Florida Central/West Coast Peeps:

Hey, exciting news about Valerie (also of this yummy place, and I'm warning you, do not click that link if you want (your bank account) to live. I found so much stuff I want that I should just move into their stock room.) Anyway, she is coming to Florida to vacation and hit the beach with sticks and wool (it would sound crazy to anyone other than us) and she's going to be in Tampa on Thursday the 12th! We're meeting up that evening to hit yarn shops, probably get dinner, and maybe drink too much wine and wake up to a morning of frogging several rounds of whatever it is we knitted on Thursday night. (Though that part might be just me.) If you're in the Tampa area or would like to come to the Tampa area and meet up with us, just drop a line by comment or email! Also, any suggestions of where to knit & eat would be welcome and much appreciated, as it is not my town and I'm relatively clueless.

Happy *hic* Fourth!!

Wow, what a great day off! We were very productive and patriotic; we arose early, took the dogs for a nice long walk, hung out the flag, did some all-American gardening for a few hours, packed up a healthy picnic lunch and walked down to the lake, where we spent a few hours sunbathing, splashing in the lake, and picking up litter; then we returned home and got ready to hit the town parade, where we were marching with the volunteer firefighters, and sang the national anthem while watching the fireworks display. Then it was home and in bed by 9:30. Yay, America!!

If you're having a hard time swallowing that crap, then congratulations - you've been reading this ol' blog for a while. The dogs kinda walk themselves, I don't garden, lakes are kinda gross and I sunburn like crazy, we're not good community people, and we were too lazy to go watch the fireworks. What really happened? Well, it's more likely that we stayed up until 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday night, slept until almost 11:30 a.m., wandered around the house in our pajamas until about 2:00 p.m., took lazy showers (you know, the ones where you scrub properly but you only rinse your hair and don't bother with shampoo) and went to see a movie (Pirates of the Carribean; we're behind by several weeks on the new releases.) Oh, and we had someone else prepare lunch for us in air-conditioned comfort (picnic my ass).

Oh, and I *would* hang a flag, except I don't have the dedication. See, I'm VERY particular about it, and I get really annoyed when proper flag etiquette isn't observed. I don't have the tenacity to keep up with all the regulations, so I avoid it altogether. I have no idea why I have this hangup, but for some reason, I just do; I figure if someone went to all the trouble to write it into the US Code, then it must be important. And half-mast is an especially big deal for me; after President Ford died, I drove by a car dealership that didn't have the flag at half-mast, and I called them. It's just one of those strange things I've decided to obsess over.

We DID get to visit the 7-Eleven that was converted into a Kwik-E-Mart, though, which was freakin' awesome (photos to come). I got a Squishee! And we got home and had Krusty-O's for dinner. (Sad. But true.)

But on the other hand, someone else I know and love had a VERY VERY good day! (More on that later, I promise.)

What else - oh, I also spun up a bobbin of merino (which required an assertive pre-drafting because I was not doing a very good job on it without). This is a special skein that will hopefully turn out well enough; it's a very nice soft fiber in beautiful colors, a soft purple (hmmm...) with just a touch of mocha. Love it!!

The first of my Sockapalooza socks is finished as of this morning, and I'm pretty happy with it. I figured out I'm going to have a TON of yarn leftover (dangit! I wish I'd made them taller!) and so I think I may do matching handwarmers or something. (Me and my ambitions...) But right now I have to set it aside and finish the Gryffindor socks; I figured rather than try to finish them in time for the big release on You Know When, I'd work fast and try to finish them in time for the other, sooner big release on You Also Know When. (What, too subtle?) I almost never ever see movies the day they come out in theatres; but I may make an exception for this one, because it looks badassss!

And then when those Gryffindor socks are done, I have plenty more to choose from...which are you?

Gryffindor?


Slytherin?


Ravenclaw?
Or are you Hufflepuff? (Which I didn't purchase because I'm definitely not Hufflepuff and their house colours aren't as appealing to me and I already have Hufflepuffy sock yarn anyway.)

Sale Alert

Okay, this is kind of a cheat - it's MY sale. But if anyone's in the market for handspun, I'm knocking 20% off my stuff until the 5th; it's my "Freedom Sale", in a nod to both Canada and the US. (Respeck.) So if you're interested, see the shop. (I wish I had a ton of handspun, but unfortunately the stuff's kind of, um, labor-intensive.)

I'm trying to brace myself to brave the tempestuous waters of yarn dyeing....I'm sort of nervous about it. Acid ain't kool-aid, ya know? And it's not like there aren't enough brilliant dyers out there already. But still, it looks like fun.

Speaking of fun - back I go to the Mystery Stole. Thanks to Rosi's slick tip, I'm moving a little quicker. I'm sure she won't mind my sharing: When you're working a lace chart, first go through the chart and anytime you see a bunch of knit stitches (more than two), count them up and write a numeral in the first box; that way when you come to it in the chart, you know right away that you have to knit seven, and you don't have to count it up and risk getting it wrong because you're starting to suffer from chart-blindness. (I got sick to death of tinking every other row and finally tried it - wouldn't you know it, I haven't had to back up a stitch since then. Rosi rules.)

Help?

Does anyone have experience with Aperture for Mac? I'm going to try to get all my stuff from Laptop A onto New-and-Improved Laptop B, but I'm not sure whether I'll be able to move my mack-daddy gazillion-dollar version of Ph*t*shop over (without getting into the specifics of why, I don't actually have discs or other necessary things for that program); in any event, I'm thinking of getting Aperture either in addition to or instead of That Other Program. Do any of you use Aperture? Email or comment with any thoughts, puh-leeease!!

What? Knitting content? Um, okay...uh....oh!

New patterns and stuff: I like this. But I'm wondering if I like it on me, or if I just like the twee-tiny version of it in the photo. I'm not sure this is a look that would be cute on me...but I really might have to try it...and it looks like a simple and quick knit.

And I also think this is a supercute top, and I'm thinking about making some alterations to it (length, bulkier yarn) and making a quick-knit little supercute housedress kind of thing instead. It looks so adorable but comfy... (Two garment items in Magknits that I like this month! Yay, go Magknits!)

Also, I really love these bags and I want more money so I can have one. (I thought about asking for Paypal donations so that I can have all the cool things I want, but people tend to want goods or services in exchange for their hard-earned dollars...pfft.)

Oh, and I really want to get out of here and get home so I can work on Mystery Stole. Lurve it.

Carry on!

Happy Canada D'Eh!

Yay, Canadians! Thank you for: Smarties, gun control, proving that healthcare for everyone IS possible, Roots, Dan Akroyd, John Candy, caring about silly things like trees and air, the Kids in the Hall, Fleece Artist, Phil Hartman, maple syrup, Barenaked Ladies (whatever, I like them), Arcade Fire, being the country we point at and go "Why can't we be more like that?", and Martin Short. (Added: Duh! And of course, this!)

However, I'm still not over Tom Green. You'll be paying for that one for a long time to come.

Secret Pal's all wrapped up. Um, kinda; I have some loose ends...but it was a fun round, for sure. I'm definitely hanging back on the next round though - having done three in a row and serving my duty as fertility goddess (funny thing about the people I get matched up to...) I think I'm ready for a break. Maybe more KALs and less swaps - that might help with my whole I-spend-more-than-I-knit problem. :-)

We got our wedding photos yesterday! An album with 300 (fantastic!) proofs and two discs with all the pictures. All ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN of them. (Our photographer still freakin' rules.) I'll share a few of the really good ones - particularly ones featuring the stockings - hopefully within the next week or so; right now I'm not really able to upload them.....which brings me to my next point:

I caved on the "To MacBook, or not to MacBook" situation. As it turns out, I actually DO kinda need a new laptop. It's not a cute little "hey, I wanna new laptop 'cuz I'm spoiled" issue anymore; it's an "I'm almost out of memory, need a new battery, it takes forever to run apps, and this thing keeps kinda shutting down on its own" issue. So I can prolong the inevitable and spend at least a few hundred bucks to buy the external hard drive, move stuff over, get a new battery, and clean up the thing; or I can just face that it's a three year-old base model laptop and suck it up. I've decided to suck. (Wait....) So I just have to wait for the thing to be delivered; it'll be ordered for me tomorrow (I have my own sneaky and diabolical ways of saving money, you see; it's called Take Advantage of the Kindness of Others, and I'm a big fan of it.) I should have it...I don't know, end of the week? I'm pretty stoked. Poor, but stoked.

(And this time, so help me, I'm going to learn to actually USE the thing, not just have an expensive place to keep pictures and songs.)

All right, I gotta get back to the Mystery Stole. It's kind of all-consuming, to the point that it's eating my soul (in a good way.)