That’s not the real issue though…Secret Santa just isn’t any fun at work! No one likes handmade anything, from what I’ve gathered in my 2 and half years here. Also, everyone just asks for gift cards (I know I did because who’s going to get me the yarn/needles I want?), so you basically just bought yourself your own $15 gift. Silly. I wanna give something that I don’t want. I want to put some thought into a gift and put a package together that someone will really appreciate. Truth be told, I’m not the best gift giver and I always stress that the receiver will positively hate what I give, but it’s fun nonetheless. $15 also isn’t a substantial amount either to get a nice-ish gift. It’s hard to stay in that range. $25 is do-able for me and if people liked awesome crafty-like things sold on Etsy, I would have no problem with $15. But again, people here a tad bit lame. I’ll figure something out and hopefully make the gift slightly cooler than just a gift card. Ideas?

Knitting has been going on, though not gift knitting. I finally picked up my Springtime in Philadelphia (PDF) from last August. Yep, August 2008, back when I went to Philly with Justin to see Jack Johnson and we hit up Rosie’s Yarn Cellar. I’m using some Koigu I’ve had for even longer than a year and half in a nice pinky colorway. There are these random flecks of dark blue that I love when I get to them–they add character to the pink.

This is my second lace hat (well, technically 3rd since I made 2 Foliages) and this is so scrunched I’m nervous it’s not going to fit. Oddly enough, I did a gauge swatch back in that fateful August and came up with needing size 2 needles, just what the pattern called for. Normally I go up a needle size or two but not this time! Problem is, now I’m thinking I should have gone up a size and that my gauge was playing a terrible trick on me and I’ll have to rip it all out in the end. Even after a good and proper blocking with a dinner plate and all. I’m on row 66 or something right now, really flying. The pattern is very simple to memorize but it’s definitely keeping me interested. John has finally gotten addicted to House and has started watching from Season 1 so for this holiday weekend, we watched absurd amounts of Hugh Laurie (fine by me!!) while I worked on my hat. Getting KnitPicks needles made a huge difference in my progress since the join is so smooth and graduated. With the other needles I have, you can see the size difference from the cord to the actual needle and the stitches weren’t sliding very well over that.

The pattern is so pretty that I was thinking of using it for a blanket. I bought some nice superwash yarn for a present (crap, better get started on that ASAP) and once I see how it knits up, maybe I’ll get some more and make myself a nice, lacy blanket to snuggle under.

Yeah, I skipped over talking about Thanksgiving as I was curled up in the fetal position with a migraine all day. poop. But how was yours?

Roller derby has really taken up all my time and my entire life, especially this weekend. We had the last bout of the season and the Yankee Brutals (the team I’m on) played against the Utica Clubbers, from New York. Let me start by saying that I absolutely love the Utica girls and that I played in my first bout ever with them. They were short a couple players, were playing in New Hampshire, and I went to help out and skate on really slippery concrete floors. I bruised my butt horribly and miraculously, in the shape of Africa. We lost that game but it was wonderful to share that milestone with them all. Everyone was super supportive and help to wrangle me and keep me where I needed to be for the most part. I will now finish by saying I wanted to beat the snot outta Utica for our bout! Not literally, of course, because there are rules against fighting. As a team, the Brutals have only played two other bouts, lost both, and were hungry for a win. We all got together on Friday night at Dee Nasty’s house for a potluck-pregame-team dinner, were loud and obnoxious, and ate waaaay more food than we probably should have. It was wonderful.

Saturday rolled around (no pun intended) and it was game day. I cleaned my wheels and my gear, got my “uniform” together and felt really ready to take on Utica. Apparently the rest of the Brutals felt the same because the first period was a back and forth of point grabbing and it was really close the whole 30 minutes! I think the first half ended at 51 to 50…? I try not to check the score while playing; it only makes me anxious. Half time came and went before I could even talk to everyone who came to see me play and then IT WAS ON! We slaughtered Utica! We were able to slow the pack (formation of blockers) down enough to really control the other team and allow our jammer to fly by everyone without any serious obstacles. It was marvelous and everyone kept a level head even when we made a couple blunders. The Yankee Brutals closed the CTRG season with their first win ever. 115-81 and boy did it feel good. We then continued the evening to rock out at the afterparty. I slept most of Sunday…just completely exhausted.

Sunday was another jam packed (again, no pun intended) day. John and I decided, after I woke from my coma-like state, to go for a hike since it was unseasonably warm. We went somewhere in Milford, but I can’t remember the name of the place.

Small little lake-ish thing that we could see the bottom of.

 The trees where we were still had a ton of leaved on them and they were all red, yellow and orange. Simply beautiful and I recall just being really relaxed after such a crazy couple days before. I love the colors of autumn and where this little tree was, the whole immediate area was orange–all around.

Looking up at some trees.

 After the quick hike we headed to the beach to walk on the sand a little and just relax near the water. We must have sat there for at least half an hour, just looking at the water, not really talking.

Random person.

  And just for fun:

So after this wonderful weekend where I played hard and then relaxed and was zen for most of the time, I get to work on Monday and it all comes crashing down around me. The final straw was going to Panera today on lunch to get 2 bagels with New York Style Cheesecake cream cheese (I’m a fatty at heart!) and being given each bagel in their own, overly large bag…AFTER I told the girl that I would like it in one bag. WHY DO I NEED TWO!? Can I tell you all that it really pissed me off? Seriously fuming, steam coming out of my ears, angry. It was on my drive back to work that I realized I have a problem and need to focus more on my breathing.

*In through the nose, out through the mouth–like the sound of the ocean. Repeat from *

Today is actually the first day I’m wearing my Fawkes socks. I have to say that I’m smitten and I finally understand why people are so crazy about hand knit socks. I see more sock knitting in my future, no doubt about that. The process was fun and it was a great confidence boost to finish them and have them actually look like they would fit a human. Sadly, this want to knit more socks means I need sock yarn. ugh. Who wants to swap yarn? I have oodles of dark colored Cascade 220 and some really nice Classic Elite Lush…or perhaps you would like Tess Microfiber ribbon? Something? Anything?

Maybe you just want to gift me some nice sock yarn that you can’t stand to look at any longer. I’m cool with that, really. I won’t tell anyone how you gave away your red-headed step child of sock yarn, honest.

Anyone hear that as a kid while walking in the middle of the street? No? Hmm…either way, I bought a new car! He’s a Honda Fit and still needs a name. Here’s an iPhone pic from this morning as I rushed to get to work early. I’ll have a proper picture soon. Isn’t he handsome and such a great blue color!?!

I bought him last week, picked him up last night and signed my life away for 5 years. I’m so excited though, I don’t even care. I feel the way I felt when I bought my washer and dryer–like an adult. Buying a car is such a huge commiment! My other car is for sale so if you want a silver Acura Integra, by the name of George, that needs to have it’s exhaust fixed, let me know. He’s actually a really good car for parts, though I don’t recommend you buy him to be your primary driving car. hehe Get this about the Fit: it has 10 cup holders. Yes, ten. I don’t know why it needs so many, but there you have it. I do have to tell you how much I love that one of the cup holders is on my left side, as part of my dashboard. I’m a lefty and while I’ve adapted very well to this right-hand-driven world, it’s nice to see things that help me feel accepted. The sheer space in this car amazed me! I really can’t get over it. After work today I’m going grocery shopping and I can’t wait to see how neatly my green bags will fit in the hatch without worrying whether I’m smooshing the bread or not. Am I being completely ridiculous to be excited about such silly things? *sigh*

On Friday I will be driving the Fit to NY with John to see my sister before she moves to GA. Have I told you about that? I’m really upset and when she told me they were moving, I cried that night. (I’m actually embarassed to admit that…) I guess it really is true that you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone. Sure, going to GA is easy-peasy by plane but just the hassle of having to fly there and thinking about that makes me sad. Driving to upstate NY is so simple, though far, and I didn’t go up as often as I should have or would have liked. Oh well, I’m going up there tomorrow. They need help getting the house together and probably making sure Shell and Ben are set to fly next weekend. Jer is driving one of the cars down next weekend, flying to NY at some point, and driving the other car down. I did offer to take a week off of work to help them get settled in GA but Shelley said it was okay and to save my vacation time for later. Oh, and I know some of you are thinking, “You can always drive to GA if the hassle of flying is really a factor…” Been there, done that. Maybe in another lifetime, thanks. Though stopping in DC on the way home was a nice way to break the trip up. Maybe I could plan another road trip down there!

Ugh, I’m gonna miss them.

• Finnish pancakes
• blueberry crisp
• cheese curds
• chocolate milkshake
• Otter Creek October fest (just a sip)
• Honey Lime soda (also just a sip)
• WATER!
• clam chowder
• clam fritters
• chocolate covered bacon
• chocolate covered gummi bears
• bacon cheeseburger on a glazed donut (called the Craz-E Burger)
• beef jerky
• venison jerky
• various cheeses
• various dips and dipping oils (with pretzels and bread)
• apple crisp
• mango italian ice
• pumpkin seeds

Sadly, I did not get fried dough, the main reason I go to the Big E. I also was not able to try the fried cheesecake AGAIN. They wanted $6 for it and it was end of the night and I had already gone through my food budget for the fair. I may have eaten some things I forgot to list. Some items were just samples but seeing as I was there from 10 am until 9 pm, walking in and out of the State Houses multiple times, I think I had full snack portions of said samples.

Oh, Big E. I really do love you. Please don’t ever go away and I look forward to skating in the CT Day parade again next year.

Note: If you are going to judge me in the form of comments, do so with regards to the amount of food I ate throughout the day. Comment on how gross this all sounds. Or how you wish you could have been there with me to take part. Or with questions to where these foods are all located. I ask that you NOT comment with regards to religious dietary restrictions and the consumption of pork, and meat and dairy together. Thanks!

Remember the hat we spoke about in a couple posts? Well, it’s finished! I knit the Norwegian Star hat by Tiennie and it was supposed to be a surprise for John but since we are basically always together, I would never be able to knit it in secret! It fits but is slightly big. I didn’t take ease into account. I’m thinking there should have been some negative ease….I knit “Adult” with size 8 needles for 5 stitches/inch with Cascade 200. That produced a 22 and something inch hat. So it does fit but isn’t snug. John doesn’t mind and I think it still looks good and there’s always the option of slightly felting it but I would rather not try that and screw up my first REAL colorwork hat (stripes don’t count). It’ll felt with use come
the winter anyway, right? Mind you, it needs to be blocked….

And does anyone know if there are blocking classes? I feel like such an
idiot. I knit something for a swap and attempted to block it but I don’t
feel like it did much. I know the item could definitely have been blocked
larger but I’m so nervous when laying it out and pinning and stuff. I’m
also using kid’s foam squares and there isn’t any real indication if you’re
laying things out straight. I’m nervous to use a marker to mark out lines
incase it’ll stain my knitwear. I’ve read that people love blocking wires,
maybe those would be better for me? Are they only for lace? I just feel bad
because I’m sending my partner something I made that she will most likely just block again on her own before wearing. I’m a bad swap partner! I couldn’t even really think of anything to keep with the High Holiday theme. I’m fired.

Now that I’ve tackled the Norwegian Star hat and know that I can carry yarn
and do a good job with it, I’m going to knit a fingerless glove pattern
that only has a 6 row colorwork repeat…or something small like that. I
can’t get the pattern right now because work’s internet is down and I’m
blogging with my phone. I’ll come back and add links later. The pattern is
in my top 10 patterns in my Ravelry queue. Seems silly that I jumped into
doing the hat first but I think the gloves will be tougher because it’ll be
on DPNs. Speaking of tough projects, so far this year I’ve done my first
pair of socks, my first sweater, and my first colorwork project; I’m on a
roll! Maybe I should give lace a try again! What else can I do? I will
eventually knit that sweater pattern from Brooklyntweed that I mentioned
before, but I really can’t spend money on yarn right now. boo.

Oh! Brooklyntweed made me think of my birthday! I turned 25 this year and I
decided that it was high time I take myself to a Broadway show on my actual birthday. And that’s just what I did! John and I went to see The Little
Mermaid and good thing we went then, it’s final day on Broadway was August
30. What luck! The bad luck was that I couldn’t get tickets to see Guys and
Dolls, as was my original plan. It apparently was taken off in it’s 7th
week or something and was supposed to close even earlier because it wasn’t
bringing in any money. They couldn’t get people in the seats!!! The cast
must not have been that great, in my opinion, if they couldn’t sell a
classic to people. Now, I know we are in a recession and people aren’t
spending to see shows but The Little Mermaid was freakin’ packed! There
were hardly any empty seats! But whatever, that’s neither here nor there.
Before the show, we spent the morning on the beach. I swam (read: floated)
in the water for most of our time there while John burned on the shore.
Note to self: buy a beach umbrella because not everyone has skin like
yours. We ended up leaving earlier than I would have liked because I didn’t
want John to turn into a lobster and we needed to get lunch before we took
the train into The City. He was very sweet that morning and woke me at 8:26 (the time I was born) to wish me a happy birthday and give me presents!

Actually, I got the Brooklyntweed book a little after midnight on the 26th
since we were still up. I got a really beautiful peridot and sterling
silver necklace and a pair of earrings that have little copper discs
stacked, both off of etsy, and a ridiculously sweet card–all wrapped in
Christmas paper! haha It was really a perfect day but I was so beat that
Thursday. We got home around 1 in the morning so it was hard to get up for
work that morning. I felt a little zombie-like.

Well, I think that’s all there is to post about right now. I need to figure
out how to add pictures to this post through the iPhone app and pray the
internets are fixed soon!

Quick post!

First, a big THANK YOU! to Gale and her BFF, Arline, from Imperial Cookies. Gale held a blog contest, that closed on August 23rd, where she asked her readers what kind of cookies they would like to see Arline make. The winner was to receive one pound of cookies and guess who won!? I asked for the toasted almond and chocolate chip biscotti. I freakin’ love biscotti but find it odd that I do because I’m not the biggest fan of crisp/crunchy cookies. The box o’cookies arrived yesterday and was torn into immediately, of course. No disappointment here but now I’m sad I don’t have a cookie jar to put the awesome biscotti in. Maybe I’ll find a really neat looking one on etsy to buy….? I should go look.

Second: I decided to take part in Project 365. You know, taking a picture every single day for an entire year…My plan was to originally start on my 25th birthday and chronicle my year until my golden birthday. But the 26th came and went and I forgot to start! They say memory is the first thing to go, right? Either way, yesterday was the first day for my Project 365 and I created a flickr account specially for it. I think there’s some way to have my photostream show up on the sidebar or on another page or something but I haven’t bothered to look yet. Perhaps I’ll figure it out tomorrow during lunch. Please feel free to comment on my pictures (all will be taken with my iPhone–the only theme I could come up with that I can stick with). I’m severly amatuer but maybe my camera eye will sharpen with this endeavor?

Third: I’ve decided which earflap hat to make and have started it. I’m excited for the motif part, since I’ve never done stranded knitting before and if I do well, I’m going to hopefully move on to Stillwell,  from brooklyntweed’s new book (it was a birthday present from John!)…which leads me to my fourth item.

Fourth: All of my yarn will be organized this weekend and I will start my destash. I’ll most likely post what I have to sell/give away on here as well as on Ravelry. Send people to my blog if you know they just LOVE yarn and can’t live without it. I CAN live without it and really, most seriously, need to declutter my life. I will eventually get to my scrapbooking supplies as well. I don’t really think I need an entire pack of the same print 12×12 paper, do I?

Fifth: Sorry I didn’t post last week. I did mean to and I have things to post about…

Sixth: Good day, sir.

John’s been talking about doing some workout 3 times a week for a couple weeks now. He’s done it before and then got lazy and stopped but no more! He’s seen a change in his physique(I love that word!) and has been keeping up with his workout so I asked him about it the other say when he said he was going to do 100 pushups that night. Turns out he’s doing a program called onehundredpushups! Go ahead and click the link, you know you want to!

Basically, you work out 3 times a week and the program tells you how many pushups to do each time to help build you up to doing 100. You do an initial test to figure out where in the program you need to start so you don’t kill yourself and give up. I know I’ll be starting with week 1 and probably doing a modified pushup (those are the ones I do at training). It’s all good though, I’ll get better and stronger in NO TIME and be a better skater. Once I finish the pushup program, or as I progress and don’t get super sore, I’m going to add in the twohundredsquats routine. We are made to do tons of squats at training too and I die then as well. haha

Does anyone want to start this challenge with me? There are tests to take at the end of each week so you know which column to follow when you start again the next week so you really can’t go wrong I’m starting August 24th and I plan on finishing the routine. There’s also an iPhone appto help you keep track and time you between sets and stuff. So really, who’s with me? This’ll give me something else to blog about!!!

Now I leave you, but not without a picture! John and I went to the Mansfield Drive-In on Saturday and between flicks, they played the old drive-in concession stand commercial!

Sorry it’s so tiny, I didn’t realize I could have just turned around and taken the picture from the screen behind us until it was too late. Doh! In case you were wondering we watched District 9 and The Ugly Truth. We both thought the movies were good. Oh, and if you go, bring bug spray! They bit me in places a person should never be bitten.

I want to knit an earflap hat as a gift and there is one in particular that I like with a wave pattern from a certain website that gives surprises every issue (I cannot link or name it case the person is reading this now and get curious) but I’ve never done colorwork. I’m nervous to make said hat, especially since it’s brim up. I’m a top-down kinda gal.

Question 1: Could I just start the hat from the top with my fave spiral increase method, flip the chart upside down and go from there? Does that work? It theory, I don’t see why it wouldn’t so long as I get to the correct number of stitches…

Question 2: Do you know of any easy-peasy-first-time-doing-colorwork-band-like pattern that would look good on a hat?

Question 3: I still don’t think I understand how to even do colorwork, what with joining the new yarn and switching colors and stuff…I’ve done it in a striped hat, is it the same? Am I making myself crazy thinking it’s harder than it is?

Thanks in advance and feel free to comment and link to stuff. I’ll post on my projects page whatever I decide to do since the person doesn’t have access to Ravelry.

PLEASE HELP!

I’ve been a busy bee lately and am having a love/hate relationship with it. Derby is taking up a lot of my time, though August seems to be less busy than previous months as our regular season is now over. That’s not to say that I don’t have a bout coming up on August 23rd hosted by the CT Death Quads (men’s league) that you should check out. Just that CTRG doesn’t have any scheduled home bouts for the summer. Our travel team, Stepford Sabotage did get invited to Regionals though and that’s really big for us. If you would like to donate to help get us there, please do so here (there’s a button to donate through paypal) and pass that link on to anyone you know. We could use all the help we can get. We are officially not-for-profit so it’s a tax write-off, too! If you’re a company that wants to sponsor us, you can contact us and our Sponsorship head will get you all set up!

But yeah, so derby has been a real time-sucker lately but when I’m not sweating and skating inside to the not-so-oldies, I’m outside enjoying the weather!

There have been campfires,

hiking in odd looking shoes,

Claws ‘n’ Paws Wild Animal Park in PA,

taking care of Harley,

seeing Jason Mraz at Mohegan Sun,

and picking blueberries!!!

Jason Mraz was everything I dreamed he would be in concert and then some! I really enjoyed myself and John did too, even though he only knew a few songs. His vocal range is vast and he never seems to tire when singing. I do wish that we saw him in a more intimate setting, where he would be playing acoustic, but maybe some other time.

John and I made blueberry crisp with the 2 quarts we picked the weekend before last. It was soooo good, if not a little undercooked. That didn’t stop either of us from eating and enjoying the dessert. We planned on going back to Jones’ to pick some more this weekend but we ended up falling asleep at the beach instead and John got a really bad sunburn on his face and neck.

On the knitting front, things have been slow going. I still have not finished my sweater (I only have the sleeves left) since it’s now summer and I do not need it and I haven’t bothered to start another pair of socks though I’ve added roughly 80 patterns to my queue. I did sign up for another swap and am working on that project right now so I cannot post the pictures I haven’t taken of the WIP. I hope the recipient likes it but it’s hard to judge what this person likes based on what info was put out there for me to gather. *sigh* I also started another Reclamation Scarf in June but put it on hold to work on the swap project since that’s due soon. I need to take pics of the scarf-in-progress and will post those soon, hopefully. I was thinking of having that be my swap item, but I ended up thinking that’s TOO simple to send to my person, so I never added it to my projects page on Ravelry.

Ack, lunch is over…an hour goes by too quickly. I’ll leave you with this link to a song you should listen to. I was trying to embed it but IE is being stupid and freezing up.

Until next time!