Monday, June 30, 2008

Stash Contained.

If we could never buy another pair of slacks, eventually we'd stop gaining weight for fear of having to run around to the knitting stores pantsless. Most pants will eventually stop stretching to fit an ass... agreed?

So if I didn't want my stash to grow, why was I letting it wear an elastic-waisted skirt? Or, to complete this analogy, why was I letting the yarn live in a basket with no lid? Like a muffin top, or as we call it at our house, "North Butt", the yarn was starting to overflow it's basket as I became less and less able to prevent the slide of plastic bag across plastic bag. It was becoming unseemly and unmanageable. It was going to become the butt (har har) of jokes before too long.

The solution? Get that stash a pair of pants!!

When I moved into my 2 bedroom apartment, I moved in alone. It was before Senor and I were official, and before his lease was up elsewhere, so I brought in my stuff and put it WHERE EVER just to get it out of the way. When Senor brought his stuff (significantly less stuff than I brought to the equation, I acknowledge this), it got put away on top of WHERE EVER and we called it good. It looked neat enough, we could find most everything... most of the time, and so it has never changed.

Well it needs to change now that we've both expanded our waistlines stuff-wise.

So while Senor was out of town, I did a bit of reconfiguring, a bit of furniture moving, a bit of purging (merciless merciless purging, undies with holes? Don't need those! A bunch of removable bra straps that have lost their bras? What the... 18 pairs of tights with runs? I'm not that dancer from the famous photograph...), and now the stash has a drawer... okay, two drawers in a previously under-used dresser. It has moved out of it's stretchy skirt and into a pair of skinny jeans. It cannot expand. Literally. Which means there will be some destashing going on here to make room for future purchases.

And now we don't have to look at the stash's north butt anymore.

Coming tomorrow: photos of a finished Swallowtail Shawl!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Mo-Mentum Mo-Mentum Mo!!

Finishitis. So rare. So gratifying.

I see them, those unfinished projects, and I want them finished. I want to work on one until it's finished and then pick up the next and finish it until they are all done.

This almost never happens to me. I hope it lasts. If I can carry it through for another week, I could make some serious headway. I need to do some photo shoots of a few recent finishes, but in the meantime I present you with a single shot of the project I hold responsible for the finishitis:


The Shetland Triangle. What seemed like an insurmountable project somehow was finished in 4 days. And after that I wanted more. More finished objects. More feelings of dedication and endurance. I cast on a Swallowtail Shawl the next day. It is now 85% finished. And I have since finished a Harlot Scarf and the Citrus Yoke pullover. I'm on the move. Next will be the Ribbon Lace scarf, and meanwhile I will continue taking little bites out of the Swallowtail.

Life is good. Knitting is good. But finishing... finishing is the best. Whether it's a project or a bottle of shampoo... getting to the finish line feels so great!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Good Times

Well, it's now officially one month since the first event on my list of squirrelled blog posts, so I think it means it's time.

I know what you're all thinking. Finally! (Hello all you Strongs and Bynums, I'm sorry it's taken me so long!)

At 3:30 in the morning the alarm went off. By 4:30 in the morning Senor and I were at the airport, see photo:

By 3:30 in the afternoon we were in Traverse City, Michigan. Our bags were not. It's very discouraging when the smallest airport on earth unloads the smallest plane on earth and the 7 bags come rolling out on the shortest conveyor belt on earth and NONE OF THEM ARE YOURS!! You have nothing to wear to the wedding, you have nothing to wear to the rehearsal dinner, you have nothing to even brush your teeth or restraighten your hair. (But you do have your knitting because you are not an idiot and carried that on)

By 4:00 in the afternoon we were checked in at the Holiday Inn, which was quite nice and had an ocean view. (Senor tells me that it is in fact a lake. Barbara tells me it's actually a bay attached to a lake. I say you can't see the other side. It's ocean.)

By 4:15 in the afternoon we were enjoying oceanside bevvies in plastic cups (yeah, baby, just the way I like it) and some fried cheese (What, buy food on the plane? We aren't Rockefellers. But we are Rockin' Fellers, thank you thank you.)

And by 5:00 we were at the rehearsal.

According to my photos of the event, the only thing that happened at the rehearsal was that the Father of the Bride (FoB) exchanged cds with the Bride... while being windblown and sassy. Don't worry, Amanda, there are pretty photos coming. Of course, the wedding itself was rehearsed casually (way to go on the low key proceedings!). It didn't take much because we were dealing with a bunch of professional wedding party members, and we were off to the rehearsal dinner at the groom's parents lovely home out in the countryside.


(Note the glazed over look in Senor's eyes, that's two hours of sleep for you)

Senor and I were still wearing the same clothes we had put on at 3:30 in the morning, and we were driving a Chevy Aveo, which we renamed El Crapeo, for obvious reasons, see photo:


While I didn't take any photos of the actual house, I did take some photos around the Bynum's property (and one of myself, cause that's just who I am):







The food was excellent, the company friendly, both new and old, and the evening beautiful, if a little windy and chilly for a native Californian. (Yu-huh, it was-so cold, Ashley High!). And the sun was still up at 9:30.

Then began the hunt for the bags. Roaming charges abounded. They promised to deliver our bags by the morning.


One arrived, not the other. We ended up picking the other bag up at the airport ourselves and then having breakfast at the appropriately named:

... where we ate at half a booth:

And I was still wearing the same clothes...

And then it was time to get ready for the wedding. A much needed shower and fresh undies and I was a new woman! Senor prepared to marry his sister, and we went out to the oceanview terrace for a pre-wedding plastic of wine.



It was a beautiful wedding, short, sweet, funny, perfect.


The groom is on the left, with two of his groomsmen.


I video taped the ceremony on my little camera, which promptly alerted me it was out of batteries, so the rest of the evening was not captured properly. I can tell you there was karaoke and wine, and karaoke ON wine. The Maid of Honor and I sang "Don't Stop Believing" at the tail end of the night, which I'm sure was very lovely. A singer in a smokey room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume... Oh so wedding appropriate. I'm still waiting to see the alleged photos of that one.

And then we went to pass out.

After the Sunday brunch, we spent the next day puttering around Traverse City, peering through the windows of closed knitting shops, and eating. We had dinner with Monte and Barbara (who just joined Ravelry, by the way... another one bites the dust, eh, staxgirl?) and a lovely restaurant, and then late night drinks with the bride and groom. A fitting end to a great weekend.

Good times.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Welcome!! The More the Merrier!!!


I want to extend a Mommy, Look What I Made! welcome to my newest family member... of whom I do not yet have a photo...

Kelly Bradley Kurtzig
Monday, June 16, 2008
5:01 pm
9lbs 10oz!!!

Kelly is my cousin's second daughter, making the second half of our family's only set of sisters. Seems like there might need to be some tiny pink knitting going on sometime soon! And some matching not-so-tiny-anymore knitting for her sister, Jamie. What would be a good summer knit for a 4 year old?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Me Me Me Meme...

1. What were you doing ten years ago?

I was working at a government defense company AND Tower Records (I was working 8am to midnight, how did I do that?!). I thought I WAS Liv Tyler from "Empire Records"-- even dressed like her character one day, how cool am I? I was dating my manager, scandal, and watching my co-workers get fired for bringing pot brownies to work (I did not partake).

2. Five things on today's "to do" list (in no particular order)
- Make a To Do list (seriously)
- Rent "Point Break" in preparation for "Point Break Live"-- I am an F-B-I-Agent!!
- Rewash mildewing laundry in the washing machine (sorry, Senor)
- Floss
- Watch So You Think You Can Dance!!!

3. Snacks I enjoy

Pickled Ginger, Parmesian flavored goldfish crackers, wine (this totally counts), cheese on toast, ginger ale (but only on airplanes)

4. Things I would do if I was a millionaire

Pay off debt, buy a house, get Senor another car (which kind do you want?), set up a craft room, buy a new wardrobe, wear matching bra and undies everyday.

5. Places I have lived

Manhattan Beach, CA
Hermosa Beach, CA
El Segundo, CA
Canterbury, UK
Da Hood, CA (also known as USC)
Sorority House @ USC-- Once we all got food poisoning from the ice machine, but this is irrelevant to the Meme.

I tag no one, but feel free to participate if you'd like... that is, assuming you haven't already.

Blogging like a Squirrel

Imagine I have these fat cheeks, all bulgy and lumpy, like a squirrel, only instead of nuts, my cheeks are filled with blog posts. I've been so busy collecting stories and events and knitting accomplishments that I am too busy putting in to have time to take out. But a blogger's cheeks can only stretch so far, and while I will not be addressing the nuts in order, I will get to all the nuts. Here is a list so as to be sure not to forget.

- Michigan Wedding
- San Louis Obispo Graduation
- Laguna Beach Wedding
- Shetland Triangle
- Swallowtail Shawl
- Dance Recital
- TSD Rally

Those are the biggies. There might be a few little sunflower seed-sized posts in between, but these are the main fare.

Of course, I am not really addressing any of these today except in as far as they apply to my current frenzy of planned productiveness.

I don't mention it a lot on the blog, not sure why, but in addition to my day job (working at my dad's dental office) I am a dance teacher. I've been teaching on and off for about 5 years, and I alternately love and hate it, depending on the day and which kids were absent from class that day. I also teach an adult tap class which I invariably love.

I find it interesting that I first decide to mention it on the verge of my semi-retirement. Our recital is this Saturday, and the prospect of time being freed up in my life has me frothing at the mouth. I don't remember the last time that June felt like the end of something and the start of an actual summer break. While the last month or two of teaching has seemed to drag on, now that it's almost over I am feeling very nostalgic about it... But then I remember how I'll be getting two evenings and Fridays back and my head starts to expand with all of the plans I am making.

Of course I'll be at the gym all the time. Every day and I'll magically love working out and will suddenly be getting every penny's worth of my monthly fee. Of course.

And all of my knitting works in progress will stop getting passed up for new projects and will seem wonderful and beautiful and compelling again.

And housework will be a pleasure as I flit about wearing a ruffly apron and singing to the rabbits who are doing my dishes while a sparrow lands on my finger and sings "Africa" in perfect harmony with me.

And the novel I started back in November for NaNoWriMo will get finished and published and I'll go to book signings in brand new clothes with a brand new figure.

And in my spare time I'll sit and watch my bank balance tick up towards the $200,000 mark, at which point I will buy my Dream House to put my kids in (in this fantasy kids are kinda like sea monkeys, they just appear when the environment is right).


All of this, my friends, will get done in the mere 7 hours a week I am getting back with the coming end of dance. Summer is awesome.

Can you see it? It's so clear to me.