Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Sometimes a girl needs a little cheese.



Every now and then, Etsy gets me. Today I decided to explore the world of stitch markers as research for possible projects for my stash of beads, and I came across this deliciousness. Fake cheese. For a girl who just "joined" Weight Watchers for the third or fourth time (this time it's for real), these cheese stitch markers were too delectable and Point free to resist. I can't wait for them to arrive!! I have made a deal with myself too, because there were some donut stitch markers that I also must have: When I've lost 3lbs, then I can get the donut stitch markers. And that's how you'll know when I get there.

To see what else the cheese maker has to offer, and I suggest you do, check out the Little Companions for Life shop.

(Also, check out the donuts, which kind would you get?)

Monday, July 23, 2007

Mommy, I made a short film!!

Go see My Husband Is So Hot on YouTube. Senor and I wrote this short film last year, and it has finally made its internet debut! Please check it out and spread the word. I'm very proud of our work and of the good work of our friends and associates. Mostly, I'm just excited to finally see it!!!!

(You may wonder why I am not in it... but I am, I'm the boobs in the red shirt.)

Note Added 7/25: I took the part as the boobs because they were filming on a day that I had to teach dance, and that was the only part short enough that they could shoot it before I had to get to class. And, well, the fact of the matter is that I am the most voluptuous of the girls in our company... Never thought I'd grow up to say that under any circumstances, much less in film-making circumstances.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Who set this thing to "Head Games"?

Guess what I got? I got a hat! I got the hat I was supposed to get from my assassin in Head Games "thousands of years ago." I am so excited, and I mean absolutely nothing but good will to my hat sender...

... because she knit it out of the goodness of her heart! She was not my assassin, she wasn't even in the same circle of doom that I was, as far as I can tell. See, I won Head Games without ever getting a hat... I won because I was the only one left who hadn't received a hat, and that was because no one knew what happened to it. So I did win, but I didn't feel like a winner. Get me so far?

Well then this lovely woman named Carol e-mailed me to offer to knit me a hat from scratch because the point was that everyone who played was supposed to get a hat. That was the REAL point of Head Games. So she knit one just for me. Just because.

What a wonderful woman. And a Canadian, at that! She actually paid international postage just to make me feel (and look) GOOD!


Lovely Canadians and their lovely handknits!!!

Thank you Carol, so much. I just love it! I can't wait for it not to be burning-ass hot so that I can wear it.

She also included some bitchin' Canada treats just for me:

There was a pen, too, but it's already been pressed into service at my office, and I forgot to bring it home. I just love the way it looks on my desk!!

I can't wait to go to Canada and say a real thank you to the Canadian air... that's as close to Carol as I'll get for now... Unless you live in Toronto, Carol... Do you? I'll meet you at Lettuce Knit in 3 weeks!!!!

*I'm going to leave this picture on my blog, in spite of the fact that I have something in my teeth. Did you notice the first time? Go back and look... Yeah. I'm awesome. But I don't have any illusions about who I am. I am the kind of person who publishes photos of themselves with cilantro in her teeth... Oy!

Knitting Dismorphic Disorder

Perhaps you have heard of Body Dismorphic Disorder (BDD). It is a psychological disorder where a person perceives their body as profoundly different than it is in reality. For example, super thin anorexic who looks in the mirror and sees a fat person; super huge body builder who looks in the mirror and sees a scrawny wimp.

I don't have this. With the exception of the skinny mirror in our guest room, I feel I am realistically acquainted with myself. I'm not the hugest person ever, but I'm not as thin as I used to be... DANGER! The change is subtle in the grand scheme of things because I can still wear a good portion of my wardrobe (mostly the stuff I don't like, but I digress). My image of myself HAS changed just enough that it is virtually impossible for me to knit the correct size garment for myself.

Thus I am diagnosing what is perhaps an undocumented psychological disorder: Knitting Dismorphic Disorder (KDD).

Those afflicted with KDD live with a deep fear that they will spend hours knitting a garment that will then not fit them, being either too small or too big. For me, I fear the too-small garment. So I measure myself, and then I have Senor measure to make sure, and I peer eagerly at the pattern.

What's this I find?! One size's finished measurement is smaller than I am, and the other is bigger. Both usually a lot smaller or bigger than I am. Which do you choose? Now take into consideration that I have gotten my gauge with a very unstretchy silk yarn... There will be little ease in this knitting... Go with the bigger, right?

Or wrong?

The spiral capelet (that's that pinky-orange thing that wouldn't grow) is complete. It has not been photographed however, because if I let go of the damn thing in order to grasp my camera, it falls down around my feet like a winning horseshoe. It's THAT MUCH TOO BIG-- It goes over my biggest parts, which I can tell you are not my shoulders, where it is supposed to rest. I knit it with unstretchy cotton, so I opted for the bigger size... and what do I have to show for it? Ring Around Senora.

And many wasted hours.

So how do I feel now that I am 39" into the Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style and I hold it up to myself and it already reaches elbow to elbow, and the directions say I'm supposed to knit ANOTHER 6" before I even add the ribbed cuffs? The looooong ribbed cuffs?

I feel a bit sick. I'll let you know how it comes out... Anyone got a big friend with cold monkey arms?

*This post not intended to replace a physician's or psychologist's care. If you fear you have KDD, please see a professional.

**It's all okay. I went to look at some Retro shrugs in progress at the Lace Style Knitalong and it turns out I did the whole thing incorrectly anyway and have to start over. I missed the line in the pattern right after "CO X number of sts"-- you know, the one that says, "You're about to do the next 9 inches wrong, you dumbass."

Back to balls... Maybe I should choose a different yarn...

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Retail Therapy anyone?

For a little pick me up, check out my friend's jewelry on Etsy:

DLS Designs Jewelry

She has some really beautiful things, and a few that I have my eye on... So you better go buy what YOU like before I get my wallet out!!!

I didn't end up buying any yarn the other day, but I did get some new lip gloss (it helped perk me up). I have a trip to Canada coming up and guess where I'm going to get to go?!

Lettuce Knit!!!! Stomping ground of the Yarn Harlot herself as well as many of the other bloggers that I keep my eye on. AND I'LL BE THERE!!!! So I'm saving my "Sorry I Didn't Get the Job" purchase for my trip. I can't wait!!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Save me, Not-Good-Enough Girl! Oh wait, Superman's Availabe? Nevermind, then.

Not all of you knew this, but I spent the last two weeks in the interview process for the position of Dance Director at my old high school. I think it was probably third on my short list of dream jobs. (First: wife, check! Second: mother, will get there soon. Third: Going home to old Chadwick.)

I didn't get it, though. I didn't really know how badly I wanted the job until now. And it's not a matter of applying elsewhere, because other schools are not my school, you know? This desire to teach dance was location specific.

So I'm having a bummer of a day. I slept until 10am just to avoid having to call my parents and tell them that I didn't get it. I found out via a "thank you for making yourself vulnerable you silly deluded girl" note in the mail, which we picked up at 10:30 last night when we got home from a party.

This is a downer of a post, I know. I suspect this is why there's never been a comic about Not-Good-Enough Girl. The superhuman ability to accept rejection isn't all that inspiring.

Oh well. Off to the yarn store to make myself feel better. I need something soft and fuzzy.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

11 1/2"

So, first of all, the directions said I had to knit in lace pattern until 11.5". I didn't discover this until I successfully reached 11 inches and then looked excitedly for the next direction. I was crestfallen. I said to myself, "Self, knit four more rows to add the 1/2 inch you forgot about, you dumbass. Then pick up the book AGAIN and look excitedly for the next direction." 1 decrease round involving one p2tog every 12 stitches or so, and then this:

Continue even until the piece measures 2.5 inches from decrease round!!!

Gah!!! After I discovered this disheartening direction, I knit to the end of a ball of Cotton Ease and called it a night.

At least it's now growing as slowly as slightly greener grass...

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Excitement and Pressure

My knitting stamina is about at a comfortable 5K these days. I've done a few larger projects now, and I'm proud, but they were like struggling through 10Ks without quite enough training. After my last 10K (Sleeveless Tux shirt), I decided to do a 5K for fun... but I didn't know I was registering for a 10K by mistake.



It's not complicated. It's going well. No mistakes (knock knock knock). But it's growing like grass. I keep measuring to see when I'll reach the "Knit in pattern until the piece measures 11" from cast on edge".

I've been at 9" for roughly the entire 21st century!



It just doesn't grow, and my patience is growing thin. Which leads me to measure more, which leads to more incidents of "Still 9 inches?!"

And it's not an unenjoyable knit. I just have so many things I want to get to... So many projects in the wings that MUST BE STARTED NOW!!!!! I'm deep in the Pressure and Excitement haze. The pressure of choosing the next project to commit to, the excitement of someday, maybe, eventually getting finished with this gosh-darn spiral shell!!!

Friday, July 06, 2007

These Socks Were Made for Walkin'

Some might say it's about time on this one. I may be alone in that sentiment (I don't know how many of you are keeping an eye on unfinished projects in my life), but still I say it without hesitation, "It's about time!"



Jaywalker 3.0 is finished. It's not without mistakes, as is my apparent destiny with all of my Jaywalkers. This pair had one weird big stitch that I guess I just didn't pull tight-- I'm talking about nearly an inch of slack on one stitch. I can't explain it. It also has one slipped stitch that got slipped one too many times, and it had a dropped stitch that I'd have had to frog more than half of a nearly finished second sock to catch. I don't think so! It was at the top of the heel flap. I just wove it down as far as it could go and sewed it down. No worries. It's just a sock. I'm okay with a mistake or two. Not on my sweaters or other types of projects, but for some reason a mistake on a Jaywalker doesn't seem to bother me much. Maybe because I make so many.

Whatever the reason, you can't tell at all that there are any problems when you look at them, and that's what matters. I'm going to e-mail a photo off to Grumperina. Maybe I'll be the 1000th pair! Wouldn't that be amazing?!

Did you notice in the photo that the jaywalkers are cruising my blog? They are big fans, ever since they were cast on. And they are such lucky socks because they can cruise Mommy, Look What I Made in the comfort of their own living room. Our DSL is all up and running at our new lovely computer. Now we can have some fun!

(And we can upload photos from the camera at home over the weekend. Yay!)

Monday, July 02, 2007

Who's a Brave Little Blogger?


Yes, this is Senora in her natural habitat. I am not ashamed. (Actually, I am a bit, but I think it's only fair to represent myself accurately). We got a new computer and a new desk, and it took us all weekend to get it all in place and all the wires on the correct side of the desk legs and all the furniture in a sensible location around it.

This is Senor in his natural habitat. Actually, this one is less accurate than mine. Senor doesn't usually look quite this non-plussed in the presence of chaos and disarray.

And lest you forget that sometimes I do look nice:

This photo was taken at Carney's on Sunset Blvd (the place that looks like a train and sells hot dogs and beer in plastic cups, Mmm-mmm!) before the Lindsey Buckingham concert. I shall now present my review of this fine fine show.

Mr. Buckingham (for he is a HE) was once a part of the still popular though broken-up band Fleetwood Mac. If you ask me, I couldn't tell that the rest of them weren't there. True, I would have liked to hear "Songbird", but even in its absence, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by how much I enjoyed this concert. I went into it not knowing what to expect from the venue (House of Blues) or the act, and I was quite pleasantly surprised by both. As far as the venue is concerned, I think it was good that I enjoyed the performance so much or I might not have enjoyed House of Blues so much; standing for the entire length of a concert would be gruelling without proper diversion. But since I was enjoying it, I found the intimacy and overall scale of the place perfect. We stood a mere 15-20 feet from the stage. From that vantage point, we got an amazing view of Lindsey's elaborate and elegant guitar playing.

Man, that guy can wail!! The highlights for me were "Never Going Back Again"- a song I love for its sparseness, which was only enhanced by being so up close and personal with the instrument and artist. It was just the man and his guitar, nothing else. The only thing that could have made this song better than the Rumors version was the absence of everything else, and that is what we were given. It was perfect.

I also loved "Big Love." You may not be familiar with this song, as I was not, but go watch it. If I knew how to make YouTube play right here on my blog as some more talented bloggers can, I would. Instead, here is a link. Big Love.

Oh, Man!!!

Also, how can you complain about "Holiday Road" as an encore?! I love an encore that makes you feel like all of the compulsory applause were worth it. ** Generally, I object to the obligatory encore. I know you haven't played your most famous song yet. Don't make me beg for it. I already stood in line and payed out the you know what to hear it.** In this case, however, I wasn't expecting to hear "Holiday Road", as it is a rather silly song, so when it started and I recognized it, I laughed and jumped up and down and be-bopped my entire way through it.

You can go your own way... or you can go Linsdey's way. I'll tell you which way I'm going.