Monday, July 31, 2006

FO: PS's (Pink Socks? Project Spectrum's?) for Mami!

So I got more lotion you could shake a stick at, tea, a frame, and SOCKS!!!

Now I'm just holding out for (a hero...no no, I mean) the pics my older brother said he'd send off...which will make my present late, of course, but I knew that...somewhere deep inside I knew that. So plan B? Cuz OF COURSE there is a plan B! Is to use pics I have lying around of any ole' thing and she can switch them later...or so that's the plan at 8:44 PM.

Alrighty then, the specs:
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Fun & Stripes in "Farbe": 353, "Partle": 80518
Needles: US 2 to start, then US 1s the rest of the way...oh matching Clover bamboo DPNs by the way. As I noticed, and you can all "duh" me later, it's quite a different monster when one uses Clovers vs Crystal Palace vs Susan Bates aluminums...There's a green sock (remember the green sock? (the wee bitty green thing in the middle) it's about 3.5" long now) that has seen the use of all three ALL US 2s, and um, all I can say is I hope it comes out in the blocking, cuz I'm NOT RIPPING THEM OUT AGAIN! Buahahaha....

Pattern: Garter Ribbed Socks from the Sensational Sock book...I can't seem to find it and am short on blogging time so you can google search if you really really need to see the correct title and picture and the like.

So the purple in these give me a second entry into the world of July's Project Spectrum. Side bar to be updated sometime this month... :).

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Can't blog...Knitting

Hi everybody?? Hellooo??? Anyone there anymore? Sorry I've been sporadic like there was no tomorrow. I'm kitchnering my socks today. My older brother is mailing/emailing?--somehow getting me pics of his chillens and I'm going out to by a frame, tea, and maybe some hand lotion and stuff and then I'll be all set...for what? You ask? My mommy's burr-day prezzie! I figure I can stick a tube of tea down one sock leg, and a tube of hand lotion in the other :). then somehow "frame" them around/on top/with a framed picture of her grandkids. Viola! insta-present :).

So I gotta keep chugging, and that means stop writing and get going...the days are not getting ANY longer, as much as I wish the weekends could stretch out to feel like weeks....

Here's a shot of the sky for that Saturday Sky thing...though I'm not in it...sad and depressing. I should take one of today, it's rather beautiful outside for "chance of rain." So much for that whole "weather predicting" that goes on around here :).

Yes, taken on my little dying camera. I've decided that if it's gonna eat through batteries it's gonna eat through my rechargeables. They were far more expensive when I got them a few months ago, but umm, yeah, I've been using them for MONTHS now and if they die in the service of digital mayhem, I think they were worth it.

Happy Sunday.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Random Thought Wednesday: It's the Numbers, Man, They're Cursed!

Okay, I admit it, I watched the first season of "Lost." Finally. Netflix is useful for non-TV enabled people like me. But that's not the reason I'm having all these number dreams, I hope. I mean, I've moved on to "Firefly" mixed with (please, please, please) season 2 of "Dead Like Me" (first disc comes tomorrow...please).

So tell me, someone, why is some guy that looks a whole lot like one of the scientists at work telling me that 1-8-3-6 is very important. It's the code I'll need for "the thing!" The "very important thing" in that Homer Simpson-esque dream I had the other morning that I have no clue about. I mean, hey, I still remember the number...and bits of the dream even.

Or this afternoon/evening when I came home and collapsed for a couple hours..."176 minutes," spouts the chica in charge of marketing. "Remember not to go past 176 minutes!" Umm, for what? Does the world end? Does the copy machine explode? Does the metal hatch open? 4 minutes shy of 3 hours makes for one super hard-boiled egg. WHAT?!? I don't know.

Are these particular numbers important to anyone else?

Putting on my "dream analysis" hat(...okay it's a Hogwarts baseball cap, sorry), I can pretty much guess that 1, 8, 3, 6? Well, as they were said individually I'm allowed to switch them around, right? So 1863? Yeah, the house number I used to have in Hawai'i. Of the house I owned.

Ummm 176? Hmmm, That used to be my average "teaching"/non-fencing weight. (My fencing weight was 165, no I'm not 6' tall, I really am, in my best Cartman voice, "big-boned" :) cuz no one ever called me fat then. My doctor always wondered where I kept it. Hello? How about those "mammalian protruberances?" as Frank Zappa would say. And umm, yeah, can we say hello to my butt! And no, I was not wielding a piece of metal in his direction at the time.)

Where was I? Right. More anxiety dreams I suppose. Fun times here at Casa de Tactless.

This post was brought to you by the letter T and the number 6.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Pink Socks for Her Burrday

Don't try to focus too hard on them, the are indeed a bit fuzzy, and not cuz I'm making them out of mohair. I'm fighting the good fight but I'm not buying a tripod for my fisher price camera. I know, they're cheap, but as I'm stuck buying batteries at the moment, I'll shave my expenses where I can.

So here are my pink/purple/orange socks. I'm so very glad I spoke with my mom today, I might have had to tink, rip, or resort to store bought socks! You see, I finally gave up guessing what she might like for her burrday (it's a niece thing, sorry), and just plain asked. Yeah, I'm horrid that way. She said socks! She loves the ones I made her for mom's day, but they're far too hot for the LA summer. So I told her I had some "pink" ones on the needles and asked if she'd like those? (I'd bought blue to make her some for xmas, and as I've said, these ones really are my "training" socks.) She said she didn't care what color cuz, get this, she trusts my choices in such matters. Ummm, I guess, okay...I suppose she's blocked out my teen years and the horrendous color choices and fashion sense from said time. What can I say, it was the 80s (and 90s), I was a teenager.

So I'm not going to knit an 8" foot, only 7. And now I've gotta go, cuz time is a wastin'. My mom's b-day is the first week of August, so that changes my knitting schedule a bit, you know.

But still...just socks? I need to figure out what more would work in the b-day packet...

Happy Sunday.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Rounding the Last Bend

See, here? I'd have a progress picture so you could note where I am on my socks. Let's play pretend:

The yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Fun & Stripes. The stripes are (my designations): raspberry, purple/Burgundy(project spectrum), orange, and pink. In that order. 5 repetitions run down the leg. The heel, gusset and decreases seem to have another 1.5 ish and now I'm working on the foot part...another 1.5 since the last decrease (so um, total of 3?). I feel like I'm almost 1/2 way done with the foot--not counting the toe mind, just the foot.

Yup, a picture is worth at least ummm 70-some-odd words, in this case.

I'd steal Andy's camera, only, his Cannon does not like to play with macs in the way I am most comfortable: plug in the device, it appears as a hard drive, take what picture files I want. Instead it makes me turn on iPhoto and download all 4000 (or however many are on the chip) pictures onto my hard drive and then I have to hunt for the ONE file I want. I'm hoping it's just what Cannons do, cuz, ummm, if all the new cameras out there behave that way with my computer? I'm gonna have to see if I can live with my fisher price Sony Cybershot (I mean, isn't the name just CUTE!) until it dies for real. Right now it likes eating batteries...not a good sign in any electrical device.

Speaking of which...dang, I was planning on taking out the batteries the other day and this post just reminded me. Looks like another set has bit the dust. BRAND NEW batteries. I took the iPod sock picture with them...and that would be ALL. Seven dollars for 2 pictures is NOT in the Tactless Budget! I'm saving for tupperware here people! Sigh...

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Random Thought Wednesday: The First

Right, so there used to be pictures on this blog...there might be again, honest...but as Wednesdays have shifted from pics to me blabbing away, might as well make it a little more formal.

Today, for that first Random Thought, I delved deep to catch that fleeting nano-second long idea that I woke up having. It's been rambling around my brain for a while. Usually it comes up for air if I'm sitting around with old friends and alcohol, hashing out what the hell I'm doing with my life and why...

It's a big WHY.

Why am I not teaching.

My hanai mom, my father, and my older brother keep asking. I keep telling them I'm waiting for "No Teacher Left Standing" to be over, for all the schools that will be closed in Washington to be closed, for present teachers to be redistributed, for my credential to be renewed, for the Mayan Calendar to be reset...I don't know--is what I mean.

Except...

When the aforementioned old friends and alcohol are around.

Have you ever had a really big strong gut wrenching reaction to something that made you drop everything and just walk away? I think I have. It was the day that my X did what I'd asked him not to.

Stepping into the "WAY BACK" machine, back when the student loans were being paid off, I told him the debt to get my credential happened before we were married. He DID NOT have to pay it off. Especially if it would come back to haunt me. DO NOT BE LIKE MY PARENTS, who would lord things over on me when it came to buying me things or paying for them. "Is that how you treat the (fill in the blank) I bought you!" Whether it be a pen or a gold ring (HA HA HA, my parents buy me rings? Moving on.) or paying their share of my college tuition...oh god, that's a story in itself. They paid exactly 1/8th of it. And that 1/8th was such an albatross that I told them to keep their money after the 2nd year. If I could scramble the 9/8ths of it on my own (thank you work study and fee grants) I would "save their contribution for a rainy day).

You get the idea, right?

So flash a little forward to the trials and tribulations of my divorce arguments. Among all the "settling of scores" my X felt he deserved the proceeds to half the house (which, I've said before, not one of his pennies went to pay for) because they would be a START on the repayment for the student loans. "I paid for your Master's Degree."

The same program gave me my teaching credential. You know, that career I walked away from almost smack in the middle of the year? Yeah...I never said I DIDN'T lose it, you know.

One night, not too long ago I finally voiced this thought to my friends. I feel like packing up that credential and MA and sending it off to Hawai'i and getting his share of the house money back. Fair exchange? In fact he gets more for it, as that piece of parchment was half as much more than the cash he got. Let him choke on it. Maybe the bitter feeling I have about stepping into a classroom will go away? I dunno.

It's a random thought that I have quite a bit as I'm getting myself ready for another day of mindless drudgery. Teaching does at least exercise your brain, which is more than I can say for what I'm doing right now. I miss it terribly. Only, when I think of teaching AGAIN, in future or present tenses? I feel a little too much bitter to swallow. I feel angry. I feel cheated and betrayed, as I did this morning when I first sat down to share my thought.

Work calls...

Monday, July 17, 2006

Spider-Flavored Coffee....and other Randomness

I almost didn't see the little translucent thing as I was about to pour hot water into the "drip-cup" contraption Andy uses to make a cup of coffee. Almost. MMMmmmm spider-flavored coffee.

It must be that time of year. There have been blogs filled with "spider stories." I'm avoiding having one of my own, but I think, just barely. There must have been a hatching or 7 here at Casa de Tactless, but la la la, I'm off to work and can ignore it for yet another day. I'd rather wait for them to be as big as my thumb so I can see what I'm shooing/squashing/bathing in boiling water, you know? These itty bitty little guys? It's just not a fair fight.

Gummy Peachy O's? Oh my they are addicting. I was avoiding the longest line in the universe on Saturday at BIG FABRIC STORE? Yeah, so I wandered and wandered and wandered until I'd picked up more buttons than I'll ever use and found the cording for a sock bag I'm'a makin' and found their candy stand...So I grabbed the back of Peachy-O's and low and behold the line was gone so I was able to check out and have my first O in no time. And then another one, and another one, and another one. I think I ate 1/3 of the bag before I got home. I could not stop. I love how the label says "NO FAT!" Right, cuz it's ALL SUGAR that happily turns into FAT once your body processes it, HELLO! But does that stop me? NO. I'm just happy I got whatever rush/need/addiction over with and now they sit on my desk, but I'm not at all inclined to have one, or 30. At least not right now. When my next great need for sugar arises, I'll know where to look. It does seem to come in waves now-a-days.

Bellingham...so Tim and Andy are now looking at houses to the great North. When we first rolled into town they asked if I could live there...we were in downtown, kinda small, kinda cool old-fashioned buildings, I'm non-plussed when Tim says, "LOOK, a Yarn store!" These boys seem to know me far too well. Andy immediately pulls over saying something like, "Let's wander and look for food." And basically leaving me to touch and smell and buy yarn while they wandered. Which was quite fine with me cuz I got lots of info. from the nice lady who was manning the store. Local knowledge people, that is the key. I kinda wish we'd taken her advice as we ended up having lunch at the SLOWEST place in the universe. They were short-handed--we thought there were better ways to handle this than to have people wait over an hour for their food. Start with a warning, maybe? Fewer tables, maybe? Open later maybe? Get some of the waitresses, there were many, to help, maybe? But I'm not in the food business, so to each their own.

Must run now.
Happy Monday

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Wasting away again in Heel-Flap-Ville

As I've never made a garment I do not know the joys of visiting Sleeve Island. But ladies and gents, sock heel flaps? I think they're related, seriously. I think it's that: slip 1 knit 1 that gets you; there seem to be only half as many rows as you think there should be, and they don't seem to be growing AT ALL.

Doing both at the same time? I start fantasizing about finally having enough rows and how I will celebrate with alcohol and a happy dance! I am a sad person, I know. I'm an obsessed person, I know. I am a sad and obsessed person. I know.

But you know what's cool? Cuz this is where I LIVE people: knitting socks while wearing knitted socks...it's like some kind of silent motivation to know that I can accomplish what I'm doing cuz I have done so already. The millions of stitches on tooth-pick-sized needles will indeed come to an end and I'll have to come up with yet another sock pattern--umm I mean project, yes, not necessarily another pair of socks, no.

Except...here's my goal, I've been formulating it slowly but surely you see...I'm really tired of having socks that don't quite fit. I am. Cutting off circulation to my already poorly circulated extremities is a pisser to say the least. I'm "voicing" the thought that popped into my head as I mailed off my first pair of socks, ever to my mom: I can make these my size and they will fit. I'm starting with these "whole" socks to get an idea of how many stitches it takes for me to have comfy socks. When I fail, my mom ends up with another pair. Easy breezy, huh? I mean, my mom needs socks too! As we found out last Christmas, our shoe sizes might be MILES apart from one another, but thanks to the width issues my mom has with her tiny little feet, we could pretty much share socks. Once I'm down with the size issue, I can move on to "footies." But these HAVE to fit me. My mom does not wear footies.

A simple plan, see?

Okay, back to heel-flap-ville.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Jumping Off A Bridge


Hi, I'm a joiner, how 'bout you?
And the main reason I decided to see if I could join Yarn Aboard II? Yep, the picture and the punny Ewespinme brand name on the side of the sheep-i-copter. Besides, if I'm going to join in on one of these "exchange" dealies, might as well be one I can actually afford AND one that's focusing on my favorite knitted item of late, SOCKS. Can we say addicted boys and girls? I knew we could.

I skipped lunch today. Mainly it was the lack-of-sleep icky feeling you get when you're completely on autopilot and the world is kinda happening around you instead of you being a part of it? Yeah, luv that feeling. So I accepted a bagel for my morning break and was just about done eating it when I realized I wasn't really that hungry.

Come lunch, I still wasn't all that hungry, so I decided to bust out of the normal schedule and go "off-campus" for my lunch hour and explore the yarn store nearest me. I'd tell you the name, but I can't remember just now. I do know the little gramma running the place was a sweety and showed me the scarf she made with some cool sock yarn. Yes, that's not a type-o. She knit a SCARF out of SOCK YARN. Details? You want details? Did I mention my sonambulant state? I know it was Meilenweit and it was $16 for a skein and purty cool colors, but that's it.

And that yarn and its price tag brings me back to the Yarn Aboard II thing...I'm having a hard time figuring out how what to put down for yarn I'd like to try. Mostly cuz the "I'd like to tries" are on the high end of the dollar signs. There is an upper limit to this exchange, which is why I'm gung-ho for it. But do I go for quantity or quality, as it were?

Then there's the sweet tooth deal. I didn't realize how much of a chocolate snob I can be. Maybe it was the PMS talking...cuz I'm usually a good one for any kind of chocolate, much to Tim's chagrin I KNOW I've helped children with their chocolate drives that have spectrumed from Reeses Peanut Butter Cups to Sees Candies to Helen Grace. But I rolled my eyes at a Hershey bar today, knowing there was a bar of 70% cocoa waiting for me at home. Why get your kicks for 30 cents when I can plunk down three of my hard-earned dollars? I know, I'm "touched." But you don't scarf down a $3 bar of dark chocolate either, which I guess helps the guilt suffered from spending so much for it, not to mention helping keeping me fitting into my work-clothes, ahem.

Okay must go finish the questionnaire, cuz it really is taking precious time away from such things as knitting...and that sleep thing would be nice sooner than later.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

A(lmost)FO:PS iPod Cozy

It needs blocking and weaving in of the beginning and end, but if I don't show it now, I never will...what with tomorrow being Monday again and my inability to deal with my camera for more than a couple pictures at a time...

iPod Cozy:
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Layette Dye lot #3244
(left over from a hat I made my niece eons ago. I used all but about 3.5 yards, I like that)
Needles: US 0
Pattern: Snitty's iPod warmer (on sidebar).
Mods: I have a mini. ( Yeah, the one that came out BEFORE the 18 hour battery-life version, lucky lucky me... ) so I only cast on 48 stitches instead of the 52 on US 1s. I also got ummm, a little distracted as I knit it while watching "Lost" via Netflixs last night so I decided to get creative with the ribbing:

You can see the detail a little better in this weirdly colored shot. A little bit of a wave, or something. It was just me playing around with the variations of knits and purls across four stitches over four rows after the 4 * 4 rows of ribbing. Cuz you know, numbers are important. It really is OCD...if I had the money I'd go get myself diagnosed. But after 32 years, do I really need anyone to tell me that I need fixin' or anything??? Prob'ly not.

So, there's one project for Project Spectrum July.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

La Traviata, and knitting

I HEART my library.

I know, I've said it before, often.

As a total aside: I really HEART one of the librarians there.

She was helping me when she stopped and gave a "known trouble-maker" the TOTAL mom-stink-eye. I could not keep a straight face. I tried, honest. But after the day I had today...(with a Spanish accent now,) Immmmposeeeebleah. I'm what my friend Jen's mom would call rum-dummy...it's how little kids act when they've skipped their naps and are trying desperately to stay awake until (or maybe even past) bedtime...Going back to work after 5 days off is HARD. I know, I know, cry me a river...where was I? Right, La Traviata...

Netflix blows big chunks when you are on the "poor" plan. You know, less than three movies at a time. They deliver them on sloths, I think, cuz snail mail? You put it in the box and by nightfall your account says it's arrived and cleared from your record. Keeping this in mind, and the fact that I'm all alone in this big empty house until Saturday when Andy flies back, I made sure to stop off at the library and see if there was anything, and I do mean ANY-THING to watch.

Shoreline Public Library is not Kings Beach. KB really was a video store with a book problem. But really, what else was there in that tiny little mountain town? Mr. Video with it's lovely owners but erratic schedule? Then there's the money issue. Who has extra money after you've bought your six-er? Well, really, I only ever saw 12-ers coming out of the store, but I'm dating myself with the previous comment.

Unless you put something on hold, Shoreline has like 10 DVDs for browsing purposes, and tons and tons of foreign films, mostly non-fiction. So among all the foreign films with titles in non-Arabic alphabets, I found a copy of th opera, "La Traviata" in Italian. DVDs are great, I could have brought home any of those non-English films and just did the "subtitles in English thing" as long as I got to the right menu of course. But I didn't want to READ my movie...there was knitting to be done!

No, I don't know a word of Italian. Well, "manga" of course, cuz like a good girl I know "food" words: spaghetti, vermicelli, lasagna, pizza...you know, the way most people know Spanish: tortilla, burrito, taco :).

But an opera is perfect. You get a subtitle every 5 or six lines of song. Why? Cuz they repeat EVERYTHING they sing like 12 times. You know, in case you missed it the first 6 times when Alfredo sings about love being the universe. Or Violeta saying loving Alfredo is her life. Opera's are great for knitting that way.

I'm still working on those socks I started the 1st of July, both at the same time...slow and steady wins the race. I have almost 3" of cuff on one, and almost 2.5" on the other. Must go do more before bedtime.

I have a couple German operas to entertain me tonight...

OH the needles...finally found what I was looking for at The Fiber Gallery, only their webpage kinda sucks...none of the pictures seem to want to load or the links to work...but they have qiviut yarn under glass...not to mention yummy Lorna's Laces and Mountain Colors Bearfoot in wonderful colors...of course I spent money I shouldn't have...but only on Lorna's. I'll save up and go back for the Bearfoot later :).

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Telephone Etiquette

(Even after putting this off a few days I'm still a bit pissy about the subject...deep seeded trauma? Maybe.)

Okay, for the younger readers:
I come from the generation where not everyone in your family owned a telephone. This was back in the day when it was Ma Bell. Phones were "leased" and yeah, it was powder blue with a rotary dial and our name AND telephone number "professionally" imprinted under that middle disk of plastic. No, I didn't have a "name" number. For as long as I can remember my parents' number has been the same 7 digits. The area code? ALL of LA was 213. I think I was in Mexico, or getting ready to leave for it on the sailboat when I had no contact with the 'rents thanks to that "breakup." I also lived through the "own your own phone" bit. Ma Bell had been "reorganized" and we were AT&T folk, while central CA became Pac Bell and San Dog was South Bell, or something...at least I remember going into their store and my mom almost fainting at the prices they were charging as we had to BUY our own telephone--what a concept. Now it's a wonder if you actually HAVE a telephone line, as more and more people do the "cell-phone-only" or internet phone thing. Well, seeing as the phone companies want your first-born these days, it's no wonder.

Somewhere in all this, something big has been lost...
<<<--begin rant-->>>

When I was finally deemed "old" enough by my parents to answer the telephone, there was a little ritual I was taught:
1. Let the phone ring at least twice before answering.
2. Clear your throat BEFORE putting the mouthpiece anywhere near you. Maybe even during that first ring?
3. Speak CLEARLY.
4. As this was a bilingual family, make sure that first "hello" is as indiscriminately as Spangilsh as you can get it...my best friend from grammar school described it as sounding a lot like "yell-oo?"
5. DO NOT DO ANYTHING ON YOUR END OF THE PHONE THAT MAKES ANY WEIRD OR RUDE SOUNDS.
Right, so, am I some kind of weirdo alien girl for following these little rules in the professional world? (except for #4, that really and truly is only reserved for answering the phone at my parents' house, still.) I mean, as a teacher I had the amusing task of calling parents (far too often) and not only was I required to be extra patient as they told me off, but I spoke extra clearly when I described junior and her intense need to write evil things in slam books about others who weren't in my class. Fun times.

This was me, the professional, speaking with parents, who didn't have to be professionals. I gave them tons of slack.

Okay, so now we come to my current temp. assignment where 90% of my job is answering and transferring calls. One professional to another. Seriously, only .00005% of the people who call in through me are personal calls. What I have learned to do is answer the phone, wait for their schtick or schpeal where they tell me who they are and who they represent and all kinds of useless information that FINALLY culminates in telling me to whom I should transfer them. Once I hear this bit and tell them, "I'll transfer you," I hold the phone FAR away from my ear as I punch in the number and transfer.

Why? So as to miss the clearing of throats, coughs, rude/crude/nasty comments to others who must be near them, and of course the lovely clearing of nasal passages, either into tissues or the precursor to the hocking of lugies, as it were.

Yes, they do this, ALL THE TIME. No, not just the guys.

Sometimes I'm not so lucky, I answer the phone and just as I finish announcing the company name, JUST AFTER, mind, they COUGH or CLEAR THEIR THROATS right into the receiver, and then start talking. I mean the nasty something-is-living-in-my-esophagus cough. The I've-been-smoking-since-I-was-twelve clearing of throat. (or vice versa)

Do I tell them they're being rude? Cuz Andy? He was all about me saying something.

Of course I do people! IF I hear it. Thus the "put receiver as far from me as possible" maneuver. When one girl thought she was on hold as I was typing in the person she was looking for, she said something nasty about her period.
I said, "you do know you're not on hold."
"OH, Uhm I'm not?"

No, "I'm sorry." No, "Oh did I offend." No nothin'. Thus, again, the receiver bit.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE!
It pisses me off that I have to deal with this shit on a daily basis!
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO COMMON MANNERS?
What has happened to common sense???
YOU DO NOT MAKE AN ASS OF YOURSELF IF YOU ARE TRYING TO DO BUSINESS!!!

I have to wonder if these are the kind of people who are picking their noses cuz, hey, no one can see me. Are they painting their nails or surfing for porn at the same time? Are they watching a DVD on their personal players with their feet up and a mile of numbers to call in a day? Are they stuck in a stiflingly hot windowless room with 50 other people trying not to sound like telemarketers??? I don't know. But you know what? I DON'T CARE. Nothing gives them the excuse to forget that there is someone else on the other end of the damn telephone line. Someone who does not appreciate their sound effects or comments. They soooo don't pay me enough to put up with that.

ENOUGH ALREADY. If I pulled any of that shit I'd be fired. Hey, I'd fire me.

<<<--Deep breath. Rant done.-->>>

I have one more day of reprieve. Yes, they gave everyone a 5-day weekend. Don't hate, remember, I'm a temp., I don't get paid for ANY of this time off. My grand goal today is to finish cleaning out the garage and then take a trip to any/one/all three(?) knitting stores to the south of me for those elusive needles.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th of July

Last night, vegging on the couch, surfing the web (as Netflix FAILED to deliver...sigh...) I heard the distant explosions.

Mortars?

On Sunday, lazying around with James and Laura, they mentioned that big evil firework "bombs" are being sold down South in Kent (where I bought my first ever ball of Trekking XXL...so soft, can't wait...gotta get me some US 0s now ;).) apparently bombs aren't illegal there...well, fireworks that sound like 'em anyway. I've been too conditioned...

I've spent so long in places where fireworks weren't allowed, illegal, or just too expensive to buy, that I'm both bemused and kinda weirded out that tonight there will be some rockets red glare maybe right next door.

I get the celebration by fireworks, I think. I mean, they're pretty colors to commemorate a victory. One radio station (at least) has been spouting about having the "soundtrack" for it ("so tune in when he show at the city center starts...") But the whistlers and explosions? Is that to remind us of war? It's rather hard to "forget" when we have this little thing going on in Iraq...but I guess every little bit helps.

See in Mexico? The mortars are shot during Christmas celebrations. EVERY MORNING AT THE CRACK BEFORE DAWN you feel the house shaking as the bombs go off...to get people up and into church to celebrate the novena. Then, after xmas, for the new year? They shoot them off during the "Toro" run. For three nights a fellow volunteers to carry this FLAMING fireworks display on his back and run through the plaza with, yes, the fireworks going off. This culminates in the "castillo." On new year's night a ginormous fireworks castle is set ablaze. I don't know what it's supposed to be for, really, but my take on it is that it's to clean and scare away all the evil spirits. Or something. Cuz they "clean" the plaza for the town's b-day as well...Hmm, maybe we're cleaning out the old spirits too? It is the end of the fiscal year and all. I'm reaching here, can you tell?

Well, James and Laura don't feel like making the long haul up to Seattle proper tonight as James has to be at work far too early tomorrow, and Andy's in Clear Lake with his family, so it's just Tim, his GF, a couple friends from the Everett area, and me gathering at Tim's place. He's got the best view of the needle, you see.

Speaking of needles...why's it so hard to come by them? Down in Kent I was really hoping to find another set of bamboo double-points in US 1. Alas, all they had were rosewood DPNs for what turns out to be, um, $4 EACH. No, not sold separately, in a pack. This is probably why I've not mentioned the store's name...they were a bit over-priced on certain items. Happily, some of the yarn was comparable. Up at the "Yarn and Tea Shop" where I usually go, they seem to be on hold for needles in the US 1 size. Frustrating. Tim lives near TWO different yarn stores, but after 4 months here, I STILL have yet to be in the area when the stores are actually OPEN. Of course, today? CLOSED.

Okay, be careful out there.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

FO: Project Spectrum May/June-Seastorm Socks


Flash is weird.

This fuzzy picture is what the socks really look like:
See the blue goodness for Project Spectrum June?

This clear picture shows the pattern better:
The green takes over in the glaring light...But then again, I did start them in May :).

Yarn: Fleece Artist Sock stuff (the band lives where all lost yarn bands go...it might be worse with sock yarn bands...I think they might live where lost socks end up)
Needles: US 2 to cast on, US1 for the rest
Pattern: Well, um, I don't actually remember where I saw it...But basically it's like a "fake scrunchie sock" look that someone had on a page somewhere. The gist is to knit 4 rows stockingette stitch, then 2 rows K1, P1. Then the foot is plain-jane stockingette again. I liked the idea as the ribbing I used was K1, P1.

I did one sock at a time and I didn't like that one bit. I feared not having enough yarn for the second sock! Especially as Fleece Artist has a sock pattern on their ball band and it gave a short measurement for the cuff and leg.

That's when the worry first set in. It didn't help the fact that the ball seemed way small when I first cast on for sock #2...I started contemplating different colored toes...

I wouldn't have minded a longer leg. But now I know. I have PLENTY left over. I'd show you a picture, but my camera? Sucked the juice of my recently replaced batteries like it was going out of style.

Bad batteries?

Bad camera?

Quien sabe. But it bodes poorly for my changing my mind about ditching the fisher price cybershot for something newer. Though new = more fancy doo dads = more suckage of battery juice, I know, I know. I'm thinking I wouldn't mind a camera with it's own super toxic lithium ion battery pack that charges inside the camera and/or comes with an AC adapter...

I didn't even get a chance to take pictures of my latest acquisitions...yes, there have been a few. All sock yarn. Addicted? Maybe. I have more fleece artist with PURPLE in it for next--I mean this month. July just snuck up on me, I swear. As well as some Lana Grossa purple/pink/orange cotton/wool combo...or so it looks purple to me. Maybe a merlot/brownie kind of shade...But I'm calling it purple as I've started YET ANOTHER PAIR OF SOCKS!!! :). I bought two wee little balls of it so I can do both at the same time, as the knitting gods intended for OCDers like me. I only had to re-cast-on 6 times before had a "close enough for tactless work" match going on.

So now I have to go update my sidebar, tee hee :)