I swiped this from Cat’s blog. Pretend it is actual blog content while I finally download those LEAF pix people are verbally asking me about.
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Your Brain is Red |
 Of all the brain types, yours is the most impulsive. If you think it, you do it. And you can get the bug to pursue almost any passion. Your thoughts are big and bold. Your mind has no inhibitions. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about love, your dreams, and distant places. |
Because David is kind enough to fix some glitches out of the blog and I just have not been able to post. See I don’t post and the blog tries to commit suicide. If it weren’t for Davids intervention it might have actually succeeded. But who knows…maybe I will actually post soon…like about the yarn…my new projects…my new “roommate”…and what I ate over the holidays.
So Bento lunch has gone out the window this week. You see, LEAF is this weekend. I have been slammed with preparing for the big trip to Black Mountain. I have been eating lunches at home and cranking out my heaftyto-do list.
For the first time since before I moved here I will be volunteering and camping at the festival. It is like a mini vacation for me and B. We will be immersed in new age, hippie, world music, it-is-all-goodness from Thursday night till Sunday evening. I have no doubt come Sunday, I will be sick of the flaky earthy mind set, make a stop through Taco Bell and go home to drink a non-organic soda and watch some HBO. But for 2.5 days, I will remember why I love Asheville and it’s conclave of free thinking liberals. And I will be reminiscing Fall LEAF 1999, and why I decided that very weekend to leave Birmingham and live here.
The yard sale was last Saturday. Big sale, lots of stuff, a great time and I made $50. Not bad for someone who just grabbed some stuff from around the house to put with my coworker’s grand purge. However, I was on the edge of killing a couple of early bird dealers who ignored my “no early birds” flyers. For instance some idiot pulled into my driveway with their LOUD truck at 6am. Or the Scary Mt. Man with the white beard and braid who was just looking for some old tools AT 7AM. But the worst was this one woman who stuck around for an hour. She had the most irritating voice (especially pre coffee–such as it was for me). And she was chatty. High maintenance chatty. We heard all about how she was just trying to furnish her double wide. Right… with bargain antiques. Hell, she knew what the jadite dinnerware was, but wanted the complete set for $10. I was surprised that I sold a lot of my old clothes. And I was tickled to unload the damn pond liner that I was never going to use. It was a great time, but I was exhausted. Spent Sunday staring at the walls, twitching.
So, ever since Monday, I have been making lists and packing for this coming camping weekend. I forgot how long it takes to pack for festival camping. Don’t get me wrong, I love love love it. And I am the queen of the festival camp site. In other words–I am a high maintenance camper. I am not talking pack what I can fit in a backpack kind of camping. I am talking pull the SUV up and unload all my crap kind of camping. Canopy, kitchen center, and the knitting (because what better way to spend my knitting time than at a music festival). And don’t think I did not think about bringing the spinning. Who knows. If there is room in the SUV, the wheel might actually make it to Black Mountain.
You see I have switched from one addiction to another. Sometimes in a search to break free of an addiction one might fall victim to a substitute addiction.
My new addiction—handspun sock yarn.
While I will always love making little babette squares, I totally love spinning hand painted roving into sock yarn. It takes for ever and a day to spin up, but so worth it. I was going to ball this skein up and take it with me camping and make some socks. But the minute I showed coworker G, she had to have it. No worries, I can make more.
ADIRONDACK Hand Painted, Handspun sock yarn–4oz, 426yds, 17wpi–100% superwash merino wool
I actually had time to make my bento this morning. all this week I have grabbed the same leftover beef stew out of the freezer. but today lunch will be this:
while posting these here:
And updating my Ravelry notebooks with this:
While this is lying at my feet.
He has been here all week because he has jumped the fence again. and I have not been able to assemble fence fix #2.
I have found time to do some spinning in between getting ready for a big yard sale I am having this Saturday. Some folks at work are pooling their crap and selling it at my house since I have the perfect yard sale location.
Email me if you are local…come buy my stuff so I can get some cool shoes.
On my sock yarn label it reads: Limited Edition Fiberart by Stacey Budge. Meaning, I really did not intend to be dying the same thing over and over. But I have settled into a system. And with wholesale orders it just becomes easier when I send a sample card and say this is what I dye.
But with fabulous and popular colorways like Avé Maria Sangria or Playing With Matches, I just keep pimping the same colors while the demand is there. I have been dying this “limited” edition for about a year now. It is way past time for some new colors. And I have been mulling over the possibilites for months now as I dye the same ole same ole.
Enter Babette.
I borrowed this picture from Interweave.
One of the 40 groups I belong to in Ravelry, is the BAHBCA group(it stands for Babette & Hexagon Blanket Crochet Anonymous – For those of us who just can’t seem to stop). And let me tell you I can not stop. I think admitting you have an addiction is the first step. Before I gush on about my addiction to how I can’t stop making the cute little squares (Hmmm…more cute…I may be turning Japanese) First let me say I am not a big fan of any afghan like project. I think it is a lot of yarn for a thing that the cat will undoubtable use more than I will (and no doubt vomit on). And second it is crochet. I am not a big fan of most crochet like fabic, but I seem to love love love making medalions and granny squares. I have just yet to come across may patterns that justify all that yarn.
Babette is justifiable even despite the fact that it is an AFGHAN!!! First it is made from cute little Koigu yarn (see…and Koigu even sounds Japanese). And it looks like the background of a Klimt painting. I like the Heaxgon blanket from this group as well, but the different size concentric squares really make babette beautiful and interesting.
So, I started to play with the yarn I had on hand. I even toyed with the idea of a hand spun remnant or stash buster babette (and I still might do one or two or seven…What with my addiction and all)
I have been collecting a lot of Koigu yarn in hopes of eventually pooling it together for something (sweater? legwarmers? Charllote’s web shawl?) I just started making some squares. And then making some more squares. I probably need about another $100 worth of Koigu according to the pattern. And believe me nothing would please me more than shopping for $100 dollars more Koigu. But I had a thought.
I need more superwash for babette AND some new colorways for the Sock yarn. A wholesale customer had made a suggestion for some sort of solidish yarns. In 2oz skeins that complimented the existing “limited” edition, one could have contrasting heels, toes and cuffs. Plus I would have some more babette yarn. See how powerless I am over my addiction. Yarn business hell it is really all about the Babette. This stuff is soaking as I type this.
So other than to say my hour of Me time is up. I am posting a picture of Samson for someone who has bitched about my not posing enough pictures of the pets.
I have decided to chain myself to my computer at lunch. Not to catchup up on the insane amount of work that is flying across my desk these days. But to try to manage my online yarn life. Yes, I have been out of pocket (more on that later). And the yarn store has gathered a bit of dust. Topped with a promise to bring my lunch every day this month and a pathetic computer situation at home, I am finding my online me time approximately between noon and 1pm these days
Like everyone else in the knitting/crocheting online community, I am all a twitter (is so a word) about the Ravelry site. It took me a while to find time to surf. Because I am still without a viable home computer all my surfing time has to happen during office hours (unless I am just jonesing for some Zappos Porn, and find myself in the office on a Saturday). I just have not had a lot of time to explore the phenomenon that is Ravelry. All it took was Heather saying…I see you have not signed up for any groups. Okay. So, I looked at the groups. Oh. My. God. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, but I am now signed up to 40 groups (yes, people, I said forty!). AS IF I had time to keep up with 40 groups. Granted, there is really only a handful that I am reading every couple of days, and maybe some weeding out will be in order. But you crazy knitters/community-lovers are adding new groups at a break-neck rate of 15 or so a day. Flight of the Conchords Group? Great! Sign me up. Anthropologie fan group? No, I do not get the catalog (yet). But, you guys seem like some hip knitsters…count me in. And, yes, I want to take better
pictures of the yarn…you Yarnographers rock my f-stop. So far, my favorite is the Bento Box group (ask me next week and the fav will be another group all together). Months ago I happened on the Flickr bento box group and became totally fascinated with the checking out everyones cute little lunch. What can I say, I am such a voyeur like that.
A couple of weeks, ago B and I were on a sushi kick. Sushi can easily become a $60 a week fix with just a couple of lunches out. So I found myself breaking out the sushi mat and hitting the local Asian grocer. I approached the counter with $3.47 worth of items (which by the way would cost me exactly $14.88 at a local organic grocer who will not be named). Having no cash on me, I handed the dude my debit card. “No takee, must be $10.00″. Four heads of garlic and a bento box later (Bento box for $4.99!!!). My foray into cute lunches thus begins.
So today here is my bento journal entry
Cute, n’est pas? Okay so it is not the artisan hand cut little smiling faces and animals that I have seen in Flickr, but it is a start.This puts a whole new fun spin on bringing my lunch. And just as well, since I am going to be chained to my computer over my cute lunch for the next month. Computer+smiling lunch= happiness+updated blog and ETSY shop
I am not going to leave this entry with a diatribe on woe-is-me-too-busy-to-blog kind of thing. But, here is an exciting picture of the yarn order for Sheri at The Loopy Ewe that shipped last week. That is 118 skeins, y’all.
And here is the picture of the pedicure I got with my spa gift certificate (Thanks, Jeff and Tina. Finally put that Xmas present to good use) shortly there after:
Cute, n’est pas?
I think it safe to say the house is done. Joe needs to test the fireplace, but I have a feeling that will not be happening. Six and a half months of hell. I still have 5 boxes of kitchen stuff that I have no clue where to store it other than in the attic for now. and My office is still a wreck of storage. The yard sale is planned for mid October.
It is amazing how I have managed to squeeze some time in to knit lately. Photo shoots actually are an ideal time to knit. There is a lot of hurry up and wait…wait on the lighting, wait on the polaroid, wait on the final bracketing. Last week was the perfect opportunity to swatch my handspun sweater.
I have settled on different kinds of yarn in a soft progression of varigation. They are mostly coordinating dyed stuff I just could not part with and a couple of skeins too small to sell.
The house is almost done. And It may almost be done through the end of the month (bringing my 2 month project into its 7th month). I don’t really want to blog about it….but let’s just say I am still washing my dishes by hand and Joe the Contractor now understands quite clearly what I expect from him.
The tile counter looks awesome
As does the fireplace.
Poor Joe. I have to admit he got hit with a little bit of my surly self. Yes I am ready to be done with the house, but I have been a little out of sorts. Not quite sure what…could just be some PMS among other things. But I have had a bit of the blues…no appetite…troubled sleep despite the valerian and melatonin. I have been meditating like crazy among other things just to get my focus off what feels like a hamster wheel. Monkey mind gone ape. I have been a bit of a wreck. No coffee for me thanks. Tried on Sunday and I nearly threw up.
So today I get news that a coworker’s husband had committed suicide over the weekend. She and I were in the middle of a couple of projects. Of all the folks I have to collaborate with she is my favorite to work with. She is such a level headed solid up beat woman. That time the day labor guy broke the $1200 piece of art on a photo shoot…she was the voice of reason. I look to her as an example of how to gracefully handle my job frustrations. Because she is so together…I want to be her when I grow up. I can not imagine her with such deep grief. They had been married forever, 2 handsome successful sons.
Today I see how incidental my monkey mind is. My shit seems so whiny. It is easy to attach my blues to this heavy tomb like feeling that is floating about the office. I was a little surprised by my own tears. But when you can’t quite pin down what the issue is, I am thankful for any kind of release. The big dogs are bringing the grief counselors in this week, I see my own tomorrow.
When did it get so hard to blog? Look another 2 weeks gone by without an entry. Oh that’s right….my computer at home is dead. I guess the upside of being offline is there is more time to knit, spin, dye and hike with B.
It is good to have my spinning wheel back in action. But I have been compelled to work on yarn for a sweater for me. Six coordinating balls of yarn that I just could not part with once I spun them. I have an idea for a simple rustic off center cardigan. But I have some swatching to do. I need to see how the color progression should play out.
And I have been itching to play with some new colorways. I have had a few festering in my head all summer. I suppose once I get through the next yarn deadline, I can actually get to them.
But the big news…and I am knocking on wood as I say this…my house might be done this week…maybe even today. The only thing lacking is hooking up the dishwasher and for whatever reason this project hseems to be the thorn in Joe the contractor’s side. But the plumber is there today so maybe….nope won’t say it. requisite pictures to come.
God has it really been a week since I have posted. I want really bad to just spend an evening with the amazing Ravelry.com. But since I am working off of an archaic OS9 computer at home (which by the way MANY MANY MANY web sites no longer support the OS9 browsers) and I would rather dig my eyes out with a spoon than have to sit in front of my work computer any longer than absolutely necessary, I have not been able to fill my notebook with profile info, projects and wish lists. Then again in the Big Stash Rehash 2007â„¢ I am realizing some of my projects have been on needles long enough to go out of fashion. It is embarrassing, really. I assure you am am no fashion plate by any stretch of the imagination. But I’d like to think I have a little bit of personal style, and I tell you the 7 year old WIPs are not doing it for me. While some of the WIPs are just patterns that do not interest me anymore i.e. I really would NOT wear it even if I completed it satisfactorily. Others I am rethinking my choice of yarn back in the day when I was not so adept at getting gauge or appropriate drape. So I am wiping the slate clean frogging a frighteningly large number of UFOs and pulling the handful of sweaters (and socks) that are worth of finishing (most have been on the needled for a mere 3 years or less). Who knows. I might be posting some of the stash on EBAY or ETSY.
So while surfing Ravelry over lunch, I came across this sweater. The pattern is a free download.
After dropping 2 needle sizes to narrowly get gauge, I began it in a rayon/silk mill end at Earth Guild. I have some really cool buttons made from flat river rocks that will look perfect with it.
B and I went to see Bourne Ultimatum so I made some great progress in the theater. And the tension was nice and tight since the flick was packed with action scenes from opening credits to closing credits.
So they might be finished with my house this week. Yes I said it, probably jinxed it to all hell, but truly, the breakfast bar tile will be done today…as will the mantel and the dishwasher. I know I have not posted any progress pix, but I have been so over the construction thing I just have not had the heart to take any. Maybe after today when the progress actually looks like something interesting. This morning I noticed the overgrown weeds on the side of the house near the new foundation wall was actually this
Wild Datura! Almost makes me want to get out and pull the yard back in shape….almost.
