starting to get un-useful, since a lot of my friends and family don't use it. This way, everyone can keep track of me without having to sign up for anything.

Plus, I can logon to this from work :) teehee.

So welcome to Zarah: with a mouse, a hook, and a dream.

Cheesy, I know. But the mouse is because I'm addicted to my computer, the hook is because I've become addicted to crocheting too. And the dream? Well, it sounded good.

Thanks for visiting :)