Comments and stats, Berroco and Debbie Bliss

I should not be doing this.  I have a list the length of my arm of chores to do today, none of which includes updating my blog (although now that I think about it, it should), but I was led here through circumstances beyond my control.  It started by checking my email, wherein I saw someone named “Bob” commented on one of my posts.  It’s one of those vague posts where I couldn’t tell if it was spam or not, so I opened up my control panel.  Still couldn’t tell, so I clicked the link–yes, I know, but it had “crochet” in the url itself, so I figured it was probably safe.  And honestly, I still can’t tell if it’s spam! I’m leaning towards legit, but some of the text on the page itself–not all, but some–does look spammish with its random words that mean nothing.

But whatever, this is what led me to check my stats to see if I could determine where Bob came from–couldn’t.  But! I did learn that I had twelve hits on Tuesday!  No clue why!  Which led to more stats reviewing, and then I learned that my readership has actually been increasing, slowly but steadily, every month since I started this.  Sweet!  And then I felt guilty for not updating more.

Which then led me to writing this post.  See how it wasn’t my fault? But you’re glad I’m here, right?  Well, I am, even if you’re not.

So, as I was saying in my last update (which was posted from Massachusetts, btw, but that was last week), I’ve been up to so much, yarn/knit/crochet-wise! I’ve bought magazines! I’ve bought yarn! I’ve both knitted and crocheted things! And finished them, too! It’s been a wild and crazy two weeks, I tells ya.

Ok, so last post, I left off with the alpaca/silk prezzie for my friend.  It’s finished, by the way, but still hasn’t been delivered, so again, no details to spare, but I found the label, so I can tell you the super-awesome-to-the-touch yarn is Debbie Bliss’s Alpaca Silk (80%/20%).  It’s a dream and you should consider getting yourself some.  I do have to pull out my SnB book, though, to help me with the washing instructions.  I’d swear the little bucket with “30[degree symbol]” means it’s machine washable, but alpaca and silk? Machine washable? That can’t be right. Must double check.  Anyway, I already have the pictures taken and ready to post once the prezzie has been delivered.

Relatedly, when I bought this yarn at Handmade, I also bought two balls of Berroco’s Foliage.  The only good picture I can find of it online is at the Berroco site–the sample picture in the top left, that says “click to enlarge”?  That’s it. The color is 5961, but I don’t see it in the swatches on that page, just in the sample icon.  But that one is a perfect match–be sure to check the enlarged image for a closer look at the brilliant colors! I’ve got 200 yards of it and no clue what to do with it, but I can never resist bright colors that pop. And the owner of the shop even discounted it for me, to further tempt me. Woot!

So those were my yarn purchases from two weeks ago.  I then went to Boston for a family wedding, where I got lots of knitting done, primarily at Craft Night.

What is Craft Night, you ask?  Stay tuned for the next post! (This post was getting entirely too long, so I decided to break it up.)

Categories
Knitting and Crochet

When it rains, it pours!

In a change of pace, I have so much to update on, I don’t even know where to start!  And I probably won’t finish before I have to bolt to go shopping with my sis, so I should get started.

First, last week I fell off the yarn budget wagon when I stopped at my favorite LYS, Handmade.  (It’s a mere seven minutes from the facility currently housing little baby Grace, which makes it way too easy to stop in before or after my visits.) I spent an hour there, going through the whole shop again and again until I found the perfect yarn and the perfect colors to make a gift for one of my dearest friends.  The yarn is half silk, half alpaca (don’t have the labels handy), and the colors, while a little softer than I’d envisioned, are still in the range of said friend’s color-leanings (can’t go into more details, just in case).  And it feels like buttery clouds sliding through my fingers!  Oh my, but I adore this yarn!

At first, the project did not go as planned.  I started a pattern from The Happy Hooker that I thought would be perfect, and was half finished (half!) when I decided it was just the wrong pattern for this glorious yarn–the gauge was too tight and you couldn’t feel the softness of the fibers.  So–I still can’t believe I had the guts to do it–I frogged it, and switched to a more traditional, far looser, knit pattern, involving garter and drop stitch.  Best decision ever, which is heartening after taking such a risk as frogging half a project.  I finished knitting it last night, surrounded by many friends for Craft Night (which deserves its own paragraph(s)), and will probably do the end-weaving tomorrow while I’m trapped on a plane.

Ok, my sister is calling me so I have to go, but soon, I shall share more–more about yarn shopping (when I fall off a wagon, I fall hard enough to crack a sidewalk!), Craft Night, neat articles in the latest magazines, and indoctrinating a new knitter. Happy Saturday!

October, already?

You may have noticed I haven’t been terribly consistent with blogging lately.  Partly it was because I had The Plague, which made me not want to do much of anything.  But mostly it’s because I haven’t really been doing yarn crafts, which makes me sad.  I started that stupid red scarf that is so boring I rarely pick it up, yet I haven’t been able to find another project to replace it.  What I’d like to be working on is a felted purse for a friend, but I don’t have the right colors in my stash, and I’m on a budget freeze, so, no!new!yarn!  Which also makes me sad.

I feel bad for abandoning my readers, though, so I’m thinking of outsourcing, i.e. inviting some of my knitting friends to guest-blog, so y’all will still have something new to read. I know there aren’t many of you, but I check the stats, and I know I’m not talking to myself here, so of course I want to make sure you keep coming back. 🙂

In other news, how about those new TV shows premiering in the past few weeks?  I of course have not seen all of them, but here’s my take on the ones I have seen:

Monday:
Chuck = One thumb up.  It’s amusing, and I adore Adam Baldwin, so I’ll keep watching it.
Journeyman = Zzzzzzzzzzzz.  Watched ten minutes, got bored, went to bed.

Tuesday:
Reaper = Two thumbs up.  Cracks me up! The leaf blower! The rubber suits! I hope it keeps its momentum.

Wednesday:
Private Practice = Ugh.  No improvement since the pseudo-pilot hidden within Grey’s Anatomy last year. Will not watch.
Bionic Woman = One thumb tentatively up.  It takes itself too seriously, the dialogue is lame, and I miss the deaf and angry little sister from the original pilot, but at least it has cool action sequences.  At least it’s better than Private Practice.
Dirty Sexy Money = Two thumbs up.  So far the Darlings are pretty one dimensional, but I don’t care, because I love Peter Krause, and I love how his character’s reactions to the Darlings are pretty much what I’m thinking–these people live on another planet! And the ringtones are endlessly amusing (except they changed Karen’s ringtone–wuwt?).
Pushing Daisies = LOVE. Favorite new show of 2007. Adore Lee Pace, although I’m a little distracted by the lead actress’s resemblance to Zooey Deschanel.

Thursday:
Big Shots = Two thumbs down.  As someone else said somewhere online, “Finally! A TV show showcasing the problems of rich white men!”  In the ten minutes I saw before I couldn’t take it anymore, I saw unlikeable, whiny characters screwing up their cozy rich lives.  Eh.  I’d rather read before bed.

Friday:
Moonlight = Omigod, I think I broke a thumb when they turned down so fast they crashed to the floor.  Smug and trite dialogue that sounds like it was written by a seventh-grader in a remedial reading class,  horrible acting, ridiculously miscast actors (poor Jason Dohring), and a premise ripped from not just one, but at least two shows that did it way better (although I would’ve forgiven this last nail in the coffin if it weren’t for the rest of it).  Easily the worst new show of the season, and possibly the worst I’ve ever seen. Seriously, you should check it out just to marvel at the badness!

Ok, that’s horribly off-topic for a knitting blog, unless you do a lot of your knitting in front of the TV like I (usually) do.  I think I’ll go pull out my entire stash now in an attempt to jump start my creative juices and get myself out of this knitter’s block.

Categories
Miscellaneous

And in other news…

MIT students hack Harvard statue

Pictures of a Muppet Show cake, winner of the 2007 Kentucky State Fair

And a reminder that I have a separate blog for knitting related topics. 😀

Categories
Miscellaneous

It’s Trouble’s Birthday Today

Today my cat Trouble is 10 years old–yay Trouble!

ION, I’ve been sick with the plague, or what I imagine the plague feels like. It’s not fun. On the bright side, as of this morning my throat no longer feels like I’ve been swallowing razor blades. On the not so bright side, I’m at work despite the still-sick, because today my former coworker is visiting before flying home to Georgia tonight, and I didn’t want to miss her. I doubt I’ll be up for dinner, though.

Paula, Stephanie and Nancy

Last week was a busy week. I flew home to New England on the 13th. Stephanie got married on the 15th down the Cape, and my lordie but it was a splendid time! Food and celebration and much drink and dancing, with lots of friends, including some I hadn’t seen in many years. Check out nearly 300 pictures of the weekend, taken by me, Nancy and Todd.

After the wedding, I had a couple of days off, then checked into a hotel in Boston for FlashForward2007, my favorite conference of the year. It was a bit marred this year by coming down with the plague on the first day, but it didn’t get really bad until Friday, so I was able to enjoy the sessions for the first two days, as well as the events for the first two evenings. Friday started the serious breathing issues, so I missed several sessions I’d wanted to attend.

Then Saturday, while my friend Kathie was getting married back in Pasadena, I was at the memorial mass for my mom (two years now), followed by lunch with family and friends at mom’s best friend’s house, which was then followed by dinner and board games at my sister’s in-laws (which would’ve been way funner if I hadn’t been so deeply into the plague by then).

Now I am home and finally feeling marginally better, which means full recovery shouldn’t be too far away.

And that is the state of me. 🙂