5.29.08

It's Thursday and I'm still on my 3-day weekend hangover. Not a literal hangover from too much wine (although there was a fair amount consumed, none-the-less), but the joy of sleeping and lounging and house fixer-upping that makes coming back to work HARD. But yes, there was celebrating because nothing says "Memorial Day" like:



Yes, the BBQ was on Sunday night, but this was at 1am. And yes, our husbands are 30 (or almost there). Beer pong apparently isn't age discriminant.

In other news that doesn't involve drinking: I am currently LOATHING my Ballet Cami

All the knitting and seaming is done, and it fits, but I can't find an edging that I like AT ALL. Single Crochet looks messy. Pick-up and Bind-off gives a weird seam. I've seriously tried about 15 times and finally just threw it across the room before stamping off to bed. It has defeated me.

However, the hubby asked me to start a project, and how can you say no to that? A good friend of his just had a baby, and he said I should make a little cardi. DUH. I'm obviously a little slow here because I ALWAYS seize the opportunity to make Baby Cardis!



Basic top-down seamless based on f. pea's Super Natural Stripes pattern, with Blue Sky Organic Cotton. I love kiddo sweaters because of the instant gratification. I started it yesterday while I was monitoring the Hole-in-One competition at the Faculty-Staff golf tourney, and am already plugging through the body. Awesome.

One More for the Ravelry Board

I am HIGHLY embarrassed to say I've started another sweater.


Knit Picks Andean Silk on my grandma's old size 6 straight needles.

I think I was in a knit funk because I haven't turned out anything but st st for like the last 2 months. I saw this sweater and was like OH - LACE! Oh - Scallops! Prrrretty!

I am also embarassed to say I am JUST now getting around to putting stuff from the wedding (4 months ago!) away.


[click for notes]

Lots of organization and persistance going on around here, I tell yah.

Rain Rain Come My Way!

It is overcast outside. Do you know how happy this makes me? What makes it even better:

Sitting inside (while some nice men build my backyard), knitting with Cascade Pima Tencel, snuggling with the animals, listening to the Allman Brothers. And flowers. Definitely flowers:

So April Showers bring May Heatwaves?

Today is our first day of summer hours at the U [we move from 8-5 to 7-3:30 so all the power generators don't burn up in the summer trying to keep this place cool], and MAN am I not happy to be awake this early. On top of that, it is hot as SIN here in F-No, with tempatures over 100 degrees for FOUR straight days in a row. I think it's like 75 degrees right now. In May. What the EFF is going on here?!?

Yesterday we had a record high (103), and we may do it again today (I've heard as high as 106 is predicted). Oye.

Luckily we were out of town and didn't have to deal with most of it, but it was still pretty toasty in SB. I was forced to abandoned all wool for this:


[Please excuse the less-than-stellar photograph]

The Ballet Camisole from the site formerly known as Magknits. In Cascade Pima Cotton, size 4 & 6 needles. This is my progress after 3 days - not too bad! I think it should be done by Memorial Day.

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Other stuff from the weekend:

Osyter Love, at Brophy Brothers SB:


Our Girls are FINALLY getting along:


AND

I'm bringing back the Sunday Dinner Party:

[oh how I enjoy my beloved fiestaware]



I can't begin to tell you how good this dish was. I started with the recipe Chili-Garlic Shrimp from Cooking Light. I made Bulgar Pilaf instead of Brown Rice, doubled the amount of lemon & bay leaf, and added an extra T. of butter (something I NEVER do, but oh man, did it make that sauce good). Served with a Crisp Chardonnay and Green Salad w/ Champagne Vinegarette. Yumminess.

SB Love

Longtime readers may recall that I've talked about my Alma Mater once or twice, but for the newbies: I can't put it more simply, I went to school in one of the most beautiful places on the west coast: Santa Barbara, CA.


It's a damn shame I can't get back there more often... but YAY! We're headed back this weekend!

My husband hasn't really gotten to experience SB yet, we drove through and had lunch when we were coming back for a wedding but he didn't really see much. Now there's so much to do and so little time! Happy Hour at the Montecito Inn. Shopping on State Street. Walking around the Mission. A Freebirds Burrito (the REAL one in Isla Vista). Music at the Arlington Theater. The Oh-So-Strong cocktails at Joe's. The Italian Pottery Outlet.

Geesh. I think I am going to need two weeks.

Anyhow, now I need to add two yarn stores to the mix: Knit & Pearl and Loop & Leaf. I know for sure I'd like to come home with some Sea Silk, and maybe some Blue Sky Organic Cotton. So lucky I didn't knit in college.


View Larger Map

I'm going to take the back piece of the Watery Cardigan, and the sleeve of Thermal. Don't know why I'm working on either of these since I won't even be THINKING about wearing them for 6 months, but oh well. I'm itching to cast on socks for some reason, so maybe those too. The casting on never quits around here.

Crab N' Kegs

Picture if you will, my sister and I sitting around drinking wine one night when I comment outloud to myself "gee, it would be fun if we could throw a crab feed for your birthday next month..."

Crazy ideas turn into even crazier parties.





Sissy turned the big 2-6 last week, and my mom actually let us put a keg in her backyard to celebrate. Cause nothing says "DOWNWARD SLIDE TO 30!" like crab and kegs. I'm not the biggest beer fan in the world, so I celebrated by drinking some yummy chardonnay. However, Matt only had one thing to say about this:



Knitting coming soon.

Queued

These are the top 6 items in my Ravelry Queue:



I have the yarn for ALL of them (as soon as the tax-return shipment for some Cascade Pima Tencel and Eco-Wool arrives from webs.com) and I am having a MAJOR case of startitis. This is bad.

The Blouson and Ballet Tee are going to no-brainers as soon as it get hot as sin here in the Valley (about 1.5 months from now), but I need to resist those others. Currently I'm knitting as much as I can on the Watery Cardi (Sesame II) while I can still handle 100% wool. She is coming along pretty quick - I've got a front and almost 2 sleeves done thanks to the cabin weekend (more on that tomorrow). Marilyn's NSSC is to a point where it's become a couch-only knit, so progress on that is slow.

Knitting time has been hampered significantly because I'm on my yearly Spring diet, which blows. I make no effort to hide how much I despise depriving myself of anything, but I've just felt so tired and icky the last few months that it needed to be done.I always feel great after working out, but given how busy we are there's very little spare time and something has to go (since it's pretty challenging to knit on a stationary bike. I may have tried it once or twice). And right now, I've gotta ride this motivation for all it's worth.

Oh but don't worry, the nightly glass of wine is still a part of this diet. I realized a couple years ago there was no way in hell I could give it up.

Quirky

Brandy over at The Purl Parables tagged me with a 'quirky' meme. This thing was sort of written for me because I've been called someones 'quirkiest friend' more than once.

So here goes. Six quirks about me:

1. I love vinegar.

Any condiments, really, but I put vinegar on EVERYTHING. Balsamic, Sherry, White, Garlic-Red, Cider - you name it, it's in my pantry. My favorite midday snack is Ramen noodles cooked, drained, and then soaked in white vinegar. It's also a great way to repel people from coming into my office.

2. I love knitting.

This is not a quirk for almost everyone reading this, but to my real-world friends, it's somewhat insane. My sister mentioned it numerous times in her speech at our wedding. My friends love rummaging through my (usually ginormous) purse to see what I am toting around on any given day. I also knit while driving. What - I stop when the light turns green!

3. I make up words

Sometimes the English language just doesn't allow you to express the way you feel. Example: I am tremendasaurusly tired. This used to horrify some of my English-major friends in college. I think I started doing it more frequently to annoy them.

4. I bite my nails

Gross, I know. I've tried everything to stop. At least it's not crack cocaine or something.

5. I love random trivia

For fun, I read Wikipedia. Currently, I'm reading up on the meaning of common nursery rhymes and the list of the most haunted places in the US.

6. I sing to my pets

Nothing like a little family sing-along to put everyone in a good mood. My favorite is singing "VI-VA" in place of Paul Simon's "Ceceila". Vi-Va, you're breaking my heart, you're shaking my confidence daily... oh Va-Vi-Va, I'm down on my knees... you get the idea.