Thursday, November 15, 2007

November..How did it get to be November?

Well well well. I swore I was back and then I totally bailed. It's been a crazy month! Here's the nutshell version.
1. Work was hell! Too much work. Too many demands. All worked out in the end. (It was actually pretty fabulous but it was a pretty treacherous route to fabulous).
2. Everyone's hands are suddenly cold so I am knitting wrist warmers like a mad woman.
3. A bunch of folks coming for Thanksgiving dinner. I'll post the menu tomorrow. I think it's going to be really good.
4. Boy is stressed. We are stressed. I think it will be okay.
5. Prepping the bathroom for painting. It's going to be more work than I thought it would. Thank God for safety goggles.
6. Vacation days all next week--oh the glory!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Oye!

I thought I was back but I wasn't. Now--I swear--I am really back.

Lot's of work--lot's of knitting. Am taking a page from the Yarn Harlot and have planted a sock on my desk. Not much done yet but it is so nice to pick up and stroke when I have writer's block or I get a really annoying email. Started my favorite baby sweater for my cousin's delicious little son. I made him one when he was born and he and his mom love it. It's really a great pattern. A friend photo copied it for me from a magazine about 15 years ago and I have made a ton of them. It's a basic baby raglan cardigan that you can adjust by a few stitches to add cables, patterns, color--whatever you want. I'll post a photo when I have more than the ribbing done.

Spent the weekend at the local Country Fair (which may sound like an oxymoron in Yonkers but it's a lot of fun). I am one of the chairs of the Food Court which means that right now I smell like Sausage and Peppers with a side of fries. Very attractive. Luckily Boy is away right now so I can spend a leisurely hour taking a hot, hot, hot shower and then going to bed.

My girlfriends from high school and I are going to see Paolo Nutini next weekend. He is so hot and I love his album but I can't seem to stop referring to him as "that cute Scottish jailbait". It should be an interesting evening.

P.S. If you haven't heard his album yet--check it out. It's reall good.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Finally Back!


I gave up. I caved. It finally happened.


I went out and bought a new computer. I was supposed to take Granny's old one. It worked fine and I figured I was doing my part for the world by recycling it but then it totally crapped out on me the very next day.


So I caved in and bought a new computer. And I am truly, madly and deeply in love with it. It is tiny! It fits right on top of my desk. It does everything.


Isn't she cute? I put the sunglasses on top of it for context. It fits in my knitting bag.
Had a lovely rainy morning with Pop's sweater. It's from 2006 Holiday Interweave in lovely dark green. I think he's going to like it although I hope to God it fits!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

10 People I Wish Were Still Alive

So I was in the car last night listening to the radio and I realized how much I truly miss Freddy Mercury. I know that may sound odd--I'm totally okay with that--but I was really touched by his music when I was young.

So it got me to thinking about the people that I miss. I'm not going to do all 10 at once because I'm really not sure who they all are yet. But I know who a few of them are.

So without further ado!

Number 1--Obviously, since this is a knitting blog, Elizabeth Zimmerman. But even more than the knitting thing, I just loved her. I was in fourth grade when I got my copy of Knitting Without Tears. I don't know if it was given to me or to my mom or to my grandmother or really where it came from but it was in the house one day and I fell truly, madly and deeply in love. I wanted to learn how to knit so badly but knitting with the yarn in my right hand is so odd and awkward to me. She was the first grown up that ever said to me--do it the way that it feels good to you. I was nine years old and some stranger who had written a knitting book completely set a course for me. I never had to do things the way other people did just for the sake of being the same again. And I think it has made my life oh so very interesting.

She was also the first person who I ever read (and I was and still am an avid reader) who wrote like they spoke. I've noticed that there are certain words that people use when they are either a: writing or b: not a native English speaker. Perhaps is one of them. Most people don't speak the word perhaps. Anyway, it was the first time I actually heard a voice in my mind while I was reading. This woman was in my fourth grade classroom with me chatting away.

Poetry is meant to be spoken and because of Elizabeth Zimmerman I was able to hear the voice of the writer the first time I read real poetry. Imagine that.

I still have my copy of Knitting Without Tears. As I said, I don't know how it got into my hands but I know that I claimed it immediately.

I wrote my name in it in my fourth-grade-just-learned-script handwriting and I cherish it to this day.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

I'm torn

It's very hard to be both insulted and empowered at the same time. I am sitting here watching the U.S. Open. I have to put the caveat out that I am not a sports person. Never have been. I totally faked it when I was a kid. I ran track (hated it). Played basketball (sucked at it). Went to football games (cute guys--I could handle that). However, I am a fan of sports and I will watch any game even if I don't understand it.

That said.

I am watching the tennis matches because I have a reason to for work (I won't bore you with it). The guys take medical time outs. They get testy. They play a decent game.

Tonight the girls are on. And I call them girls in the best sense of the word. The commentators have talked about their games and their strength and their skill. But they also talk about their outfits, their hair, their relationships and their jewelry. At first I was insulted.

But then I became empowered. Guess what--relationships are important. Justine and Serena are much more than just tennis players. They are human beings with lives beyond the tennis courts. And those lovely lives should be honored. Personality is important. So Serena's dress is by Nike. Those earrings on the other hand are totally, 100% Serena. She is true to herself in the work that she does and how she presents herself. And those commentators better talk about it dammit. She works too hard.

It would be very clique to say that the guys couldn't play a good game of Monopoly if they had to do it with a skirt on and a pair of boobs but, truth be told, they probably couldn't. Women atheletes are a different breed. They make it work. They make it happen. And they make me really proud.

I will be wearing a long pair of silver earrings to work tomorrow in honor of Serena. I don't care if she wins.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Ripping Mad and Ripping Back

I was only five rows into the Ogee Skirt from Summer Interweave Knits when I made some ridiculous big mistake. Can't figure out what I did so I am ripping it all out and starting over. I'll bring it down to the pool today and let it enjoy the sunshine.
I have to make two of them--one for Bratty Gurl and one for her cousin in Ireland. They are very stylish girls the two of them and they'll be the hit of the high school in this one!

Lucky for some nasty guy that I didn't have knitting needles with me last night or I might be blogging from jail! Boy and I went out for a cocktail and a game of pool or two and this creep and his wife were hanging out in our favorite little watering hole. Creepo was wearing--are you ready for this--a nazi t-shirt! I was ripping mad! This is a grown man who you think would have evolved beyond bigotry by now but clearly not. Creepo asked Boy if he wanted to play pool and of course Boy said yes because he loves to play pool and I am really bad at it. I almost choked because I had seen the shirt but, clearly, Boy had not. Well about half way through the game, Boy noticed the t-shirt and I saw the look on his face. Not good.

Anyway, Creepo really thought he was going to win. He was down to the eight ball and Boy still had three balls on the table and I was on the edge of my seat because there was no way Boy was going to let Creepo win and guess what happened.

Creepo missed! Hurray!

Boy stood there looking at his remaining balls and I saw this little smile creep across his face. Boy cleared the table and won! And then guess what he did?

Creepo had bet him a drink on the game and Boy turned around and gave it to the handicapped black man sitting at the bar next to him. I couldn't help myself--I kissed him right there in the middle of the bar! (And it was a big "you won one for all the little guys" kiss.)

Of course then Creepo's wife thought she was going to start with me so I stood right back up to her (which made her really testy) and then I went outside and said 10 Hail Marys to calm down.

I can honestly say I have never been prouder of Boy nor have I ever gotten so excited about a pool game. It felt like a the balance between good and bad energy had tipped drastically to the good and I was so happy to be there for it.

It was a good, good night!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

It's a big day in the Y.O.

First of all, I am back on line. For some reason, I occassionally get this weird problem and can't connect to the internet. It could be that my computer is so old that I would probably do better with an abacus and a pencil. I'm getting a new one soon.

And guess what I found when I got online? Two comments! Hurray! I had visitors! And they were nice! Now I just have to figure out how to reply to comments. I'll work on that tonight. It turns out that one of the commenters and I are doing mysterystole in the same yarn and we have the same first name! How cool is that. By the way, it's the Cherry Tree Hill Possum from Flying Fingers. I love it! It is so soft and fluffy. Tiny Cat thinks it is her baby and tries to carry the ball around with her. Elise and I had quite a few laughs when I went into the shop to get some help winding my second hank. It's so fine that the first one took me FOREVER! Anyway, when I walked into the shop and said that I needed my possum wound, it somehow sounded, shall we say, off color. Anyway, I think I'm going to use "winding my possum" as a euphamism for something--I'm just not sure what yet.

The biggest thing to happen in the past few days though is, for the first time in my life, I got my car inspected in the month that it was due. Every year, I end up leaving notes on my car over the expired inspection sticker that say things like "Hey Joe, I'm in (fill in restaurant name here). Meet me inside." For some reason I believe that the police won't look under my note. So far it has worked but I don't recommend trying it.

I have made a promise to myself that I will figure out how to use the digital camera that Granny bought me this weekend and post some projects. The cute, cute, cute baby that I went to visit on Sunday got a sweater for his baby shower and it is his favorite so I promised some more. I think red with green frog buttons is the next one up. Doesn't that sound like fun!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

It's an all baby weekend!

So yesterday I met the new little muffin upstairs. Then off to a party to meet an old friend's new baby girl. I've got to tell you, this was THE baby of all babies. She cooed, she giggled, she smiled, she snuggled. She was amazing. The folks who were kind enough to fill their home with a bunch of sweaty people also have a toddler who is just delicious. Red curly hair, peaches and cream cheeks--how wrong can you go?

Today it is out to Brooklyn with my cousins who are visiting from Ireland to visit my other cousins who also have a new baby. Haven't seen him yet so it should be fun. His mom and dad are both real lookers so I am expecting nothing less.

In the "Giant Step into the 21st Century" area of my life, I finally got a digital camera. Okay I didn't buy it myself--Granny bought it as a gift--but I promise I will use it and post pictures, blah, blah, blah.

Tiny cat has been particularly needy this morning. I spent a good part of the a.m. snuggled on the couch with her working on Pop's sweater. I've taken a running jump off a cliff with this one. I have no idea if it will fit him. I have no idea if I have enough yarn. I keep reminding myself that life can be about the journey and not about the destination but I have been obsessively measuring it to see how far I am getting with the first skein of yarn. And really, what's the worst thing that could happen. I run out of yarn? It doesn't fit Pop? Well--it'll fit someone!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

The Day of the Raccoon Suicides

As I drove up to Katonah today to make my first visit to Katonah Yarns, I was shocked by the number of raccoons who have chosen to end it all. Can their little raccoon lives be that awful or could it be the impending spike in the mercury? Did they realize that they are wearing fur on a blazing hot day? There were boatloads of them!

So Bratty Gurl wants the Ogee Skirt from the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits. Katonah was the only place that had the tape so I cranked up the a/c and jumped on the Saw Mill. What a treat it was. Also bought some Lorna's Lace sock yarn and some yummy blue yarn (I don't remember what it is and it is still in the car) for the new baby upstairs. Shockingly, I didn't even know his mother was pregnant and I've seen her a million times in the past nine months. He is a delicious little muffin--only eight days old and tiny tiny tiny.

This week, I feel like I am leading parallel lives with some of the bloggers that I read so I decided to start my own. Like Laurie, I've decided that I deserve (not need) a clean house. Like Brooklyn Tweed, I've found that I love knitting lace in non-lace yarn.

God I hate the heat!