Yarn & Whatnot

I should have talked about my total yarn score last weekend but I’ve been lazy.

We went to Camano for the weekend to see if Waffle would get along with my dad’s poodles. She did pretty well in the car but threw up once we made it on to the island (gross). She was a bit nervous going into the house but Sophie & Angel didn’t freak out and they just recognized her as another dog. Once we took everyone into the backyard Waffle wanted to play. It was good to see her act like a normal doggy.
Later that day Julee and i went on a mission in search of yarn. I’d heard there was about 3 yarn stores on the island. NOPE. There is one store and it is only open on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The other 2 stores stopped carrying yarn and only do quilting. What the hell is that?! I only came home with a copy of the new Fall Vogue.
I was so sad I searched around online for yarn and found out Joann’s was having a sale on lion brand and bought enough to make the greencable hoodie and the Green tea Raglan. (saved $22)

Julee called some family friends on the island to see if I could visit their mom who also knits and does loom work. We saw her on Sunday and her basement is like the yarn mecca! She let me riffle through 2 giant garbage tubs full of yarn. It was all discontinued stuff too :)  I stumbled upon a tan skein that i thought might be handspun alpaca. She says “nope, that’s camel”. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I asked if I could have it. She said yes because it was the only one she had, not enough to do what she wanted with it.
I also found 6 balls of Jaeger Aplaca (tan), 7 skeins of Indecia (plymouth) Alpaca (lavender), 10 balls of Plymouth Cleo (blue), one random wad of chunky yellow wool, one skein of Berrocco Soft Twist (turquoise), half a skein of Brown Sheep Knitting Worsted (different than lamb’s pride) (green). She asked for $10 for all of it so we gave her $!5.
She also asked if i ever used handspun. I said I haven’t had the chance because I don’t spin and it’s usually too expensive. She then opened up another garbage tub FILLED with yarn she had spun herself. It was pretty intermediate stuff but I took one skein of white and one of a black/brown. I told her I’d see what I could do with it. It has now become a hat for evan using Jared Flood’s “turn a square” pattern.

we headed on home and thankfully Waffle didn’t barf the whole way. We made a few stops and i think that helped settle her tummy.

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This weekend was Hemp Fest. 2 friends who had to move out of town came up to stay with us and attend the fair. I stayed home cause it was too f’ing hot out. Later than night was a friend’s 21st b-day so everyone went bar hopping in the U-District.
Sunday we only ventured outside to get food, look for furniture and take Waffle for a walk. It’s just too hot to want to do anything.

Please turn the sun down just a bit

*waahh* it’s too hot again! Last week was so nice and cool. What happened? This must be our month of summer.

Friday we took Waffle to a friends house. She barfed in the car. I swear she barfs like a ninja. So silent. She likes to look out the window and you think she’s doing fine then *blaarrff*. Thankfully she got most of it on the towel that was with her and it was fairly dry so i could just scoop it away.
She hid out in her kennel at Kevin’s but let people pet her. My fear is that she’s not learning to meet new people and that she’s just playing possum in hopes that people will leave her alone. Oh when will my little Emo-Dog learn?

Saturday I dropped off all of the baby sweaters I have been working on (see flickr photos) for the people that cut my hair. Danielle is having a girl and Mark’s wife is having twins. So I have cranked out 3 baby sweaters in 2 months. No one is allowed to get pregnant for atleast 6 months now!
We also took Waffle on a 4 mile hike around St. Edwards park. It was very new for her because she got to walk on grass, gravel, pavement and dirt all in one walk. I can’t believe she made it the whole way. She got to meet a bunch of dogs and got to see a lake. She did NOT like the lake. We placed her in the sand to see if she’d wander to the waves but didn’t want to have anything to do with it. We’re going to Camano this weekend and hopefully she’ll see my dad’s dogs playing in the sand and want to do the same (doggy see, doggy do).
That evening we went out to ballard and i went a little crazy at Half Priced Books. BUT I think I’ve gotten back into reading. I’m halfway through LawnBoy. 

I think I’m finding an even balance between reading and knitting. I’m not working on any serious projects right now so I find I can put them down and read a few chapters instead of watching TV and try and read before bed too.

Current projects:
Accidentally On Purpose Drop Stitch Vest - This is the most soul sucking stockinette filled project I’ve ever made. You just knit and knit and knit forever! I’m also making in the round. There’s no shaping and you can’t even try it on because it doesn’t fit right until you get to the very top and drop stitches all the way to the bottom. I’ve been having twinges of fear that once I get to the dropping stage it will fall apart in my hands. I’m about 1.5 inches away from being finished. Wish me luck.
Sizzle - I have one arm hole left to finish. I don’t know why I can’t just sit down and do this. I have finished object phobia or something. Like, once it’s done i won’t like it anymore, the mystery will be gone.
Sahara - I think because i’ve already made one of these the 2nd one isn’t as intreging. I’ll force myself to work on this once vest is over.

I’m also fighting project ADD becaus so many good patterns have come out recently. One blog I read the other day pointed me over the Twist Collective!
I LOVE Wisteria. I will have to sub the yarn because Lorna’s laces is just too expensive.
I’m not sure how I feel about Lily. I’ll wait to see it on others before buying the pattern. I’m not sure if it’s my style yet.
Jaali is so cool. I can tell I’ll be making the hems then picking up stitches, not too psyched about this. But I like the shoulder construction.
Through the Key Hole is just too simple and cute to pass up.
I like the potential that this site holds but I’m sad that you have to buy patterns individually. It would be neat if they could become an actual magazine (but the whole carbon footprint becomes an issue these days).

The new KnitScene is distracting me a bit too. I like the Big Thaw Pullover, Riding to Avalon, Burnished Tunic, and the Red Rings Pullover.
I’m dying for the fall Vogue Knitting to come out. I’ve been waiting for the GreenGable Hoodie to come out in a more easy to read pattern.

I think I’ve been good thus far and haven’t bought enough yarn for big projects yet. I keep telling myself the yarn and patterns will always be there. There will be time.

I’m still around

I don’t know why I’ve been so quiet lately. It’s not like nothing new has gone on.

I’ve been cooped up in the house with Waffle lately and I’m getting alittle stir crazy.  We do find time to break away for a few hours.

Last weekend we saw HellBoy 2. It was really good! I haven’t seen the first one and I don’t read the Hell Boy comics to know much about it. I was just interested because the guy who worked on Pan’s Labrynth worked on HB2. I swear it’s like “how many creatures can I create that don’t have eyes on their heads? How many different body parts can I put eyes on?”.

We also saw BATMAN!!! I’ve been waiting forever for this movie. I think it was last year or the year before that when If ound out they were filming it. We preordered IMAX tickets for it too. It was all I hoped for. I love the “magic trick” that the Joker shows the mobsters.

Sunday we had friends come over and make us dinner They made fresh pesto and cooked some tortolinis. Sky made garlic bread, we made a salad and bought a pie. It was all really good. Waffle didn’t do too well with company but let Sky feed her in her crate.

I bought my ticket to see Cut Copy in October. I’m so excited. I got into them just after they came to seattle. They seemed so big that I’d have to wait like a year before they came back. What luck!

I forgot that Simone Legno was release more Tokidoki prints. The new Carnival print has come out today! I searched around very quickly to price shop and then figured out which model i liked. I just bought the Carezza style.  This damn artist is going to put me in the poor house (a poorhouse filled with cute purses).

Family is coming over tomorrow. I need to clean. We’ll see how Waffle handles more quests.

Sunday am I totally going to the remodeled Southcenter mall. They have a Delias!!! I’ve always wanted to go to the actual store instead of buying through the catalog. There’s a few other places I want to go to too.

I’m a mommy!

hey, don’t get crazy now. I’m not actually pregenant! I have a 5mo old, furry, 4 legged baby from Taiwan. Her name is Waffle. She’s a rescued doggy so she needs A LOT of work. I’ve started another page on this blog to keep track of her development, “The Waffle Diaries”.

We had to go to Bremerton on Sunday to visit her and see if we wanted to take her home. I’ve never been to Bremerton before. I’m not sure I’d ever have a reason to go back. It’s a weird town. It’s like Seattle/Suburb in one.  I think you’d really have to like the area to wanna live there and deal with the dang ferry all the time.

Saturday Evan headed off to the Seattle chapter of the World Naked Bike Riders. Thankfully this year he didn’t get arrested. The cops did stop the group twice to warn them and try to take down names. Evan kept his boxers on after the first stop. Eventually I came to pick him up at the end of the day when the group was tired and having a drink and dinner. 
I spent Saturday getting the house ready for the doggy (if we actually took her home). I went and got things like a bed, collar, harness, food bowls, a few toys, etc. Her collar is super cool. It’s silver and black checker board. She doesn’t seem to have issues wearing it.

The realization that I have to live alittle differently hits me every day. Some of it is limiting (like not staying out so late or going on a trip when ever we want for as long as we want), but some of it is helping me grow up (caring for another life). I think things will go well. So read Waffle’s page if you want to know how she’s doing.

on another note, I’m freaking excited for the new BATMAN!! We’re seeing at the Imax on Sunday. I’ve been waiting a year for this f’ing movie. I think I might cry at the end because I know that it’s Heath’s last movie. (though I did hear he was working on another one soon afterwards, maybe they’ll release it).

7/4/08

I’m exhausted.

Thursday we ran to Costco since it isn’t open on the 4th and grabbed pizza, drinks and snacks. I finally caved and bought one of those portable iPod stereos too. I saw some at Ross for about $40, then when I decided I really wanted one they were sold out. But Costco had the same kind for $80, so that’s what I get for procrastinating. I love it though! I can finally listen to my music around the house (instead of only on the bus).

Friday morning I cleaned and started baking. I made chocolate cheesecake brownies and cheesy-onion-y cookie bites from the Cookies Galore book. Both turned out super good. Evan and I had to force ourselves not to eat any more of the cheese cookies until family came over (or they’d be all gone).

Family came over earlier in the day on Friday. We ate and played Smart Ass for a while.

Friends showed up around 7. Since we’re in the unincorporated part of our county, fireworks are legal and everyone took advantage of that. Once it got dark people started lighting off Roman Candles. Little Kevin decided he didn’t care for his car’s appearance any more and people started shooting the candels at the car, then they tried to see who could get one in the window, THEN they said “f’ck it, let just them off INSIDE the car!”. I think at one point they were going off inside the car while they drove it around the cul-de-sac.
Suprisingly our neighbors never said a word. One guy came out to move some of his cars but that was it.
Everyone came away with all 10 fingers and both eyes.

There was almost a fight though. I wasn’t in the room for the initial blows but walked by intime to stop and help try and calm people down. I guess it started out with a friend wanting to wrestle with Evan (just as a friendly tussle). But as Evan got up to go outside and wrestle, C. popped him in the jaw. Evan came back with a punch to the nose and bopped C’s nose ring. He ran to the bathroom to clean off the blood (getting blood all over my bathroom sink, and not cleaning it, in the process). At this point I walked by and saw C trying to get Evan to come outside for a real fight. Everyone immediately keyed in to the tension and brought C outside to calm him down. 
Sadly our friend is having a substance abuse issue and we’re having a hard time getting him to realize this. I’m thankful all Evan got was a bump to the jaw. C has already messed up 2 friends pretty badly. I’m thankful he didn’t get to Evan. I’d never forgive him otherwise.

Other than that, everything was fine. All the food got eatten. Another friend brought over the fixin’s to make pigs in a blanket and i learned a new way to cut the Cresent rolls to get more wraps per can!

Thankfully everyone was out by 2. I got to play find the beer. I can’t believe how many people opened a beer and didn’t drink it! It was like the forgot it was in their hand. Our recycling can is now full.