Puke!

Remember…

for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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And We’re Back!

I came back from Make1 Fall Fiber Arts Retreat and it was AWESOME! On Friday, I got to the airport way early. I sat around knitting for a while and finished Abe’s hat. Some other ladies sitting near me were also knitting, but they were going to a book conference in Calgary. Some weird dude sat next to me and told me he was worried that the black people of America would rise up because now that a black man was president, they would think they could do whatever they wanted. But he also thought there were government made clouds that hid planes that were dousing the population in chemicals and that genetically engineered food was meant to keep us in line.

So on the plane, a small jet plane. I got a seat to myself. Had a window and had to watch our takeoff. Awesome. I got there right on time even though we left early. Everyone else was late because of the weather. So I waited around freaking out because I thought nobody was going to show up. I was working on a second hat for me. (The first one was for Abe). But they showed up and we caught a bus and it was FREEZING. Litereally. There was snow on the ground and everything. From the bus, we got on the train. Which was strange and cool. Then we got off, and we were so thankful for yarnwhispere from ravelry who had gotten directions for us.  The other girl was from Kirkland, oddly enough, which is just south of where we live.

So the directions were to walk four blocks up the hill, but there were no hills. There wa a slight slope, so me and the fishie from Kirkland laughed that they called it a hill. Pretty funny. When we got there, it was awesome. The shop was warm and there was wine and yarn and sitting in the window knitting like she is a normal person was the Yarn Harlot.  I nearly lost my mind. Later she noticed my Jayne hat and said it was awesome. It was already my favorite hat, but that makes it more awesome. While I was there, I bought some needles to make a sock since I forgot sock needles. I also got some amazing Sanguine Gryphon lace weight yarn that I will use to make Laminaria. I drank some wine and realized I hadn’t had anything other than the snack on the plane, a cookie and a Tim Horton’s Canadian maple donut at the airport.

Then we took the bus and I sat next to this nice lady who is becoming a lawyer in Canada. We talked and got sleepy and knit and looked out the windows at the utter blackness. So I had no idea where we were.

We eventually got to the very nice hotel and I threw my stuff in my hotel room. I had two queen beds so I organized my clothes and yarn and books on the other bed. Then I went downstairs and we had dinner. It was actually really good food. After dinner, we had a “raffle” for the classes on Saturday. I was at the Make1 table, ironically. I got into the Fitting Your Knits class with Stefanie Japel and Plug-N-Play Shawl with Amy Singer. Actually, I got into Travelling stitches with Cookie A and switched to Plug-N-Play Shawl after my Friday class was so awesome.

During dinner they announced that one of the teachers, Nancy Bush, just had a birthday so we sang her happy birthday. Then some dude ran into the room from out in the hall and asked who nancy was. Then he had us all stick our hands in the air and move them to the left shouting Nancy! to the right and shout Nancy! and then back and forth three times shouting Nancy! He did that about 8 times and then shouted happy birthday and jumped about 5 feet in the air and ran out of the room. Needless to say, whenever anyone did a good job and needed cheering, that was the cheer for the rest of the weekend.

After dinner, I went up to my room and watched TV and knit and then slept. I set my alarm to get up in time for yoga the next  morning which was at 7, but I woke up at 8 and the alarm never went off. It was set for AM in the PM. The clock, not the alarm. So I fixed it so I could make it the next morning.

On Friday, I went to the class - how to make a true Hapsaalu sal - which is an Estonian shawl. Nancy Bush taught and it was awesome. She had a billian amazing shawls. We learned to make nupps, which are like awesome bobbles. The class blew my mind. I was so tired by the end, but I got everything done that was scheduled for the class, which was a rectangle and one half of the border, which is sewn on. It looks awesome. It is almost done now. Need to weave in ends. I wasn’t the fastest knitter, but I was one of only a handful of people to finish by the end of the class.  I barely remember that night I was so tired!

I think I bought books on Thursday night and got them signed Friday night after dinner. It was awesome. I got my new Fitted Knits book signed by Stefanie Japel. Great book. I am almost done with the short-sleeved cardigan with ribbing. I like it a lot. Dark grey.  I got my new Estonian lace book signed by Nancy Bush. I also got the new Yarn Harlot book and a book of hers that I brought signed. It was awesome. She is so much more deadpan than I thought she would be. And looks so much like my mom. I think it is the hair. Though my mom got her hair cut and now they look nothing alike.

So Saturday I took the Fitting your knits class. It was awesome to see her teach, but I didn’t learn much more than I already knew. A few tips and tricks, but it did give me the confidence to make that cardigan. She is so nice and very smart. It was awesome. Then I took the plug-n-play shawl with amy singer who does knitty, which is awesome. The class was great. I am still working on the shawl and I think it will be beyond great when it is done.

Saturday night, we had a pj party. It was pretty good. I had three $10 beers, which was ridiculous, but good. One of the nicest cutest pregnant ladies got my picture with the Yarn Harlot.  Then they talked feminism while I watched. I went to bed around midnight and made yoga in the morning. Our brunch was the Xmas brunch because that is the only brunch they serve, so it had all this xmas stuff and dessert. It was awesome. I was so tired when I got back. It was a good thing I had the next day off. I actually had a bloody nose the whole time through 5 days after I got back because it was so dry there! It was awful. I had to keep giving my self facials by running totally hot water in the tap with a towel to hold all the steam in.

So I have been recuperating from that since then. I have finished two hats, a scarf, and whatever else. I am tired just reliving it! But it was so awesome. I hope I get to do it again next year. Pics later.

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Drawing and a comic link

Angela drew this which is pretty cool.

And I sent her a link to this comic this morning. You don’t have to be a Questionable Content fan to think that’s funny.

Abe

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Lego my game-o!

This weekend, after I got back from my grandpa’s 90th surprise birthday (in another post), Abe and I played a demo for LEGO Batman. It was so good, we went out and bought it. And LEGO Star Wars. Wow oh wow. What can I say. This has got to be one of my favorite games ever. I could play it all the time. I actually convinced Abe to play it with me tonight instead of EQ2. I am so excited because I think LittleBigPlanet is going to have very similar game play. This is exactly the game play that I like the best. I like to play Batman the best. And in Star Wars I like to play Qui Gon Jin.

So this Friday is Halloween and I need to come up with a costume. I think I am going to be Tohya Miho from Megatokyo. I have half the clothes and I totally have the shoes now that those boots have been fixed, though maybe I should wear my knee high lace up platforms instead. I think the ones I just got fixed would work better.

This weekend I also made a hat. It is from the LYS tour the Hilltop yarn store in Queen Anne. Great hat. I just need to make it longer next time or use the right size needles (10.5 instead of 9). I used Malabrigo Chunky in burgundy and it is so amazingly soft. I love it. It just needs to be bigger. I have so much hair it slides up my head. I think I am going to ask my boss if I can dye my hair purple and get my hair cut and dyed this weekend. Just normal color if I can’t go purple. I also am almost done with some socks. I just need to weave in the ends (and get pictures).

Also! I got this great bag from Deadworry - Octo-owl messenger bag. This is what I am going to use to travel to Calgary. So exciting. SO EXCITING!!

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Isaacal weekend

After the tatting party, Isaac followed me home and hung out for the weekend. Right before the turn to get to out place, on a busy street, Isaac pulled into the turn lane and his motorcycle died. I was behind him and slammed on my brakes and almost got rear-ended by a police car. It was apparently stuck in third gear. He eventually got it going again.

When we got into the apartment, we looked up some stuff for the University of Iowa where he wants to go so he can get a certificate in book binding and a degree in math, but I showed him it is about 4x the cost to go to school out of state. He still wants to go, I think. Then we spent an hour looking at comedians on You Tube and left to pick up Abe from work. THEN we bought some beer (I got the Elysian Night Owl pumpkin ale). THEN we went to Dick’s and ate it back at the apartment. I had some ice cream right before my beer which was stupid. It was okay. I did manage to finish the whole 22oz bottle while I watched You Tube some more. First we all watched corgis and then some other dogs. Cute but not very funny. Then Isaac started watching Abe play EQ2 while I watched bloopers on You Tube and laughed my head off. Eventually, we went out to watch Cowboy BeBop, which of course Isaac had never seen. We only watched a couple episodes and we were all pretty drunk. But Isaac will be coming down the next time he has a weekend off to watch all of Cowboy BeBop. I helped Isaac finish off his last beer while we played a little Soul Calibur. I kicked Abe’s ass.

The next morning we all split a dutch pancake, so yummy. I wish I could eat that every morning, but they are not that good for you. Then I wrote down for Isaac how to do the magic cast on for socks. I can never remember so it was interesting writing it down. Abe and Isaac played EQ2 together while I did that. Big mistake. I thought they would stop when I was done, but they played until 1 in the afternoon. Jerks. I guess they tie for jerk of the week for making me wait for 2 hours for lunch.

Made up for it by getting to go to Luisa’s, though. So good. Of course, I had chicken sopes.  Isaac just had a taco (he at about 7 pieces of pizza at grandma’s for lunch the previous day and was merely satiated) because he had to leave for home in a few hours and didn’t want to ride the bike that far with a full stomach.

Anyways, after lunch, Isaac showed me a song he plays on the violin that he made up. We wrote it down and now I will have to practice it. Both on the piano and the violin. He plays it so fast. I like it. The song is interesting. I really need to practice Abe’s piece, too. Anyways, at 3, when Isaac was supposed to leave, we realized I had forgotten to show Isaac how to cast on for the sock toe. So I showed him that (which took about half an hour) and sent him on his way. We printed up University of Iowa applications for him earlier and sent him with those and I gave him the orange skien of 3-ply yarn I had dyed and spun, but I forgot to give him the yarn for a surprise thing we are knitting for someone. I will see him this weekend for something else, though so I can give it to him then.

Then he called when he got home. Turns out that right when he got on the freeway and started to merge, the visor flew off his helmet and he had to drive from Seattle to Kendal (I would guess 100 miles) with no face plate on his helmet. And it was already a chilly day. He said he could barely feel his nose by the time he got home.

And while he had watched Cowboy BeBop while totally shnockered, I tried to knit a very simple basketweave (also in the dark). This did not work out well and I may need to rip it out. Frown.

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So many Skeins!

Well, I have spun up a fair bit of yarn lately. And now it is skeined and the twist set and measured and weighed. I bought a book on spinning with a spindle (Spinning in the Old Way), though I forgot I was looking for a book that covered spinning wheels too because I kind of want to make a steam punk spinning wheel with gears and stuff.

Anyways, here is some green and black yarn that is bamboo and wool. I really like it. I know exactly what it is for, but I am not gonna tell you. The bamboo was difficult to spin. But I started to figure it out. There is another half of this to spin up too.

Here is an ounce of the yarn I bought from Diane ($1 an oz). This is dyed with food coloring - blue and green. I had to add more vinegar part way through. Single ply practicing for something else that is further down.

Fall leaves colors. It was supposed to be green, but I put drips of red everywhere so it turned red all over. Now it looks like fall leaves and I really like it. Also dyed with food coloring and also from Diane’s wool. But this is three ply - navajo ply.

Fawn alpaca yarn. Three ply because it is my favorite. I spun it a little tight, but I still like it. I have no idea what to do with it. It weights about 2 oz, but I wrote down that I bought .7 oz. No idea.

Here is some vanilla and lavender colored wool/alpaca blend, which is a really nice yarn. And there is another half and then some to spin up for this, too. This is next. (Then the remaining green and black.)

Here are my upside-down Monkey socks! I am almost at the heel turn. Every time I try it on, though, it looks the same length. It keep thinking, one more pattern repeat and I will do the heel turn. Yes I am knitting both at the same time on a single 40″ circular needle. This may be my favorite method yet for knitting my own socks.

Spindlicity came out with this “mystery gauntlet” pattern. I spun up the yarn - that is pumpkin orange and gun metal that I dyed with acid dyes. Also from Diane’s yarn. The pattern called for US2 needles, but I needed US 1 to get gauge. This is single ply so I could save a ton of time instead of plying.

Here is some tatted pumpkins that I made this weekend at yet another tatting party. Good fun. A whole bunch of people were there. Though I should stop calling them tatting parties since I was the only one who tatted. Well, grandma taught my cousin Elizabeth, who is 11, the basics of tatting. Elizabeth also spent her time making friendship bracelets. I am going to make another 6 or so pumpkins (we’ll see how many I get before I hate them) and then I am going to tatt them together on a change through just the stem to make a Fall garland for my cubicle.

And for your viewing pleasure. Here is the idiot weirdo cat sitting in a box that is leaning against my violin. Box-loving Freak.

Also, that picture Abe posted for me is an idea for a watercolor painting based on a Regina Spekter song. The lyric is “I can sing this song so blue that you will cry in spite of you.” I don’t know if that comes across, but she will be painted in a cobalt blue dress with cobalt blue in the background and stuff. Her legs will be longer than in the drawing.

Finally, this is our 100th post. Crazy. Flies by. Slowly when you post as often as us.

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Blue Girl Comic

Angela asked me to post this. She drew it a day or so ago.

Abe

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Mom’s art show

This last weekend I went up to my mom’s and helped her with her first art show in her studio. It was pretty fun. The morning was really laid back. No one showed up on Saturday morning until about 1. I knit a fair bit on my Upside-down Monkey socks. The art was great. She showed with her friend Sue Erikson. I liked mom’s better, though Sue had these hilarious bird people she made from vintage paper dolls. Mom did more fine art. She sold one of her oils of the pond when it floods. My second favorite of the four she has done. I like the one that is almost all water.

I also like this one she did a long time ago that is abstract - red, mustard yellow, dark green, and black ink smooshed around and then she drew with ink on top. Reminds me of mushrooms.

She has another one of a horses eye and a pond overlaid. Really beautiful - makes me think of a water nymph. It is Flicka’s eye, who had to be put down a while ago. She was old and happy though. Tough cookie that one. She got stabbed in the side with a tree a long time ago and mom had to put this goop on her head sized gash. I think a cougar had attacked her and some other horses. Actually, I think that was another time. One of my aunt’s horses had some gashes on the face where the cougar hit it. I don’t remember. Anyways, Flicka was a touch cookie.

She also has these great prints of moths and the moon. I don’t like moths so much, they creep me out. (Though I like them more since watching The Tick.)  But I really like her prints.

She doesn’t have any of these up for sale somewhere that you can see them as far as I know, but some of her artwork is up on her Etsy site.

I went right up after work on Friday and stayed the night. I had a couple glasses of wine and a couple beers. One of the glasses of wine was this great subtle pinot. Yummy. And my aunts Carol and Karen made some DELICIOUS chili. She told me the basic recipe - fry up ground beef in cumin and other spices, mix with onions, green and red peppers, a couple cans of beans (black and pinto and whatever else you like) and some tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.

The next morning, at 10, there was still frost on the ground!! So cold. And I had forgotten my coat at work on Friday. Idiot. So I sat in the sun trying to stay arm in my Versatility cardigan and tank top.

This coming weekend I am supposed to go tatting at grandma’s, but I don’t know if I will be able to go because it seems Abe has already gotten the flu, jackass. And I don’t get my flu shot until the 5th of November (free at work). Which is also the day before I fly to Calgary.

Speaking of, I got my passport and everything, so I am all set to go. All that is left is whatever paperwork I need to fill out for Make 1 Yarns and to pack. I already started a list of things to bring. I bought Fitted Knits and a skein of their Retreat yarn from Lorna’s lace.

Also, I saw on Ravelry that the classes are up for the Nordic Knitting Conference 2009. So exciting. Isaac is going to try to take some classes with me. I want to take Rovaniemi Hand garments (Sunday). Then there is nothing that really stands out, but each day there are at least two I want to take. Friday I have to decided between Norwegian Mittens or Finnish Mitten design and Finnish Handicrafts. I need to wait to read the descriptions of the last one before I decide. There are four I would take on Saturday. So I really need to read those descriptions too.

So now I am eating my Panda Express Beijing beef at my desk while Abe eats what I am assuming is orange chicken while he watches TV. I have to out him. Since he is sick and there is nothing on TV, I got him to start reading Harry Potter. He likes it. Sucker. She wrote likeable characters and an interesting story and he is sick, so I was pretty sure he would like it. Isaac will be thrilled.

P.S. It is Roger Moore’s birthday today. Happy birthday, 007. You are my fave.

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Been busy the last two weeks

School started, the stock market went in the shitter, I played music with my friend Tom and I’ve spent as much time reading, watching and listening to the news as I can in the last two weeeks

First, I found this awesome picture on wikipedia while I was doing some research.

A 500 lb bomb fell through that dome and exploded inside the building. I was researching geodesic domes when I found the picture in the article about monolithic domes.

I’ve been reading this ars technica forum thread about the ongoing “mortgage armageddon” and I’ve found it to be a really interesting read. I particularly enjoyed the following photo. It really tickled my black-humor funny bone.

And then in this thread about the 2008 us presidential election, someone posted this video which made me cry.

Here is the page on youtube where this video lives.

Luckily, I also found http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ through that thread and I think it is very interesting indeed.

Moving on, there was also posted a link to http://www.moral-politics.com/ which is an interesting idea. It purports to be able to place your moral/political orientation within a matrix of the larger population.

There is my result. Turns out I’m a dirty social democrat. Suddenly I understand why I cant; even talk about politics with my family who are all *very* conservative.

Interestingly, here is the chart showing all of the respondents who live in the US.

And, for comparison, here is the chart for all world respondents.

So yeah. Here’s how the stock market went today.

Good times.

Here’s the chart for the last year.

Abe

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FO: Versatilty

Turned out great. I did make the panel. I got some black buttons that look a bit like bugs and or pine cones some gray ribbon. The ribbon is not as soft as I think I need but it works until I can afford to spend $10 on 2 yards of soft ribbon. Here is is from the back in the cardigan style

Here is is from the front in the cardigan style. I like it. It is comfy, but you can’t lift your arms because the “sleeves” pull up over your shoulders. I think it looks really classy. When I lose weight, it will look even better. Comfy and warm, it is great for work. I can’t wait to make another. I want to make it in baby alpaca grande about 8 ” longer and maybe 2″ wider.

Here is the hood, which I wore while I worked from home yesterday because it was so friggin’ cold.  The hood is nice and big and fits over my gimongous head.

Here is the shrug. Not my favorite. I can’t get it to button over my “assets” and I couldn’t decide whether to put the lacing at the top or bottom.

Here is the sleeve. In this picture, it looks great, but the arms don’t close properly. Where it isn’t pulled tight over my arms, the buttons keep coming undone. I might try double buttoning it.

I can’t wait to make the next one. I would do the lace border only 2 or 3 yarn overs wide, though. The k3tog hurts my wrist.

In other knittin’ news, I have started knitting some toe-up Monkey socks. The pattern is upside down since it was written for cuff-down socks, but I think I like it better. They look awesome. I would give you pictures, but the batteries on the camera just ran out after I uploaded all these pictures. They are for Socktober. I am also almost done with the Tea Yarn socks. They are nice and simple.

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