The new camera is here!!

Woohoo!!

Actually, I received it Tuesday, but I'm still working on getting to know how to manipulate everything.

This is a shot of my workspace in the Recording Studio. Very flashy, I know. I use the Stitch N Bitch Page-A-Day calendar to organize booking deadlines.

Just to the right of the PC on the right side of the picture is my sign from the Yarn Harlot's talk last week.


I am a firm believer in the following: "A cluttered desk is a sign of an organized mind." I stand by that fully.

More pictures to come! The disposable is at CVS as I type!

Perfect Premiere Punk Pal Package!!

I received my first Punk-Rock Gift Exchange package today. Everything in it is totally beautiful. Peppy, my Secret Pal, has done a beautiful job.


First, I unfolded a beautiful colorway of Socks that Rock called Rolling Stone.

I love the colors - so rich - and I am very eager to knit it right up. I must exercise some patience, though. I want to make sure that I find just the right pattern.









That brings up: Nancy Bush's Knitting On the Road - Socks Patterns for the Traveling Knitter.




I also found a lovely candle scented in Water Garden - very lovely. An adorable note, a blank note card, and a Hershey's bar with Almonds - my favorite!

This is so great!!

Thank you so much, Peppy!!!

Getting a new camera

The pictures that I have posted before have all been taken with my honey's awesome Canon Rebel. I love the pictures that it takes, but it's not exactly portable for me. So, this weekend, while I was out, I bought a disposable Kodak camera. It took pictures for me, but obviously I have no idea how they turned out. So, Friday night, I ordered a new digital camera which should be delivered to me at work sometime this week.

In the meantime, I have to get the disposable camera to CVS to get me prints.

I had a fabulous time in NYC. I didn't make it there in time for the Strawberry Fields gathering, but I did make it there in plenty of time to check out the Radical Lace exhibit before heading over to FIT. Adam and I were both entertained by the Yarn Harlot's talk. After the talk, on our way out, Adam was complimented and congratulated for being my supporter. I'm always happy that he's proud of my knitting, but it's nice when other people notice it too.

As soon as I get my images developed, this we will be the first palce they end up.

New York, New York! What a Wonderful town

So, today, the honey and I are heading down to NYC. The order of events is as follows: Train in from White Plains, head directly to Museum of Arts and Design for Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting. Spend probably too much time there, and then it's back to the sidewalks to possibly stop by a yarn shop or two (certainly Habu Textiles) on our way down to FIT to see The Yarn Harlot on her Represent Tour. I am quite excited.

Adam and I love going to NYC for any reason at all. However, being that we don't live in that state even, we are always tourists. We can find our way around, but always have to have a map of the subways with us, and look like tourists in that we have a map of addresses and directions. We always have a good time, though.

I will, of course, have a full report when I get back.

Nor'Easter for St. Patricks Day

Today is my best friend's birthday!!! Yay, Michael-Paul!!!

I have no idea how much snow we got. I know it is enough to bury the car. Yesterday, while I was at the University, they closed at 1:30. My problem came in that I was scheduled to work a shift at Starbucks at 5:30. Do I go home and risk not being able to get back if the store stays open? No, instead I went to Starbucks from the University and waited there until 4 o'clock when they (people much higher on the food chain than our store manager) decided to close the store at 5pm. At that moment, I jumped into my car, and slowly drove home. It was very slippery, and the plows were not going yet. Silly plows. Of course, that also meant no traction.

So, I got to come home and put on flannel pants. Then I proceeded to knit my unmentionable project and watch all of the shows that I had stockpiled on my DVR (cable company TiVo) all week. Very relaxing.

This morning, honey took the car to work (we share a car) so I am home with Avery and Brigette, although Brigette is still sleeping. I am listening to Massive Attack to add to the ambiance of the morning.

The day shall consist of: alternately reading from "Greetings from Knit Cafe" which I bought last week and haven't really absorbed yet, "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood", coffee (duh), knitting on two different objects on the needles, and perhaps getting dressed. I work at 7:30 tonight, so I have until the to also put the finishing touches on my PRGE pally gift, head to Vernon to visit my friend's cat, and eat in there. Lots to do, but relaxing.

Splendid...what a great word.

This week I have felt simply splendid. It's a great word to say over and over again, too. Splendid, splendid, splendid. Very nice.

As I mentioned before, all the students are on Spring Break this week, so it's me and the occaisional visitor in here this week. I have the radio on behind me so my office feels bigger and I don't jump when I hear someone call my name from the door. My office door is my saving grace. It's a dutch door, so I can close just the bottom half as an indication that I would like to know who's coming into my office. I love it.

My knitting is coming along well. There is waist shaping. There is a plan for sleeves. Still planning on the neckline.

After work this afternoon, it's off to my friend Stef's place to peek in on her cat, Socks. Stef had to go to some conference in the Midwest and all of her usual cat-sitters bailed on her. So I drive a half-hour to help her out. No questions asked. I would do it anyway. Socks is a cute cat, too. I thought about bringing Socks to my place to meet Avery Darger, but I really have no idea how that would turn out, and I don't want to freak out either kitty. I already know that Avery didn't get along with the other cats in her foster home, but that was over two years ago when she trusted NOTHING. It was 6 months of living with us before she would purr. She still isn't appreciative when I pick her up.

After kitty-ness it's off to babysit again. Normally, it's just me and Byron (the 9-year-old that I sit for) on Monday nights, when his mom teaches. Tonight, though, we are together again. He's a good kid, and we have fun, so it's a good gig.

Adam has a painting in a show this week, and we are going to see it Thursday night. Very nice. Possibly dinner with friends after? Who knows. I only know my work schedules.

Monday, Monday

The students are on Spring Break. Here I am in my office. It's so quiet.

My knitting as of late has been productive, but not warranting pictures or anything. I want to make sure that it works before I actually talk about it. I'm making a hybrid that technically works on paper, but we have all worked on projects like that before.... I have been documenting my progress as it goes along, just in case.

I'm also working my surprises for my Secret Punk - this is very exciting for me!!

Bookworm list

I got this from Gothknits:


In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

1. +The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. +Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. +To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. +Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. +The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. +The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. +The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. +Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. +Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. *A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. +Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. +Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. +Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. +Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. +The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. +The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
23. +Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. +The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. +Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. +The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. +Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. +The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. +East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. +Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) (I own it, but my mother's currently borrowing all three Albom books from me.)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. +The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. *I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. *The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. *The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. *The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. +The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. +Bible (what Catholic school forced me to read, anyway)
46. +Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. +The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. +Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. +The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. +The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) On my to-read list since I already bought it.
52. +A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. +Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. +The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. +Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. +The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. +Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. +Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. +The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. +Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. +Les Miserables (Hugo) Both the French and English
70. +The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Also both the French and English versions.
71. +Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. +The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. +A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. +Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. +Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. +Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. +The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. +The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
97. +White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
101. My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult)

I would like to add:
102. Where the Heart Is (Billie Letts) I read this before I found out about the movie.

Gifts from Brenda

When my sister, Brenda, was here for the weekend for me to teach her to knit, I also took her to a needle shop to show her how intimate and lovely these stores can be. I did not know that I was unleashing an animal.

My sister is very creative and always has about 15 projects bouncing around in her head. Similar to my inability to actually finish a project - we always like to start new things in order to begin to see them realized. I know that when she was younger she had the same issues as myself with actually finishing things.

So when I took her to this shop, she saw the possibilities for making her own accessories for her newly-learned craft. Less than two weeks after her visit, I got a package in the mail:

Needle case


This case has a black silk exterior with silk butterflies embroidered on it. She lined the inside in a durable canvas to keep me from punching holes through it. There are longer slots for my longer straights, and a couple of shorter slots as well.


Rose Needles


Brenda made these needles out of a pair of chopsticks. She found the instructions in my copy of Stitch N Bitch Nation while I was winding a skein for her to take home. They came out to a perfect size 8 needle. They are exceptionally smooth, and a nice sharp-but-not-dangerous tip. The roses on the ends were layered little petals made of Sculpey clay.

Of course when I opened the box that contained these goodies, I was overwhelmed. I didn't ask for them, but they are totally something my sister would do. She completely embodies the phrase, "Oh, I can make that!" Amazing.

In other news, I finished the Star Pillow many days ago. I had taken some gorgeous pictures of it, as well as pics of other things for the site, but I use hubby's awesome camera, and I didn't get my images transferred from it before he needed to delete them for a job. :(

The pillow is very comfortable, and I think Vegan Steven will see the pillow as a lovely use of his thoughtful gift of yarn.



Of course, I started a new project yesterday. I plan to see how it goes for a bit before talking about it though. Maybe that will keep me from jinxing it.