The next wonderful surprise was a cute Queen for a Day box. . .
It was full of stitch markers - I've seen these at the LYS's but never bought any. Receiving them as a gift is really wonderful. I can't wait to start using them! I feel so spoiled! Aren't they pretty?
Then the note cards are just adorable. I love blank note cards.
Secret Pal, you definitely have your fingers on my pulse. Thank you so much. The goodies are just great.
Wow!
Just when I started losing a little faith in swaps I got a double dose of good feelings today!
The secret pal I've been sending things to finally blogged about them and SHE LIKES THEM!
I've done two other swaps - candy swap and foodies. I'm still waiting on receiving the foodies one and that was a May swap and my recipient gave me zero feedback - I just hope she liked the stuff. The candy swap was nice to receive, but I got very little feedback from my recipient. That's half the fun of giving - seeing how much your recipient likes the stuff.
Which brings me to my secret pal!
Oh, joy! Thank you so much! Things have been tough and this was just so nice to get.
I've never worked with hand dyed yarn and have been toying with the idea of playing with Kool-Aid dying. My SP8 truly did spoil me - look at this luscious hank:
I'm thinking some type of lacy shrug. Thank you! It's beautiful! Then there's the fun Fairy. You can change her clothes. M immediately dressed her. She had to have the crown and the necklace on.
Then there's this truly cute bag and the colors match the hand-dyed yarn. Again, M declared this was her purse. I told her to think again.
More photo's to come in the next post.
I need to knit a purse for my daughter's teacher. So I'm currently re-knitting the Noni Medium Carpet Bag in the Knit Picks Cherry and Tulip colors. It's going fairly quickly. I'm almost done with the body of the bag, and I started it on Monday.
I ran out of yarn for the wrap skirt, so I had to order some more. It just came in so I'll be getting back to that after I finish the bag. I think the paillettes are knitted to thickly, but I'll reserve judgement until after I've blocked this.
I also am working steadily on the Brioche Bodice. Since the stitch isn't very forgiving, I have to be careful while knitting this so it's going fairly slow. You can't drop even one stitch on this. I have about 6 inches knitted for the back. I am finding that I really like kitting with the Knit Picks Shine Worsted, which is a cotton/Modal blend. The drape is just lovely and I love the Green Apple color.
M was filthy this morning because I forgot to give her a bath last night, so I had to put her in the shower this morning.
"Okay, YOU are getting a shower this morning," I said.
M throws herself to the ground and enters into instant whine mode, "But I don't LIKE showers, ma ma!" Imagine this with her kicking the ground and said with a very bratty tone.
Of course, this sets me off, instantly. I absolutely hate it when she enters brat zone.
"Do you really think that throwing a tantrum will change my mind?"
"No," the whine softens a bit and the feet stop kicking, "but I don't want to have a shower, I want a bath."
"You had a choice yesterday - bath tonight or shower in the morning - you chose shower. Now get your clothes off and get in that shower."
Then she fake cries while she heads towards the shower. As soon as she's in the water, the whole act stops. I soap her down and get her washed.
"Okay, you're done. Here's your towel."
"I want to stay in. The water tickles and feels good!"
Mom's head slumps down, defeated. We do this dance *every* time she has to take a shower.
One of the things I've found to be fun is to watch how M's vocabulary develops. I love it when she gets creative with her descriptions if she doesn't know the word.
For instance, once while baking some cinnamon rolls for breakfast, the timer went off. M jumped up and excitedly said, "Mom, it's the come get me!"
I still smile when I think of that.
This morning she did it again.
We let our dog out from the upstairs sliding glass door because that's the only door with direct access to the back yard from the house. Since M is getting older, we ask her to let Mel out in the mornings. Sometimes M wants an adult to wait at the bottom of the stairs. This morning was such a morning. While waiting on M, she let Mel out and started walking back telling me just how good of a dog Mel was. I asked her why was he particularly good this morning and she answered, "Because he didn't goalie me today."
Goalie her? What the heck does that mean? So I asked her.
"He didn't GOALIE me, Mom," she says impatiently like I should know what the heck she means. Then she moves back and fourth on one of the stairs - you know, like a soccer goalie does.
I smile.
I just joined up with Curves last night. I was impressed at how quick the workout goes. I really hope that I continue to go.
I love my local libraries. I go to my local one, but it's small and the selection is so-so. We pay to access another local library and I'm really glad we go there, too.
But like Netflix, it requires patience. I love reading books. I now have to wait.
But the thing I like about using the library is that I can really experiment with the types of books I read. If the book is a turkey, I don't have any guilt checking it back in.
I also love how my libraries have Internet access. I can check on-line to see if they have the book. I just got the Mason-Dixon knitting book - and I've been eyeing buying it for the past couple of weeks. I also was eyeing a Felting book - the library had it and I checked it out. I ended up not liking it at all.
Anyway. I love my local library. I also found out that the local Machine Knitter's Guild gives money to the library to help purchase knitting books - which is great because they have all the latest books.
My other library started an RSS feed that shows me all the newly acquired books and DVD's. It's great as I think other folks haven't figured it out yet. Now if I can only get the other library to do the same. . .
Yes, I'm a nerd.
I didn't realize how competitive I've become with my husband's daily puzzle games. I am beta testing his stand-alone games, so I can play them anytime. But I find there's a draw to see how well I do against other people playing the same board. It's weird.
I also love his new RSS feed to show the standings with the High Score Table. It's very handy as it has all the scores on one feed and I can quickly scan to see how I did.
Again, I encourage anyone who's reading this to go and play his games.
http://www.thecodezone.com
They're a lot of fun and they're quick.
I dyed my hair earlier this week:
It's the reddest I've been ever! I'm freaking out about it a little, but I am getting compliments so it can't be all that bad!
Here's a photo of the test swatch for the wrap skirt.
I initially did it in green, but found that the paillettes (pronounced pal-ays) didn't really go that well with the green. J had a great idea, knit the skirt in the blue - and it looks pretty good because the pailletes I bought have a sheen of blue in them (Mermaid Green) and it just looks better. It's a little hard to tell from this photo because I don't have a lot of the blue knitted.
I also think three ruffles would look better on the bottom. Just the one doesn't evoke "fish tail" like I want it to. The top will be finished off with an i-cord trim so it'll go into an i-cord tie. And this is a wrap skirt.
I do like the six stitch seed stitch pattern on the sides. It will keep the fabric from wanting to curl.
So, I now need to buy some more of the blue yarn as I only have one ball. Gads, this is getting complicated.
I have a confession to make. I love watching chick films. I also don't limit them to older chick films. I also love those sappy teenage movies, too.
But the thing is, when I watch them, I end up rolling my eyes and looking around for my husband to make sure he's not seeing what I'm watching.
Some of my favorites - these are the ones that when they're on cable, I'll still watch them.
Pretty Woman
Grace of My Heart
Ever After - A Cinderella Story
Terms of Endearment
The Wedding Date (which is essentially the male version of Pretty Woman but I have a thing for Dermott Mulroney and he is absolutely HOT in this movie)
Then there's the crap. I can't help myself. I am always drawn to them.
Ice Princess
The Princess Diaries (and the sequel)
Mean Girls
I usually can only watch those types of movies once or twice. I just can't help myself. I want to watch them but honestly don't know why.
Then there's the phenomenon where I'll latch onto wanting to watch movies done by certain actors.
Julia Roberts (I can't help it, but I think I've seen everything she's done)
Sandra Bullock (She's sort of the discount Julia)
John Cusack
This atrocious taste extends into my television viewing, too, but that will have to be another post.
Oh, and this is done mostly secretly. J teases me about it as I don't tell a lot of folks about this because I'm just too embarrassed to let them know.
J, who's office is the same as my office and is located right behind me, asked me to look at his monitor. He had this up:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0606/m31-irac_f.jpg
It's the Andromeda Galaxy and shows literally a trillion stars. And the Hubble telescope took this photo.
How. Cool. Is. That.
Stuff like this really tweaks my sense of being insignificant. I used to really freak myself out when I was a kid thinking about just how small I was in the great universe. It can still freak me out if I let it.
But that brings me to some of the questions I get when I'm talking to a theist. Mainly the questions regarding how I can't accept the awesome power of god.
Well, the photo we (the human race) took is awesome. It beats walking on water any day. Jesus cured leprosy, we essentially eradicated it.
I have always maintained the human race is far kinder than any god. I know as a race we can be pretty barbaric, but we've also civilized our lives, too.
I tore my anterior cruciate when I was in college. I had surgery and am now able to walk with no problems. It is not lost on me that if I had done the same thing 100 years earlier that I'd be a life long gimp.
Man is good.
Here's my vision of the swimsuit:
Here's my vision of the wrap when it's tied around the waist:
The white lines depict where beads/pailletes will go. The scales will be done in this color bead (Transparent Green):
These will outline the scallops on the purple shell.
The wrap will have Mermaid Green pailletes knitted into it.
I'm currently working on a test swatch to see how it will look. As soon as I have it done, I'll take a photo and post it.
Debbie Stoller, of Stitch n Bitch fame, announced that she's accepting new submissions for her next book - this time she's focusing in on beads, cables, and lace.
J gave me a good idea - try to knit a mermaid swimsuit for M.
My inspiration is Ariel from Disney's Little Mermaid:
Fresh 
Here's my first attempt at knitting the beaded pattern:
I initially tried to knit with 8/0 seed beads. I was able to get the beads on the loop, but it hurt my hand. The sample above was done with 6mm round beads (which is about a 3/0 bead). I think they're too large so I ordered some 5/0 beads from the Earth Faire web site. Transparent Green AB 5/0 round and the Noir Lined Crystal AB 5/0 round.
For some reason, Blogger won't let me upload more photo's. I'll have to do it in another post.
I bought a Chrysanthemum knitting pattern because I thought it sort of looked like the FSM.
Here's my first foray into making FSM's.
It's not done. I have to knit the brown meat balls and order a pair of Oobi eyes.
I just wanted to post and brag about my husband's games. He's a computer game programmer and just went live with some of his daily puzzles.
If you are just browsing my blog, please check out his site.
He currently has six games up:
Confuse Box
Baffle Bees
Pop Pies (I named this game!)
Voracity
Chess Cards
Shi Sen
I play four of the six games on a daily basis. I just can't get the zen of Chess Cards or Baffle Bees. The others are fairly quick games. The idea behind having daily puzzles is to be able to sell the stand alone games. J's also hired a professional musician to do the music and I have to say it's really great. In the past he'd hire students, but the new music is really good.
The future games include Bulldozer - which is also a puzzle game. He's had Bulldozer for years as it was originally included in a game pack that was sold through Expert Software. Expert was bought out by Activision. He upgraded the game and they were sold through Cosmi. Now all our contracts have expired and J can market the game himself. It's actually rather nice. Folks who played the game would search out The Code Zone and email J to see if he had any more levels.
And he still gets email to this day. The idea is to make more levels and sell it on-line, too.
He's worked so hard on these and I'm really proud of him.
Grandma died on Thursday morning. My sister was able to be with her all Wednesday when she went through her decline. I'm really glad she wasn't alone. Her stomach began to seriously cramp and the medicine the nurses gave her initially made her very sick. S was able to be with her the whole time and hold her hand until she essentially fell asleep and wouldn't wake up. It's been a tough month on the whole family and we're all glad she finally died - mainly because living in a home was her worse nightmare. She was happy there as she had a great room mate and the nurses were just wonderful to her. The food was also what she liked to eat - heavy on the veggies.
The funeral is tomorrow and my mother has asked me to speak. I'll talk about what made her special to me and share some of my favorite times with her.
One of my favorite times was when she and Grandpa lived in Midland. Their home was neat as they had some acreage and would garden a lot. The back yard had a huge peach tree with a metal table and chairs under it. My sister and I would spend hours pretending to be a restaurant - complete with menus and waitresses. I don't know how many glasses of water my grandparents drank, but it was quite a lot and the two of them would let us play restaurant until the sun would go down.
Then we once got some Barbie dolls and they didn't have any clothes. So we went to the local Thrift store to see if they had any doll clothes. They didn't. But Grandma wasn't going to disappoint her grand daughters. We bought some junk jewelry and some old socks. It's amazing how she was able to whip up elegant evening dresses made out of those socks. "We always made our own toys," is something she said that I will never forget.
I will never forget how everyone would buy her a new deck of cards, but she'd still play solitaire with the same cards - bent and covered with crud. I loved seeing those cards whenever I went to visit her.
And the food you'd get when you came to visit - my goodness! I've always been on the heavy side and I know Grandma really worried about that and get on to me to lose the weight. But whenever I came to see Grandma, she would always prepare enough food to feed an army. Not only that, she'd always make sure she'd have the grand children's favorite food on hand: Chicken Fried Steak for S, Peaches from the garden for K, and Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream for me.
Finally, I will always be indebted to her commitment to education. I know my mother's college education literally changed my life and I also know her sacrifice to make it happen. She scrimped and saved and made sure the twins were able to go to college. That dedication influenced future generations to come.
Thank you, Grandma. I love you and will miss you terribly.
I'm back in Granbury to see my Grandmother, and she's weakening, but still here amoung the living. J took M to GOAM's daughter's third birthday party today (Thanks, J). I hate missing it, but I feel that I need to try spend what little time I have left with my grandmother. If I learned anything from when my grandfather was in the hospital, it's dead is dead. I won't be able to see her anymore after she dies.
Anyway, on to knitting!
I finished all four of the bags for the teachers! Yay! I was not there for the presentation of the bags to the teachers, J was. According to J, they were the hit of the day. The mom's were looking at them and saying which purse they would want and in what color. One of the teachers has requested a purse with longer handles. I'll take the one I made for her and send it to my Secret Pal. I plan on making a few for the school auction. Hopefully they'll be well received.
I started another blog: http://iknitanoni.blogspot.com. The idea is for others to post their finished bags, too. I just love how these bags knit up.
Debbie Stoller of Stitch n Bitch fame has sent out the call for submissions for her new book. Specifically she wants stuff geared towards beads, cables, and lace. I have an idea to try to design a mermaid skirt with a bikini top. Initially, I thought about adapting the pattern that I saw on the Knitty site for the Pomatomus socks as another person adapted that pattern for fingerless gloves. She calls them Mermaid gloves and they look awesome.
But I feel that stitch is a little above my skill level. Then I came across the Noni Fish Scale purse. It's a hidden gem that I totally overlooked as it's on the b-side of one the purse patterns:
Do the skirt with in a green stockinette stitch with green paillettes and a couple of layers of ruffles on the bottom for the "flippers". Then the top could be a bikini with star fish or shells - beaded instead of made with the paillettes.
On the needles right now: The Brioche Bodice from this month's Interweave Knits. I have really enjoyed wearing shells with shirts and I think this would look great in the Knit Picks Shine Worsted Green Apple. It took me a bit to wrap my head around knitting the stitch - mainly because the instructions didn't say yarn over but yarn to the front. A quick goole search yeilded a good look at what the Brioche stitch is - and it's really very easy. I had to go down on my needle size - which is a first for me. I usually hit gage when I go up two sizes. I actually had to go down a size to meet gage on this one.
I went to see my grandmother again this weekend. I also brought my daughter to Granbury - mainly to help out my folks. They've been sitting vigil on Grandma all last week and I think they really needed a break. I sat with Grandma all Saturday and briefly on Sunday.
I am truly amazed. She's stated to eat again - if you can call it that. Remember, she can't swallow and the doctor has pulled her off of food. Since my mom is now back, she signed the papers to put Grandma on Hospice. Basically, Hospice will let her die if she becomes distressed instead of taking her to the ER and doing heroic measures.
Observations: Her verbal skills have declined dramatically. Last week when I sat vigil with my uncle, Grandma was able to tell stories at length. She can barely speak now. It's very breathy. But she's completely aware of what day it is, who's supposed to come, etc. . . It's as if her mind is completely intact, but her body is totally failing her.
Since Grandma is now eating, she's also defecating and had to be changed the last time I saw her. The nurses that take care of her do a wonderful job and Grandma tells me that she's very happy there.
I was also able to feed her lunch and dinner. I'm still impressed at how much better she's looking since she's now eating again. I know it's not something she's enjoying. She's really trying hard to keep it up.
I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with her.
I finally told M about how Grandma was doing - i.e., she's very sick and will pr0bably die. M is asking me about why we die and when we will die. I tell her that we (her parents and her) won't die for a very long time. She's been asking about when will Grandma get out of the hospital. I tell her that Grandma is sick and won't be getting out of the hospital. I also told her the reason why I've been going to see her is because we think that she's not going to last much longer and that I wanted to spend as much time as I could with Grandma as she's going to die some day soon and that I won't be able to spend any more time with her again.
M was really gracious and came into see Grandma - which is not her favorite thing to do. Part of the main problem is getting to see Grandma. Many of the residents get so excited about seeing a young one and they tend to pounce on her - which is really scary for a four year old. Once we're in Grandma's room, M is just fine. My cousin found an alternate entrance - but it's not always open and is often locked.
I think I'll try to make it to Granbury next weekend to see Grandma again. If anything, it's to help spell my folks as they've had to take care of Grandma during the week. Having M at their home definitely lifts them up.
This has been difficult on everyone in the family. I think my biggest guilt is over how I want the whole ordeal over - i.e. When is she going to finally die?
I feel horrible about these feelings. For me, dead is dead. I will no longer know my Grandmother as I know her now. She will cease to exist. Thus, the real reason why I wish to spend my weekends with her. Once she's gone, she's gone. I miss my kind Grandpa Homer as he passed away about eight years ago. I know all to well what it feels to miss someone so dear.
On another note, I'm very proud of her. She's really rallied and is forcing herself to eat and drink - which is really a chore for her. I was really amazed at how well she looked this weekend - you see, the last time I saw her, she had not had any food for about 12 days - she was so lifeless and pasty. Eating food has given her some color to her face and I've notice that her strength has returned. The only thing I see as being different is her ability to speak.
I love my Grandma. The older I've become, the more I've come to respect her.
Well, I almost have two purses out of four knitted up - and one more week to finish them! Eeek!
Here's a photo of the green bag that will go to Ms. Whitener:
Here's a photo of the un-felted bag for Mrs. Todd:
I love the ruffle, but feel that the large flowers may be a bit much for this purse. I'm downsizing the flowers to see if they won't be so overwhelming.
I'm so glad to be back home - sleeping in my own bed, sitting in my own comfy chair, using my own computer. I'm finally comfortable for the first time in about two weeks.
First of all, I had a strange rash break out on the lower part of my jaw. Then another itchy patch showed up on my hip, then on my arms. I went to the doctor and found that I have some type of dermatitis. I had difficulty sleeping because I was so uncomfortable with the itch. It was not fun. Thank goodness for steroids. I'm now sleeping through the night and am pretty happy with how the medication is keeping the rash in check.
Then I get a call from my uncle last Wednesday. Grandma will not be getting her feeding tube and will slowly starve to death. The family decided to sit vigil on Grandma while she's alert and talking, so we packed up the dog, the child, and the husband and headed down to my parents house. My folks and my sister, at this time, are located on a rented sailboat somewhere in the Caribbean. After the first night, we decided that J and M should just go back home - there wasn't anything for them to do. So I stayed with my uncle at my parents house. Our schedule was to wake up, make breakfast, go to the home and sit with Grandma, go home for lunch, go back to see Grandma, go home for dinner, go back to see Grandma until about 9 pm. We talked and talked and talked. Sometimes Grandma would just sit and listen. As of today, she has not eaten anything for 12 days. I said goodbye to her yesterday after my folks got back from vacation.
All I can say is thank goodness for my new love of knitting. Granbury has a great yarn shop and I was able to run there to buy some yarn. I made a Garden Party bag for an end of year gift for one of M's teachers. As soon as I line it, I'll post a photo of the finished object.
I did the green one purse without the loopy mohair. I'll make the pink one, too, for another teacher (these are the two that help out in Extended Day), and then I'll make the Really Huge Carpet Bag (it's the one in black below) in pinks and turquoise for her main teacher. 
I also bought the pattern for the Spider Chrysanthemum's. If I knit them in a cream, I think it'll look like the FSM.
My grandmother is dying. She's had a stroke that effects her swallowing and she's too weak to have a feeding tube installed - the surgeon thinks she won't survive the surgery.
She's in Hospice care now and can have as long as 10 days to two months to live.
I'm just glad I was able to forge a good relationship with her in my adult years. We traveled around too much as kids to really know my grandparents. I had a job a couple of years ago which allowed me to go visit her quite often. It gave me a greater appreciation of all she's done for me to live the life I lead today. It all has to do with giving my mother a college education.
I love her and will really miss her. I hate the fact that she's essentially going to starve to death, but this isn't the life she wanted. She is always self-reliant and it's terribly difficult on her to be wheelchair bound in a home.
Life is too short. I'm going to go and hug my kiddo.
I just thought it was cool to hear a new theory that could support the Big Bang theory with the help of string theory - and it's actually testable.
The gist of what I understand is that the universe blows up, the energy dissipates and mass goes to nothing. Then two branes (which apparently is supported with String Theory - which is a little over my head right now) crunch together and "blam" - the universe is reborn.
So, the universe could be older than what we originally thought!
The cool thing that is that this idea sort of helps to explain a problem the Big Bang theory has -the rate in which the universe is expanding is far slower than what the models are showing. This new cyclic universe idea posits that after each Big Bang, the energy degrades - and they've been able to model it.
Now all they need to do is to test it.
Yes, I'm a nerd.
Whew! I finished my first sweater! whoo, hoo! Big needles: 10, small needles 6 (the 5's were just not sliding well and the 6's looked good). I also used Berroco Softwist Fern.
Knit-picking:
I don't think I have the hang of where short rows go. :( I think I knitted one large boob on the left side.
But the sweater fits great! I had to lengthen the bottom of it SIGNIFICANTLY because I have a long torso. I think I added a total of four inches to the bottom of the sweater. I'm not really happy at how the increases look - I swear I followed the pattern. My problem with it: they're going in the same direction. For symmetry sake, I would have preferred this to go in the opposite direction - but I think for a first time attempt at knitting something that I'll actually wear, I'm very pleased with the outcome of this thing.
As soon as it's dried, I'll post a photo of it on.
I joined a group where you can spoil someone for the next three months in exchange for getting spoiled yourself. I did something like this with the candy swap about a month ago. This one is knitting centered. (Secret Pal 8)
I have to fill out a questionnaire and post it here on my blog.
1a. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I'm still a very new knitter and haven't been exposed to a lot of different yarns. When I first started out, I tried knitting with cotton but found it to be really very tough to work with because beginners knit so tightly. Wool has definitely become what I lean towards when buying yarn. I think this is because I did several felted projects and the wool felts very well.
I did, however, finally knit with cotton after I had some projects behind me and found it really not difficult to knit with. My knitting has definitely become a little looser the more I knit.
1b. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I will tolerate fun fur for small batches or lining. Otherwise, I really don't like working with them.
2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have a Barnes and Noble book bag where I throw all my needles. I also have a set of Dennis system needles that I adore. They come in a case.
3a. How long have you been knitting?
Since October 2005
3b. Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I consider myself at an intermediate level. I can fix a problem in my knitting without frogging the darn thing (crochet hooks are wonderful things) - can finally determine the difference between a purl and knitted stitch just by looking at it. I love knitting in the round and have done a couple of intarsia projects as well as one fair isle type project.
4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No.
5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Berry style stuff.
6a. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Yes!
6b. Favorite candy?
Dark chocolate.
7a. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
High powered rocketry, crochet, sew.
7b. Do you spin?
I have a homemade drop spindle and my neighbor has given me a couple of bundles of roving to experiment with.
8a. What kind of music do you like?
Basically anything but Country and Western. Right now the music we're listening to is Radio Disney oriented because of my 4 year old daughter.
8b. Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes.
9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I love color. My favorite is blue, but I like the jewel colors and find that I tend to buy stuff with those types of colors. While I love orange, it's not a color that looks good on me.
10a. What is your family situation?
I've been married for 15 years and have a 4 year old daughter.
10b. Do you have any pets?
Unlike most knitters, I do not have a cat, but a great pound puppy named Mel. We also have a couple of feeder gold fish that we rescued from our local pet store and they've lived very long lives (I think they're going on 8 years) indeed.
11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I live in Texas. It rarely gets cold here - so not really. Ponchos are definitely a NO.
12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Toys. Especially Jess Hutch's.
13. What are you knitting right now?
The Bombshell sweater from Big Girl Knits. I'm currently half way through the waist doing the k2, p2 rib. My next projects will be to make some mittens for some teachers in my daughters school.
14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes but I've never received one! :) The Bombshell sweater is the first homemade item I've made for myself!
15a. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circular, baby! I will even go out of my way to use the Magic Loop to avoid DPN's.
15b. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Since I got the Dennis needles, I have to say plastic. When I was first learning to knit, bamboo was my choice.
16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
If you call my thumb the swift and my left hand the winder, then yes. Otherwise, I can only dream of a winder with a swift . . .
17. How did you learn to knit?
I picked up a book and taught myself the basics - and went to Joann's for a quick demonstration to make sure I was doing it right. After struggling through and knitting several squares, I wanted to try to knit SOMETHING and my neighbor, whose been knitting for years and spins her own yarn, encouraged me to knit the Stitch n Bitch Devil Hat. It took me forever, but it certainly boosted my confidence and I haven't looked back.
18. How old is your oldest UFO?
I have a set of socks that I stopped knitting because I need to frog them. I'd say it's been about two months since I picked that project up. I also have a banner I've been knitting on that has taken me a couple of months. I'm pretty close at finishing it, but I just needed a break.
19. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween
20. Is there anything that you collect?
Books
21a. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
I'm pretty bad when it comes to knitting as I really indulge myself when I can.
21b. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Interweave Knitting and Creative Knitting.
22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Cabling
23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I'm trying to knit a pair of socks from the toe up. I wear a size 10.5 women's shoe.
24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
12/04
I remember thinking that some of the comic book stuff from my childhood would be pretty neat to have IN THE FUTURE . . .
Well, J just sent me a link to Make magazine's website that shows off the new Logitech Quickcam interface. It's really cool, in a video telephone sort of way.
I'm just not sure what type of effect I'd do - I do like the goat-tee and the bunny rabbit. :)
I've started working on my very first sweater - the Bombshell from Big Girl Knits
As far as knitting skills go, it's been fairly easy - just simple knitting and purling. The directions have been easy to follow. I'm just about to knit the short rows that are needed because I'm a busy gal. I've never done short rows, but I think I am understanding it - finally. I just need to understand how to do my measurements. The BGK book didn't do such a good job illustrating where each measurement is to take place.
I knitted a couple of Easter Baskets this year. Cascade 220 is great for felting, but I was most impressed with Lion's Brand Wool. It felted up really nicely after only one wash. I also used a Joann's brand Bellezza Collection, Tessoro in Pink. It didn't felt AT ALL. Fortunately, this was for M and she loved it just the same.
Okay, for the boy baskets, I used blue and green. I think my favorite combination is the blue basket with the yellow/orange fun fur.
I knitted GOAM a skull tote back a while back (and I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it away). D, GOAM's daughter really loved the bag, so I made a skull basket for her.
I think she liked it! :)
Here's my latest finished project: Two cotton hats for a friend who's getting ready to undergo chemo.
It's interesting to realize that my knitting skills have gotten much better over the past few months. I used to hate knitting with cotton because I knitted really tightly. Well, I guess experience has finally bit me and I was able to knit this up with no problems. I did knit it from the brim up, but I like knitting from top down. I even switched to DPN's on the green hat! I usually never do that but my circulars weren't really long enough to do the magic loop well.
Just finished watching two new movies.
Good Night and Good Luck
I have no idea how Clooney got the Oscar for this. He was barely on camera. It was, however, an interesting movie. The thing that sticks out in my mind are the parallels between the Communism scare of the 50's with our current day Terrorism scare.
The Squid and the Whale
What is it lately with the independent films and not having a story? This movie just didn't go anywhere. I'm reminded by the movie June Bug and Thumbsucker. Unlike those two movies, I did finish watching this one and just felt like I wasted my time. I love story which is one of the reasons why I love books and movies. This movie got such good reviews. I was just disappointed.
Proof
I liked this movie as it had a story line. I liked the way it ended with Paltrow's character coming to terms with her delusions and talent.
The Wedding Date
I have a confession to make. I love girl movies. I just do and I hate it when I do. This one was great because you got to see Dermot Mulrooney's butt and his six pack abs.
On to books - or really, just one book.
I checked out Patricia Cornwell's Predator book and felt a little lost as I didn't understand why she was in Florida or why they were so upset at the death of a doctor. So I looked and found there was a previous book, Trace. Before I finished Predator, I had to return it to the library because someone had put a request on it, so I went ahead and checked out Trace. It took me literally a month to read that stupid book and it didn't explain about any of the death of the doctor or anything. It was also ended abruptly and there were several plot points that she failed to wrap up. After I read Cornwell's Blow Fly, I took a long break from reading any of her work - mainly because of the same reasons - it was slow and I hated the characters. But The Last Precinct brought me back into the fold - it was great! The follow up book was equally great, too. Then along comes crap like Trace. I just hate it when I get burned again.
I shouldn't have participated in this swap, but I just couldn't resist. Here's what my candy swap pal sent me: 
I particularly liked the Birch Bark. M loved the Chocolate Rocks. We packed them in her lunch and she teased her friends that she was eating rocks. :)
I have an acquaintance who works for the UT-Austin Physics department and they were "victims" of guerrilla art. She sent photo's via email & I just have to share them. 
Madam Curie - pretty self explanatory
Moebius - Underwear turned in the famous "strip"
Ada Lovelace - Known as the first programmer. 
Grace Hopper - covered with bugs. :) 
My fav: Feynman - None, Baby! :) Don't know why Cornell's is boxers with penguins..0.jpg)
Weinberg is in a thong, th-a,-thong, thong, thong 
Schrodinger was represented by a box that said, "boxers or briefs? you won't know until you open the box" (ala the Schrodinger cat
"experiment")
I love the blog Crooks and Liars. The guys running that site do a great job poking at the religious right and the politicians associated with them.
There was a video showing Hardball where they were debating the war on religion. Reverand Al Sharpton got on and he really took Tony Perkins to task. You know, it's great to see a theist get the whole separation of church and state issue. Perkins talked about how the LA county had to get rid of a cross that was an emblem on there seal. Sharpton said that it was the right thing to do because if there was any other religious symbol, then he'd want it removed, too. Sharpton said that we want a Democracy and not a Theocracy, which is where the country is moving towards. Wow! I mean, wow! A theist sees what secular American has seen for quite some time and said it publically!
Just heard that A got a job with a REALLY good consulting firm. They're very well established and have LOTS of municipal work. I've really happy for him and hope the move is a good one for him.
We had the in-laws show up this weekend and had a good time. We essentially just bumped around between the house and the hotel. We also made the trek up to IKEA in Frisco. They're hooked. As J calls it, "welcome to the cult of IKEA." It's just so easy to leave with so much stuff!
We also took M to Six Flags for the first time and went ahead and bought season passes. We rode the ship swing first. M was so excited to ride on it while we were waiting in line. . . but when the lap bar was brought down and M was "stuck", she panicked. "I don't want to ride this!" "Let me out!" The kids running the ride were kind to wait to see if we were going to stay on or not. M calmed down enough and ended up riding it. She held on really hard and concentrated on looking straight ahead. Afterwards, she claimed that she was yelling because it was just fun. :)
We then rode on a number of rides: The bob sled roller coaster, the log ride, the run away mine roller coaster and a couple of typical kid rides. She had so much fun and it was great fun watching her enjoy riding the rides.
I only had one "fat" moment on the run away mine ride. The lap bar wouldn't close, so we had to move to a different car so it would close on us. It was embarrassing and I could have just gotten up and not ridden the ride, but I stuck in there and moved to the other car without panicking. In another life, it would have ruined my day, but I pushed through it and had a great time.
I'm trying to up my phyisical activity and have done so over the past couple of weeks. I've been stiff, but happy because I'm getting out.
I'm also participating in a Candy Swap. I sent out my package and should receive mine sometime early this week.
On the knitting front, I've been knitting a banner for a group I belong to, but I've run out of yarn and need to order more. So that is on hold. Then I am not happy with how my socks are turning out - the toe looks weird and the body of the sock is too large. I'm going to have to frog what I have done and start over. I'm also going to go up on my needle size. 0 is too small! Right now I'm knitting a hat in cotton for an on-line friend who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. It's a pretty straight forward hat. I just dislike knitting with cotton.
I really miss having A show up here at the house. Just having him come in really helped out. He's super talented and I really appreciated having him stay on top of everything. His professionalism is top notch. I'm glad to get the occasional phone calls asking for references for A. I'm hoping he is enjoying some of the time off that he's getting.
What I really hate is that he's completely severed all contact from me. I know from a business standpoint I "did the right thing," but it still hurts. I am human, after all.
He's just too talented to be wasted in a dead end job. Unfortunately, he doesn't have his degree. But I'm the first to say that he is top notch and really knows his profession. I hate that the possibility exists that he won't be reimbursed at the right rate - he's that good, honestly.
On a personal note, I've received one job offer, but I turned it down. I'm still waiting on a local city job. Business has been fairly good in that I've been very busy, so I'm on the fence regarding jumping ship to go work for a competing consulting engineering firm. Let's face it, even at a part time basis, I can make more money working for myself than for a consultant.
But here's the deal. . . I'm getting burned out on drafting. I've been drafting since 1988 - 18 years with the same software.
Going to work for the consultants that I've been interviewing with has a lot of professional potential. I feel like I could easily fit into two of the three firms I've interviewed with. It's going to be a difficult decision. One group I'm really worried about is that they aren't really seeing the right person they need to break into the public works market. I feel that I am a "one trick pony" and couldn't really deliver the goods. The opportunity is really great - I could conceivable be making over $100,000 a year in one years time -of course that's *if* I can deliver. My contacts are in Tarrant County. The consulting firm I'm interviewing with is in Dallas. I really like these guys, but I just feel like I'm potentially setting myself and the firm up for failure. They also want 50+ hours a week. I have a four year old. I don't want to miss out on her childhood because of work.
The other group is located in Tarrant County, so my contacts would still be good. I get along VERY well with the Department head and feel that the office is on the ground floor of something that could grow fairly rapidly. I have a lot in common with the guy in charge and have an ease with talking to him that I really like. I just feel that the previous firm is more together regarding the business end of consulting. They have goals and an open accounting policy that I really like. I don't see myself being with the first firm on a long term basis. I'd basically take the knowledge and run because I don't wish to miss my child's childhood.
Finally, there is a city job that is currently being advertised. I'm a little under qualified for this job, but I'd love to get it because the city has a great pension plan (and they pay for health insurance at a reduced rate during retirement). The other thing that attracts me is the fact that I don't really like how the development community runs over the engineering department right now. There will need to be some updating to the current city ordinances - mainly to the drainage and development portion of the code.
The city just hired a new Engineering Director and extended the date on interviewing prospective candidates till the beginning of April - SUCK. So, I'm waiting till I know what's happening on the city front prior to entertaining other offers. I've never lived 3 miles from my job, with the exception of working out of the home.
I also interviewed with Brinker (the Chili's guys). A, BTW, if you're reading this, there are three positions open for Project Manager and I KNOW you are eminently qualified for these positions. I've applied, too, but I have a feeling that they're going to skip me and say that I'm overqualified.
There are a couple of movies that I really love seeing and feel they're true classics.
Forrest Gump
I just love how this movie merges popular culture with a great story. It makes me so happy to watch.
Seabiscuit
I remember one time when I was talking to one of my clients, he said he went to see this movie with hi wife and thought it was one of the best movies of all time. I never thought about it, but I just love how the story follows four different story lines. It's written very well. I have to agree. This is one of my all time favorites. You know it's a favorite when you watch it over and over again when it's on cable and really have decided to watch it.
The Green Mile
Wow. This was really just so good. I remember crying a number of times while watching this movie. I just love how this married the supernatural with the natural world. The story regarding the long lived mouse was really great. It definitely appeals towards my love of comic books.
The Shawshank Redemption
I'm of the generation who learned how to read from Morgan "Easy Reader" Freeman. He was just wonderful in this story. I absolutely hated the head guard (I don't know his name, but he's been in so many movies and TV shows: Highlander (movie), Carnivale (cable show), Earth 2 (TV). (Google says his name is Clancy Brown)
The Big Lebowski
Just an all time great movie. I still find myself quoting this movie. I remember seeing this in the movie theaters and just not getting it. One of the reasons why I feel the Cohen brothers are truly the best movie makers of my lifetime is because their movies are really subtle - in other words, it takes some time for you to really get the genius of their movies. The great appreciation, for me at least, comes when I re-watch Cohen movies. That's when I actually get some of the humor I missed it the first time. Plus, their choice of music is really great. I love the soundtrack to "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" too.
I'm sure I'll name others later, but for now, these are some of my all time favorites.
Well, I've been on four job interviews and have liked each place in it's own way. I still don't know if I want to go work for a consultant or for an owner (or city). I'm really on the fence about it. You see, my family is very important to me and I do not wish to lose out on seeing my daughter grow up.
I've told each firm that I was not in a hurry to accept a position as I wanted to make sure that I was picking the right one for me. They seemed to feel the same way, to that's a good sign.
We'll see what happens. Still no offers - just successful interviews, IMHO.
These are going to go to my husband's cousins family who just had baby boy #2. 
Here's the back of the hat. Notice the seam (I am beginning to hate seams). 
I also bound off too tightly as I did a stupid thing and broke the yarn before I had bound off (d'oh) so I was running out of yarn. I just made it, but it was because I BO'd tightly.
I also made a "boy" robot. 
And I'm getting better at the embroidery part. I embroidered the eyes and the mouth on this one since the toy is going to go to a small one. 
Okay, I started getting boring on this blog as it isn't really doing what I initially wanted to do with it - and that was to bitch.
Well, as my dear husband reminded me, F-em if they can't take it. So here it goes.
My business has slowed down considerably. I think it's because I've been giving poor customer service to my clients. I just had a lot of trouble saying NO to some and stringing other along so I can eventually get to their work. But in my defense, I've actually worked to get rid of my horrible clients at the expense of the good ones. Unfortunately I had to lay off my one employee - who is just fantastic - in order to look at re-tooling my company or going off to get a job working for someone else. Our bill-ables were getting to where they were *just* covering payroll, but not enough to cover other overhead expenses and I started to see the cushion I've built up slowly decline. So, rather than let the cushion go to zero - or negative - I decided to try to make a bad situation good: I gave my tech 35% of his annual salary and am paying for another full month of health care for his entire family. (Note: I think I paid him quite handsomely, so 35% was not something insignificant. In truth, he has more money in his bank account right now than I do).
So I get this nice note in the mail from our local Work Force Commission stating that the tech has applied for unemployment benefits.
I was shocked and felt very betrayed.
Applying for Unemployment Benefits directly impacts me as my company has to pay a percentage of our earnings to the state for Unemployment. If anyone actually claims on the company, then the company is required to make up the difference at tax time - in other words, I'll be the one paying the Unemployment Benefit - not some nondescript state agency.
I honestly feel that this was a direct "Fuck you" to me personally. I understand it's a difficult thing to lose a job, but I really tried to do right by him and his family. It just makes me deep down sad that it ended this way and I now have feelings of resentment towards this person.
I'm sorry I let A go. I really am. But I feel this was the best decision to make considering our work load and our prospects. I've been interviewing with companies and all of them want to talk to him because I've sung praises about his ability of being a tech. I hope someday we can look back at this and laugh. Right now, I just feel awful.
