It's Not About Me....

(There are so few times anyone will ever actually hear me saying that...)

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Time for me to officially, definitely put down my self-knitting (including Razor and the Tilli Tomas project) and dedicate myself strictly to gift knitting. (Wonderful, my ass....I want to keep all this stuff for myself!)

I'm still in progress on my Eleanora. Still. (Why am I starting to think it'll be like, an entire year before I finish these?)

It's not that I don't love them - Oh God do I - but the yarn is so tiny, and the needles are so tiny, and there are so very many stitches, and the whole sock is k-p-k-p-k-p....oh, all the yarn movement! I was terrified if I focus solely on them, I wouldn't get anything else finished...


I started the Bells & Whistles Socks from the Holiday Interweave. I love this pattern too, and I especially love the yarn. My LYS is carrying a whole diddleload of new yarns, and this is one of them - Mondial Extrafine. It's a 100% Merino, non-superwash, and so ridiculously soft and squishy. These will be for Mom, who doesn't have to worry about non-superwash socks felting on her feet like we do down here. (Lucky.) Great knit - lots of interest, well-written, quick - I just started it last night and have made good progress without spending a tremendous amount of time on it.

Tuesday begins my once-weekly telecommuting option. I get to skip the toll-laden hourlong drive! I get to work in my jammies! I get to go to "work" with no makeup on!! I get to work the same eight hour day, but with pets and a comfy armchair.

Of course, I will NOT BE KNITTING because that would just be WRONG. (Imagine it spoken too loudly in no one's particular direction, in that sort of "Of course I'll totally be finding a way to work and knit at the same time because I know I'm capable of it, even if no one at the office believes that and thus I have not yet been given an opportunity to prove myself.")

Lastly....


Awww.

Meet My Fierce Protector

Last night after ballroom dance (we learned to waltz!), we sat down for tea. But I couldn't use our cruddy ol' plain mugs to break in the Adagio and the spiffy new (deceptive) teapot (which holds five cups of tea in an apparent bottomless chamber).

So I had to break out the china AND the silver for the first time in.....in.....you know, this might have been the first time since I acquired it from my mom.

I have no knits (why have I not had enough knitting time?) so I'm providing another form of interesting visual.

When we got home from ballroom, I noticed something about Travis. Whenever we go do something that isn't typically manly, he has a "Butch It Up" outfit - specifically, his Bruise Brothers Boxing School t-shirt. He's not a guy who has a need to look super-macho, but it's just something he seems to do. Witness:

We have Exhibit A:


Travis at Sip & Knit, learning how to knit, sitting in front of a wall of baby yarn. Pastel Butch.

Exhibit B:


Travis last night after ballroom dance. Nametag Butch.

Finally, Exhibit C:

Midol Butch. Tampon shopping requires extra butch, hence the Dallas Cowboys hat. (Travis doesn't even watch football. That's my hat. Minus four butch-points.)

(Seriously, waltzing, knitting, tampons....would you even BELIEVE me at this point if I told you he's a motocross-riding auto mechanic?)

(Okay. I admit it. That last photo was staged. But he did wear that to the grocery store, so he was asking for it.)

(I'm sorry. I'll come up with something knit soon - I did block Swallowtail, so I will get those posted one of these days soon.)

Whaaaaaaat?!

AWESOME.

I got a package from my KTS2 swap pal! I have been so blessed with wonderful swap pals who seem to intuitively know exactly what I'd like and what I'm dying to try, and I am once again stunned!

My pal is Valerie, who - oddly enough - read my blog even before she was assigned to me! (I'm no Grumperina, so that one came as a serious shock.)

This is my first of two boxes. (That was the second serious shock, met with an out-loud "No shit?!" This was more than I expected already!!)

I opened it thinking I was getting a package from a Destasher. But no....surprise!


Travis immediately spotted something he wanted, and I had to slap him away and take the box elsewhere. But not before he managed to snatch something away....


When he goes all crazy and wall-eyed like this, I know I'm losing...


The goods! (You may make out a few curious souls here - I know it seems like you always see the same two pets - they're the nosy ones. Rooster's easy to spot...Bitty's the blurry brown smudge on the right. Told you she never stops moving.)


Hee hee! Okay, we got Debbie Bliss Cotton/Angora in black (that's what Travis tried to steal away.) The dilemma begins...a tank for me? A hat and scarf set for Travis? A couple of sweaters for the twin boys his cousin is pregnant with? It's sooo soft...sooo very soft. And, oddly, she picked it up in one of my favorite places in the world - Bainbridge Island, Seattle area. (Psst: see the blur just to the left and above the yarn? Bitty again.) Then there's the Lipton - only it's from Australia, where they apparently have awesome badass Lipton that's way better than our Lipton. Caramel Lipton? COOKIES & CREME Lipton? Are you kidding? (And with milk and sugar, perfect! I won't need dessert! I mean, I'll probably still eat dessert - let's not get stupid here - but I won't NEED it.)


I wanted to try Adagio tea SO BADLY. I've spent so much time on their website trying to decide what to order. Did I ever mention that? No. (See, that's where my luck kicks in....Valerie just knew.) Chocolate, cinnamon, darjeeling, ceylon, and almond. All flavors I will love, all great with milk and sugar (oh, she's good.) But then - THEN! - there's my Adagio teapot! I don't have a service-worthy teapot - just the ol' metal one that goes on the stove. I've been wanting a presentable teapot, and this one's perfect, especially since there's just the two of us (Travis drinks tea too, on occasion). And it's a steeping pot - there's a strainer thing that pops right in the top. I LOVE it!! And all my straining implements seem to end up at work somehow or another, so I can never seem to find anything to strain my tea at home - this is way too nice to take to the office.

Thank you SO MUCH, Valerie! I'm so lucky!!!

Rooster feels lucky too, by the way:


Yarn or the box? Yarn or the box? Such decisions.....


Awwww, what a well-trained boy!

(Okay, gotta go slam a cup of tea quick - Travis and I start our ballroom dancing lessons tonight! Dancing with the Stars finally got the better of me!)

Random Stuff About Me - Obeying, Part 1

My SP hostess is awesome - she hosts these contests, but they're also great "get to know your pal" opportunities - so here's mine, and hopefully my pal will be posting hers too! A few of my favorite things.....

(Nothing's ever easy with me....so I bet I can't keep the answers short!!)

Actor: Ian McKellen is the first one to come to mind. I'll see anything with him in it - I just think he's stone cold brilliant. There are a lot of other actors I enjoy for pure entertainment value, too.

Actress: Hilary Swank, probably. I admire that she takes roles outside the Hollywood girl standard.

Animal: A liger. Bred for its skills in magic. (Heh.) I always wanted a hedgehog. And I liked stuffed lambs as a kid.

Band: U2. (Bunches more, but that's the top.)

Beverage: Hot tea, or sweet iced tea. (Ahh, the south.) And I love bubble tea. Yeah, pretty much anything with the word "tea" in it.

Book: Fast Food Nation, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, anything by David Sedaris (I'm seeing him this weekend!), and especially anything by Kurt Vonnegut.

Bubble Bath: You know, it's a great concept, and I love having candles and bubble bath on hand, but I hardly ever actually take any. Sometimes when I'm really bummed, Travis will draw me a lavender-scented bath.

Candy: Unusual stuff. I love chocolates with strange flavorings - wasabi, rose, lavender, hot pepper, stuff like that.

Color: For what? Clothing, vehicles, residences, yarn? I love so many colors - I wear a lot of blues/greens/blacks/browns. I love bright colors though - not neon, just vibrant. And my house is decorated in neutrals with deep bright accent colors - blood reds, cobalt blues...

Flower: Here again...oodles. I love orchids, lily of the valley, calla lilies, peonies, hydrangea, dahlias...

Food: Thai or Mexican or Italian or sushi. Probably like Thai the most though. I LOVE spicy food.

Lip Balm: I carry Burt's Bees with me everywhere, and I have one in my desk at work, too. And there's a rose salve by my bedside, which I put on at night. And in the winter, I put Mentholatum on my lips before bed - I find it helps prevent chapping.

Lotion: If I ever run out of lotion, it means the world has no more lotion in it. Oddly, I hardly ever use it. But there's lotion EVERYWHERE. I don't have a favorite, although I seem to favor citrus and minty scents.

Movie: Don't get me started. I have dozens. Mary Poppins, anything by Kevin Smith, Shaun of the Dead, Tim Burton flicks (particularly the animated ones), Wallace & Gromit, Million Dollar Baby, Clue, Monty Python anything, Princess Bride, Fight Club, Office Space, Apt Pupil...oh, I give up.

Song: There are tens of thousands of songs on my iPod. They're all my children...I couldn't just pick one. (Travis and I have about 18 songs to choose from if we get married - we don't have just "our song", we have an entire CD.)

TV Show: You're killin' me. Boston Legal, Nip/Tuck, Scrubs, My Name Is Earl, The Office (US - I keep trying the UK version and I just can't get into it), Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Simpsons, Dancing with the Stars, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model (don't you judge me), Lost...but I really do try to avoid watching too much TV!!! I just keep getting hooked on stuff.

Vacation Spot: There are so many places I love going. Asheville, NC; Seattle; Taos, NM; NYC; Victoria, BC....I love traveling, and I love going to new places and trying new things.

Using My Big-Girl Colors

I seem to be fixated. I'll let you see if you can figure it out...

The wee beginnings of a project from the Tracey Ullman/Mel Clark book Knit 2 Together, in Tilli Tomas Ruby Wine.


The Razor Cami in SWTC Bamboo. (Yep, still working on that one.)


Eleanora socks in Lisa Souza Sock! Merino, St. Valentine's. (Yes, this is the same sock I started in May. Shut up.) Beautiful pattern, no? Only single sock pattern I've ever purchased. I loved it that much.

Finally, it was time to pretend we might actually STAY in this residence for a while. See, in the last year, I've sold my house, moved out of that into a rented house waaay in the middle of nowhere, moved out of that and into another rented house with Travis, and moved out of that and into a home we purchased together....that's three moves of everything I own in a year - two of those moves also involving everything he owns...which, thankfully, wasn't much. So I'd grown accustomed to a cardboard-box-lifestyle, and was finding myself not caring that we have a house that, on the outside, looks like it should be owned by successful young professionals - and on the inside appears to be inhabited by squatting hobos.

You may have been horrified by a recently posted photograph of our bedroom. (If you don't recall, click the link - it makes the before and after so much more effective. I would post it again, but I suddenly realized that it's sort of embarassing.)

Time to move up and be grownups!


Our "new" bedroom makes me feel rich....luxe fabrics and colors, high thread count sheets and duvet, down comforter, feather pillows with silk cases....all Target! God I love Target. AND I managed to decorate in my colors, yet it meets the approval of the man who sleeps here too.

Yeah....I think I'm feeling saucy, sexy, sassy....very red indeed.