January 2005 Archives

fattening up

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My yarn diet has gone the way of all diets. Uncommon Threads had a great sale today on Debbie Bliss! $3 a ball! $4 for Alpaca Silk (of which there was none left but thanks to Becky I have some anyhow.) So, of course, I fell for more moldy green Merino DK which is actually called Blue-green. And matches the blog colors :) So yes, dear reader, I stockpiled and now have to destash "archived yarn" since I bought an entire bag! Sweater land here I come... eventually. Hollis helped me compare yardage for a sweater and the merino dk has a whopping 110m/50g which made it a great buy (less balls of yarn needed). Yeah yeah, I know, I'm such a lost cause. DK weight, too, ohh I'll be knitting that sweater for a loong time. Maybe it will be done by next fall.

Also picked some up in mommy's favorite purple for ... the dog. I'm kinda wondering if I should use the Plymouth Worsted or Debbie Bliss Merino Aran to make the geriatric sweetie dog (no, not my mother. the dog) a sweater. Spoiled cutie.

The stash is now too big for my tiny IKEA box and with stitches west coming up (*pumps fist in air once again* even though it looks so dorky) I think I'll need another box. Not to worry, I have one in the closet filled with a few bags. Hah. Yeah, that's going to be reappropriated super-quick.

Sales aside, life goes on, the rain comes down, and homework needs to be done. And tea needs to be made. If it weren't so illogical, I really wish someone would open a yarn cafe. You know, sell caffeine and yarn? Ahh. Seattle-ites are lucky with their yarn cafes open at late hours. I would pay good money to buy needles/gauges/patterns/etc at 9 pm at night. Must go do some homework so I don't have to commit hara-kiri on my expensive addi turbo needles

mad brilliant alarm clock

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Hanging alarm clock that retracts toward the ceiling when you smack it to snooze

Result? You have to get up in order to turn it off. They really should put this into production. Some people like to put the alarm clock across the room but I seem to be unwilling to actually get out of bed to look at a clock (or get out of bed) so this might actually work. Then again, I can also be a total cat, wake up, get ready, take a look at my warm bed, and go back in it. Or desperately want to. Maybe my best fix would be hypnosis...

mt upgrade

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If you use MovableType, please please install the new patch which stops mail spoofs It's a big vulnerability. Evildoers are uniting to crash your system.

And if you were wondering what I meant by spoof, I think I am using the correct term but the concept correlation might be slightly off. Anyhow, spoof defined by wikipedia

google sees you

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No, not like, in that spying way (though if you have an unsecured webcam, people might be ) Google has come out with Google Video

On a quick check, I first googled for Knitty Gritty, a diynetwork show. 0 hits. Hm. A second google for Crossing Jordan got about 20 some hits. So. Your Mileage May Vary.

need vs want part two

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Other than falling for some knitting needles, beverages, and meals out, I think I did fairly well. I made my donation to MSF today. I've been sitting tight and keeping my tush at home where the .com stores have been trying to lure me in. What I do want is a new highly adjustable office chair... My tush is complaining.

So here's the button I get to display with pride-
tsfb.jpg

I'm also working on a late xmas gift for someone who knows it goes around the head but does not yet know the pattern and yarn so I'll resist posting a picture of this totally gorgeous color.

Char and Melissa are out this weekend on the other coast and I think I have travel envy. Of course Jet Blue would take this opportunity and e-mail an extended special offer. Righto. My homepage at Get Back to Work is reminding me that I have work to do. Best finish the browsing and get back to work!

stash ownership

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I've decided that yarn purchased for other "not-for-me" projects don't count as part of my stash or nor are they subject to freecia's rule of stash reduction. Ah yes, just got back from the Knitting Room in San Jose (off Almaden and 85) where I purchased a ball of cascade sierra in an ecru (color code #03) for my mother.

I know I promised a list of the new books I received for Xmas.

Weekend Knitting
Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Vogue Knitting
Stitch and Bitch Nation
Ultimate Knitter's Guide
365 Knitting Stitches a Year

mittenette fevah!

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If you are craving more mittenettes (always nice in icky weather) give Natalya a look-see.
There is an absolutely gorgeous pair Norma is knitting that really shows off the cabling. Make your knit time stretch with cables! :) This is also knit in the round but on US #8 dpn.

Use your skewed humor and apply it to the "Caption Abigail's mittens" contest. Come on Char. Stare harder, think dirty. We know you can.

So I stumbled Stop pushing me

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Okay, so I got Pearl Tea tonight despite my pledge to concentrate on needs. I rationalize (ah, the great equalizer) this by thinking of it as quality time spent with friends. Being thankful for those you love and what you have- vibe. Of course, my nice boyfriend was in hiding and the evil one kept on muttering things about "yarn sale", "freecia's yarn collection", "calling a kettle an kettle", and such. Then he tickled me unmercifully even after I explained the hierarchy of our relationship very clearly (I have all the rights. he has none. "we are not aiming for equality, remember? I am superior"). GRRR. I think he was trying to gain back some ground but he still carried two bags of books to my car. Hm. So he might be somewhat disinclined to be a complete poopie-head (as Char would say) or be "useless!!" (in a scathing voice also as Char would say) even when I'm going GRRR.

For that I give you...

pissed-off-kitty-side.jpeg
No, I don't have a cat. I googled google image with "kitty" and this is what it came up with on the first page. I would not do this to my cat if I had one. My dog did once look like a golfball but that was my mother's fault. As was the wasabi incident.

Time to go to bed now. Happy stormy days ahead. Still have another class tomorrow evening and need to run some books to the used book store in ahhh 7 hours.

And yes, I do wish I were at CES. Yes, I do enjoy Las Vegas. No, my Dad wished he had more "good food" in Vegas which he announced after he finished a large Sake at dinner today. He was an old grump. Not one week earlier did he say "Yes, this was a pretty good vacation."

odd gadgets official

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Odd tech gadgets from Japan. They actually had a competition to see which was most odd.
Translation and pictures of all the items

Hat from Char

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A Picture Share!


Originally uploaded by freecia.

I promised people I'd post a pic of the hat since they haven't seen it. Here's a slightly weirdo look on my face, but it does show the hat. It looks much cuter in person and that corner naturally sticks up while the other pompom usually flops down.

need vs. want

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As the Yarn Harlot points out, there is a big difference between need versus want Here I was all ready to announce the usual post x-mas budget crunch (yarn, you do me in), holiday pudge, and new year cleaning when the Yarn Harlot comes and reminds me that there is a definite difference between needs and wants. I want a new chair mat since mine has a hole and also would like a new chair since it seems I like to slump in mine. I also want some useless school supplies just because it is a new quarter and that is what anal retentive people do at the beginning of the new quarter, never mind half filled notebooks and the dozen binders hiding in my closet from a great Office Depot sale.

Should I even mention my tea habit and how I was thinking of treating myself to some Pete's even though I have $10 at Adagio? Or the yarn I bought yesterday (which thankfully qualifies as an xmas gift. albeit a bit late. and for someone else).

So yes. Freecia is cutting back the budget out of necessity, prudence, and charitable giving. Hollis, my knit guru, is collecting items and needs people to help pack. I'm going to make an effort to get some stuff at Costco and grab a few rolls of the packaging tape we can never seem to be rid of and head over before class on Thursday to help out. Anyone want to come help? It is the 6th and she'll have pizza. I am the queen of packing, after all. Also going without new paperbacks, Pearl Tea, and etc this week to save the money for donation and take the Harlot Challenge. Yes, Freecia won't be buying her new narrow ruled binder paper this week. Or a new datebook- hey, outlook prints calenders... I want one from Japan anyhow.

The yarn, budget, and health diet is on. I feel so lucky to have enough yarn to knit hats for a month, enough money to pay for tuition, and enough food in the last two weeks that I could probably stand a chance on Survivor. Now if there was a concentration method I could try... Perhaps my New Year's Resolution will be to Focus.

Happy New Year ya'll and I'm off to clean then work some before I head off for a new quarter at school. One thing I will be spending megabucks on is textbooks, most likely. Gotta have those in order to study from them and get good grades for school (especially since tuition is so high). And a parking pass. Being late for class (later than I would be with a pass) is not good. Very not good.

Oh. BTW. I'm wearing the "Char Hat" :)
Photos should be on fuzzystingray ? Or I'll post one sometime soon. Clean Clean Clean. The path to the bed is getting too small.

splash and dash

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Well, my family and friends heard my plea and gave me yarn, books, yarn and books, and a rowan subscription (Thanks Aunt Tracy!). So now I have a righteous stack of knitting books and a goodly stack of yarn. Of course, it did not help that knitting arts has a sale right now until the 8/9th of Jan. with 30% the tables in the back and 20% off all other yarn. Notions, needles, and books are not on sale (but still in short supply) so of course I purchased a book for Melissa, Ann Budd Book of Patterns, so she can see the actual anatomy of knitwear instead of just following patterns and thinking they're totally weird and "how will that turn into this". Especially the sweater. I wanted to get her Budd's sweater book but they didn't have it in stock and this book had quite a bit of info on sweaters, too.

There was a nice amount of Noro on the back table and I picked up two lovely blue skeins to make into a hat for James who was especially sweet this xmas season. He pretty much made the rest of my friends mad since he left them nothing on my gift list (but agreed to return the duplicates)

Vegas was a hoot and some. Ate much too much, saw two more cirque shows so now I've seen all four cirque shows stationed there, and hurt myself sleeping. I'm so hardcore. Stephi's scarf is a continuing saga but she did get to see it today and she requested it be longer. Longer it shall be. This is perhaps the upside of procrastiknitting gifts- they're still on the needles.

Pictures and titles of books to come. Gotta go delete some comment spam.