Fun Day Off

So my friend BT drove down Sunday for a quick visit. Her husband is away for a few weeks and she thought she'd take some time and come see us. She was only able to come for a few hours but we had loads of fun anyway! We drove into Sardine Canyon and wandered the roads in Mantua. She loves to see the fall colours as much as I do, but like me, she won't go by herself. We didn't do anything glamourous or even strenuous, we just got up in the hills and enjoyed the pretty scenery.



See?



MCM would have loved this photo. It has a lens flare in it.



Some scrub oak.

And now for some knitting content:
Lion Brand has a new 100% wool yarn out now, appropriately called Lion Wool. I bought some at Wal-Mart cuz I was there and it was there and it was pink and well . . . . . you know how I am with pink wool. Besides, I wanted to make a felted bag, and I didn't want to buy $$ Noro Kureyon yet until I get better.


So here is my Booga Bag prefelted




and post-felted

It's hard to tell that it is so totally smaller after felting, because I didn't include any other item in with the photos for scale. I'll remember that next time. However, let's just say that Lion Wool felts really really well. Almost too well. I bought 2 skeins of the print, and one skein of the solid. I haven't weighed the remainders, but I'd say I have about the same amount of each skein left over. Next time I will buy the same amount, but cast-on more stitches for the bottom and use up ALL the yarn (after I've made the i-cord) and then join the print and just knit until I run out. That would get me a bigger bag, and I wouldn't have so much left over. I hate wasting anything. I have to say though, that I rather like the stripey thing going on. I didn't do a thing to make it do that. When I joined the second skein, I used the russian join and the print matched up perfectly. Of course, a few rows later, there was a big huge KNOT in the yarn, so I had to tink a few stitches, pull out some from the skein and find the pattern repeat and do another russian join. I wanted to do that join instead of a knot because I knew that in the felting process it would work out much nicer. So all in all, I am very well pleased with my end result, except for the size. But for my first felted bag, I think I did quite well. The girls at work were all very admiring, which always makes me feel good.

And we also have snocks! These are not for me, they are for my friend JN. She chose the yarn (again Lion Brand Magic Stripes) and I think they turned out quite nice. And I have No Idea How It Happened, but the stripes match up perfectly. I couldn't do that again if I tried!


Modeled by me because JN lives in Rexburg. If she sends me a photo of them on her feet then I'll post it.

That's about it for now. As usual, if I think of something I'll do an ETA. I did add some photos to my last post, so go take a look.

Confidential to RP: Heroes come in many guises. You never know who considers you their hero.

*ETA* Here's a photo of JN modeling her snocks


She says they fit perfectly, I can't wait to see them in person. I am going to her son's wedding next weekend and I'm so excited to go back home and see my friends!

Monday-itis

As a rule, I don't generally mind Mondays. My work schedule gives me split days off, so unless I've traded a shift with someone or taken paid time off, I don't really have a "weekend". For me, Monday is just another day. Having said that, I hate the computers at work today. Slower than cold tar, and ornery as all get-out to boot. I'd had enough with fighting with the blasted thing and I just left.

So how's your weekend? Mine was nice. Thursday night I took the DD down to her 4-day camping trip. And of course, the weather turned to fall this weekend. We had rain in the valley and snow up in the hills, and the temps dropped. I went and saw her Friday night and took her an extra sleeping bag borrowed from RP. I went Saturday afternoon and attended Court (I really wasn't dressed for the occasion, so I stood in the back) and witnessed DD's guardians for the weekend receive service awards for their many years of service to the SCA. It was so nice to see that, I felt all happy for them. I didn't know hardly anyone at the event, so it was nice to see someone I do know get recognized like that.
Driving down there Saturday, it was so pretty through the canyon. I had to stop the car and take some photos. The leaves are starting to turn, there's some snow up on top of the hills, and there was some fog. It all looked like an autumn faery-land. I just love this time of year, it is the most beautiful to me. And I thought of how MCM would have enjoyed seeing my photos. He loved the mountains and nature in general.
Sunday was my final trip to the campsite to retrieve the DD. Everyone I spoke with said she was very well-behaved and is invited to attend Crown Tourney next month in Provo. With such glowing reports, I will be happy to send her. I am needing to work hella overtime for the next four weeks, but today I just couldn't manage to stay another minute. Tomorrow I will begin the fight again.

I found some yarn at DI last week. A whole pound of vintage mogul-spun wool. It is the most atrocious shade of aqua (reminds me of 50s/60s era appliances) and I am going to have to over-dye it to get it to behave. If it were just blue I'd use pink and make a purple. But as it has green in it, that would be a Very Bad Idea. So I am going with navy, trying to darken the whole hue into something prettier than what it currently is. As for what I'll knit with it . . . . no idea yet. But I've wound it all into little hanks, all ready for my dye-pot. I want to do it tonight.

I got a new niddy-noddy this week. And I've got a couple of wooden expanding racks that I will be using to display hanks of yarn on. I need to get my gallon of pink paint mixed, so I can get my little items painted to match each other. When I finally get my wheel, I will paint it pink too. I cannot wait!

And Apple has updated the Nano . . . .it comes in pink! But they have also updated the Shuffle and now I'm torn. I truly don't want anything bigger than 1 or 2 GB, because I like to reload it every few weeks and make a new mix. And I don't want to spend a whole bunch of money because what if I lose it? I want to be able to replace it easily. So . . . . . . . I'll probably get the new teeny-tiny Shuffle (it's a clip-on this time!) and just *wish* it were pink. But I downloaded the new iTunes and I'm not so enamoured of it. Maybe there's a learning curve to it.

And tonight is the world debut of a song called "No Kites" made by my very own brother, DJ Sid. It is being played tonight for the very first time on DLBN by Whistler. You're always invited to stop by the archives and download the show to listen to at your leisure. PLEASE download the show! Even better, PLEASE come listen to it live, and hang out in the chatroom with us.

I LOVE THIS WEATHER ! ! ! It's better than spring!
*ETA*
Not the snowy rainy windy wintery crap; the nice cool, clear beautiful days.

A Public Thank-You

To WhichyWomn and Geanie (both of whom have commented here). Look what I found in my mailbox last Wednesday night:
It's a handmade card by/from Geanie, by way of WhichyWomn. And there is a tiny silver angel pin on it. I took the pin off and put it on my brassiere strap the minute I saw it, but I put it back on the card for the photo shoot. Geanie made the card, then enclosed it in a swap package for WhichyWomn and asked her to forward it to me. I got it on Wednesday but I've been so busy I haven't had time to post. I didn't want them to think I am ungrateful. I am so grateful for caring friends, no matter where they live. This has been a difficult month, but I want to thank all of my wonderful friends and family who have held my hand and let me cry and have been supportive of me. You will be blessed for your good works, of this I have no doubt.

And since it's been a week since I've posted, some more rambling musings. Thank you in advance for your indulgence.

Today was NFL kickoff. I am So Upset. I am tech trained, but my current team is a non-tech team. With today being the first NFL regular game, we had all hands on deck so that we could fill all the orders for NFL Sunday Ticket. Have I mentioned that for every sale of the NFLST, we get a $5 commission? I got ZERO sales today, on the busiest day of the year. Why? Because I was told I had to log into the technical queue instead of the activations queue. I helped 50 people *watch* their NFLST games (because the first day there is always a glitch and every single receiver seems to think it needs to be reset before it will broadcast the games) but I never once sold a subscription. For every sale today, each agent got 2 drawing tickets and drawings were held every hour. Okay prizes, nothing spectacular. But I wasn't even in the running. I don't care about the dumb prizes, I care about the commission. How else am I going to buy my wheel? We *did* get a nice catered lunch though. And . . . . I have to admit I had a kick-@$$ outfit on too. A few weeks ago we all got t-shirts with the DirecTV and NFLST logos on them, front and back. I never wear the t-shirts they give us at work, because they are Too Big and I hate them. But I figured I could show some "team spirit" and wear the dumb t-shirt. But not as a t-shirt, no. I made mine into a skirt! And it looks so awesome. Photos to come, I have to show someone in person first. The DD said if I wear it to church, she won't sit by me. Well I wasn't planning to, but now I just might. The ladies there would just shake their heads at me. They have finally figured out I'm not a Molly and I never will be and even though it's alien to their world, I think they might actually be starting to like me for who I am.

And Friday night was Spinner's Night at the LYS. I used one of the Kromski wheels at the shop (the Mazurka). It spins lovelily (not a word, I don't care) but I find the wheel radius is too small for me and I have to pedal too fast to get anything done. Next time I'll try the Symphony which is a larger radius wheel, but a double-drive. The Prelude I'm thinking of buying is between the two in size, but a single-drive. Who knows, I may try the Symphony and decide it's The One. And the DD wanted to spin, so she was started on a Minstrel, which is double-drive. It took her awhile to get the hang of pedaling, but she spun for a solid hour and this is what she produced:Not too bad for a first-timer. Pound, Euro, and quarter included for scale. I have international readers, you know!

Last Wednesday was SCA. We are getting ready for Harvest War which is next weekend. After SCA, the DD and I drove up to Idaho because we both had dental appointments at 7:30 am Thursday morning. I didn't sleep at all because my parents have a grandfather clock that bongs every fifteen minutes. I got no sleep, and I ran myself hard the whole day (as usual) and then had to drive home that night and work the next six days. The good news is neither of us need any immediate dental work (I need a crown, but I've needed that for 18 mos). I also went to see my chiro, stopped at the LYS there and got some way cool Lana Grosse sock yarn. She had a sample sock displayed and I Had To Have the yarn. And my LYS doesn't carry Lana Grosse. And I also got my hair cut. Not short, just a trim.

Tomorrow is 9/11. When I was in college in Hawaii, we survived Hurricane Iniki on Sept 11, 1992. It happened about the same time as Hurricane Andrew and even though it was stronger, it didn't do nearly as much damage (only 4 deaths) and so it wasn't covered by the media nearly as much. Jurassic Park was being filmed on Kauai at the time, and cast and crew had to be evacuated because Kauai and Niihau were hit the hardest. So five years ago, I had pulled out my commemorative t-shirt that my friend had designed and sold because I wanted to wear it on the anniversary of the hurricane I survived. As soon as I turned on the news, I put the t-shirt away. I haven't worn it since. As bad as the hurricane was, its gravity has been superceded by the events of five years ago and I feel disrespectful to those who died if I were to wear it. My love for the month of September has been marred forever, and I sometimes feel guilty for enjoying a beautiful early fall day. Do I think too much? I just hope that in 20 years' time, that 9/11 doesn't become another day off where we have picnics and backyard barbecues and pool parties like Memorial Day and December 7. Americans being what they are, it probably will. Hey Yarn Harlot, can I move to Canada?

Happy Birthday

Twelve years ago I almost died. And now, every single day my daughter defies death! Just kidding, I love her and I'm glad she's here.

We had so much fun today! After church RP took us to Crystal Hot Springs where we stayed and played for two hours. It's a local hot springs, but instead of regular mineral water, it's salt water. And I mean it's really salty. There are several pools of varying temperatures, but the coldest pool is fresh water, so you have a chance to rinse off the salt before you go. They have a water slide, but it is closed on Sundays. I didn't like the water slide last time I went so I wasn't sad at all.



After we were thoroughly water-logged, we had dinner at Denny's. As usual, RP had to harrass the waitress. But she was a good sport about it and we had a nice dinner. And then back to the house for cake and ice cream!



September is my most favouritest month of the year. The weather is my kind of perfect, plus school is back in session! In less than two weeks is the big SCA camping event called Harvest War. The DD has been planning this outing for months. As I am sure you can guess, I do not camp. I will take her down to Mantua on Thursday after school, and I'll go down again Friday evening. I have to work both Saturday and Sunday that week, due to NFL, but I'll go down in the evenings to hang out for awhile. I love the temps being lower at night and in the mornings, then getting sunny and warm during the day, but not too hot. I like sunny, but I don't like high temps. I love early fall, I just wish it were longer around here!


This is the DD getting her dress fitted. We bought jacket nylon so the thing will wear like iron.

Okay that's it for now, maybe more later.