Who designs your Underwear?

I just HAVE to share our adventure yesterday.  Read fast, as Sweetie may well make me take this off when he finds it . . . but I HAD to share while I could!

 

After Church and a lovely lunch with our new associate pastor, Sweetie, Zae and I went shopping.

Sweetie needed new jeans.  ALL of his jeans were dead.  And he wears Jeans EVERYDAY . . . so this was a need.  I sent him into the fitting room at Penny’s with arm loads of jeans (you know you need to try on EVERY pair… otherwise you won’t find any). 

Zae asked Daddy if he could go in the dressing room too.  Sweetie shot me a “Please save me look” and then the two of them headed off.  I parked myself on that Oh so cozy chair and waited.

 

Zae was talking up a storm, trying to help his dad.  He has been on enough shopping trips where I tried on clothes that he has picked up a few things from his dad about compliments.  Even so, I just about fell out of my chair when I heard over the door:

 

“Daddy, I just love the way your underwear are designed for you!”

 

I thought the woman who came out of the dressing room next to him was going to PASS OUT!

 Not that I think about it . . . what she was doing there to start with.

 

FIRE!

I am SO bummed!

We are supposed to be going to the cabin this weekend with two of our dearest friends, K&K.  I had to cancel the trip this morning because of this:

There is a MASSIVE fire in the Plumas National forest (the Moonlight Fire, doesn’t that sound MUCH more pleasant than it is?).  The problem is that the cabin is there too!

 

The cabin is in little danger.  The fire is about 30 miles away and moving the opposite direction.  They are using the high school across the street from my FAVE grocery store as an emergency shelter- and that is 20+ miles from the cabin. 

Zae and I both have lung issues and sitting in the smoky canyon for the weekend does not seem like a good Mommy Moment, you know?

 

Others in the area may not be so lucky.  There have been some mandatory evacuations, and many more optional ones.  The area in the Lassen/Plumas Forest is beyond beautiful.  Just a sample, this is taken sitting on the deck of the cabin.  And the WHOLE area looks like this.

 

Please send good thought the way of the fire fighters and people of the area.

On a blog note:  Things are settling down with school and life and everything, I shall return to my blogging soon.  I have a BUNCH of pictures to show you . . . does that count?  Well no, considering they are all still in the camera and not here at school.  Really, I am working on getting back to normal (at least for me)

 

Pretty Sure They Didn’t Find What They Were Looking For . . .

Ther other day, someone was searching the internet for”club harlot 100/ porno muvie end piktur” and found their way here. 

I am pretty sure that my little knitting blog was NOT what they had in mind! 

At least I hope not. 

I mean we talk about how sexy yarn is.  Many post Yarn Porn at regular intervals, but I don’t think that this was what they had in mind.

That is all, I just couldn’t stop laughing when I saw that on my blog stats and I just had to share with all of you!

DUDE . .. What did he (I am only assuming it was a boy .  . . ) think After this Row meant? 

Wait . . . I may not want to know the answer to that question!

 

8 Years!

Wow, eight years ago I got MARRIED!  It had been a year or so of weddings and Sweetie and I were among the last to fall.

It was a rather quick courtship.  We met in May of ’98 at a Wedding (he was the best man and I caught the flowers!  Couldn’t you DIE!?  We started dating pretty soon after that (May 21^st to be exact).  The sticker in the pie was that we were in Orange County, CA (near Disneyland) and I was about to move back to the Bay Area.  I did in early August, by then we knew that this was it and he moved in January.  We were engaged in February and then married August 21, 1999.  That makes 15 months to the day from our first date.

I am not one who moves that fast.  Heck, we were married for 6 months before he became my longest relationship!  But with Sweetie it was so right!  We just kind of skipped that awkward dating phase (you know what I mean) and went right to “been together forever!”

I don’t really remember not being with him.  I have on more than a few occasions asked if he remembers doing such and such, only to realize that it had happened years before we even met.

 

 

So today, I would like to say thank you Sweetie!  Thank you for 8 amazing years (heck, I wouldn’t even trade the rough times- well that would depend on what the offer was!).  Thank you for teaching me to LOVE fish and Duck!

You are a wonderful man, the kind I used to joke about finding, but never thought was real.  Thank you for our son.  I am thankful that he has such a man to call Daddy and love that he wasn’t to grow up to be just like you.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

 

Metro Zae

Not much to say today. We dyed some yarn yesterday for Germany Mom and Baby . . .
DID I TELL YOU!!!!! The Germany baby made her enterence to the world this past weekend! She is little and cute and perfect!

It was kind of odd . . . Her birthday is August 11 at 4 am. However, I didn’t know she had come till about 4 hours after her birth. Mom called me at 11 pm on August 10! Sometimes the whole different time zones things is REALLY REALLY STRANGE!

Zae and I went and go haircuts today. I know I have posted Zae at the Beauty Shop (that is what he calls it!) before. . . but isn’t my little Metro-Boy too much!

 

Dude, It has been too long!

Did I tell you I finished this in time for my trip!

 I LOVE THIS PURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pattern: Designer Bag from Pursenality Plus

Yarn: Ella Rae Classic  and Knit Picks Bare Home Hand painted by Zae and me with Kool-Aid

Needles: US15, 13 for handle

This was a fun pattern to knit. I enjoyed the handle much more than may be healthy! I was often unsure what the pattern was doing, where it was going, but I did something very rare for me . . . I followed the pattern! I KNOW . . . WHO KNEW! Of course there was the one row that I think had a typo (missing the purl stitches in EVERY other row of that section) and the fact that I TOTALLY changed the color, yarn and such of the pattern. I LOVE the shape of the bag, but the bag in the book is just this side of AWFUL due to the color choice, I think the colors make that bag UGLY! But the shape is great!

 

I loved how it has two sections of I-cord that let me showcase the two colorways of our handknit. (this one is on the bottom, you can see the other on the flap)

 

Let’s see . . . It has been a while since we last spoke. I have been to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for my Birthday about a week ago! One of the best seasons I have seen there in quite a while. I have missed only 5 years since I was 15 . . . so that is saying something. If you get in the area don’t miss Romeo and Juliet- the banishment scene in Act 4 is TOTALLY worth the price- it is one of the most amazing bits of blocking, timing and teamwork I have seen on stage! Also not to be missed is Gem of the Ocean. This is, hands down, one of the greatest pieces of theatre I have EVER had the honor to see! I was dumbstruck!

Oh, that yarn store from the last post never did open that day (at least not that I could catch). None of my very local LYS’s carries the Ella Rae. The lovely owner of Fashion Knit in Walnut Creek (go . . . visit . . . support her!) told me that Article Pract in Oakland did have the yarn. I called, they had it, they held it and I drove to Oakland (only about 20-30 min) and got my yarn (we won’t talk about how I professed my deep love for the woman at the counter). Came home, finished the strap and flap and BADA BING BADA BOOM . . . the GREATEST PURSE was done!

OK, I may love this purse more than is normal, but I get lots of compliments on it and I get to say, “Thank you, yes I did make it, but my son dyed the yarn for me!” It is like taking a bit of him with me everywhere. And he is getting so big . . . that I feel better for that!

 

Why bother posting times?

Can you hate dislike a yarn shop?  My town has one LYS downtown (I am being a good girl, no names!).  It has been there for ever (one summer when I was a kid, I think I took crochet lessons there- it didn’t stick). 

Last week, as you know, Zae and I painted some yarn.  I have been turning it into a purse.  I have been having trouble with the yarn requirements of the pattern (due to the inconsistency in the colors, I found a green wool that helped pull the yarns together). 

I am pretty sure the problem is that I bought the first skein without a plan, then picked a pattern and realized I would need more of the green.  I thought I would just need 1 more.  The shop was supposed to open at 10 on Friday, I went by at 11:30- still closed.  My mom works nearby and was willing to swing by on her lunch . . . it was open.  Discovered yesterday that I needed more green (I know, I should stop guessing).  The store was to open at 11 this morning.  I was there at 11:20- still locked up.  Back at noon, still locked up . . . 1:00 still closed.  The sign on the door (not that it means anything) says they are open till 9 tonight.  I am going to try to swing by this eve.   Maybe I should call first.

I love the idea of supporting my local LYS . . . but . . . this is NUTS!  The problem is I know they have the yarn I want.  I saw it through the door this morning.  And it is not like they have much turn over.

I really want this purse done before Sweetie and I leave for Ashland on Thursday.  We go to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for my Birthday every year.  I get to spend my Birthday (this Saturday) seeing 2 wonderful shows.  The purse is almost done; I just need to knit the flap- in green- which I am out of!  It will take NO time to finish the flap, maybe an hour or so . . . if I can get the stupid yarn (I think I might be a bit bitter about the yarn).  The purse is all together, except the flap. . . I just need the yarn!

AHHHHHHH . . . I am going to call the shop, if they don’t have it I think I will start calling around to other stores.  Thank Heaven for Ralvery . . . I had already put the yarn in my stash!

Wish me luck!

UPDATE: The posted hours for Monday were 11-9pm.  I called at 5, no answer. but the owners daughter is sometimes the only one working there and she has developmental delays (if she is the only one in the store, you have to figure your total and tax for her) so I thought well maybe she doens’t answer the phone.  I hurried dinner and popped down to check- still not open.  They are supposed to open at 10 in the morning.  I will drive past before Zae’s swim lesson at10:30, by again when we are done at pool a little after 11.  If not open, I am going to call every yarn store in the area and find it!  None of my normal ones carry Ella Rae Classic (I called to check this afternoon), but rumor has in there is a store in Berkely.  I don’t have time for this!  Sweetie and I have our romatic Birthday/Aniversery No kid trip this weekend, there is a lot of prep to do.  But I WILL GET THIS STUPID YARN IF IT KILLS ME!

Please send good yarn thoughts!

 

Plan for the Hand Painted for Yesterday

Ok . . . I have a plan!  I want to knit something for myself out of the 220 yards of wool Zae and I painted yesterday.

 I LOVE the styles of purses in Eva Wiechmann’s Pursenality Plus book.  I bought it last year and have read it, dreamed about it since then.  It is now time to do something about it.  I am going to do the “Designer Bag.”  The plan is to try to stay as close to the pattern as possible (but we know how good I am at that).  I am, however, ignoring the color ideas.  From reading the pattern, it looks like it takes 3 or maybe a bit of a 4^th of Cascade 220.  That is about 660 yds.  I have 220 of the handpaint and have found an Ella Rae wool that matches well (two skeins will give me WAY more than enough).  I will use this for the base and handle and all trim as well as holding throughout during the knitting of the body.

As I was winding, it became clear that I couldn’t just run one into another (I have been deluding myself since last night that this would be possible).  I am going to use the green in order to blend them more.  I am also thinking that in the middle of the purse I will alternate the handpainted row by row so there is some of the orange and the blue mixed together.

I am not worried about them going together, after all, they were made with the same colors, just in different patterns.  I only mixed four things of color; I used the same four colors on the skeins, just in different patterns.

 

I shall keep you posted . . . it is kind of fun and exciting . . . this is either going to be REALLY REALLY REALLY cool  . . . or. . . REALLY REALLY REALLY bad. . . we shall see

 

Kool-Aid Craft

Today was a craft day in the house . . . Zae and I dyed some Knit Picks Bare yarn that I bought myself last fall.  I have wanted to try dying for a while, so I bought this yarn for myself in my Christmas Knitting order and a reward for getting it all done!  I just haven’t done anything with it.  I got my invite to join Ravelry earlier this week (OH MY GOSH WAY TOO COOL FOR WORDS!) and was putting my stash in over the weekend.  When I came to the Bare I thought “well, that is just sad, we will have to do something about that.”

This morning, Zae looked at me with those HUGE brown (almost black) eyes and asked, “Mom, what are we going to do today.”  So I came up with doing the Kool-Aid dye thing.  We went to the dollar store and got a bunch of those picnic condiment dispensers and the grocery store to get kool-aid.  The Knitty website gives the ratio 1 oz fiber to 1 oz kool-aid.  There isn’t much powder in a packet . . . so I used a lot of them.  If you are thinking about doing this . . . use the Knitty article . . . really easy!

   

Zae and I had a great time squirting the dye on the yarn.  He was pretty set on having a pattern (that is his dad in him!).  He didn’t want to put dye on the first one, he was afraid he would mess it up, so he told me where to put the dye and I did his bidding (nothing new there!).  On the second one, we put the pattern on the yarn, and then he was comfortable enough to fill in the spaces with the dye. 

There are three options for setting the dye.  I picked the easy one (so I could still watch Days of Our Lives . . . one must have standards- I have been an adict since I was 8- my granma was my babysitter- and it was on EVERY DAY!).  Stuck each skein in a plastic zip-bag and stuck them in the sun (like you would sun tea).  I then told Zae that the yarn had to sit in the sun until after his nap (about 2 ½ hours, until the water coming out of the yarn is clear).  I flipped the bags half way through the time, but I don’t think I needed to.

A few hours later, we brought the yarn in the house to cool down out of the sun.  Many of the websites I checked made a HUGE deal about not shocking the yarn with cold water as it could cause felting.  They all seemed to recommend cooling the yarn and then rinsing with water the same temp as the yarn.

I had expected to have much brighter colors, but I like it.  The plan is a bag for me.  I have 220 yards, which is enough for a Sophia purse (this is SUCH a fun pattern) .  I am also thinking about free forming a small bag to keep my Weight Watchers books and tracker in.  I use the bight blue starter kit bag right now, but it isn’t really me.  We will see what I think of.  Maybe a smaller Button-hole Bag?

 

I swear, I used the same dye on each skein . . . really I did!  Both have a similar purple color, I think I will start with the not so orange one, then when I need a second skein, try to start with the purple on the orange.  Not bad for a first time, if I do say so myself!

 

I am not sure if I will carry a purse this colorful in my real world.   However, there is something really cool about having something that Zae and I created together.

 

A new use for my Gazelle!

Ok, I think I have told you that I am doing Weight Watchers.  I love it!  I am trying to work out more.  We keep the Gazelle Edge up in the front room in case I get motivated at any time to exercise.

But I have found a problem  . . . 

In a pinch the Gazelle does a GREAT job of holding yarn skeins as you wind into balls. 

I don’t think is what they mean by using the machine daily is it?