WITHDRAWAL. IT SUCKS!

Wow, how obvious of a statement is that. I have been so incredibly busy this past week that I haven't had the chance to knit, except for my meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday night. And I didn't get all that much done. I've had bike rides, workouts, visits with friends, meetings, breakfasts, and dinners and a relaxing evening with my best friend, her husband and my god-daughters. BBQ'd steak, garlic butter mushrooms and squash. It was bliss on it's own. My friend Franki's husband (Wiley) can cook. Yummy!

So, I'm off for a bike ride after work, then off to my apartment to clean and rearrange. Have a guest coming over and I can't have them run the risk of getting hurt. (Still haven't managed to put away everything from the move). All I will be able to do is look at the knitting. But like a faithful friend, it will be there waiting.

Here is hoping everyone had a great weekend! and a wonderful week to come.

GARBAGE CANS. What color SHOULD they be? Well, this thought crossed my mind while I was bicycling Monday night. For my backpack project "OSCAR ROCKS", I had started to knit the garbase can with a darker gray and black yarn for shading purposes. However, upon looking at it, I thought it looked rather blah, and flat. While bicycling it occured to me to use a varigated yarn. Hence, the lightbulb pops on, and voila, NORO 100% wool in shades of gray, charcoal, rose, stell blue, etc.



I thought this would make for a more interesting contrast. I'm excited now.

As for my bliss camisole, I finally started on the breast area, and will take a picture and post it later.

YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY...Have you heard that Britney Spears song...Well, my blue Bliss Camisole is doing that to me. I have had to rip that mother apart so many times. I don't know if it is the perfectionist in me, or I'm lapsing into a frog fantasy, where RIP-IT, RIP-IT is my new repetative mantra. I had to rip it back down to the k2/p2 section. Damn my friends boobs! That is where I am having the issue. The white camisole was for a friend who had a breast augmentation, so no bra is needed. The second blue camisole, is for a -natural- woman, so that means I have to knit it to include underwire so she has support. Aggravating. But it will be a learning experience, where hopefully the lesson will be learned.



I was going to work on it tonight, but decided I couldn't deal with it. SO, I went bicycling instead. I did my 22 miles (round trip)from near Magnolia street in Huntington to PCH and Warner. It was rather cloudy.



But it made for a breezy bike ride. I love the smell of BBQ's. And throughout the sections that had Fire Pits, it was a predominate smell. It is amazing how much thinking I get done when I bicycle. I came up with an idea to address the camisole that I am going to try tonight in my SNB meeting (at Suzoo's Wool Works in Costa Mesa). Let us hope that it works. Or I will be singing the frog song again.

I'm so annoyed that I had to rip-out the whole front section of the halter tank I am making (soft blue, Debbie Bliss, Cotton Angora). Unless my friends one breast is 1/3 larger than the other, than it won't fit her.

I will be working on it tonight when I watch the Battlestar Gallactica season opener show. Up till then I'm a bicycling down at the beach.

Until then I'll just think of better ways to create this top, and eventually write it down so I have an actual pattern when people ask for it.

The MOVING GODS HATE ME!

Ok. This past Friday was my birthday. The BIG 40. Everyone kept asking me if I FEEL any different, or older. Nope. The only thing that makes me feel old is when I go to the beach and the kids refer to me as "yes ma'am", "may I help you ma'am". That is what makes me feel old.
I don't look remotely close to my age either. (Thanks mom - japanese genes).

So, as my earlier posts show, my aunt's house is now in escrow. We had to move all the stuff out of there so the agent can fix it up. Which meant moving. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday weekend. Here are some of the most bizarre series of events that had me crying, then laughing because it became so comical it hurt.

1. Friends who said they were going to help with the move bailed.
2. Had to rent a UHAUL truck to move some items myself on Friday.
3. Toilet overflowed.
4. DVD Player broke (both of them)
5. Connection for the DVD player on back of TV shorted out.
6. Flat iron doesn't work (it's less than 2 weeks old, need to have it exchanged).
7. Had work call me 8 am on my birthday and found out that one of the middle managers called me incompetent because I didn't do HIS job while he was gone, and couldn't finish it before my day off, despite the fact that it had to be completely recreated, that my computer memory needed to be replaced and I have a 4 hour time limit from my doctor to work on the computer.
8. Toilet overflowed, again.
10. Confirmed Friday that the moving cost to hire 2 moving guys would be $20/hr each guy, was changed on me when I called to see where they were. 2 1/2 hours LATER they show up, but not without raising the price to $60/hour. The owner says, "you are more than welcome to search with other companies, they don't charge less than this"...he damn well knew that I couldn't find someone right away. I plan on writing a letter to the better business bureau. Don't use the STARVING STUDENTS MOVING in Orange County. Overall the two day total to move was $508. That is insane. If it weren't for the two refrigerators, I could have moved everything myself. Much slower, but it could have been done.
11. Then the UHAUL Truck BROKE DOWN. Yes, it broke down.
12. I end up having a full on seizure and am out cold from 4:30 - 9:30 p.m. (I have epilepsy).
13. Unbeknowenst to me, one of my closest friends arranged a surprise birthday party for me that I had to cancel because of not feeling well. That would have been my first one.
14. Managed to get something to eat, and re-arrange a little Sunday morning. Bathroom overlowed again...this time, I couldn't get it to stop until the whole floor and hallway was flooded.
15. VCR didn't work. Had to change out the entire wiring from cable to vcr to dvd player.
16. God-daughter had put a half empty Carmel Mocha (blended) on the counter, I didn't see it and went to put a sweater on my dress form so I could take a picture of it and the sweater caught the straw and carmel mocha flew on me, and everything else in my living room for a good 3 feet in all directions. It stinks!

I can never say that I can't remember my 40th birthday. It was eventful, but somehow I don't think I will let the moving GOD's plan my birthday weekends ever again!!! They are sucky event planners.

My god-daughters saw all the weird events unfolding and couldn't believe it, and tried so hard to make my day enjoyable. They kept hugging me and telling me I was great and that they loved me. Gotta love them for it.

The one really good thing about all this, is the KNITTING CHAIR. One of the items I bought off of my friend's brother, Mike. It ROCKS! It's an oversized single seater with overstuffed sides and an ottoman. It's got enough space to the sides to allow the needles to work, but cushy enough for me to rest my head if I need to.

Ok, enough complaining. I have some serious knitting to do tonight. It's the only thing, other than sleeping, that gets me relaxed. I did however see a really great top while I was at the beach. It's a very delicate lace halter top that will be easy to duplicate. The girl gave me a dirty look while I was staring at it, I had to clarify that I wasn't staring at her (rather flat) chest, but that I knit and I liked the halter and was trying to figure out how to duplicate it. She was flattered and like so many others thinks that my interest in knitting means they can get something made for them at no cost. What is up with that?

Well, I'm off to try and relax, or wait for my mother's phone call. I am sure she will have a billion reasons for me to go to her house and help her do something. She always does. I see more of her than I do of myself.

I promise, I'll be more positive. I don't think Mercury went retrograde. It shouldn't until the last week of July. But damned if it doesn't feel like it.

OSCAR ROCKS!

That is the name of my new knitting project. I made a felted backpack for my friend for her birthday this past March. I made one fatal error. I did not put the backpack in a lingerie bag to keep the straps from getting caught in the washer's spinny thingy. It yanked it really hard to one side and it is lopsided. That was a painful waste of time, yarn and money. However, it was a good lesson learned.

So, that leaves me one present short of a gift basket. Hence, the Oscar Rocks Project. My friend is an avid Oscar the Grouch memorabilia collector. So I thought a back pack with this as the theme would make her happy. It will have a body of aubergine (plum color) and the trash can will be a french blue and marbled grey. Oscar will be neon green, and his brows will be a varigated rust with orange fizz through it. You will notice that Oscar has his fingers in the typical head-bangers posture. Someone else said I should knit into it underneath him, "read between the lines"...

But, I think, I won't knit in anything. It's cute the way it is, and besides, there will be stars all on the back. It will be 130 stiches across. It's large to start with, but once it is felted, it should be considerably smaller. I still want a fairly large backpack for my friends Beach Stuff. She always carries a ton of crap in her bags.

I just hope it felts well. It should. My Hello Kitty backpack came out really well. I will just have to keep pulling it out of the washer and forming it. I will have fun with this one. I am working on the bottom right now, and should start the body of it later tonight at my All Things String knitting group meeting in Orange, California. For those who are local to this area, we meet on Wednesdays at either the Dietrich's or Starbucks (we trade off) at the Orange Circle, in the city of Orange. The group ranges from 8-20+ people. It's a fun group. You should check out the yahoo group ALL THINGS STRING.

I've decided NOT to bicycle today. My muscles have learned new languages and have been cursing non-stop at me. Besides, I have lots of furniture moving to supervise on Friday and Saturday.

Here's hoping everyone had a spectacular 4th Holiday!

KABLAAM! Was that a bottle rocket in your hand, or are you just happy to see me.

The weekend leading up to the 4th of July was fun. After being on disability from 1/1/2004 - 3/2005, my doctor's have given me the thumbs up to exercise again. Exercise equates to a god aweful amount of bicycling. I think I bicycled 80 miles this weekend. Not much in the scheme of things, but it was a good start to get me up and going again. I never mind going on my own, but it is fun with others. Only problem is that the ones going with me complain that their butt hurts after mile 4. I am trying to work back up to my 32+ a day rides. In the two weeks I've been working on this, I've lost 11 pounds. The Key, don't eat crap and drink lots of water!! With a potassium drink somewhere in there.

This is the busiest weekend I've had in a long time. Normally I will just cuddle into a chair and knit, knit, knit, knit away the hours. This weekend, I went for an after work group meeting (if I had a camera so you could see how gorgeous the men in this group are, you'd all be needing little baby wipes). That was 1 hour, then I went bicycling for 10 miles. Home, shower, start the new project like the white camisole top. It's with Debbie Bliss's Cotton/Angora. The top should be slightly different, I'm trying to work out the tweaks. I've only got about 2 inches of k2/p2. It's the top section that will require my attention. In this one, however, I think i'm going to knit in a underwire, and a little padding. It's for one of my friends. Then I'll end up making one for myself. In anticipation of me losing more weight. I don't want to wear one of these now and get busted for visual assault. (You have the right to remain silent. Anything you wear, CAN and WILL be used against you in a court of fashion law. You have the right to consult a fashion attorney before speaking to the fashion police, If you cannot afford a fashion attorney, then a buyer from Walmart will be appointed for you.......)

Then Saturday morning, up at the crack of dawn and I had an early morning bicycle ride for a 1 hour group meeting on the beach, then bicycle back. Load my bike, go home, lay down for 1 hour, get up, wait for my friend Rachel to show up, get bikes and bicycle to beach. Glory in the sun(burn for her) -and yes, we used sunblock. Rode back. Took a shower, and took off for a bbq party in Portola Hills. Had an Awesome time. The people were hilarious. The food was great. And I have managed to score a whole living room set for $250. I'm incredibly psyched. I have a NEW KNITTING CHAIR. I cannnnnoooottt wait for this. My only fear is the amount of shedding the yarns will do on the chair. I'll be taping constantly. Got home at 1 am. slept. kinda.

Up at dawn, shower, wait for friend to come by. Bicycle to beach. It's the 4th of July, so everyone is happy and in a great mood. I should have taken pictures of all the little puppies in the 4th of July best wear, riding in bicycle baskets, of parrots, wearing their gear sitting on the bicycle handbars. The boardwalk was alittle tough to maneuver. There should be an IQ requirement for poeple to be on the bike path. We get all types blocking the whole damned path so they can all see each other when they talk. And then get angry when the bicyclists on the bike path ring their bells to have them move over. Or parents who don't watch their kids on their little bikes, or skateboards and they jut out in front of oncoming bike or roller blade traffic. It is extremely dangerous. And then the parents get all mad because someone ran into their kid. The sun was awesome, started my summer tan. After two years of not being able to go into the sun, I have welcomed this with such glee. At they end of our sun worship, we bicycled to a bbq that was at the 11th station, by the refinery, ate a bit. Biked back. Went home, showered, and got ready for a 4th of July BBQ party for fireworks. Got there, had alot of fun. Bless the guys across the street, they had gotten their fireworks from Mexico, so they were launching thunderous explosions into the air. It rocked!!! Then our host and his son played on their trumpets the Star Spangled Body, The Hymn of the Republic and the Marine Corp hymn for the finanle, it was great. the Whole neighborhood was singing and clapping. It was very cool!!!

Then off to home and YES, I was able to knit for about 2 hours. I felt like I was going through withdrawal. Tonight, after work, I go for my 10 miles bike ride, then it's off to my knitting SNB meeting in Costa Mesa. Where I will be able to blissfully knit for a few hours and hours. I will take pictures and post them tonight.