The World According to Jill

Moving Up, or maybe just sideways

2008-07-03T03:09:27Z

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, the time has come where I've outgrown the amount of space I have for this blog. I could start paying for it. Or I could just check my link list for the other one I started. So from now on posts will be
over here.

I still need to fix the colour scheme, and re-do the link lists. But over the next few days who am I kidding? It'll be weeks I'll get things straightened out.

And I'll finally be able to post the rest of the pictures from the Calgary trip, and my most recent spinning and dyeing adventures.

Make sure to update your book marks, or blog readers. Whatever newfangled sorts of things you like best!

Hope to see you all at my new blog!

Expanded updates

2008-06-28T00:45:37Z

Ok, I've been somewhat flooded with question marks after my list of highlights yesterday. I thought I would expand today. Mostly because I'm still boring and nothing exciting has happened to me lately!

~ Working after a week off sucks

Today was so freakin' slow, but I couldn't knit because the bigwigs of the company (like top of the food chain bigwigs) were in the warehouse today. But, it's almost like a long weekend, so I'm good.

~ Cozy is about 10 inches long

Cozy is now hovering around 15 inches, I watched the end of LOTR and all of Transformers yesterday. Which is a stupid movie BTW, but I got a lot of knitting done!

~ Have to go to a funeral next week

Remember awhile back I mentioned someone being terminal? Yeah, so I'm leaving work at noon on Thursday to go to a funeral. I'm not sad for Brian. He was sick a long time and fought so hard. I'm sad for those he leaves behind. All I have are happy memories.

~ Dog has been safe since her adventures last week

Unless you count being beat up by the cats. What is it about big dogs?

~ Totally got hit by a bat on my way to knitting last night (seriously)

So I was walking into the E&C on Whyte ave, and saw what I thought was a sparrow. It hit my arm and proceeded to hang upside down on the red phone booth while folding its wings in. Bats are awesome. Birds freak me out.

~ Spinning and dyeing this weekend

Bought a big-ass canning jar and a salad spinner at Chez Wally's World today. So excited!

~ Staying cool this weekend (30+ temps)

Booty shorts and lots of water.

~ That's all I got, I'm boring tonight. But I am starting to research my dream job

I want to be a Doula. Eventually becoming a midwife. This is something I've wanted ever since I was little. I have always been fascinated by pregnancy and childbirth. It's only recently that I've felt comfortable telling people "what I want to be when I grow up".

I love pregnant bellies (Hi J!) and grope them whenever I get permission. I refuse to be one of those people who acost pregnant women! The whole idea of actually growing a human being is amazing and overwhelming. And I'm just a bystander! I love reading pregnancy books and knowing whether or not the baby looks like a shrimp or a gummy bear. And seriously, there is absolutely nothing more amazing than that first cry.

Tonight will be for laundry, knitting, and watching the Spiderwick Chronicles with Dad. We're back to normal. Which is good. This house is small when 2/3 of the inhabitants aren't speaking.

I talked to my guy last night for a long time. Nothing special, told him my bat story. He's totally aware of the fact that I'm a dork. And a bit of a jackass. And he still wants me, which is pretty great.

And I better shut up now.

Happy weekend. Stay cool!

Thursday

2008-06-27T00:52:13Z

Hey Everyone, haven't got much to say tonight, but you guys tend to worry if I don't post. So here are the highlights:

~ Working after a week off sucks
~ Cozy is about 10 inches long
~ Have to go to a funeral next week
~ Dog has been safe since her adventures last week
~ Totally got hit by a bat on my way to knitting last night (seriously)
~ Spinning and dyeing this weekend
~ Staying cool this weekend (30+ temps)
~ That's all I got, I'm boring tonight. But I am starting to research my dream job.

All the way to Timbuktu* and back again! (Picture Heavy)

2008-06-24T22:41:15Z

Hey everyone!

I'm back, actually, I've been back for a few days now. But things happen, chaos ensued. Details later.

We had a really good time, I've decided that Calgary is a nice place to visit, but I REALLY don't want to live there.

We arrived at the zoo around 10am Saturday morning:

We saw dinosaurs:

We also saw Lions:

And Tigers:

And Bears:

It was hot out and he was hiding

We saw giraffes, they are super cool, have you ever seen one running?

We got in line to feed this one, but shortly after her son came to get her, maybe next time.

Hippos are funny:

Peacocks roam free and walk right by your feet. This is very neat, but I kind of have a bird thing and was a little uneasy:

those aren't my feet, but they really did get that close!

Snow Leopard:

I took over 100 pictures, so now I'm sifting through and picking the good ones. I have video too, but I don't feel like doing that today. Maybe another time when I have nothing to talk about!

Can you handle more pictures?

Still with me?

Ok, so Livejournal just yelled at me saying I have too many pictures. I'll load up the yarn store/spinning pictures, plus the ones I took at mom's a little later.

I bought my spinning wheel, and have been spinning like mad since I got home. I'm getting better, right now I'm using the fibre I got a few years ago. And it's not very nice to work with. My singles looked like Noro Kuryon, now that it's plied it looks a bit better.

Sunday night drama consisted of my dog being stolen and later returned. I'm assuming by her previous owner who also happens to be my mom's psycho ex. Good times.

There were some pretty fantasic hysterics had by yours truly. But she came home that night and has been pretty much with me all the time since then.

I guess since I can't do anymore pictures I may as well sign off for now!

*The Timbuktu title of this post refers to Nikki's boyfriend's parent's acreage. We stopped there on they way home. They have alpacas. Guess who gets the fleece!

On My Way

2008-06-21T03:15:18Z

I figured I'd better post tonight since we're leaving craptastically early in the morning.

I think I've got everything I need, and really we're only going overnight, and I'm fully aware that I'm overpacked as it is. But you just never know. Right?

I've got all 3 of my projects start.

2 repeats of the Cozy are done, there was a minor glitch with gauge. But I decided to say "screw it" I switched needle tips after the first repeat, and I'll switch back for the last, just to make them even.

The Quidditch socks are done with the toe increases (on both), so it's just straight knitting until the heel. And I don't anticipate getting that far in a day and a half.

I started a Shape It Scarf with Lorna's Laces. I love it, it knits up beautifully.

Did some running around today, picking up odds and ends. Rolled my coin, came out with over $100, AND got my reimbursment cheque for my contacts. Love those benefits!

Yarn store here I come.

That's pretty much it. I will be back sometime on Sunday. Filled with stories and pictures I'm sure.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Wednesday

2008-06-19T02:03:51Z

It's Wednesday night. And I'm trying really hard to convince myself to go finish my laundry and actually get something productive done tonight. It's not working for me so far.

Since I got off work today I've:

-shopped for jeans (no luck)
-had supper with dad (similar to a horribly awkward first date)
-brushed my dog
-walked my dog
-read blogs
-put in a load of laundry

There has been a slight change in our weekend plans. Barely worth mentioning. We've decided to leave early Saturday morning, instead of Friday night.

We didn't have any plans for Friday night, our trip was to go to the zoo and yarn store. We'll still be able to make it to the zoo early enough on Saturday to make it through. And, I'm written into the calender at Make1! That's pretty exciting. I can't wait!

Not much else going on, just a note:

CatKnip:

You amaze me with your comments. I have a hard time imagining that what I write could have such a profound effect on someone else. I'm just being me. I've read your comment every day. Even showed it to my Mom and Nikki. I don't know what to say. I can feel the words in me, but they get stuck. Somewhere around my ribcage I think. But I could be wrong on that one. Thank You.

I think I'm going to make some tea, curl up with my knitting, and save my today list for Friday.

A Day in Pictures

2008-06-16T02:23:11Z

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I know I did.

Friday was pretty low key, I stayed in, did some laundry and knitted on the blanket. And casted off on the blanket and went to bed early.

Saturday, as you all know was World Wide Knit in Public Day.

It was amazing. It was like Christmas, and my birthday all rolled into one. And then dipped into dark chocolate. Yes, it was that good.

I went for breakfast at the Blue Plate Diner, if you haven't had a chance to go I urge you to try it. I've only ever been for breakfast, but the food is great. The atmosphere artsy and the service good for such a busy place.

After breakfast we went to the market, where I bought an adorable little pouch that perfectly fits everything a person needs for a sock in progress:

I also bought some homemade jam. I had a little bit of it on the muffins I made the other day, yummy.

After breakfast and marketing was a quick trip over to Ewe Asked For It. They just happened to have one skein left in the dyelot of Lorna's Laces that I'm using for my Shape It scarf. I decided that since that one skein had been sitting there since I bought the first 2, I really should buy the third.

After Ewe, we popped over to O'Byrnes. For more food and drink. Or in my case, food and Club Soda. Which I love, most people think it's nasty, but I quite like it. In fact..

*hops over to kitchen to retreive bubbly stuff*

I've just noticed I kept saying "we" while talking about Saturday. My morning companians included Kim, Jenni, Rob, Caroline, and my new friend Alicia.

Alicia, I couldn't find you on the Rav, and I'm not sure if I'm spelling your name the right way. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

The O'Byrnes crowd consisted of the above people, with the addition of Heather, Robin, another Kim, and Jacqulyn.

There was much knitting and laughing and attempted conversion of the Muggles.

After O'Byrnes I went home and managed to do a load of laundry, walk my dog and get organized for going to Mom's.

Then I went to dinner with Nikki and her new man. We went for Indian food, which was amazing as always. And yes, I worked on my sock the whole time.

This is the first Kool Aid sock, I'm just working on the heel flap of the second while I wait for the pictures to upload.

Saturday with Mom was really good, I was all bubbly about my day, and took care of her because she'd had a really rough one.

And now we're caught up to this morning.

It started off with a text from my guy. I'd texted him last night, last week was so awful and we hadn't had a chance to talk, so I messaged him and hoped his phone was working. He messaged back this morning and we talked for a bit. He misses me. Which is good, I'd hate to be the only one.

It's really hard being apart from the one person you really want to be with.

For the most part, I don't really notice it. It's always there though, but I can't really describe the feeling. Just a constant sort of missing. But I tune it out, keep myself busy.

Last week was hard though, it occupied most of my thoughts. All I wanted/needed was to be held onto, and as independant as I am, there really is something special about being held onto by a man.

Ok, enough of that sappy girl stuff. Back to my day.

This morning consisted of knitting and Gilmore Girls with my Mom. I ended up with a lot of stuff to bring home, and I really just wanted to be back at my house, so I took a cab and was able to get home in really good time.

It was kind of rainy and the air had sort of a meloncholy feel to it. So I lit candles, 13 of them actually, I used my "cold weather scents". Cinnamon and Vanilla, Apple, and Ginger Lemon Merengue Pie. My house smells like a bakery and I never even turned on the oven!

I put on the kettle for tea, and wrapped myself up in my Cozy:

It's been packed away since I finished it because "it was too nice to use". And then I decided that that was a stupid way to think, so I pulled it out and have been wearing it ever since. Even both times I went walking the dog. It even kept me warm in the rain. Love that wool!!

I haven't done anything resembling housework, or anything overly productive for that matter.

I've spent an hour or more today playing with pencil crayons and the colour sheet with all of the dye colours on it. So far I've got 12 colourways designed. There are two that I probably won't keep. One of the two I just needed to add another colour, and the other just isn't working for me.

No pictures of that though, need to keep my creativity to myself for now!

I finished sewing in the ends on the blanket, and finished the sewing up of the BSJ:

Like I said before, the button bands don't actually touch. Not entirely sure how that happened. But I really like the ICord tie. I just need to get some buttons for the front, just little decorative ones.

It has been a nice, quiet day filled with music, and knitting, and relaxing.

Nikki loaned me a CD of an absolutely phenomenal group called Within Temptation. It's very operatic, but its got a really intense sound. You can see them here:

This next one and the one on top I think are my favorites, but I'm not sure yet:

Other than that, not much happened. I drank coffee and let my dog hang out inside all day.

Oh, and did you hear? I finished the blanket.

Y'know what? I need to say it again. Just a bit louder.

I FINISHED THE BLANKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My goal for this week is to finish the second KoolAid sock and the second Brother sock. And the laptop bag. That way I can start my three road trip projects on Friday.

Because I'm going on a vacation!!!!!

Happy Sunday night, see some of you tomorrow at SnB. And yes, I'm bringing the blanket to show everyone who hasn't seen it in for reals yet.

Oh, and think happy yarny thoughts for T, who is stuck at home with a bum knee. Hope you're doing ok over there T!!

Thanks Everyone

2008-06-13T00:51:17Z

Thank you everyone who had something nice to say. It always makes me feel better! Have I told you that I have a special folder in my email to save all of your comments when I need a hug?

Not much to report since yesterday.

I might have put through a $200 Knitpicks order.

And by "might", I mean it was $200.75.

In my defense (hah!) I decided that if I'm really going to get into this dyeing thing I really *should* have ALL the colours.

And some more bare yarn.

T and J? Your Baad Medicine colourways are busily forming in my mind. But there can be no dyeing until July.

How is it possible that I have no more free weekends this month?

Remember that this Saturday is Worldwide Knit in Public day. Have you made your plans?

I will be busy all day, and knitting the whole time.

Some of us are meeting at O Byrnes on whyte ave for lunch. I can get more info if anyone wants!

Happy Thursday, I need to go knit.

Craptastic

2008-06-12T02:28:10Z

What a horrible day today was. Seriously.

I spent most of the morning feeling all moody. No real reason, and not a bad mood. Just moody. To the point of the girls telling me I looked "sour" and "snipey" and the boys basically stayed away from me.

But the way I look at it, is that the four of us girls have worked together long enough now, that there is about a week and a half period (no pun intended) where everyone is irritable.

So yeah, basically work was one long suck fest. And then I get home. Something I have been looking forward to since I left this morning. I walk in the door and start to take off my shoes when it starts.

My father starts yelling down the stairs about how my dog got out of the yard. And I need to fix the fence. And if she gets out again "they" will put her down.

Fuck.

So I sit down at my computer and try to de-compress a little bit.

Until he comes downstairs and starts up his tirade again.

Dad "Don't just sit there. Go fix the fence." RantRantRantBitchBitchBitch Etc Etc Etc

Me "I had a really crappy day, I just need to sit for a minute. I'll go fix the damn fence. I just need some time."

Dad "Well its just always about you isn't it?" *stomps upstairs*

Me *sob*

My dad has never spoken like that to me before. I mean, whenever something "that's all my fault" happens, he ambushes me out of nowhere as soon as I wake up, or walk in the door.

But he has never said something so mean before.

I understand that his work is hard and stressful and that since he works at home I'm an easy target.

And I understand that in his eyes I am one big fuck up. And that I will never be the perfect child that my brother is.

But it would be nice if I would at least be allowed to defend myself. Or at least get my shoes off first.

So I called Nikki, and she spent about 20 minutes telling me how fantastic I am.

She tells me that I inspire her every day. And that she is amazed at how much I've changed just since we've met. And that if my dad can't see how awesome I am that he's missing out.

I've been crying for about 3 hours now. I stop occasionally, but then it just starts up again. Don't you just love hormones?

All I want to do right now is curl up in a dark little room, but there is just too much to do. I think I'll throw a load of laundry in, and ask the Brother to put it in the dryer. At least he's still speaking to me.

I can't even knit right now. I'm too upset.

I can however, show you some pictures:

This is the BSJ I knit out of my handdyed. You'll notice that the button bands don't actually meet. This is a ~~horrible,horrible mistake that happens when you "fix" your stitch count~~ design feature. That will be finished with an I Cord tie at the neck, and decorative buttons covering the holes down both fronts.

The KoolAid socks are progressing. I'm past the gusset decreases on the first one, but don't feel like getting up to take a picture.

The Brother sock is patiently waiting for a mate.

Hailey's Blanket only needs about 16 more rows and the ends sewn in. I really was hoping to have it done by the end of the week. I'm guessing about 5 hours left. Plus the time for sewing in the ends.

I couldn't find my BSJ dvd the other day, that resulted in a slightly manic tearing apart of the knitting room. I did tidy up my stash though:

I still had about a half case of the Crayon yarn left from the blanket, so I had to fit that in to get the box off the floor. My stash is all colour coded and tidy again. It makes me happy to look at it. It also stresses me out a little bit. That's a lot of yarn. Not as much as some people. Some of it has plans, a lot of it doesn't. And you know what? I have about 14 skeins in a travel bag for our road trip! It wouldn't even fit on the shelf now!

Speaking of our road trip, we are so looking forward to getting out of the city. I'm counting down the days, until we leave (there are 8 left). Did I already mention I've booked off the Friday and Monday? I did? Oh, well let me say it again.

I BOOKED OFF THE FRIDAY AND MONDAY

It's almost like having a real vacation. And I haven't had one of those since the trail ride. I totally just clicked an entry at random, I had actually forgotten when we went

Ok, I'm feeling a bit better now. Not all the way, but getting there. I really must remember to post on something resembling a regular basis. Keeps things from getting all jumbled up. I know there was a lot more I wanted to talk about. But I've forgotten.

I leave you with pictures from yesterday. Mom and I are knitting an afghan for our friend Pam (the one with lymphoma) and we're using an amazing book filled with all these differant blocks to choose from. Mom made one for me a few years ago, so we spread it out to look at some squares.

Someone decided to help.

And yes CatKnip/Catty, her feet DO smell like cheezies!

Absentee Blogger

2008-06-09T04:11:15Z

Hey Everyone

How was the weekend?

I had an extended on this week. My to do list lately has had a million plus 10 things on it and I was getting overwhelemed. As a result I came down with a mysterious case of work flu on Friday.

And Dudes, I was on the go all day long. I slept in a little bit and then I went for an appointment, got my blood taken, and hit the art supply store. After that I went to the gym, discovered that I'm still an active member, so I had my file transferred closer to home. Now I just need to find some time in my week to fit in a few workouts. And the laundry. The laundry is always epic.

I spent the whole day walking. For those of you who are local, I took the bus from my place to 107st (about 20 blocks), from there I walked to 112st. And then I walked home. About 25 blocks. And there I re-supplied and went to the mall. Which added about 4 blocks there and back, plus the mall walking and the stairs.

Did you know that the Consulate of the Netherlands is in Bonnie Doon mall?

I spent Friday night sitting and knitting. I broke both rules I made the other day. Not only did I cast on a BSJ, but I also over-dyed one of the yarns for it. In the plus column, I'm working the 10 ridges before the stitch pickup.

Pictures tomorrow.

Saturday was good, yarn store knitting, and Mom's house. Sunday was good, mostly knitting. A little kitchen time.

The blanket is approximately 24 rows from completion. Hopefully done by Tuesday, but unlikely.

Now, it's late and time for bed. I work a full week, and then only a partial. I'm taking 2 vacation days on either end the The Calgary Trip.

Happy Sunday!

Quickie

2008-06-05T05:05:50Z

No. Not that kind of quickie. Too bad though.

Somehow it got to be 11pm. Not too sure how it happened but it did. And this is the second night in a row that I've witnessed it. And I wonder why I have trouble getting up at 5:30am. Yuck.

Today's Highlights:

- playing in the rain
- dinner with dad (awkward and stilted conversation, but we talked)
- knitting in a bar (still sober 3 months+, had an awesome time
- Hailey's blanket is nearing the finish line. I started the first of the last 4 sides, so far, I've got 3 of 9 ridges done
- turned heel on koolaid socks
- learned how to post pictures on the Rav (months of frustrations)
- walked home twice in one day (about 20ish blocks total)
- almost completely filled my calender for June. Now taking bookings for July. It seems that if you want me, you must book me in advance!

KP order arrived yesterday. Mucho yarns and dyes, as well as Options needles. Too bad none of my WIP will fit on them.

1} No new projects will be cast on until I get caught up on knitting. This rule is void as of June 20th, when I start casting on for the road trip.

2} No new yarns will be bought until I burn through some of the stash. With the exception of "naked" yarn for dyeing.

3} There will be no dyeing of yarn* until I am completely satisfied with the completion of the above. Unless I just can't wait anymore.

*With the exception of the Baad Medicine colourways that I am currently plotting in my head.

And we have a winner!

2008-06-04T02:01:55Z

I decided at some point today that since this was my blog I could change the rules anytime I want. As a result T is the lucky winner of a personalized handdyed skein of yarn. That is not yet dyed. The song in question can be viewed below.

Gotta say, I'm a little shamed that no one guessed Queen. But that's ok, I still love you all.

Not much else to report, went to get a refill for my pills, told him I was having headrushes so now I need to go for blood work. Good times.

Happy Tuesday, maybe I'll be more interesting tomorrow!

grin

2008-06-02T04:32:03Z

I feel the need to clarify something, I think I mis-typed earlier...the part in bold is the lyric. The other part was me being lame and quoting Ferris Bueller. Sorry if I confuzzled anyone!

Guess who had a few hours in town and came to visit?

Hint: I'm going to sleep smiling....

Oh, no one guessed the right song with the unbelievably vague "shark", so since I'm feeling rather ridiculously giddy at the moment, I'll throw in the next lyric.

Shark!

I said "hey Man!"

Anyone? Anyone?

Bueller?

See? told you I was feeling good...(first I wrote "goof" which is also rather fitting for the moment...)

Thanks

2008-06-02T00:56:12Z

Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts. And for not asking questions.

Last week basically sucked. All of it. With the exception of Monday night knitting. I could feel a panic attack coming on late Wednesday night and Thursday was completely horrible. We had some sort of audit and had to answer all these questions. I wasn't *really* stressed about it. But it was definately a contributing factor.

What really set me off was seeing someone on the bus on the way home. We worked together years ago. And she ended up being a bridesmaid at my wedding. That's right. For those of you who didn't know already. Thats my big dark secret that hurts me every single day. So for the past 5 years I've been putting a phenomenal amount of effort into not thinking about that time. And seeing her brought that horrible time screaming back.

I walked home from the bus (I do that now, it's quicker) and cried the entire way. Then I had to pull it together enough to talk to the people I was going to camp with and then I went home and broke.

I sat down in my chair and couldn't move. I couldn't think, I couldn't move I was completely numb. Eventually I managed to get myself into the shower. Even with the water on full hot I was so cold I was shivering. Then I wrapped myself in my big huge robe that I NEVER wear and sat some more.

I was able to eventually get myself dressed and finished getting ready for camp. Friday sucked. I tried to tell Nikki what happened and I could only give her the headlines. I have a very strict rule about not crying in steel toes. Barely made it through the day, and that was with leaving 3 hours early.

Camp was ok. I told everyone separately what happened and why I left, and a little bit about how I basically had a breakdown over the winter. They took it really well, and bear no ill will about my leaving.

I still don't know if I can go back in the fall. Right now, I don't want to. But there were definately times this weekend when I remembered why I did it in the first place.

I've been home for awhile now, and spent the first two hours getting progressively angrier until I'm sitting crying. Again.

The one thing I asked the guys to do was water my flowers out front. They didn't. So now my flowers are fried to shit and I don't know if they'll come back. I watered them really good and I'll re-evaluate tomorrow. I got home, any there was still party remnants all over my house. Which is a whole other story, but the short version is that my brother basically took my place in a social circle (which I'm mostly ok with now) but there were certain people that I really didn't want in my house. I'm just relieved that it happened when I was away.

So anyways, my kitchen is messy, the dishwasher wasn't unloaded, the flowers are dying and the animals haven't been fed.

So I phoned my mom and cried. Alot, and I'm not done yet but I'm mostly ok with that. I'll be better once I get it all out. My stress level has gotten pretty high again, and I'm not dealing as well as I'd like.

I'm just trying to decide if I should order chinese food or scrounge for something. I think I'll order in and see if I can settle enough to knit.

This weekend I finished the legwarmers, a brother sock, and got about 2 inches done on a chemo cap for a friend.

Those are the highlights. I'm not nearly as miserable as I'm sure I've come across in this post. It's mostly starting to fade.

Hope everyone else had a fabulous sunny weekend, and I will see you later in the week!

Wow

2008-05-30T00:32:56Z

Ok, so I just ran into someone from "before" and I am in a completely altered mental state right now. I don't think I can blog about it right now. I'm not ok right now. But I will be later. I just need to process. Everything is moving in slow motion. I don't like this feeling. I need to go find food, tea, cat and knitting. And chocolate. Somehow, chocolate makes everything better. For now though, could someone please just send me a hug?

You've Been Armadilloed

2008-05-29T03:51:35Z

Hi!

It's nearly 10 o clock and I am full of cappucino. Normally, coffee doesn't really affect me one way or another. Not tonight, I am tired and caffinated and really happy the boys are outside not seeing me be silly.

ShoelessWonder on Ravelry you know you spend to much time on the Rav when you try to *magic link* someone on your blog reminded me about my promise of an armadillo video.

So here it is:

I'm the one saying "does yours have video?" and Chris is the other voice you hear. Do I really sound like that? I hope not.

I'm headed to bed for tonight, the dog is inside and things are suspiciously silent.

So far, T is the only one who's had a guess on the "name that song" contest of the last post. Remember, the clue is "shark!". Completely obscure and random, but so am I.

Happy almost the weekend!

ETA

I love today's little cartoon girl, I looked like that all morning. Just angrier!

Pictures!! And an obscure contest.

2008-05-27T04:39:45Z

And lots of them!

I don't even know where to start. Hmmm. I think I just got a whiff of Kool Aid, do you think its permeating my person? Creepy.

Ok well, for those of you who didn't come to SnB tonight (Cheryl I'm looking at you...but I guess I did forget to remind you...)here is the yarn I died all weekend.

This one I called Purple Rain (yes, I'm lame, and no, I've never seen the movie)

Firestorm, I'm hoping to get a better flamey colourway when I get my acid dyes.

BloodBath, again, not so sure why I was coming up with such overly dramatic names, but I like it. I had to over-dye it to make it look "bloodier".

No name for this one yet, but I did it in the slowcooker which was pretty neat. I totally forgot about it at one point (talking to the man...got sidetracked, you know how it is).

Didn't name this one either. But it was slowcooked as well.

This one might be my favorite, it doesn't have a name, but it sure looked neat before I re-skeined it. Here it is soaking.

Want to see the sock yarns I did last week? Of course you do!

I even started knitting the other one, I really had planned to finish at least one something first. Didn't happen.

It's knitting up into something that almost looks like a repeating pattern!

Other knitting news:

It's growing, I'm nearly done the second purple side. In case your wondering, it's about 40 inches across at the moment. Epic.

I've gotten my sock mojo back, I'm happy I tried these ones on to photograph, must remember to measure another Brother Sock!

This is the first one, and it really only gets worked on during my lunch break.

Wanna see the soup they stock in the ethnic section of WalMart?

Hilarity.

Shark*

Ok, lets see. What else have I been up to...

Oh right. Zoo.

Andi, this is for you!

And for all you yarnies out there:

ALPACA!!!

Chris has a good picture of me looking like a jackass in the petting zoo. I'll post it when she sends it to me.

Did you know that two women and 3 kids can get in at the family rate? We may have pretended to be a couple...We got a really funny look from the cashier. It was like "oh god, lesbians". Definately comical.

Red Panda

What do turtles do in the spring time?

Same thing as everyone else.

Sorry, me and Chris thought it was funny, we were both right in there with our cameras.

I have some video too, but no patience for YouTube tonight. Have you ever seen an armadillo running? Tune in tomorrow!

Random cat picture:

Other news:

Calgary trip is planned, yarn store lady has been contacted, and knitting has been selected and separated. Just waiting for the Options. Oh, and our trip isn't until June 20th.

Brownie Camp this weekend. I feel really almost honoured I guess. To be invited to camp after the way I left. I mean, I called hours before the meeting to say I wasn't coming back this year. I'm really excited, and anxious. But in a good way. And really, I wouldn't be the sparkling creature you all know and love if there wasn't at least a small panic attack involved. Knitting is already packed for this trip too.

Gardening Blister is mostly healed and sunburn is peeling. I am one sexy beast.

Catknip, thank you for your words. You never fail to make my entire day. You really should come to SnB and worship me in person (kidding).

I think that was everything I had to say tonight. I have the feeling I'm forgetting something.

* What song was I listening to at the time**? Very random clue, but if you guess right, I'll send you some hand dyed yarn. Dyed specifically for you. Contest closes Sunday night at 9pm. Because that's the only time I have that will leave this open for a reasonable amount of time.

**Note, it is not the one that will show up on the time stamp.

Oops, I did it again

2008-05-26T12:36:03Z

Ok, I know I promised pictures of dyed yarn. But I "accidently" dyed 3 more skeins between Saturday morning and Sunday night. I also went to the zoo and stayed at Mom's. Oh, the many uses for a slow cooker...

I'll try and get some pictures posted tonight or tomorrow. Once again, another insanely busy week is happening!

Happy Monday Morning!

Woot!!!

2008-05-24T04:22:43Z

Majorly exhausted.

Dyed 3 fabulous skeins of yarn:

Purple Rain
Firestorm

And quite possibly my favorite even its not done it's final soak:

Blood Bath.

Intrigued? Pictures sometime later. Not now.

Apparently I'm in an artistically (hah!) violent sort of mood. Somewhat distressing for someone who is generally a pacifist.

Another Jam Pack Fun Filled weekend ahead.

New hair do, yarn store, mom's, potential zoo trip.

Remember the very abrupt and guilt inducing departure of Brownies?

I totally got invited to camp this year!

Yay!

Good times.

Must hang yarn and go to bed.

Hopefully without needing to vanquish any more bugs.

Three in less than a minute.

Ick.

Happy Weekend!

Weekend Recap

2008-05-21T02:03:46Z

I hope everyone who was lucky enough to have a long weekend enjoyed theirs. Oh, Jo, there is an explantion of V Day over at T&J's Blog.

Since I did my Friday night recap on Friday night, we'll skip straight to Saturday morning.

Got up horrendously early on a day off, did the breakfast and shopping thing. Spent an obscence amount of money. And tried on clothes with friends:

Did some more shopping once I got to Kingsway to meet Mom, nothing major there, got the shoes to go with the dress:

Saturday night at Mom's was spent watching Brother Bear (and you all know how much I love that show), and making soap:

We woke up Sunday morning to dye yarn.

Dudes, this was so much fun. I've been looking in my stash for something else that I can overdye. Sadly, there is nothing. Wanna see what we did?

Now these next two are Facebook links. No idea if they'll work.

Pictures Cheryl took

Pictures I took

I have a big KnitPicks order on the way. I ordered some of their dyes, bare yarns and the Options needles. Should be here by the 19. Excitement!

Sunday night, went out for supper with my brother and a friend of ours. I tried Escargot for the first time. I even had 2 of them. And while I think food shouldn't come equipped with pronouns, they were quite tasty.

I made the boys do a photo shoot after we got back. More Facebook linky goodness:

Pictures

Monday, I lived up to my promises and planted stuff.

Before:

After:

Want to know what happens after a day of gardening?

Just for the record, I bought the pj's because I thought they were amazingly hideous, I love them!

Yeah, this is what happens when you try to dig into dirt thats been well packed for about 5 years. And yes, it does feel as good as it looks!

As for knitting, the new date for the Blanket is June 20, it's coming along nicely. I even think I've figured out when it will "look" done.

And the Froot Loop socks:

ETA I totally frogged these shortly after I finished posting. Not entirely sure what came over me. I know I hated the heelp flap, next then I knew, I was ripping and it felt great!

And thats all I can do for now. The cat has claimed my lap as hers!

Friday Night

2008-05-17T03:45:18Z

I figured I should probably do a post tonight because this weekend is insanely busy and I really don't want to overwhelm you at the end of the weekend.

I've spent the evening making THE BEST MIXED CD EVER. And knitting.

Nikki and Steph are picking me up at 7:30 (on Saturday!!!!) and we are going to breakfast. And then to WalMart. I'm really excited. I'm going to buy some fabric for sewing, which is something I haven't done in...months...or is it years now?

After an excellant morning of shopping I'm headed to a massage. After that is the yarn store, and then Kingsway, and then to Mom's house.

Sunday will be for making soap and dyeing yarn. Cheryl's coming over to sit and knit and chat.

Sunday night is dinner with friends.

And Monday is for me. I will read my gardening books and go dig in the dirt.

Remember those pink and green socks that were sucking the life out of me?

They are frogged, caked, and by the end of the weekend will be whisking they're way across the oceans to live with Jo.

Next time I say I hate a sock yarn will you guys please remind me how hard it is to Un-Kitchener a toe!!

I've been working on the Froot Loops pattern, I'm 6 repeats in, but forgot to take a picture. I'll get one after I have a few more repeats done.

I think that's all I've got for tonight. I'm aiming for lots of pictures and excellant funny stories on Monday night!

Oh, exciting news...talked to the Dude last night, still no definate return date, *but* he is working on making a trip down to see me in the very near future. Yay!

Happy Long Weekend!!!

Recipe

2008-05-15T01:39:24Z

Just a quick post today to share the Granola Bar recipe. Came home sick from work and therefore have nothing overly interesting to share.

So here we go:

2 cups Vector Cereal
2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (no salt)
1/2 cup ground almonds (I used my coffee bean grinder)
1 cup dried mixed fruit (I used cranberries, raisens and cherries)
2 tbsps flax seeds
handful of chocolate chips (optional, but yummy)
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup corn syrup (I used the "golden" kind, I don't know if it matters)

Mix together all of the dried ingredients.

Combine peanut butter and corn syrup in small sauce pan, heat over medium stirring with a wire whisk, until its all smooth.

Spray a cake pan, (I've used both the square one and the longer one, the recipe will fill both).

Now, very quickly pour the sticky stuff over the dry stuff. You can do the first couple turns with a wooden spoon, but it's easier to mix with your hands. If its too sticky you can add more rolled oats.

Press mixture into pan, toss in the fridge for awhile. Cut into whatever size pieces you like best.

Let me know if you like them, and what kind of variations you make!

What a Weekend

2008-05-12T03:43:14Z

Hey...I've used this title before. I must be having a series of good weekends!

As per the usual Sunday night recap, I'll start with Friday night, because really, it only makes sense to start at the beginning.

Friday

Finally, the weekend is here, this entire week was insane. I spent most of it walking home wishing for a drink and a smoke. And I've never smoked, and I'm still sober (3 months on Thursday). I took myself out on a date, there is this little Vietnamese place near my house that I went to once, years ago now. And I keep thinking, I should go there some day. So I did, I took my book and spent a quiet hour all to myself. I had iced Vietnamese coffee, steamed rice and the most amazing szechuan beef I've ever had.

The rest of the evening was spent watching Charmed and knitting. I've got 2 projects on the go right now. One of them is the Blanket for Hailey:

It's coming along nicely, this picture is completely current. I'm definately going to go around with all of the colours once more.

The other project is new the the blog, and existence really, I think I started it on Friday. ~~I don't even have it up on the Rav yet~~ Ok, now it's posted.

I really hope it's going to work out, I just noticed that it's not quite the width of my laptop and it needs to be felted at the end. Oh well, if it doesn't work I'll just have another stripy bag.

Saturday

I overslept on Saturday, first I woke up around 7 and said something along the lines of "no freakin' way" and then the same thing around 9. Eventually, 10:45 rolled around and "oh shit, I have a full day I need to get up".

I quickly got through my morning things, which today included packing 3 differant bags for all of my various activities.

Two very fun things happened on my way to Ewe, first, I saw someone on the bus knitting a sock. We got off at the same stop, and I'd hoped to "talk shop" with her, but she went another way. Shortly after, she turned up at the second bus stop. Her sock seemed to be leaning out of her pocket, so I said so, and asked her if she was doing Magic Loop. She admired my projects and we both got on the bus.

Shortly after finding my seat I hear someone call my name. Turns out Cheryl is on the same bus, so she comes with me to the yarn store and we visit for a bit.

The yarn store was excellant as always, I bought 4 skeins of Cascade (for the project above) and 2 skeins of undyed sock yarn. Next Saturday will be spent dyeing yarn and making soap.

My friend Chris picked me up at Ewe, she invited me to go to the pool with her and her daughter (Hailey, of the so-named "Blanket for Hailey"). I'd never met Hailey before, and it's been a long time since I've been around a 3 year old. But seriously, dudes, this was SO MUCH FUN. By the end of the day, I was Auntie Jill, we went down the Green Slide together, and if she wasn't hanging onto Mommy, she was attached to me. It was really great.

After swimming (I think I still have pool water up my nose) I went to Mom's. There was a potluck with some of her condo people. I was a little apprehensive about meeting new people. Most of them I've at least met in passing, but never socialized before.

I go in, find a chair and immediatley pull out the Blanket. Bonnie admires it, and tells me about the baby sets she's knitting. And suddenly, Bobbie, who I've never met before says "hey, is that from the Mason-Dixon book?". A kindred spirit. Someone who speaks my language. I had an amazing time, and can't wait to be invited again!

Actually, something else funny happened that night. Do you remember this purse?

The little tiny dog was having conniptions over it. It was nearly bouncing off the floor it was barking so hard at this purse. We actually had to hide it!

The rest of Saturday was spent knitting and catching up with Mom. We hadn't really talked for a few weeks. So we did that, and went to bed. Oh, BTW, don't buy those Sea Salt and Lime chips. They are not nearly as good here as they were in Mexico. Very disappointing.

Sunday

Knitting, Gilmore Girls and peanut butter cookies. Then a bus trip home. And then Kitchen Time. And I mean serious Kitchen Time.

I made 2 batches of Granola Bars:

Dog Treats:

Bread:

Cheryl came over for supper and knitting. She brought Brownies (they deserve to be capitalized, they were yummy):

Now, I'm sitting and blogging and trying to relax and catch my breath. I did a lot today. And I still have a huge amount of things to get done. But, it's just not going to happen tonight. I'm trying to be ok with that.

This coming week is going to be fantastic. I have 4 knitting groups to attend, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I got home today and had a message on my Rav page. The girl from the bus? The one with the sock? Totally messaged me and invited me to her SnB, sadly, it falls on Wednesday, so I invited her to mine. I hope she can come.

I think that's about it for now. I really am tired, I think I might go read in bed for awhile and try to come down the rest of the way from all the adreniline.

Happy Sunday, have a great week. And I'm going to really try and not be an absent blogger this week!

Ow

2008-05-08T01:14:15Z

Greetings dear BlogFriends

How are you? What's new in your lives?

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted. I have been thinking about you though, everytime I think about something blog worthy I've decided to take a picture of it.

Would you like to see those pictures?

Last Thursday, the highlight of my week (up until that moment) was this:

Would you believe that those are steel toed? I was the hit of the warehouse come Friday morning, it was slightly ridiculous.

Now, like I said, at that point in time new shoes were the highlight of my week. When I got home on Friday afternoon, I had a package waiting for me. Guess what was in it!

Cheryl sent me a lotus blossom candle holder. It is so beautiful, I think it fits in quite nicely with my (also non-partylite) lotus hands. Hi Cheryl! I love it, it fits great with the rest of the room. There was also a card, reading it made me grin like a fool, there is also a recipe for Jasmine IceCream. I will definately be trying that one out soon.

What else have I been doing...

Work has been insane. Yesterday and today we were down a man in the warehouse, so I was effectively doing the work of 3 people. Hence the "Ow" title of the post. My feet usually only hurt like this on the rare occasion I do ballet.

I have been knitting. Hailey's blanket is coming along nicely, I was given a reprieve. Her surgery was temporarily cancelled and has not yet been rescheduled. It still needs to be my main project, but I'm glad I have more time.

That's pretty much it. I'm planning on spending my evening with the oh-so-sexy Jason Bourne, my knitting and my cat. And tea, but that's only if I can convince myself to get off my ass and get to the kitchen.

Happy Wednesday

An Amazing Day or How many pictures can I put into one post?

2008-04-29T00:42:52Z

First off, I want to thank every single person who left me a comment over the past few days. I want you to know that I've saved them all and have every intention of reading them whenever I need a boost.

I had a truly excellant day off. Actually, my whole weekend was really good, I should probably start at the beginning right?

Ok, Saturday:

Woke up at Mom's house, had 4 chocolate chip cookies for breakfast, and eventually made my way to the Yarn Store. Where I bought NO YARN. Seriously. And just for the record, ordering 20+ skeins of Cascade 220 for a comfortghan TOTALLY doesn't count.

Nikki picked me up at the LYS and we proceeded to drive. That's what we do, even if we make proper plans we usually just end up driving for hours. Which, with gas prices being what they are is probably a bad idea. But hey, if she wants to fill her tank and drive it works out to what is essentially guilt-free knitting time.

Saturday was spent knitting A Blanket for Haley:

There was some minor furniture moving and then some planning for making a house homey on a budget. I'm having flashbacks to my days of Trading Spaces watching.

Went to bed really early Saturday, resulting in a relatively early start for Sunday. As for what I did on Sunday:

Nothing

That's right, I drank coffee, ate, knitted, and sat like a lump on the couch. I even had a nap. I worked my way through the second half of season 6 and the front half of season 7 of Charmed. And I finished this:

Which brings us to this lovely Monday

I woke up at 6:30, said something that I'm sure included alot of bad words, but I don't remember and the cat's not telling. I managed to roll over and stay in bed until somewhere around 8. I got up, made my coffee and planted my butt in front of my computer.

I actually had a lot of energy today, probably something to do with all of the nothing I did yesterday.

I started with tidying my knitting room. I didn't really do much, packed away some of the storage stuff I had front and center. Finally admitted to myself that I was not going to finish the 5 year old projects. That decision resulted in massive needle rippage and this next picture:

If you look closely you can see 4 UFOs, which consist of

1 front/back and half of the other front/back of a tank top
1 sock
1 knee high toe sock
1 muppet fur scarf

Y'know, felt pretty good to empty out that bag!

The room still isn't quite perfect, but it's slowly getting there.

I then proceeded to do some yardwork, I never finished cleaning up the remnants of the long winter/big dog before the most recent dump of snow:

This is how it looks after about an hour of work. I still think we're one boat shy of looking like White Trash, but at least the "lawn" is raked!

I also did a load of laundry, wiped down the outside clothesline, soaked my handknits (in hopes that I can soon pack them away for reals)

I didn't bother searching for all of them as they tend to scatter (I usually wear a scarf inside) I just washed what I could find.

I had a massage (I can move my neck, it's pretty cool) and a haircut, which I don't think I like, I told him I wanted my front layers cut to my lips, instead they're more at eye level. Oh well, head bands, ball caps and about a week will take care of that.

I sent out 2 packages, one for Indulgence, who, if you're active in the Ravelry forums you'll know just lost her husband to a traffic accident. One of the forums I'm in joined forces to make afghan squares:

The other to my swap partner, I'd link, but my link to her blog doesn't work. I got my package today, filled with awesomeness:

As for the legwarmers I started when it looked like this out my front windows:

I finished the first one, the other day, except for the ends and have yet to start the second. I don't know about you guys, but I think it looks plenty long (it goes past my knee AND heel) and I quit knitting 3 inches shorter than the pattern. And I have long legs.

Let's see, what else did I take pictures of...oh right. Of all of the comfortable places in my house that I could sit and peruse the interwebs for a long period of time, I chose to set up here. Potentially undoing all of the lower back stuff my lovely masseuse did for me this morning.

Oh, while I was outside enjoying the sun this morning I also brushed and "damp mopped" my dog. And by damp mopped I mean rubbed her as hard as I could with a wet tea towel to at least get the top layer of dirt off. Of course, she spent the rest of the day sleeping in the dirt, but really, what else could I expect from an outside dog?

I haven't done any knitting yet today, I've done this thing that I hear used to be popular in the days before Ye Olde Interwebs.

I read a book.

Seriously, I can't remember the last time I read, I can't even remember what I would've read. That's sad. Today I read while I ate, I read while I sat, and I even went outside to sit in the sun with my book.

I will make up for my lack of knitty progress at SnB tonight. Speaking of which, I should probably eat something before I head out...

I got out my slow cooker again, if this chicken stew type concoction turns out to be edible, I'll do a recipe tomorrow!

Talk to you all tomorrow!