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November 30, 2005
Wealth
Click here for the true story.
What fabulous riches gained from yarn! Yarn conceived, created, sold, purchased, gifted by interesting and engaging women. Who just so happen to be very special friends. The socks, well, they warm my feet, but more importantly, they warm my heart! Thank you!
Posted by Cara at 03:42 PM | Comments (38)
She Shoots SHE SCORES!
The Devils pulled it out with a stunning goal right out of the face off with literally 30 seconds left in regulation to break the tie. I'll have to make it up to The Beantown Girls this weekend. Sorry honeys.
Georgie and I had a really fun night. I've been to a lot of sporting events in my life and I have to say, hockey is the absolute best to watch in person. On TV, not so much - very hard to keep track of the puck. But there's nothing like the smell of the ice, the cold, the collective gasps and cheers of the crowd. G used to have a job that allowed us lots of free hockey games - especially in Philly. We had great seats - right behind the Flyer bench and man those games were fun. BEST.SPORTS.EVENT.EVER: We were there, Game 7, when the Devils beat Anaheim in 2003. Oh my god. Never have I had more fun. The screaming didn't end! There is nothing like Lord Stanley's Cup. Nothing. I always cry when they bring it out on TV - in person - it was just spectacular.
In the early Seventies, my grandmother was the book keeper for the Philadelphia Blazers. They didn't last long as a team, but when we were growing up whenever we went to my grandparents we would play office with all of the stationery and stuff from the team - what memories this logo has for me!
There was also this amazing picture of my grandmother and Hockey Legend Bernie Parent. Awesome. I found a Blazers Jersey on ebay - signed by Parent. Hmmm. My birthday's awfully close - except G says you can't wear it because you can't wash it.
The other thing I love about hockey is the ice skating - this may seem kind of obvious, but I defy you to be there, in person, watching those men, so graceful and FAST, and not want to strap on a pair of skates. For awhile I considered taking hockey skating lessons - and maybe joining a league, but I never did. It's nights like tonight that I really want to again.
Georgie let me knit during the intermissions at the game and guess what? I love my Jaywalker socks. I forgot how much I love the pattern, and especially the yarn. I'm back to the Carbon Socks and it's just wonderful. The thing that's so obsessive about these socks for me, as I was telling Jen today, is that is so easy to hit those markers - you know - look how far I've gotten, why not keep going? I cast on and do my twelve rows of ribbing and next thing I know I've got ten pattern repeats done. Well it's only another fifteen pattern repeats before it's time to start the heel. And once you start the heel, you've got to finish the gusset. And once you finish the decreases you're at about 37 repeats - and then it's only 20 more until you start decreasing the toe - and well - then you're done. You see what I'm saying? You're always hitting the next step and how can you stop then? I'm hoping to have this pair finished by the weekend. I want to wear them out with the girls.
I'm blogging tonight, it's technically Wednesday, because I'm driving G to an appoinment REALLY early tomorrow and when I get home I need to concentrate on classwork. So no blogging for me tomorrow. Besides, by the time FUCKLINES updates me it'll be around noon anyway!
Have a great day!
Posted by Cara at 12:50 AM | Comments (9)
November 29, 2005
Better Pals ROCK!
Yesterday I received my third and final present from my Better Pal. As some of you may know, the Better Pal exchange was purposefully kept small and intimate and everyone kind of knew at least a few of the people involved. I was lucky enough to NOT know my better pal gifter or my giftee (you can figure out which is which.)
My exchange had a decidedly INTERNATIONAL flavor as both gifter and giftee live outside my home country. How amazing is that?! Every time I got a gift from my pal, G would get all excited! It's like he was a little kid and wanted to collect the stamps or something.
Because of the intimate nature of the exchange, it would've been VERY easy for me to find out who my pal was. I mean, c'mon, it's not like there are a lot of bloggers from her country - in fact, every time I mentioned where my pal was from people were more than ready to tell me who she was. I was beginning to think she was THE ONLY blogger from this country. Alas, I think she's not. But it was pretty funny when I was googling around the internets one day looking for sock patterns or something and I came across this blogger and I was reading some posts and then I realized SHE WAS FROM NORWAY! FUCK! My better pal is from Norway and she's the ONLY NORWEGIAN BLOGGER OUT THERE!!!! Damn. Damn. Damn. I wanted to keep it a secret until the big reveal.
So when I got my last package it wasn't a total suprise to find out that Kris of s t r i k k e r fame was my better pal!
One of the things I loved best about getting Kris's gifts was that she always wrapped them in color coordinating paper. Oranges, or Reds/Pinks and lastly Blues. So cheery! And besides some decious Rowan Yarn in my first package, all of the items in the gifts seemed to be made in Norway! Even the yarn! YAY! That's been a real treat! Something different. Something I couldn't get for myself, you know. This last package had some chocolate, some gummy feet (you guys have the BEST gummies!), some much needed handcream (Thank you! How did you know?) and some delicious silk/alpaca eggplant yarn. YAY for better pals.
I have to say, that while the presents are fun to get and it's nice to be spoiled, the best part of this exchange is that I really feel like Kris and I made a connection. Hopefully it wasn't just on my end, but we seemed to have a lot in common and I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with her. Thank you Kris! You made all my secret pal swap exchange dreams come true! And I should know - I've been BURNED before!
On the flip side, my better pal giftee was Nicole of Craftapalooza located in The Land Down Under! Talk about intimidating! Nicole is one crafty girl. I'm not crafty. I knit. That's the extent of my craftiness. Nicole, on the other hand, is one of the founding hosts of Back Tack - that super cool exchange where you actually MAKE things for your pal. Crafty things. So not me. I have to admit, I was nervous - but it was an opportunity to think out of the box. I studied her blog. I read her questionnaire and in the end I think I did a pretty good job! Nicole seems happy at least. So job well done for all of us!
And of course there's the whole torture Ann thing. Better fun could not have been had. Sheer unadulterated delight. Now that's the kind of torture I can get behind! The fact that Margene was behind the whole thing - well - let's just say that it was definitely worth all that postage to Australia! I've signed up for the next one and a big thank you goes out to Rock Chick and Shobhana for organizing the whole shebang! Thanks girls! This is the first time I haven't been burned in an exchange. I appreciate it!
Wonderful friends and presents aside, I'm in a shitty mood. Kind of like all work and no play makes Cara a dull girl. The truth is I'm bored. I don't do bored well. But I'm in that kind of ennui type bored where nothing seems interesting and I still have a lot of work to get done so I can't really abandon everything and jump into something and my house is a mess - beyond mess - it's ready to be condemned so I don't want to even leave the office because it just reminds me what a horrible wife I am that my husband works so, so hard all day long and comes home to a shithole because I can't manage my time better. Oh and also I hate any kind of work around the house. HATE IT. I'm not satisfied with my knitting, which is my stress relief these days so it's kind of making me more stressed. Last night, prime knitting time, I just laid in bed and watched my soap operas (Another World, repeats on SoapNet) while my sock sat RIGHT NEXT TO ME and I didn't do anything. I tried to cast on for mittens but got the stitches on the needles and gave up. I want to be inspired! I want to go to sleep thinking about waking up the next morning because I can't wait to work on whatever it is I'm working on! Mary is unbelieveably inspiring these days and her enthusiasm is infectious but the idea of casting on for a swatch makes me want to cry. There are so many things I have on the needles or want to put on the needles I'm overwhelmed and nothing feels right, you know. Thank god for the Jaywalkers because I don't think I'd be getting ANY knitting done if it wasn't for them.
Enough bitching. Back to the grind. Some Bruce. Some gummy bears. I'll be fine. ;-)
Posted by Cara at 09:56 AM | Comments (17)
November 28, 2005
Crossed In Translation 2 - Questions Answered!
Hey Everybody! Yeah you - the ones from the AranKnit group on Yahoo and the people coming over from the KnittyBlog and anyone else who's interested in making this fantastic sweater.
Here are some details for you about the KAL:
The Crossed In Translation KnitAlong doesn't technically start until JANUARY 1. It's a birthday present of sorts to MOI. (Get it? The name of the blog. My birthday. Ahh. The newbies!) I will be setting up a separate blog for the KAL. It doesn't have a URL yet. (I'm busy, okay?) It's been suggested by a few people that maybe I would set up a Yahoo group - I'm not going that way. Basically, I don't like the Yahoo group thing. I find them hard to navigate and annoying and if I don't get the eight million emails a day I forget to go over there and check things and the emails are annoying so I never check. But with a blog everyone can subscribe to the RSS feed and then you can be updated the way you are with all your other blogs and everyone can post pictures and questions and it'll just be one big love fest.
So that's how it's going to work. I figure Jan 1 is safe because by that time everyone will have gotten their books and the holidays will be over and we'll be settling in for a nice boring winter with a wonderful project. YAY!
Hope that answers a lot of the questions. I will try to get the blog up as soon as possible, but I'm not promising anything until January 1. Thanks so much! I'm excited about all the interest and I know that we'll all make the most fabulous sweaters!
Posted by Cara at 05:06 PM | Comments (17)
Spinner's Beware!
Forgot to mention - I had the freakiest dream this morning. I was in some kind of office setting and I was showing this young woman all of my fiber - and all the little balls/batts/whatever were wrapped up so pretty with bows and wrapping paper and I was telling her all the things she could do with the fiber. Like make clothes or something. I don't know where I went, but when I came back she was gone and so was all my fiber! She STOLE my fiber! I was running around telling everyone she stole it and I knew she didn't know how to spin, so when I found her I confronted her and told her that I had put a call into the syndicate (you know who you are) telling them NOT TO SPIN FOR HER! If she approached them, take the fiber and send it back to me.
I swear this was my dream.
That wheel can't come fast enough!
Posted by Cara at 11:35 AM | Comments (12)
Thundercrack!
baby's back.
This time she'll tell me how she really feels.
This post will have something for everyone! Consider it Random Wednesday. Only it's Monday.
As I mentioned on Friday, Thanksgiving went really well. The food was great, company better and it all went off without incident. Except for the fact that my sister got a cold Wednesday night and felt miserable all day Thursday, it couldn't have gone better. My contribution (besides watching the kids off and on all day to keep them out of their mom's hair and vaccuuming) was a salad. I modeled it after my favorite salad of all time from Gigino's in NYC. It's the Peperina salad and I made it with mixed baby lettuces, shaved pear, shaved parmesan, pecans (I thought they used pecans, but I guess they use walnuts) and pomegranate seeds sprinkled with white balsamic vinegar. I was really pleased with how it came out and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
I've got no pictures of the kids because I didn't take my camera with me. I know. Blasphemy. But I'm sick of taking pictures and I'd just download them to the computer and they would sit there. Besides this was a break from photography work and it worked because yesterday I got A LOT of work done and I'm feeling like I'm back on track. At least a little bit. But I got a lot of cuddle time with the kids and they got their new bunk beds which was a trip in and of itself. My nephew ended up sleeping on the bottom bunk and my niece slept with me on the floor. The baby is big as can be - if I could only show you his monster thighs - but he's so much fun! He giggles nonstop and just smiles so sweet and he's such a cuddler. This is definitely one of my favorite ages. They're still babies, but they can engage you in that wide eyed wonderful way. All you have to do is smile and his whole face lights up. I miss them.
I hit the mail jackpot on Friday. Georgie was particularly impressed. I always call him to find out about the mail when I'm away and his standard reply is junk junk and more junk. This time HE called ME. There were lots of lovely thank you cards from all those boxes I sent out the other day - so sweet! An email is plenty, but a card? In the mail? For me? I was really touched. Thank YOU! Vicki's card was my favorite - check out this knitted thank you:
I tried to find the card on the artist's website, but it wasn't there. Hey Vicki! Where'd you get the card? It's SO LaPierre!
But what really impressed Georgie was the package from Hong Kong. I got my Crossed In Translation book! Yay! The book is really beautiful - think Rowan meets the House of the Rising Sun. And the freaking pattern is TWO pages. Lucky for us, knitalongers, there's barely any words to go along with the pattern. It's all charts and schematics. We should be able to figure this out no problem, right? G-Love thinks I've completely lost it. He may be right.
Oh and rest assured, seeing the sweater in it's native language has only made me love it more.
She slips, she slides, she slops, she bops, she bumps, she grinds
Now if only I could stop making socks:
Kaci - this pictures for you! Mwah!
I finished one...
and started another!
For all you Jaywalkers out there, I'm planning on doing an FAQ for this Friday's update. So if you have questions - let me know in the comments, or in an email. And don't forget you can always email me or Kathy (who, by the way, is an inspiration to me! First Jaywalker, and now Grumpecue! Kathy, you're killing me!) Basically everyone seems to have similar issues, so we'll address them this week. Namely gauge and the bar increases (yes - the holes are supposed to be there! It's a design thing! ;-) ) But if you've got other questions, let me know.
My heart's wood, she's a carpenter
She's an angel in the night, what she does is alright
As much as I love my socks, I'm sort of getting frustrated with myself. It's like I can't knit ANYTHING else. I think about all these projects I want to knit - mittens, finish my gloves, work on the Prairie Blanket. I just can't seem to concentrate. I'm trying to go with the flow like Margene says, but I'm antsy. And this doesn't just relate to my knitting either - when's the last time I read a book? Can someone tell me please? How pathetic is that?
We're not going to even discuss the fact that I just got off the phone with the embryo people - I was late on my payment to keep those totsicles frozen. When's that shrink appointment again?
Dance with me, partner, dance with me, partner
Dance with me, partner, all night
If you've got the DVD, make sure you watch the supplemental material on documentary disc. I can't stop watching Thundercrack. Over and over and over again. It's simply stunning. DO IT! WATCH IT NOW! You can thank me later.
Posted by Cara at 10:16 AM | Comments (18)
November 25, 2005
Jaywalker Two!
I hope everyone had a great Thursday or a fantastic Thanksgiving - whichever the case may be. We had one of the best Thanksgiving's we've had a while - the food was terrific - company was good - and everyone went home stuffed and happy. I'll be here until Saturday hanging with the kiddos, but that doesn't mean business stops. Here we have the FIRST Jaywalker Update! Yay! Now, most of this information I collected Wednesday, so everyone might have finished their socks by now. Let me know if you have. Also, if you don't have a blog and want to show off your socks, send me the pictures and I'll post them here. We want to see everyone's socks, so don't be shy! Oh and if I missed you, I'm really sorry! Send an email to cara at januaryone dot com with Jaywalker update in the subject line or leave a comment here if you want to be in the updates. Thanks everyone! Have fun!
~Adele's socks, in DG Confetti, are kicking her arse, but I hope she's gotten a reign on them because I LOVE the colors she's chosen.
~Adelle's got a gorgeous pair going in Lorna's Laces Gold Hill.
~Alison is making some hot pink and purple jaywalkers - even though it's summer down under.
~Anita's already got one done. She dyed the yarn herself with Kool-Aid. Cool!
~Another convert born. Bethe thinks we should rename the socks Jayrocker. If I'm not mistaken, she's using Rock Star socks that rock. Excellent choice!
~Blueadt is making some very cool Tiger Jaywalkers. She has to rip back a bit, but we know she'll roaring to go in no time! (Forgive me. These updates are hard.)
~Bridget went out and got a blog - just for our updates. Go over and say hi and tell her how great her Seal Rock STR Jaywalkers look!
~Carrie's already on her second sock, in Lorna's Laces, but more importantly she's running a half marathon today! Good Luck Carrie! You ROCK!
~Felicia has started a fantastic pair of Jaywalkers in her own handpainted yarn available at the Sweet Shop. (I can attest to the gorgeousness of Felicia's yarns. I bought some the other day and it's WONDERFUL!)
~Gail's got a modified pair started in STR Banded Agate - send pictures Gail!
~Snuck in among the handspun is the start of Jane's STR Moss Agate Jaywalker. I think this one is going to be beautiful. (Note to Tina and Kaci - hey - can you add some Moss Agate to my order? Pretty please? ;-) )
~Joelene has started two at the same time - in yarn she dyed herself! Yay Joelene!
~Julia's got a sock going for every language she speaks. Um, I think her Jaywalkers in Lorna's Laces speak French, n'est-ce pas?
~Kaci's got some kind of bet going with Tina that she will ACTUALLY FINISH a pair of socks. In STR Azure Malchite to be exact. Imagine that! She sells the sock yarn, but can't finish a pair of socks. I'm just saying.
~Karen's got a gorgeous pair started in Lorna's Laces, colorway Gray's Corner. Unfortunately she had to rip out and start over with the bigger size - but hopefully things are sailing along now.
~KathyB's all about the eights. After a little bit of a rocky start, she's cruising along in her Koigu in seaQuest colors.
~Lisa's got some nice Jaywalking going on with some Artyarn's in great fall colors. But I'm really jealous of the Pebble Beach STR sitting there in the other picture. Those are going to be some Rockin' Socks!
~May reports that she's finished her first sock in STR Pebbles and is onto her second. Go May! Send pictures!
~Mel's hoping we kick her butt into gear on the beautiful pink/purple/blue pair she's had languishing on her needles. Consider this your wake up call Mel!
~Natalia's turned the whole thing on its head, or er foot. She's going toe up with her Lorna's Laces Jaywalkers!
~Nicole's got some nice blue jaywalkers blah blah blah - forget the socks! Go CONGRATULATE HER! SHE'S HAVING A BABY!
~PumpkinMama's got the whole Boston thing going - Grumperina's pattern (Boston girl) Hello Yarn yarn (Boston girl.) Very cool. Even to this Jersey Girl.
That's all she wrote! See you next Friday for the next installment of JAYWALKER!
Posted by Cara at 09:00 AM | Comments (25)
November 23, 2005
Crossed In Translation
nitsuto ni koishite shimada toshiyuki no se ta butsuku dentou nitsuto no atarashii densetsu
Apparently that's what I ordered and it's winging it's way to me from Japan as we speak. These words appeared in the item slot. I hope it's this book, but you never know. Sometimes things get Crossed In Translation! (Oh my god that was bad. I'm very tired. Up late again turning a heel.)
Lest some people (hi Kay!) think we don't have enough KAL information going on around here, I'm switching gears to talk about this sweater. Have you seen the AMAZING work Mary is doing? She's already tested at least five yarns for this project - she's even written up a swatch chart for us all to use! Here's the collection of entries Mary's put together on swatching for this sweater. The information she's collecting for us is invaluable and I'm so glad to see she's having a great time doing it! (And I'm always so envious of her beautiful, beautiful photographs.)
In knitting news, I turned the heel on the Hard Rock sock twice. I don't want to talk about it, thanks. All is good now, I think, and given that I'm traveling today, on a train, on the most traveled route in the WORLD, I should have plenty of knitting time. I'm going down to my sister's - she's hosting T-Day this year. G and I aren't really big on the prescribed holidays. (Like I need Valentine's Day to show my love how I feel?!) In the fifteen years we've been together, maybe we've been to five Thanksgivings as a couple? I go to my family - he goes to his. It works best for us. Besides, I try to be thankful all year round for everyone and everything. At least I try to say thank you as often as I can. I think that's really important. Especially with the people you truly love and are close to - why is it so important to thank perfect strangers, but not your husband who tries so hard every day to give you a good life? So I thank George all the time. Every day. No matter how small the gesture. And he thanks me. It goes a LONG way toward feeling appreciated and valued. Thank you! It's not just for doorholders any more!
Anyway, so the holiday. I'm happy to see the kids, as always, and of course, I want to help my sister as much as I can, but I'm not one for big family stuff. Especially these days. My family has gone through some major upheavals in the last couple of years and while I LOVE hanging with my sisters and brother - all it takes is one big family thing to shine the spotlight on all that has changed. Not so fun. I'll just concentrate on the kids and my sock.
There will be a Jaywalker KAL update on Friday. Basically because I've already written it! If I don't post tomorrow, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And, since maybe I don't tell you enough - thanks for reading. There are eight million blogs out there, and I know you have a choice. I really appreciate your attention.
Don't eat too much! (But turn up the music!)
Posted by Cara at 08:44 AM | Comments (15)
November 22, 2005
Pretty In Pink
We're all about full disclosure here at January One, no matter how embarrassing. What you see in the picture above is indeed more sock yarn. You know what? It's really not nice to make fun of people and their disabilities, i.e. obsessive compulsive disorder. Lately I've been really into pink (no, really?) - I don't know. I'm not really what you'd call a girly girl but I like pink these days. I have a couple of pinks shirts heavy in the rotation and a pair of pink cords I like to wear and well everyone should have a few pink days here and there. The yarn on the left is from Felicia over at the Sweet Shop. Not only is the yarn bright and vibrant and PINK, Felicia does a wonderful job packaging everything up. There's a great tag on the yarn and the whole thing came with a lovely personalized note - nice work Felicia. I'm sure the attention to detail will become very apparent when I knit up the yarn. The stuff on the right is Vesper - Neopolitan. Good enough to eat! I'm a sucker for ice cream. When I was growing up we always had ice cream in the house (it's a Philly thing I think) and we'd often have vanillachocolatestrawberry in the freezer. I always thought it was interesting that the vanilla would be gone first. Then the chocolate and lastly the strawberry. Simple pleasures. Sock yarn and ice cream. Tell me, what's better than that?
Nice segue, no? Actually, the jury's still out on these. I'm not sure. I LOVE the reds and pinks and I like them together with the black and grays but I don't know. I'm reserving judgement until the sock is done. This is 17 repeats. I'll start on the heel today. I went to bed at around 12:30PM. Georgie and I had a good night last night - lots of reconnecting, which we desperately needed. We do our own thing so much of the time and when we get really busy it's so hard to feel that connect. We went to dinner and talked about how more than half the married people in our families have gotten divorced and it was awfully sad but at the same time, it brought us closer together - we work hard at what we have and know how fragile and precious our marriage is - no matter how strong as well.
I'm so PUMPED to see how many people have signed up for the Jaywalker KAL. I'm planning a big surprise in January. Should I tell you now? I'm thinking we'll need some big time fun after the holidays to help keep us from those S.A.D. duldrums. How about a race? We'll start sometime in January and see who can knit a pair of Jaywalkers the fastest. What do you think? We'll put lots of specific rules up there (no. of repeats, etc.) and pick a first, second and third winner. Socks That Rock as the spoils of course. Oh and it goes without saying that even though I might race along with you - I will not be one of the winners. Well. I'll be a winner because you're all WINNERS! More details as January approaches.
Posted by Cara at 09:08 AM | Comments (31)
November 21, 2005
Excuse Me, Ma'am
Yes, Officer?
Do you know how fast you were Jaywalking?
Yes, Officer, duh. They don't call them Addi TURBOS for nothing!
Have I ever told you my goofy story about my Addi Turbos? I was a fairly new knitter - eh - I don't know - maybe a year in? And I had seen these Addi Turbos at yarn stores and I was intrigued. But I was nervous. Everything I read said they were super fast. I wanted something fast - it would make me feel like a real knitter, I thought. But how fast was fast? So I'm in an LYS buying some yarn with a non-knitting friend and I say to the sales person, "So do these needles go really, really fast? How fast are they?" (I guess I was looking for some kind of miles per hour equivalent - like minutes per row? MPR?) She looked at me in all seriousness and said, "Well, they go as fast as you can knit." DUH! I love that story. Not sure my stupidity translates so well in the retelling, but trust me. I felt mighty stupid.
Anyway, it's been suggested in the comments that maybe I have a problem with a certain yarn and a certain sock pattern and a certain singer whose first name begins with B and last name begins with S. I'm just saying. Why can't the Jaywalker pattern become my stockinette sock? If I'm getting results as wonderful as the ones in the picture above, why should I get bored? Or feel the need to move on? And for some reason - I'm not sure I can articulate it - these socks go RIDICULOUSLY FAST for me. Maybe it's because I know all the numbers in my head? So I can count my progress and immediately know where I am in the sock? All I know is that it took me a month and a half to finish the cuff on my Retro Ribs socks, a pattern I will probably never pick up again, and they're only a couple inches longer and have less stitches. I know the cuff is short on these, but I don't think they're THAT short. Whatever. I'm not making excuses, I'm just casting on again:
Last time I checked, the blogpoll race between Carbon and Hard Rock was still pretty tight, so I'm sticking with my plan to do one Carbon, one Hard Rock, blah blah blah. I can't WAIT to see how the Hard Rock knits up. I've finished the ribbing and did one pattern repeat. Today I'm going to visit a friend in the hospital, so I think the progress will be good. I'm not going to kill myself on this sock - read finish it in three days by staying up until past 2AM three nights in a row. I'm freaking exhausted. I need to break the stay up late cycle. I have too much work to do and I'm tired of the holidays already. Yeah. Bah Humbug to you too.
I'm updating the Jaywalker KAL page with names, and also Natalia has started a pair toe-up with some notes, so I'll put a link on the page as well.
Posted by Cara at 09:15 AM | Comments (21)
November 20, 2005
Late Night Rockin'
No. Not that kind. ( Ann, get your mind out of the gutter! )
I was up until 2:30AM again last night. But it was okay because I watched Thundercrack from '73, oh I don't know, 20 times? It worked too. Sweet dreams last night. ;-)
Is it wrong if I never want to knit another sock pattern? Ever?
Posted by Cara at 09:30 AM | Comments (12)
November 19, 2005
Jaywalker Participants
The list is too long - so I'm moving it to its own entry. Have fun everyone!
Ada
Adele
Adelle
Adrienne
Aija
Alice
Alison
Alison
Allison
Amanda
Amy
Amy
Amy
Amy
AmyDe
AmyP
Ana
Angela
Anita
Anita
Anita
Anmiryam
Ann
Ann
Anna
Anne
Anne
Anne Marie
Anneh
Annie
Ariane
Ariel
Becca
Becky
Becky
Beth
Bethe
Bethieee
BigLug
Bliss
Blossom
Blueadt
Bridget
Brenda
Cara
Carla
Carla
Carmelle
Caro
Carol
Carole
Carole
Carrie
Carry
Cathy
Cece
Chelle
Chelsea
Cheryl
Chihiro
Chris
Chrissy
Chrissy
Chrissy
Christine
Christine
Christine
Christy
CJ
Claudia
Cori
Corrina
Cynthia
Danielle
Deb
Debi
Deirdre
Dene
Diane E.
Diann
E
Elaina
Elaine
Elizabeth
Ellie
Emily
Emma
Emmy
Erin
Estee
Eunny
Felicia
Foogrrl
Gail
Gail
Gale
Genia
Georgia
Gwyn
Hanne
Heather
Heidi
Helen
Helen
Hillary
Holly
Illanna
Jamie
Jane
Janine
Janine
Jasmin
Jeanne
Jen
Jenn
Jenn
Jennifer
Jennifer
Jenny
Jenny
Jenny
Jess
Jessica
Jessica
Jessica
Jessica
Jessica L.
Jo
Joanne
Joanne
Jodee
Joelene
Johanna
Julia
Julia
Julia
Julia
Julie
Julie
Julsey
Kaci
Kae
KaisaKaisa
Kandy
Karen
Karen
Karen
Karen W.
Kari O.
Kate
Kate
Kate
Kate
Kate C.
Katherine
Kathy
Kathy
KathyB
Katie
Katie
Kay
Kelly
Kelly
Kelly
Kenny
Kerry
Kim
Kim
Kim
Kris
Kris
Kristie
LaJuana
Lara
Larissa
Laura
Laura
Laura
Laura
Laura
Laura
Lauren
Lauren
Laurie
Laurie
Lcord
Leah
Leslie
Libby
LibbyLu
Linda
Lisa
Lisa
Lisa
Lisa
Lisa
Lisa C.
Lisa D.
Lisa I.
Lisa W.
Liz
Liz
Liz
Liz
Liz C.
Lolly
Lori
Lori
LoriG
Lu
Lynda
Lynne
Maggi
Manda
Margaux
Margene
Maria
Maribel
Marie
Marie
Maritza
May
Megan
Megan
Mel
Melissa
Melissa
Melissa
Mia
Michele
Michelle
Mimsie
Miriam
Monica
Morgan
Nancy
Nancy
Naomi
Natalia
Nicole
Nicole
Nicole
Niteowl
Noelle
Norma
Pam
Patti
Patty
Paula
Phoebe
Pixie
PumpkinMama
PurlPower
Ramona
Reb
Rebecca
Renata
Renee
Rhonda
Roberta
Roberta
Robin
Robyn
Rock Chick
Rosemary
Rossana
Ruth
Sandra
Sandy
Sandy
Sarah
Sarah
Sarah
Sarah
Sasha
Scout
Shanidy
Shannon
Shannon
Sharon
Sharon
Shelley
Soapy
Stacey
Stacey
Stephannie
Stinkerbell
Susan
Susan
Susanne
Suzanne
Sylvia
Tamara
Tania
Tanja
Tara
Teresa
tgz
Thorn
Tiffany
Tracy
Tracy
Trek
Vera
Vern
Vicki
Vicki
Wannietta
Wendi
Wendy
Whitney
Posted by Cara at 06:28 PM
Jaywalker!
Well, last night things were pretty tight between Hard Rock and Carbon - gotta admit I was pulling just a little bit for Hard Rock - but it looks like Carbon pulled through in a squeaker!
I actually asked G to break the tie (this was around 9:30PM) and he picked Carbon too. He said no one has yellow socks. You should make yellow socks.
I thought since this is my third pair of Jaywalkers and I can pretty much knit them in my sleep now (which I did last night - I cast on at 11PM and went to sleep around 2:30AM) I should tell you all my numbers. First off, in no way do you need to use Socks That Rock yarn. Use whatever yarn you want! I just happen to have an abundance of this yarn in my stash, as well as a deep undying love for its beyond soft colorful goodness, so that's what I'm using. These numbers will be especially helpful to those of you using STR, since the current skein yardage at 325 yds is a tad on the small size. (Tina is rectifying this! In the new year, STR will have 350yds!)
Here we go:
I'm using size #1 Addi Turbos - two circular method - which is 2.5mm for those of you in the real world. I cast on 76 stitches and do twelve rows of 2x2 ribbing. I do 25 pattern repeats and then start the heel. This gives me a cuff of about 6". I do 15 heel rows before turning and then continue on until I have 57 pattern repeats down the instep starting from the top. Then I start decreasing for the toe. TADA! My foot measures 8.5" around and 9.5" from heel to toe. In the picture above I've done the ribbing and 10 pattern repeats - well on my way! Yay!
I'm thinking that maybe once I've finished this sock I might switch and do one sock in Hard Rock, then go back to Carbon, etc. Might be fun to switch it up, don't you think? And they go so fast - by the end of today I should be ready to turn the heel.
Okay - we've got LOTS of interest and I'm so happy to see it! Here are the participants so far:
+name+ = finished
I've listed everybody in my sidebar as well. The more the merrier! I've also got some buttons. I made the obnoxious yellow one and Kathy provided the rest. If anyone else would like to contribute, send me the buttons and I'll post them here. Please, if you take one, save it to your own server. Thank you!
I also wanted to let you know that Natalia has started her Jaywalkers TOE-UP! I know a lot of you were thinking about this - she's got some details here. Thanks Natalia!
Remember, email me or leave a comment if you have an update - I'll be posting updates on Fridays. Thanks everyone! Now go out and KNIT!
Posted by Cara at 03:47 PM | Comments (45)
November 18, 2005
An Invitation to ROCK!
First, let's get some business out of the way. CONGRATULATIONS JULIA! YOU WIN! Crossed in Translation, a new KAL, will start on January 1. More details, buttons and signups to come soon. Thank you all for voting and for your suggestions!
Okay - onto the REALLY good stuff!
My knitting has been sporadic and directionless in the last couple of weeks - which with all the work I have going on makes for very UN-relaxing knitting. I NEED something. I need to knit and feel progress (since everyday I'm getting more and more bogged down in my work) and right now that can only mean one thing.
I'm casting on for a new pair of Jaywalkers! With Socks that Rock of course!
I love these socks. I wore my Fire on the Mountain socks yesterday and they made me happy all day long. My feet felt great and the pattern is SO comfortable: They stay up. They are nice and tight without being binding. The yarn is so soft and lovely. And I've got all this yarn taunting me every time I walk by my living room (because basically there's yarn all over my living room mixed with A LOT of crap. I promise I'm going to clean up in January. Just let me get to January, okay?)
There's another reason to start a new pair of Jaywalkers. I'm convinced this is the BEST pattern to use with Socks That Rock. And guess what? With all my screaming and yelling about how amazing STR is, Tina and Kaci over at Blue Moon Fiber Arts contacted me and I might have a job with them!!! How crazy is that? There aren't many details yet, so don't ask, but it looks like it'll involve some writing. The fact that these women are crazy and amazing and recognize something in me doesn't in any way change my opinion about this yarn. I LOVE it. Almost as much as I love Bruce.
So, because I love the yarn and I love the pattern I want to share it all with you! I'm starting a Jaywalker Knit A Long right here right now!
The rules:
1. Knit a pair (or more - hey - I'm going to start my THIRD!) of Jaywalker socks. I know a lot of you have already started a pair - and that counts. But if you've finished a pair already, that doesn't count. Instead, go on over to Kathy's and let her know. She'll add you to the gallery.
2. You don't have to adhere strictly to the pattern, so all you Drunken Jaywalker people (you know who you are!) come on over.
3. The socks don't have to be for you. I know everyone's crazy with holiday knitting (Suckers. I'm just saying....) so why not make a pair of Jaywalkers for that annoying relative in your life? Nothing like a pair of Jaywalker socks to send that subtle message - I wish you'd go play in traffic! You're the only one who has to know the sentiment behind the gift! ;-)
4. You don't have to knit the socks with SOCKS THAT ROCK yarn - use whatever yarn you like. BUT the prizes will be Socks That Rock.
5. There are no deadlines on when this KAL will end, BUT
6. On February 14th I will draw three names out of the proverbial Internet hat of all the FINISHED KAL socks and each of these people will WIN a skein of SOCKS THAT ROCK in their preferred colorway. That is, assuming I can get Tina to dye it for you. I won't tell you how many colors are in the recipe book - your head will spin around. To be eligible to win the socks, you will have had to give me at least ONE update before February 1st. I want you to really be in it to win it you know? No pulling in at the last minute with a finished pair of socks to get in on the lottery. ;-)
7. Updates will be on FRIDAYS. So leave me comment or email me and I'll do the updates then. K? Terrific!
Are you in? Leave a comment. And if anyone wants to make me a button - I would greatly appreciate it. I'm thinking something with a traffic sign motif. But you all can run with it. THANK YOU!
Now. I need some help. I've got all this Socks That Rock and I can't decide which color my new socks should be! Here are the choices I've got:
AZURITE
PETROGLYPHS
HARD ROCK
CARBON
Vote early. Vote often. I want to cast on for these socks five minutes ago, you know? So I'll go with what I get by Saturday night. Or maybe sooner. And I'm not guaranteeing I go with your choice, I'm just looking for opinions. Thank you very much!
C'mon PEOPLE! LET'S ROCK!
PS - I've got to give credit where credit is due. The KAL idea came from Moth Heaven Julia. She was making fun of me for starting the (not necessarily) impossible Crossed in Translation KAL and said I should've gone with a Jaywalker KAL. Hmmm. Good idea! Thanks!
Posted by Cara at 08:56 AM | Comments (82)
Born In The USA (Guitar & Bullet Mic)
Devils & Dust
Atlantic City
Long Time Comin'
Used Car
Frankie (Piano)
Meeting Across The River (Piano)
Johnny 99 (Guitar & Bullet Mic)
Ain't Got You
Brilliant Disguise (Feat. Patti Scialfa)
Maria's Bed
Cautious Man
Reno ($200 straight in, $250 up the ASS!)
Two For The Road (Electric Piano)
Drive All Night (Piano)
The Rising
Lucky Town
Jesus Was An Only Son (Piano)
Leah
The New Timer (AutoHarp)
Matamoros Banks
I Want To Marry You (Ukulele)
Thundercrack (Piano)
Born To Run (Guitar)
The Promised Land (Guitar)
Dream Baby Dream
There was no fist pumping, but a lot of hand wringing - but my hand's okay. It was a very interesting, VERY ENJOYABLE show. It's amazing the level of intimacy achieved in such a big arena. A lot had to do with the crowd. This is New Jersey. Bruce's New Jersey. And typically this means that every Born In the USA fair weather idiot who gets drunk and screams BRUUUUUUUCE and Candy's Room all night long comes out from under their favorite diner rock. Apparently they got the memo because they all stayed home. I'm sure that Bruce's rules contributed to this as well: all concessions closed 10 minutes prior to the show starting and remained closed throughout. You know what this means - no beer runs during the songs you don't know. Everyone stayed in their seats too. Barely any BRUUUUUUCING (okay - I did it once or twice, but only between songs.)
The man was VERY loose last night. He was laughing and joking and telling stories and it was like (I imagine) the old days. He experimented with every instrument known to man - including some god awful horrid bullet mic contraption that completely distorted all vocals. It was pretty funny - there was a guy a few rows in front of us who got that he was playing Born In the USA about 3/4 of the way through and started getting all excited. The best way to explain it was he sounded like Darth Vader with a horrible head cold. Georgie and I laughed every time he brought it out.
Highlights for me - well, he played Drive All Night. I told G before the show that I didn't care if he was sitting with me during the show, but if he played Drive All Night, he needed to be sitting next to me and holding my hand. He did - and we held so tightly to each other probably the most hand damage occured during that song. I won't lie to you - we both cried. I, personally, wept silently as my heart beat so fast and the tears just fell from my face. He never ceases to amaze me - it's as close to religion as I get these days. There was a red light on stage as he sat at the piano and it was aimed directly for our box, so we were bathed in a red light. This is very significant because whenever we're in traffic at night G always tells me how much he loves looking at me in a red tail light (apparently the distortion brings out my beauty ;-) ) and it was like we were in the car and Bruce was singing to us and we were bathed in a red light of love. Laugh if you want, but that's how it was. It was worth the entire night to hear that song. Actually, it was worth a lot more than that because honestly in my whole life I never thought I'd witness it live. Thank you. Thank you Bruce so much. You made us a very happy couple last night.
Other highlights - Meeting Across the River at the piano. My god he seemed so happy after the song. HUGE smile on his face because he knew he NAILED it! It was so beautiful. Born to Run - sung slow and quiet and more powerful than any stadium anthem has a right to sound. For you afficianados out there - think the Chimes of Freedom version. When Max was a baby I was listening to this version of BTR a lot and I would rock him to sleep and sing it to him.
Funny one - Bruce says he's going to play his favorite song from Tunnel of Love - and G and I get really, really excited. This was my first Bruce album ever and G used to sing it to me all the time and there are so many beautiful songs on there and we're thinking will it be this one, that one and then he plays Cautious Man and G and I start totally laughing because it's like the only song on the album we don't like and always skip over! Talk about disappointed!
He played the pornographic RENO and a song about anal, prostitutes and fellatio never sounded so incredibly beautiful. It was full of sadness and emotion and it was really good. Also good was the guy next to us who brought his young son who was FULL of questions after that one. HAHAHAHAHA! Bruce was all about the swear words last night too and after a particularly FUCK filled monologue the kid asked his dad - does that mean he's pissed off? Pissed off doesn't even begin to cover it, kid.
During The Promised Land you could literally hear a pin drop. It was that quiet. I've never heard a crowd so quiet in my life. It was beautiful. Comfortable. Intimate. I never wanted it to end.
Posted by Cara at 07:17 AM | Comments (11)
November 17, 2005
To Taste Your Tender Charms
It's all Bruce all the time here these days so if you're one of those people that thinks Born In the USA equals Joisey Fat assholes and Ronald Reagan - GET THE FUCK OUT! ;-)
Tonight Bruce and I will be in the same room. Yes. I'm well aware that the "room" I'm talking about has the capacity to hold 20,000 people, but whatever. WE WILL BE IN THE SAME ROOM. Look, I know that you think I'm bit over the edge about this and you're not the only ones - my family and friends make fun of me on a daily basis (well not just about the Bruce thing, but you know. Ann? Ann is that you?)
I thought, given the anniversary and all and the fact that WE WILL BE IN THE SAME ROOM tonight I'd tell you the story of me and Bruce. It's a love story to be sure. Ah hem. Here it goes.
Me & Bruce, Milan, November, 1995.
2gether 4ever!
I've said before that my taste in music has generally been governed by the man in my life. It's not that I don't like music, it's just that it's never been a driving force - not the way books have been. I mean, you want a book to read, you come to me. Want some music, well, I don't know. So anyway, I started dating George. And guess what? He had a car! This may not seem like a big deal, but I came from a car based society (pseudo-Suburban Philly) and moved to New York City where no one drove anything. At all. G lived in NJ and had a car and he'd take me out to the malls in Jersey which was like a sort of homecoming for me. And we'd drive to Atlantic City and just anywhere. And he'd have music in the tape player. One of the tapes he had in A LOT of the time was Tunnel of Love. My first Bruce experience. (Which is kind of odd, I know, being that Bruce is HUGE in Philly - but I was into the Dead then. You know. It was a guy thing.)
Anyway, we'd drive around and he'd sing me the sad love songs on TOL and I was falling and falling and falling very, very hard. For both of them.
Georgie used to love to pull out a song (and it wasn't just Bruce - this guy likes ALL music and isn't afraid to show it) and say listen to this...and listen I did. He always knew right how to get me - with the words of course, since I'm a word girl, and the music and he'd sing and I was a goner. Gone, gone, gone! I'll never forget the night I first heard Drive All Night. We were driving home - we may have been living together already - and we were going through the toll booths on the Jersey Tpke and G said listen to this song like he always did and we were listening to The River and I heard this:
When I lost you honey sometimes I think I lost my guts too
And I wish God would send me a word
send me something I'm afraid to lose
Lying in the heat of the night like prisoners all our lives
I get shivers down my spine and all I wanna do is hold you tight
CHORUS
I swear I'll drive all night just to buy you some shoes
And to taste your tender charms
And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms
Tonight there's fallen angels and they're waiting for us down in the street
Tonight there's calling strangers,
hear them crying in defeat.
Let them go, let them go, let them go,
do their dances of the dead (let'em go right ahead)
You just dry your eyes girl, and c'mon c'mon
c'mon let's go to bed, baby, baby, baby
CHORUS
There's machines and there's fire waiting on the edge of town
They're out there for hire but baby they can't hurt us now
Cause you've got, you've got, you've got,
you've got my love, you've got my love
Through the wind, through the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain
You've got, you've got my, my love
heart and soul
For those of you who've never heard this song, when he sings heart and soul, it's a wailing howling gut wrenching pull out your heart and see it beating bloody and battered in your hand kind of sound. Sigh. How could you not fall in love with these men?! I ask you - HOW COULD YOU NOT FALL IN LOVE?!
When I saw Bruce for the first time, it was in the Summer of '92. Georgie and I were already living together in the Swamps of Jersey and Bruce was with the "other" band and I didn't give a shit because all I wanted to hear was Because the Night and G said he'd never play it and then he did and I almost died. I shit you not, when I got home from that concert, my left hand was completely swollen and black and blue through the middle because I had it clenched in a fist all night long which I proceeded pump without stopping from the time the lights went down until the lights went back up again. I was completely hoarse from screaming. We were laughing about it the other day and G shook his head and said he had never seen anything like my hand after that concert. And this guy was at Bond's when The Clash played and the riot broke out.
Over the years, it's gotten really, really bad. I'm usually in tears through the first few songs. I have to take a Xanax. There's a short list of songs that when I hear them I cry no matter where they are in the setlist. Literally. And then there's the list of songs (really, just two) that if I ever got a chance to hear in concert I'd probably faint dead away. I think I might get that chance tonight. The first is The Fever, and while he's played it in concert more recently than not (maybe even on this tour), it's few and far between and usually reserved for Philly. The second is Drive All Night. He played it the other night in Philly for the first time in 24 years and G told me about it and I managed to get the mp3 bootleg from that night (if you want to hear it email me) and it's Bruce all alone at the piano and I cried real tears when I heard it. Bruce has played it every show since. Tonight's the last night on the tour. I may have to take two Xanax. To be standing with G when Bruce starts playing this song might be too much to bear.
Some of you asked how Georgie feels about my feelings for Bruce and while he thinks I'm a bit nuts, he does feel the same way - or at least as much as he can feel about another man, a man with whom his wife happens to be obsessed. Trust me. If Bruce plays Drive All Night tonight, G'll be a little choked up himself.
Our seats won't be so good - we're actually in a suite with Corporate types and G's warned me a milion times that these people won't care and they will talk and be obnoxious and ruin the evening for me. It doesn't matter. I'll be the same room with my one true love and the man that helped seal the deal.
I broke the comments on my other Bruce post because somehow I triggered the SPAM filter with my craziness. Hopefully that won't happen here.
Posted by Cara at 09:56 AM | Comments (12)
November 16, 2005
Name That KAL!
It's a 3fer today! Be sure to comment on EVERY ENTRY. ;-)
Okay - time to play Name That Tune - or Name that KAL. In case you've forgotten, you were playing for the book that owns this sweater!
There were so many good names, but I've sort of kind of narrowed it down to two. There will be vote at the end because I just can't make up my mind.
Some of my favorite suggestions: Julia's JapaFuckingKnit was like an arrow to my heart, since I'm sure I'll be screaming that as I'm throwing the knitting across the room. Jessica offered Kousa-Along since kousa means crossed in Japanese, but she also said it could mean a test or education, which she rightly thought this knit might be. Susan then suggested "anata ga suki yo" which means I love you in Japanese - I took that one step further and was going to go for aishiteru, which means "I love you" in a deep profound way. ;-) And then another Julia suggested Crossed in Translation. This one has really, really stuck with me. She based it on the movie - Lost in Translation, which, if you haven't seen it, is about a young married woman who is in Japan and she meets up with an older married man who's also in Japan and they have a...friendship. She's kind of lost (which I suspect we will be with this pattern) and there's definitely love between the two of them and better yet - SHE KNITS IN THE MOVIE! Okay - it's a goofy scarf, but still, she knits.
Then, as a late entry, Barbara suggested AmiCable. This is her explanation: "The Japanese knitting site says that the Japanese word for knit is pronounced "ami". "Ami" is also "friend" in French and the root of the word "amicable" which means "having a spirit of friendliness". So you could call it AmiCable - knit (japanese) cables in the spirit of friendliness."
So I'm narrowing it down to Crossed in Translation or AmiCable. You decide.
Polls will close Friday, 12AM EST. I want to start making buttons and stuff. ;-)
Oh and I was emailing Judy yesterday - she has the book - and she says it seems like it's in a DK/Sport weight with a gauge of 28 st and 24 rows per 10 cm [4 inches]. The back has 139 stitches which equals 20" and the fronts, including button bands are 75 stitches. She also told me the sides are all seed stitch - so it will be easy to widen it. I'm still SO EXCITED. Thanks Judy!
Okay - so don't forget to vote and have a great day!
die boglines die!
Posted by Cara at 10:05 AM | Comments (19)
Queen Rock
Oh Margene! Not only do you ROCK, you RULE!
Thank you thank you thank you thank you!
die boglines die!
Posted by Cara at 09:28 AM | Comments (5)
Porn to Run
Can you believe I didn't open the 30th Anniversary Special SUPER FUCKING FANTASTIC OH MY GOD I'M DYING HERE Commerative Edition of Born To Run until 10:30 last night? Yeah. I'm crazy like that. I waited for Georgie to watch with me. So far we've watched the concert and a little bit of the documentary and my verdict?
It's better than porn. I swear to you - I was actually physically turned on. And you know what - NO KNITTING TOOK PLACE DURING THE WATCHING. That right there should be a clue.
All I have to say, really, is that it's a good thing I was five years old when this record came out and this tour took place because if I had been say, sixteen? Or a little tiny bit younger or a tiny bit older I would've have tracked Bruce down and made him my boyfriend. Even though I love Darkness more as an album, and I still think Bruce is super super beyond crazy sexy in the Darkness era - he seems to be in a bit of psychological pain - the romance is off the bloom so to speak and there are warning lights flashing everywhere - this guy's been HURT. He will HURT you back. (And he probably still loves the other girl - I mean c'mon! He's willing to Prove It All Night and everything!)
But the BTR Bruce? He's the one. He's dirty in that way that drives you CRAZY. With the hair and the beard and the skinny yet super strongness. You just KNOW he smells good. Not good like all clean good but earthy and real and like a man should smell when he's been up on stage for 31/2 hours. And of course, we meet down the shore and I look like I did here and we sit in diners with all the guys and we're in a booth and Bruce has his arm over my shoulders and I'm HIS! But deep down I know there's a world of hurt waiting for me because when we're alone, he's busy writing and when I try to get close to him he says "Not now. Can't you see I'm working?"
And during the shows when all the other girls hang out backstage I like to sit with the audience because when I see him up there with his eyes closed howling in the blue light with all that passion and love and intensity I KNOW he's singing about me. I KNOW that I'm Terry and Wendy and Janey and Rosie and he loves me he loves me he loves me.
I beg of you - if you want to see a man, no - a genius - at the beginning of what it's all going to be, watch this concert. Rent it, steal it - get it anyway you can. You won't be disappointed. I PROMISE.
Here's a comic that sums up how I feel - and I'm the luckiest woman in the world cause I only had to wait 20 years to find exactly this BOY!
ETA: Something happened to this post - I think it triggered the spam filter or something - and I can't get the comments to work. If you'd like to comment, please do so on another post from today. Thanks!
Posted by Cara at 07:55 AM | Comments (8)
November 15, 2005
Crap Crap Crap
Don't you just love it that as early as 10:30 AM you can already have a crappy day? That's right. I spent 45 minutes this morning dodging traffic jams. I'd get out of one and come up on another. All within about five miles from my house. And it wasn't the usual commuter traffic either - there were like 47 accidents - something weird is going on out there. Be careful.
And now I just found out I have to go out again. G left something at home - an important something - for a meeting - and I need to bring it to him. Generally I wouldn't mind. He's working his ass off too and he was working late last night and forgot it - I'm glad I remembered to ask about it (since I ran my desk chair over it this morning) but I had my day planned out down to the minute for maximum efficiency and it was GONE TO CRAP by about 8:15 this morning. It's beginning to feel like every minute that goes by I lose another hour. Know what I mean?
Two-fold evidence: A) I worked hard yesterday; and B) I can take a crappy crappy picture.
That's eleven packages - I think it's eleven - all ready to ship. If I owe you something, it's in the mail. (Well all except Janet and Wendy - it's coming. Don't worry.) There were actually a couple of more packages, but this is all the knitting related stuff. AND I managed to finish up two jobs that were sent off to the printer last night. Aah. Productivity. AND I joined the fingers onto my Nona's Serial Gloves. I'm still a little bit iffy about the joins - there are holes, but Margene says that's okay, so it's okay. I'll darn them, darnit. I also cast on a new sock. For me. Because I don't have enough shit to do ( the Cotton Candy STR was calling out to me) but then I ripped it because something weird happened. I think I dropped a stitch or something, but I need to investigate more what I want to do with this yarn. It's a sock for sure - a nice long one - but I need some calf shaping strategies.
And I don't understand why the Harry Potter freaks get all the special treatment. I preordered my 30th Anniversary Special SUPER FUCKING FANTASTIC OH MY GOD I'M DYING HERE Commerative Edition of Born To Run a MONTH ago and it came out today and Amazon's all like it'll arrive some time next week. WHAT? Aren't mailpeople running around knocking on doors at midnight so all the little Harry Potter fanatics can get the book the second it's allowed? And I HAVE TO WAIT FOR MY BRUCE?!?!? No matter. I was at Best Buy this morning at 9:15 (I would've been there at 9AM, but I was stuck in traffic) to pick up a copy. There ain't no way no how I'm waiting for that shit. And of course, Amazon won't let me cancel the order either. Fuckers.
I would love to talk about Bruce - it was my intention today to talk about the love and the love and the music and the love, but I'm in a crappy mood. So maybe later. Hope YOUR day is a good one.
PS - In my defence about the crappy shitty picture, I didn't use the real camera. I thought - eh - I'll use the stupid crappy point and shoot - these are the pictures it's meant for - little did I know it takes CRAP PICTURES! Note to self: take the extra five minutes and pull out the real camera if you don't want to be pissed off.
PPS - And while this may sound like I'm backtracking - the camera doesn't MAKE A PICTURE. It's the PHOTOGRAPHER that makes a picture with the control you have with the camera. If I had read the fucking manual on the P&S like I'm always preaching about, I would've had more control as to how the picture came out. But I didn't. So it was on Auto, which gave me a crappy picture. I'm a manual kind of girl - complete control at all times. That way you have no one to blame but yourself. ;-)
Posted by Cara at 10:41 AM | Comments (13)
November 14, 2005
Season's End
No matter what the thermometer says, I fear Fall is over. And what a glorious Fall it's been! I was trying to explain to my nephew how lucky we were to be sitting outside in our sweat jackets playing in the mud on November 13th on a 60 degree plus day. I told him it should be nice and cold by now, like Winter. But, he pointed out, it's not Winter yet. He's right. It's not. But it's coming. This was definitely the last weekend for the leaves. They're dry and crackling and the color is gone to a mulchy brown. But we had fun anyway.
Can I vent for a minute? We went to a park near my sister's - it's more of an arboretum type place with an open field and a creek and a path - no playground or anything. But there are lots of trees - and therefore leaves - and the kids could run around and throw the frisbee and whatever. People walk around. There are some benches. And of course they bring their dogs.
My niece is afraid of dogs. When she sees one coming she gets that look of abject terror on her face and literally leaps into the arms of the closest adult known to her. Before all you dog owners get all over me about this, we tell her the dog won't hurt her, that Mommy/Aunt Cara/whatever adult she's with won't let anything happen to her. Her grandmother has a dog that she plays with and likes. The neighbors have a big (way bigger than her) dog that she will approach. Sometimes. But generally she's afraid of dogs.
Well, here we are at this open park. It's a small area as far as parks go and it's right on a busy street as well. We're all getting out of the car going to run in the park and here comes this dog. It look like some kind of retriever mix and it's coming right at us. OFF ITS LEASH. I have a SERIOUS SERIOUS problem with dog owners who allow their dogs off the leash in places that aren't specific to that purpose. First of all, from what I know, it's AGAINST THE LAW. Second of all, I'm sure you love your dog. But guess what? I DON'T. And I don't want your dog running up to me, or my kids and basically scaring the crap out of them.
I was this close to hitting this woman at the park yesterday. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm getting more and more pissed off. She had absolutely NO CONTROL over her dog. She could not get a handle on him. Every time she went near him he ran off. Right toward the kids. My niece was already back in the van and I'm trying to take care of my nephew who's now terrified too and the baby's just sitting in the stroller with the dog sniffing all over him. I told that woman under no uncertain terms that she better get her dog under control - that the dog shouldn't be off the leash in the first place - and that I was ready and willing to call the police if she didn't get her dog away from my kids in about five seconds flat. This was after I had already told her "nicely" that she should control her dog. The woman was like don't you think I'd like to control him. And I said, if you can't control him, why'd you take him off the leash. I swear to you - no exaggeration - it was a good fifteen minutes that the kids sat in the van while this woman tried to corral her dog. She actually had the nerve to say to me that instead of yelling at her I should HELP her get her dog (which I actually tried to do as I sent my nephew screaming to the car.)
In fact, she never got control of her dog. She just finally realized that she better leave the park. So she did, and I watched her dog run through all of the backyards belonging to the homes adjacent to the park. For the record, every other dog we saw was on a leash.
This isn't the first time this has happened. I was running once near my house, where I run all the time, and I was bascially attacked by these two small lap dogs. They were nipping at my ankles and I could have seriously tripped and hurt myself. I was yelling at the woman to get her dogs and she was standing about 25 feet away calling to them come, come. Of course the dogs didn't come. So that woman was slapped with a $200 fine by the association office - it wasn't the first time she had her dogs off the leash. Next time I saw her, leashed they were.
PLEASE. PET OWNERS. BE RESPONSIBLE WITH YOUR PETS. DON'T MAKE ME DISLIKE PET OWNERS ANY MORE THAN I ALREADY DO. ;-)
Okay. Rant over. Thank you for letting me vent. This is an issue that really bothers me.
I did knit this weekend. On the train back and forth. Basically, on the way to Philly, I knit and ripped, knit and ripped, knit and ripped. I don't know what my major malfunction is with the Prairie Blanket, but I've been having a lot of trouble with it. I think I've finally got it all figured out though. It really is a wonderful pattern and I hope to be moving along on it. Hopefully before Xavier is a year old!
Nona has the THIRD INSTALLMENT up! Yippee! I'm going to try to get the fingers joined together again tonight. I'm still in work overload, but I'm doing okay and I'm looking forward to a really productive day today (she says optimistically....) Running. Post office. Pictures. Yup! I'm felling bright eyed and brushy tailed.
Norma has brought to our attention a particularly worthy cause - get your charity knitting needles out! This guy needs some purls for his penis. You just know he was DUMPED by a knitter. Help him out!
You've got ONE MORE DAY to come up with a name for the new KAL I'm sponsoring. I've already got the winner in my mind - so knock my socks off people! C'mon. There's a prize at stake.
Oh and don't forget to sign the map. ;-)
Posted by Cara at 09:14 AM | Comments (32)
November 13, 2005
Map Schmap! Frappr Crappr!
I've been nothing if not a broken record...I'VE GOT WORK COMING OUT MY ASS! So, why do you people insist on putting these things out there? Things that by all account are a time suck. Things that if you DON'T put them on your blog, it seems like maybe you don't really care who reads you. Maybe you're not all that interested in the people that take all that precious time out of their day to read the meandering blatherings that we so narcissistically post on the Internets. I mean, these gentle readers take the time to lovingly comment, show support, cheer you on...I SHOULD CARE. And I do care, I really do.
But I need a little bit back from you. If you love me, YOU WON'T PUT YOUR INFORMATION UP! Don't show me how much you love me - or show me, but do it by leaving your name out. I don't have the time to check my map obsessively. I'm already obsessed with this blogging stuff enough. Thank you for helping me.
Oh who am I kidding! Fire away! ;-)
PS - See Kay for all your Frappr Guru needs.
Posted by Cara at 10:06 AM | Comments (5)
November 11, 2005
You Know It Baby!
Ann, honey, the proof is in the pudding!
Your Birthdate: January 1 |
 You are a natural born leader, even if those leadership talents haven't been developed yet. You have the power and self confidence to succeed in life, and your power grows daily. Besides power, you also have a great deal of creativity that enables you to innovate instead of fail. You are a visionary, seeing the big picture instead of all of the trivial little details. Your strength: Your supreme genius Your weakness: Your inappropriate sensitivity Your power color: Gold Your power symbol: Star Your power month: January |
As seen on fellow January girl Emma's blog. Go and wish her a happy THREE year blog anniversary. YAY Emma!
Posted by Cara at 11:43 PM | Comments (5)
TGIF...sort of
I didn't knit at all yesterday, although I've got a train ride today. I'm working this weekend, but near my sister's so that means kids, kids, kids! And maybe some new bunk beds with Darth Vader and Dora sheets. My brother's in town too, so it'll be cool to see him. In the meantime, I'm super busy. Seems to be a theme around here these days. I know, I'm bored with it too.
I think the leaves are supposed to peak this weekend. Although it's been so blustery around here, there aren't any left. Here's one from the archives given I haven't taken a picture for myself since, oh, I don't know, April?
Have a good one!
L, C
Posted by Cara at 10:34 AM | Comments (6)
November 10, 2005
E Train. Around 9AM. You were a Blonde Knitting Fool!
Georgie saw you - and he was impressed. He said he could barely hold on and not fall but you kept on knitting away on something green. You didn't even stop knitting as you were walking up that long, long staircase at the Fifth Avenue stop. When you tripped, YOU STILL DIDN'T STOP KNITTING, even though he tried to help you. You had a red leather alligator pocketbook on one arm and a big canvas knitting bag on the other and you just knit and knit and knit. Georgie wanted to talk to you - tell you that he understood because his wife is crazy like that but he was too shy. I told him I probably knew you.
Speak up oh KIPper!
Posted by Cara at 09:45 AM | Comments (4)
Lets All Knit Together!
Sometimes I get so excited about things I wish I was Norma. You know, so that the words can come spilling out of my head and onto the screen without delay. Today's a Norma kind of day.
I'm going to go slow so I don't miss anything. Okay. Yesterday I was perusing the blogs, as is my main method of procrastination, when I came upon Mary's admission of love. Wouldn't you know it?! I fell just as hard, just as fast.
Please click on it for a larger picture.
The gloriousness that is this sweater must not be denied!
Mary started off her post with something of a tease - just a link to the picture (which I've shamelessly lifted from Montreal Knits. Thank you!) She added more information later but the results are still the same: I love this sweater with such unadulterated abandon I left Mary three comments yesterday and a separate email.
She's given me the go ahead - I'm starting the Knit A Long.
Now before you get all super excited to the point you might pee your pants like I have, let me warn you. The beauty that is this sweater will be an arduous journey to attain. Sure it's got lots of cables and twists and that is always a challenge, but there's more. Wait for it...the pattern comes from the book, New Style of Heirloom Knitting, which just so happens to be in Japanese. That's right, my fellow knitters - the nirvana sweater is in JapaFUCKINGnese. (By the way, that's not a slam on the Japanese language, which I'm sure is very beautiful - it's a slam on my brain which can't make heads or tales of the beautiful Japanese language.) We should be able to read the charts, right? Please tell me we can read the charts!!!!! And while I haven't seen the book in person, rumor has it that they only give the pattern in one size - super small.
Because of this minor irritation, this Knit A Long is going to be a true, true Knit A Long. We're going to have to put our heads together to make this work - make lots of mistakes - fuck things up - curse, scream, rip out, rip out again. I'm very tempted to hire someone to translate the pattern for me. BUT I KNOW WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER!!!!
ETA: Barbara and Leanne emailed some great links to help us out with translating stuff. Go here and here.
So let's start. First off, we need a name. I'm going to solicit names from all of you and then I'm going to pick a winner. The winner will receive the book!
Please click here for purchase information.
I've already ordered one copy and will be ordering another today. I WILL CHOOSE THE NAME, not the random generator. You can enter as many as THREE times. But please, make the entries serious contenders. I'll close the contest next Tuesday.
Since the book takes a little while to get here and the holidays are coming up and stuff, the KAL won't officially start until January 1st. Sort of a birthday present to me! I will set up a separate blog for it - I think the work that this pattern's going to need warrants it. Everyone will have posting privileges. Leave a comment if you want in, or send an email to cara at januaryone dot com with KAL in the subject line.
Let's establish some ground rules early:
- Rule #1 - It's just too gorgeous not to knit it.
- You're going to have to get a copy of the pattern somehow somewhere. I suggest buying the book - Montreal Knits has some other great pictures up and it looks like the patterns are all beautiful - there are some gorgeous shawls in there. DO NOT ASK FOR PATTERN COPIES HERE OR ON THE KAL BLOG. They will not be available. I'm hoping we'll all be working on the same page so that if someone has a problem with Chart A, for example, we can all pull out our Chart As to help.
- I'm not sure yet if we'll write up alterations for sizing and stuff - it may be we all just size our own and learn from each other's mistakes.
- I'm not sure if we'll each do our own translations and help each other out - or if translations won't be necessary because the charts are so clear we can each make our own version of the sweater pulling the cables all together.
- There will be no time limit on this project as I suspect it will take a lot of slogging to get to the end of it.
Okay. That's what I've got for now - fire away!
I have no idea what the yarn for the sweater will be - I'm seriously, seriously hoping it's a DK weight (I guess I can always make it a DK weight) because I'd love to use the ton of Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed I've got in my stash. I've got a beautiful pink color too. But I'm willing to buy whatever yarn I'll need to get this right. This is exactly what I've been wanting for a long, long time. It's modern, yet classic. I just can't wait to start. I hope it's not too frustrating. I want it to be perfect already.
I didn't knit much yesterday. I didn't have to time to re-do the glove hand, but Margene made me feel infinitely better about the holes. Basically she said holes are going to happen - it's inevitable and a little darning may be necessary. Exactly what I wanted to know - thanks Zen Master! I've got a lot I want to accomplish today work-wise, so if I get time tonight, I'll be trying the join again.
I'm still trying to figure out what pattern my angel socks should be. I think I'm back to a simple, yet elegant, garter rib. I may cast on those today too. I need more size one needles. Actually, I need more size 1s and 2s.
I did knit a little bit (read two rows) on the Prairie Blanket yesterday. It's so, so beautiful. I wish I had more time in the day. Is there something wrong with me that all I want to do is knit?
Posted by Cara at 08:16 AM | Comments (59)
November 09, 2005
Put Your Hand Together
First off, I want to brag about the time I spent yesterday with one Baby Xavier and his family. I'll tell you, what that kid lacks in size (he's a teeny one!) he sure makes up with cuteness! And oh my god he is to die for in his Koigu hat. Makes Aunt Cara's heart go pitter pat. Thanks Jen for letting me hang yesterday. It was so good to see all of you home and so, so happy!
Secondly, I'm anxious and pmsy today. I didn't sleep well last night - my imagination often gets the better of me. I'm feeling overwhelmed about the amount of work I have to do - I was feeling positive on Monday and didn't get enough done yesterday and now I have to prepare for class all day today - so I'm behind again.
And I seem to have hit an impasse on Nona's Superfabulous Serial Gloves. I tried putting the fingers all together last night in anticipation of the thumb gusset entry to come soon, and well, I was decidedly underwhelmed. The first couple times I worked it I got some nice big holes. I kept trying to KTBL to tighten things up but that seemed to have the opposite effect. After two tries, I decided that maybe I needed to go down a needle size and knit reallyreallyreally tight to eliminate the holes. (I mean, what's the sense of having gloves with holes between the fingers right - kind of built in air conditioning for the winter - not so nice.)
So I tried it on size #2s. And things went pretty well - I even got so far as to add the pinky and do a few rows. Then I stopped to inspect my work - I still had what appeared to be holes between the fingers. I'm not so sure now. I think underneath what looked like a hole were the stitches that come across the two circs to make the barrier if you will between the finger holes. It's what covers the webbing between your fingers (do you have webbing? I do. It's a hereditary thing I think. My sister barely has any.) I was all ready to accept this as the way it's SUPPOSED to be when I discovered some disturbingly loose stitches on the index finger at the join. After playing with it for a bit, trying to tighten things up, I decided it wasn't good enough and ripped. That's when I went to bed last night fondling the super easy Sunshine Sock I had stolen the size two needles from - ah stockinette. You call to me. My plan in the near future (I MUST WORK!) is to try again with the size #3s and knit reallyreallyreally tight. I'll let you know how it goes - in the meantime, any tips or tricks or reassurance I was doing it right would be greatly appreciated.
I got mail yesterday. Help, please.
Cotton Candy and Pebbles. Lots of it. Mmmmm. Socks That Rock. Thanks Toni!
ETA: The reason I bought two skeins of each is because this is Soft Rock and comes in skanks of 200yds. You need two. The Fire on the Mountain and Rock Star came in skeins of 325yds - you only need one. I specifically asked for two of the smaller skeins because I want to make nice long stockinette PINK cotton candy socks!
ETA2: All my STR yarn comes from Toni at The Fold. Tell her I sent you. (Sorry Toni! ;-) )
Posted by Cara at 09:26 AM | Comments (13)
November 08, 2005
Finger Fusion
You know how when you get an idea in your head AND IT JUST WON'T GO AWAY? I'm talking about the good kind - not the kind where you walk in the kitchen and every single appliance and/or innocuous tool suddenly can do grave bodily harm - no, I'm talking about the kind where no matter how much work you need to get done - you just can't UNTIL YOU TRY NONA'S FINGER FUN!
After reading Nona's second installment in the Serial Glove pattern, I couldn't help myself. In my defense, I did run (check out One One Run for my progress - I'm running 20 minutes total now!) and do some work (I got about half a job finished) before I cast on for my first Idiot Cord Finger.
There was a problem though. Nona tells you not to be concerned about the ladders traveling up the back of your finger I-Cord because you twist a stitch at the top and work it down the ladder - it becomes another stitch. Okay - ingenious, I'll agree - but the problem was that it was very loose. Too loose for my taste. And the stitches to either side of the ladder were also loose. I emailed Nona with the problem - and she said she had it too. She told me she was knitting the I-cord very tightly then massaging the stitches into a better place. She also told me to check out Purly Whites - she had knit the fingers using two-circulars instead of an i-cord. Hmmmm. Sounds interesting.
So I went to Purly Whites - she indeed had a fix for my ladder problem. She used a turkish cast on and set to make her fingers. Okay. I'll try that.
Not so much.
The turkish cast on confused me to no end (and I was only casting on six stiches!) I wasn't sure where to go with it after I had it cast on (I'm a little stupid.) I went back to the I-cord method. After working a few rows and all of my increases...EUREKA! Why not put it on the circulars NOW? Then I only have to pick up like four or five ladders and I can knit the rest on my circulars! So I tried it.
Here you see the front of the pinky finger.
Here you see the back.
(Any wonkiness is purely my own knitting.)
It WORKED! So I set about making the rest of the hand. FYI, I used the large size finger instructions - I don't think my fingers are all that big, but the first few mess ups in the medium size were a bit tight - so I went for the large. The thumb was actually the large index finger transformed - it was way too big for my finger and only slightly big on my thumb. Don't my fingers look cute?
Today, after I do some work, I'm moving on to Installment #2. Time to join it all together! YAY! I'm so happy about this project. I've had this Koigu in my stash for a while and it just didn't seem right for socks. I don't know. The colors are so muted and I wanted something ELSE for it. Gloves are perfect! They will match my winter jacket (which is a one of those unidentifiable reddish purple but not really purple but with a lot of blue kind of colors. I'd hate to call it burgundy. It's definitely not a rust. Whatever - pictures will follow when there's a finished glove.) And it's going very, very quick! Five fingers in a night - and most of that time I didn't know what I was doing (like always, ALWAYS knit through the back loop when doing an M1. No matter how you pick up the bar, KNIT THROUGH THE BACK LOOP. Otherwise you WILL get a hole. DUH!) I'm hoping for a pair of gloves very, very soon. Stayed tuned!
Hey, did you know - today's election day. Whoohoo! You know why I'm so happy? It's because THEY WILL FINALLY STOP CALLING ME EIGHTY SEVEN MILLION TIMES A DAY!!!!! My sister is always bitching about elections - she lives in a swing state a lot of the time (PA) and they often have some very hotly contested races (think anyone who wants to ANNIHILATE BEAT Santorum) but NJ - well - we're usually on one side or the other so people leave us alone. Not this year. This year we've got a governor's race going on that WON'T QUIT! I'm so tired of it I almost DON'T want to vote. But I will.
I thought it was pretty cool the other day when I picked up the phone and heard "Hi. This is Bill Clinton." (Use your best Daryl Hammond southern drawl.) But my brother one-upped me yesterday when he told me he got a call from Warren Beatty asking him to vote against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Only in LA, kids. Only in LA.
I leave you with this final parting shot:
My version of Fuck You. HAHAHAHAHA!
(Oh and Bloglines? You too.)
Posted by Cara at 10:01 AM | Comments (15)
November 07, 2005
She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes
And I knew without asking she was into the blues
She wore Fire on the Mountain Socks That Rock
I knew right away she was not like other girls
Other girls.
I've been listening to The Dead all morning, and to be honest, I forgot how much I really enjoy them. I've been dancing around in my seat letting the arms fly. Of course, I'm wearing my socks. Tina - you are my HERO! I know I've gone off before about Socks That Rock and I may be sounding like a broken record, but this is my favorite yarn. Tina - YOU ROCK! (Warning - copious amounts of sock pictures to follow.)
That should do it, no? Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina. Socks That Rock in Fire on the Mountain. Size #1 Addis. PERFECTION.
It was a hard weekend. Meaning, I worked really, really hard. Three shoots - five kids. Now I'll be strapped to my computer until the next shoot next Saturday. I'll be so happy when it's January. Don't get me wrong - I love what I do and am extremely lucky that this endeavor seems to be working out, but it's hard with a seasonal business. You get a couple of jobs sprinkled over a month or two and then BAM. Nonstop work. Like I said, I'm really happy about it - just tired.
What's up next knitting wise? Well since Baby Xavier is here, I better get cranking on his Prairie Blanket. Sorry baby! I promise you'll have it before it gets warm. Or cold. But not before it gets warm AGAIN. What is up with this weather?!
I need mittens - I want cozy warm handspun mittens from some of the stuff I bought at Rhinebeck. Then I read Nona's tutorial on i-cord finger gloves and by golly - I know EXACTLY the koigu to use for gloves.
And I have to start a pair of angel socks for the Sockapaltwoza. Weird things happened there with my own angel, but I'm not going to blog about it - let's just say the effort was underwhelming in the least. I know they're angel socks, but c'mon. Again, I want to thank Alison for all she did with this knit-along. By almost all accounts it was delightful. And I will be signing up for the next one. Anyway - I've got to make angel socks and I think I'm going to do the Go With The Flow sock pattern from IK Summer '05. I searched the blogs for info on these socks and it seems the consensus is they're a bit small knitted as written. I will be using the specified yarn (coincidence) but I'd love to hear if anyone made these and had size issues. Right now the plan is to add one extra pattern repeat. Maybe I'll cast on today.
And the Vesper Yarn is calling me like an obnoxious man with a bullhorn. I HEAR YOU! I may wind it up today. You know, just to touch it a lot. I've decided that I will be doing a few rows on the Sunshine Socks every day BEFORE I'm allowed to knit anything else. I want those fuckers finished. If I can make two pair of Jaywalker socks in about three weeks time, I can make a stupid st st sock in a week. Just because I'm so not liking the yarn is no excuse. Besides, I want a month's worth of socks like Margene!
Question for you all (actually I have two today) - what shoes do you wear to show off your socks? I need some new shoes and I want them comfortable (I generally live in my Merrells) and I want them open a little bit (preferably slip ons) so that my fantastic socks show through. Any and all suggestions welcome.
And my second question? Well, I'm so sad to report that my Almost Everyday Cardigan is pilling horribly. I have one of those stone things and I tried to use it but I'm afraid it made the situation worse. Please help me. I want to LIVE in this sweater - and it's crazy pilling. Georgie got in the car after the last time I wore it and asked me if I was shedding. I had been pulling off the pills while I was driving and there was a nice little pile of red yarn left for him. Not fun.
Thanks for all the encouragement to run on Friday - I DID! And I'm off to run again now. I leave you with this -
Posted by Cara at 09:57 AM | Comments (19)
November 04, 2005
Baby...OH Baby!
Without further ado - a few Halloween pictures:
We've got Darth Vader, The Butterfly Princess and The Cutest Baby In The World. Any questions? ;-)
Last night was fun - if anything, though, it made me profoundly sad that I'm not writing anymore. I think about it all the time and it weighs on me. The women who read, Deborah Eisenberg and Jayne Ann Phillips, said some interesting things about their process and what their writing life is like. They both agreed that writing is awful - it's extraordinarily hard and boring most of the time and it's something you have to force yourself to do. I completely agree. They also said they were lucky because they basically weren't good at anything else so there wasn't much competition for their time. BINGO. I don't want to be good at anything else. I only want to be good at writing. But, fortunately or unfortunately my weekends say otherwise. I'm now double booked with photography jobs - shoots in the morning, shoots in the afternoon - and I'm happy about that. Don't get me wrong. (Amazed is more like it!) I've always said - if you take away my camera tomorrow I will be extremely sad. But I'll live. If you told me I'd never write another story - I'd be heartbroken. Devastated. I MUST DO IT! I MUST WRITE! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!
Did I ever tell you the story about how I used to tape a note to myself on my alarm clock? It said "How badly do you want to be a writer?" And I'd set the alarm for 5AM or something ungodly like that and try to wake up before my 9-5 job. Never worked. I'm not a morning person. At 5PM - That's when I write best. Or mid-day. You can't bully yourself into the process. That's the lesson. But I'm going to try. An hour. Just sit there. Don't do anything else. You don't have to write. But you have to sit there. NO EXCUSES!
I've got something else painful to talk about: K1R2. I've let it lapse completely. I'm very sorry about that. I just can't do it right now. I've got some feelers out about people taking it over temporarily, and I hope to have it fully functional come the New Year, but for now - it looks like I might have to shut it down for a bit. I'd hate to think it's gone forever. Maybe a new incarnation? Something more self-sufficient? Message Boards with lots of discussions going on at once? We'll see. I am sorry though. No formal announcements have been made as of yet - that's why the post here. But I fear it's coming. And soon.
How's that for a cheery note to end the week? I am so busy I can't think straight. My house is in CHAOS. I might not get to run today after all. AHHHHH! Januaryone can't come fast enough!
L, C
Posted by Cara at 11:04 AM | Comments (14)
November 03, 2005
If the Socks Are A Rockin', Don't Come Knockin'
Introducing Rock Star's hippie cousin:
This sock is all about the love and while it still ROCKS, it does in a DUUUUDE, catch my trail kind of way. Its mate has already been started. Maybe a finished pair by next Monday.
I'm feeling really bad about all the Jaywalker's I'm seeing out and about in blogland. Seems many, many people are having problems with gauge. This makes me sad because I'm at the point where I cast on my 76 stitches and rock out. No issues whatsoever. I'm using Addi size #1s. Two circs. I think I might have knit a bit tight on this third sock because my scale's telling me I've got 2oz left to start the second sock. I started out with the same 3.8 oz as the ROCK STAR pair and by the time I got to the second one on that pair I had 1.9 oz left. No biggie. Just a little more wiggle room. Anyway - I'm hoping people can work out their issues with the pattern because I really, really love it. Something about it goes so fast for me. Maybe because I've got all the measurements in my head (like 25 repeats before the heel; 57 before the toe) so I know exactly where I am at all times and how much I have left. And, still, I'm LOVING this yarn. I think I want to get two skeins of Fire on the Mountain so I can make extra long socks. I think the natural pooling in the stockinette is really nice. I'd like to see it run free on some knee highs.
Speaking of SOCKS THAT ROCK - JANET rocks. She won the blogiversary grand prize - a pair of socks, knit by moi, in her choice of SOCKS THAT ROCK colorways. Toni's out of stock, ahem, right now, but Janet - let me know what you want and your size (fingers crossed for small feet) and I'll get started, oh I don't know - how's January sound? Things should be pretty slow by then. ;-)
And Wendy wins the runner-up prize. She'll get some SOCKS THAT ROCK - but she'll have to knit it up herself. Wendy wins because I liked her birthday present suggestion the best. A tiara. You know what? She's absolutely right. I wouldn't have considered myself a tiara kind of girl, but after wearing Charlotte's Butterfly Princess Tiara at various times on Halloween, I'm saying YES! Bring on the diamonds! Every girl needs some sparkle in her life, no? (Although Mason Dixon Ann almost won with her suggestion of pillows. I could use some new pillows Ann, so feel free! And I also need liked Patti's suggestion of a year of housecleaning.)
All the rest of you should worry not. I will most likely be buying myself a wheel and Georgie's got the whole Bruce thing covered. He let me know the other day that we'll be going to see him on November 18th. Look for the hyperventilating to begin around the 10th.
So Janet and Wendy - congratulations and send me your addresses. And then go back and read yesterday's post. HAHAHAHA! I'm pathetic.
When I made my startling confession to being a deadhead, some of you questioned my mention of "the one." I just love how you all leaped to Georgie's defense. So sweet. Have no fear - if you read carefully I put "the one" in quotations marks - clearly demarcating that even though this was a "the one" it wasn't THE the one! Georgie is THE THE ONE. The one and only. As in She's The One. "The One" is the guy I gave that very special gift that you only give once - in a basement rec room with Light My Fire playing in the background. I shit you not. Ahhh. Special Memories. All I have to say is that he was no Steve Lapierre. Of that I'm sure. ;-)
Oh yeah. In the interest of full disclosure I bought some more yarn. Sock yarn at that. Someone stop me.
Pretty purply Koigu. Couldn't resist.
Long coveted Vesper Sock Yarn. Enough said.
Have a great day!
L, C
Posted by Cara at 09:29 AM | Comments (18)
November 02, 2005
Crazy Busy
Consider this your random post for the day!
~+~ I'm a loser. Let's just get that out of the way right now. Tiffany sent me an email yesterday apologizing for her new mailperson's abilities since she's sure the package I sent her must have been returned. We can certainly go that route, if you'd like, but the truth is I'm a LOSER because I haven't sent the package. That's right L.O.S.E.R. I owe a bunch of people a bunch of mail. I'm sure you know who you are. (I hope I do!) I've made a pledge to myself that I will try to get together one package a night - you know baby steps - until everything is out. Rest assured - I never welch. NEVER. So you will get what's coming to you. I'm just a bit slow at times. My sincerest apologies for making you wait!
~+~ The winner of my blogiversary contest will be named tomorrow. Which will coincidentally be my 300th post.
~+~ Crazy busy you say? Sure. Sure. No REALLY! My little home grown photography business has suddenly exploded. It's like all the stars came into alignment, and by gosh - people like me. They really like me. (Or at least they like the pictures I take of their kids.) Which means when I'm not shooting I SHOULD be processing. I'm trying to keep the wait to three weeks for the final prints and that's tough sometimes. And being sick has really thrown a wrench in the plans. It's hard to see when your eyes are dripping and there's tissue basically wallpapering your nose.
~+~ Speaking of sick - I'm on the mend. My sister was SO glad I was sick when I got to her house because their house is a veritable germ factory. They keep bouncing it back between each other and we were a delight to behold. It was a cacophony of sniffles sneezes coughs and nose-blowing. Ahhh. The horn section was particularly good. Nothing like a little snot with your Halloween candy. I'm most pissed that I haven't run in a week. I only ran two days from being off the week for rain/Rhinebeck and then I've been off again on account of not being able to breath. And today is nuts with my getting ready for class tonight and I don't think I'll be running today. Or probably tomorrow. So Friday at the earliest and with my luck it will rain.
~+~ Tomorrow night, 7PM, Fales Auditorium, NYU Bobst Library there will be what promises to be an EXCELLENT reading. Jayne Ann Phillips and Deborah Eisenberg will be reading from their work. Be there or well, be stupid. Both of these writers are top notch, in my opinion - and I think it's really rare for them to be reading.
That's all for today! I really missed the blog (read: all of you!) while I was away. Sometimes I welcome the break - this time - not so much. See you tomorrow!
L, C
Posted by Cara at 09:45 AM | Comments (14)