i've got a fever, dammit

i need to go to the yarn store, but i honestly don't feel well enough to do it. you know that's bad... this begs the question: WHY do i have the immune system of a premature kitten? blah. i'm going home early to lie down instead of going out to buy some fabulous new yarn.

by the way, you know all that stuff over in my sidebar about what i am reading and knitting and stuff? it's all lies. i need to update that shit.

just in time for fall

adam's sweater, finished

the hippie went sailing for the weekend with our friend harry, and almost all my weekend plans sort of collapsed slowly in on themselves. you know what that means... all i did this weekend was knit and watch reruns of grey's anatomy. i finished adam's little orange sweater at last! i put that thing down in august and went for a long pause while half-way through the second sleeve. but now it's done just in time for fall, and it should be perfect weather for him to start wearing it in the next month or so. assuming it fits, of course. i have to say, i LOVE it--i think the little bit of striping really adds something to the design and makes it look a little more boy-ish. AND it's knitted with julia, which is butter soft wool and alpaca and as you know, my favorite. the striping, however, meant that it took FOREVER to weave in all the ends--i was cursing its ass by the time that part was done.

i LOATHE weaving in ends!!! am i the only one? i will finish a project and let it sit for two months while i procrastinate weaving in the ends. it's just so BORING, and it always takes so much longer than i think it will! blah on the ends. but i digress...

dream swatch, WIP

i also finished knitting a bag i am making for the sam (and even wove in its stinkin' ends)--i still need to sew on the handles and felt it. in fact, i have two bags ready to felt and a third on pause that's about half-way finished. i need to get on that. (i'll take some pictures when it's all done.) and last but not least, i made a tiny bit of progress on my dream swatch as well. i didn't work on this much at all--in fact none over the weekend--this progress is from lunch today. i am still loving this swatchy bit to death!!! is this yarn not unbelievably pretty all knitte up? everyone should make one of these--i mean it.

actually wait a minute--that swatchy bit's not last! i am also knitting some simple seed stitch washcloths to include in some christmas presents. the hippie made a fabulous one for me, and he inspired me to make a few of them myself. they are so fast and mindless, i almost forgot about them. still have the lace pillowsaces on the needles, too, although they are on pause. i am more interested in starting something new for me...something that i can wear...but what??? i can't decide what to make next, which sounds to me like i need a trip to the yarn store!

ps--forgive my lack of links in this post--i am strapped for time!

something new

i know, i know--i have a ton of projects going on right now. but still--don't you ever just HAVE to start a new one anyway? especially when there's a pile of dishes to wash and work to do? and last night, as i was unloading my laptop to prepare for my late night conference call, i came across this little pattern i printed out a long time ago--the dream swatch, a little one-skein freebie from over at the garter belt, designed by one of my favorite knitting bloggers, wendy. and see--i have this one little skein of noro sakura (part of my knitter's tea swap package sent to me by the wonderful allegra) that was just calling out to me to be knitted into something. and well--you see what happened. the minute that conference call ended, i blew off everything, wound up my yarn, and started knitting. i cant say i'm sorry. this yarn is NOT a joy to work with, but man, it sure is pretty! i love all the colors! this little swatchy, scarfy bit is going to knit up quickly and make me happy every step of the way. :)

oh, and in other knitting news, my friend amy, who came to my house for her fist knitting lesson last week and who i sent home with yarn, a book, and some needles, has already finished her first scarf and even managed to put fringe on it! go amy!

party party party!

cupcakes

this weekend we hosted a surprise birthday party for our friend jenn who just turned forty (she looks WAY younger!), which was totally fun! we did it up casual--just a big cookout with lots of her friends and their bajillion kids. there were SO MANY KIDS in our yard! i love having people over and getting to cook, especially when my cupcakes come out this cute. i made jenn a birthday cake as well, but these coucakes were my favorite. i just had to share the cuteness! anyway--it was a great party and made for a very pleasant sunday afternoon. at the end of it all, the hippie spent half he evening snuggled on the couch with gabriella reading books to her, once again taunting my biological clock. when she left, he said he thought she was designed specifically to rip out his soul. lol.

by the way, i didn't take ANY other pictures--i was too busy running around the whole time!

cruisin'

i saw the COOLEST THING over on flaurella's blog: a cruizin cooler. i am just dying for an excuse to get one of these. i sent the link to it out to the email list of my physics friends with whom we go to the beach every year--the subject line of the email was "do we need one of these for the beach?" and my friend jeff, in true fabulous-jeff fashion, sent the following response:

I would say that we do, but I think we ought to build our own with a higher top speed, much bigger tires, greater cargo capacity, and somewhere to mount a couple of umbrellas so they won't blow away. Possibly we could start with a riding mower or a used Volkswagen as a platform.

Or maybe a surplus hovercraft.

it is clear that i have truly awesome friends. thanks, flaurella, for finding this jewel. :)

just some cuteness

today i was just thinking about my kitties, and i thought i would share some cuteness with you. i have very few pictures of the boys as kittens, and the quality on this picture of samson is certainly not fabulous, but still--how cute was he? he was only 5 weeks old when he was rescued and brought to me, and i have no idea how i would have resisted him even if i hadn't been looking for a kitten, which i was. (i needed to get some company for my older cat, scout.) samson's brother, fergus is just as cute, but there's something more still and contemplative about samson that makes him far less difficult to photograph. he's just the sweetest animal i have ever had in my care. he's a hoss, weighing in today at 18.5 pounds, but he has this tiny meow like he's the cat-child of mike tyson or something. samson and fergus have been with me 5 years now, and i still thing they are some of the best cats on the planet. pets are truly a source of joy!

and in other news, tonight i will be spending the evening with gabriella so that her mom and dad can go out for jenn's birthday. yay for some quality time with the sqeaker! and happy birthday, jenn!

and in still other news, my knitting lunch today was cancelled! this fills me with sadness as it's a cool rainy day here and PERFECT for some knitting. pesky job getting in the way of my desire to be home making things... *grumble*

a walk in the woods

There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and has his senses still.

--Henry David Thoreau, Walden

saturday morning, i got up, made some tea, talked to my mother for a long time, made breakfast for myself and the hippie, and then went up to umstead park, which is the oasis of woods here in the middle of the urban sprawl of raleigh and durham. it was beautiful and quiet and being inthe woods, all alone, filled me with a sense of peace i haven't felt in years. it's not like i went on some major jaunt--just under 3 miles is all i thought i could manage--but it was enough to set the proper tone for my whole weekend. i took nothing with me but a bottle of water and a camera, and i was glad i had the camera so i could capture a few things, like these perfect toadstools, a beautiful doe in my path, a VERY creepy spider (whose picture i took while praying--please don't be a jumping kind of spider!), and this little passenger who rode on my shirt for a bit until i off-loaded him onto a convenient sapling. i passed a few people along the way--enough that i felt safe hiking alone, but not so many that i felt like the woods were crowded. it was amazing to me how quickly the noise of the city just fell away. it was really a fantastic walk, and one i think i am going to try to make a saturday morning ritual. when i was a child, i spent some time in the woods every single day--i think i need to get back to those roots a little bit!

in other news, my present from aimee turned out to be some beautiful stationery and some invitations that have made me want to throw a little cocktail party--might have to fit that in over the coming holidays... i finished a baby hat at lunch today, but haven't taken a picture yet. tonight, my friend amy is coming over for a knitting lesson, and perhaps a martini or two--should be fun!

weekend update

i did. i took it easy this weekend. got up on saturday and went for a hike. bought healthy groceries. cooked healthy food. read and read and read. i actualy read two and a third books this weekend--granted, they were targeted at a slightly younger audience than me. it was awesome to sit and read and lose myself in a story that was just a story. in other updates--no knitting. and i didn't clean out my desk either, but that was mostly an act of defiance. i did pet the cats a lot. and i got a present in the mail. but mostly, i spent the weekend being antisocial, spending a little time, for once, with just myself. it was awesome.

i have some pictures to share, but unfortunately forgot the camera today, so y'all are just going to have to wait till tomorrow.

takin' it easy

i have gotten where i don't like writing a blog post with no pictures in it, even if i have something to say. we had yet another weekend away last weekend, and i haven't said anything about it yet because i haven't had time to clean up the pictures. and i have been too tired this week to think my way clearly thoguth a blog post, if you want to know the truth. tired, kind of bummed out (probably from being tired), and feeling broke and generally blah. i am so glad we are about to have a big fat weekend of NOTHING. i want no plans and nowhere to be and no social engagements. i just want to be HOME. but of course, you know me--can't do that without goals. here's what i want to do this weekend:

• finish adam's baby sweater, weave in ends on the baby hat i made for the hippie's friend, finish the straps for the current felted bag
• plan healthy meals for the coming week, go to the grocery store, do some food prep and cooking ahead
• go for a hike or walk or do something active and fun
• clean out my desk
• read

that's it, and for me, that's a really short list. we are actually going to be in town for the next many weekends, so i don't feel like there's a tremendous pressure on me to get stuff done. i am going to go slow this weekend. i'll get around to those pictures when i get around to them.

best concert of the year, so far...

zombie on stage


sully erna, live

we were SO right about the rain making last thursday's concert even more fun! even under the pavillion, we were soaked! but everyone was, and no one cared! (i saw one girl who was covered in mud from the top of her head down to her bare feet--and she was definitely still smiling...) now i love me some rob zombie--i listen to him almost every day. and man, his music is great for dancing around the house! but live, he was even better! i wish i could go see him agian RIGHT NOW in a small venue somewhere where the loudness and the madness would be even more impactful. i loved everything about watching his crazy ass on stage!!! loved the strippers and the energy and the cool stage set--the video was awesome, too! i was sad only that a couple of my favorite songs were missing from the set, but i am still reeling from live dragula and living dead girl! (both songs can be heard on the rob zombie myspace page if you want to check them out.) and then godsmack?! they were just awesome, too. i wasn't as familiar with them as with zombie, but man, i have definitely been enjoying them ever since. their stage show was amazing, and their drummer is AWESOME! and then the lead singer and the drummer did a set with dual drum kits that was one of the coolest things i have ever seen in a concert. it reminded me of long, long ago when i saw jane's addiction when they were just getting started, and they did this thing on stage with bongos and a strobe light that sounded and looked fabulous--i have never forgotten it. anyway--suffice it to say--that concert was worth every cent and the nearly 3-hour drive through the rain and the late night and how freakin' tired i was on friday! the hippie loved it, too--i think he was pretty happy with this part of his birthday present. i wish we could go do it all again! our next concert's got a long way to go to live up to this one!