Blogger Ate My Blog

Ack!

Since Google took over Blogger the comment setup is requiring everyone to get a Blogger/Google account or be Anonymous. I am not a fan of requirements of any kind to be involved in my blog conversation (except the requirement that you be a real person and not a spambot), so I decided to install Haloscan. Of course, having the non-updated version of Blogger's template I couldn't install the darn thing until I upgraded to the fancy-schmancy version that some of you have and enjoy. So I upgraded.

Now my blog looks like poo, half my links are missing, and I'm grumpy about it.

And, in yarn-related grumpiness, my kitchen scale (similar to this one) tells me lies about the weight of my yarn when I wind it up:


It's my Fearless Fibers Kildare, and I am going to be making two different sized socks from it.

Femiknitter Will Probably Appreciate This Most Of All

Hey kiddies, sorry to have left all that yarn up there for a week. I didn't mean to make you wach my commercialism on purpose. I spent most of last week either blowing my nose every three seconds, bitching about my inability to smell or taste anything, or under heavy sedation (god bless Nyquil), and wasn't able to get to the computer. And then, when I was able, I didn't really want to. You know.

But I started feeling loads better on Saturday and Sunday, and this is what happened:


This might be more impressive if I had a picture of what this corner of the office looked like before. Or what the insides of the drawers looked like, for that matter. I got rid of FOUR huge BAGS OF YARN (stop freaking out, it was crap acrylic) which I had acquired in the days when I was a new crocheter with high hopes of an afghan for everyone I knew! and purchased with quantity, rather than quality, in mind. Lots of Red Heart. Lots of leftovers. Lots of crap just taking up space. Those bags were surrounding the dresser like grumpy castle guards, making it very difficult for me to get into the drawers. Eventually I stopped using them for actual storage. When I emptied them out they just had a few scraps each. Excellent use of space!!!


Now, the dresser holds almost all my yarn (not the sock yarn, that's still in the living room). The top drawer holds leftover balls that are actually worth keeping around, a case of embroidery floss, my shears, and probably other things. (What? It's a spring cleaning, not a spring complete-conversion-to-the-church-of-Martha.) The other three drawers are packed with all my real yarn. I even emptied out the under-bed storage box and moved that stuff in with the rest.

The blue bag to the left of the dresser holds the crocheted ripple afghan my grandma Shirley was working on before she died. The plastic bags in the foreground hold all the yarn I'm trying to sell (see previous post and also here if you are interested and if you are I love you a lot). I do have one more large bag (another crocheted afghan project) that's currently out in the living room. It taunts me with its mass.


This is the top of the dresser. The wicker basket is holding my current WIPs. The crate holds my swift, ballwinder, and Eucalan (other stuff too, but I'll share that another day). The top of the crate holds some Cascade EcoWool (for swatching or for a house cozy - that stuff has some outstanding yardage), my straight needle roll, and the dyepot and dyecolander, which of course both hold extra yarn that won't fit in the dresser.

And that is the story of how a little case of cabin fever can turn into a giant destashing and a soothing feeling of having control over one's yarn. Let us hope it lasts.

Having found my sub-niche

Thanks to everyone for your sympathy in my last two posts. I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply to all of you directly -- Blogger doesn't give me your email addresses all the time. Grr.

This week has gone better (dark chocolate and Merlot have kept me just out-of-it enough), and is ten times more better because I have tomorrow (Friday) off. And though that means I have to work Saturday, I'll be all alone in the basement of the library and can play music through the computer's speakers instead of my headphones. !!! That's just the kind of rebel that I am.

And for the record, I did totally kick winter's ass and send it packing. For about three days. Now it's cold and grey and rainy and entirely non-glorious today, and winter just sits out there, begging to come back into my life and telling me it's the only season that could make me happy, that spring doesn't love me like it does, and that summer's just a flash-in-the-pan.

Whatever. Winter, you suck.

And I suck for not having a photo of anything WIP-ish, but I am in a bit of a snit with most of my projects just now, and we're not speaking.

This, however, does not suck:



Yes, it's the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Knit Along. I'm a fan of Buffy, I'm a fan of knitting, it all works out beautifully. It's the whole pointy stick/pointy stick affinity. The sweet thing about this KAL, aside from the obvious BtVS-ness, is that there are no time limits, no mandated patterns. Just hang out and knit and discuss. Plus you get to pick which category you want to be in -- Slayers, Vamps, Witches, Scoobies, Watchers, Demons. It's awesome. If you love Buffy (or Angel), you should join. (I'm talking to you. You know who you are.)

I embrace the weird, and it embraces me back.

Revenge of the Snowed-Upon

Take that Winter, you bastard!

(It's a bad cellphone pic of me, kicking snow. Yes, I am twenty-seven years old and mature beyond my years.)

The Universe Slaps Me Down

Just a short post to let the internet know that I can't write a decent post right now. This week is not going my way in so many different ways that it's hard to know where to start the story of how I hate it. I'll give you a list, because as Femiknitter knows, there are few things I like as much as a good list.

1. It freaking snowed last night. Ugh. Winter is starting to act like the scummy, needy ex-boyfriend who won't leave you alone and leaves notes for you on your doorstep and slowly creeps into stalker territory. Winter is a stalker. Go away, Winter, you bastard.

2. I can't count. I have now put the heel in one of my socks twice, and both times I have had either too many stitches or too few. I have temporarily banished them until I have my wits about me. This may take a while.

3. I don't know what month or week it is. Seven times this week (and keep in mind that I'm writing this on Wednesday morning, so that makes it "in two days") I've thought that it's either next week or 5 weeks from now. Seven times in two days. I need more of something in my diet. Probably more vacation.

4. The software switchover at work is not. going. well. Day one? 1500 errors from the offline/back up system we were using last week. Day two? Staff records still not uploaded. What could day three possibly bring? My money's on a plague of toads. Toads or book-eating locusts.

5. I had ten people clamoring to get into my beginner knitting class, and I could only take eight, and ONLY FOUR OF THEM SHOWED UP LAST NIGHT. I could spit nails. And one of the four women left right away. She already knows how to knit (using a spool to make i-cord) and just wants to know how to bind off (she'll come back on the last day). Another woman just could. not. get. it. I felt so bad for her, especially after a 7-year-old girl came up to us while I was helping her do the long-tail cast on (she was trying to use two needles; she never did get it), and told us she learned to knit when she was five years old. After a while this woman just sat and cackled and tried to knit with three straight needles (I honestly have no idea). I don't know how to help her, especially as I've already put my hands on her hands and demonstrated the knit stitch and she still did not get it. Fortunately the other two women took to knitting like ducks to water and are even knitting continental (yes!). Only one of the four people who showed up actually brought the yarn (Cascade 220) that I put on their required materials list.

And now I have to get ready for work (deep sigh). I wonder how this day will go.

I Am With My People

My day started all virtuous-like. I went to the chiropractor (where I heard, again, that I'm running sideways, and to stretch ALL THE TIME), went to the gym, then stopped at various stores for those necessities I mentioned.

And then apparently I made a vow to devote my writing time equally between normal writing and parenthetical writing (I think it's working out pretty well so far).

So, I ate lunch, thought about what I was going to pack in my knitting bag, showered, and then had like 3 more hours until I wanted to leave for Oak Brook (I wanted to get there early, but 6 hours before the reading started sounded a little nuts, even to me).

What did I do with all that time?
I made the bed (a rare occurance Chez HookOn, unless I've just changed the sheets)...


... I washed most of the dishes and cleaned the counters and (though you can't see it from here) I even swept and sort-of-mopped the floor (I used a wet paper towel to get all the leftover crumbs)...


... and I cleaned the stove (it was truly horrific. The bowls and protective rims that sit under the burners? I'm not sure if I have ever cleaned them, and I've lived in this apartment for three years. They are soaking in the sink.)


At this point I was feeling quite virtuous, and very deserving of a trip to see my most favorite author. I selected projects to take along to the reading, two of which you've already seen...

the grey bag ends (heh) for the to-be-felted bag,


and the second pair of socks (STR Fred Flintstone, lightweight, 2.5mm needles).

(make note of how much shorter the top sock is than the bottom sock... this will come into play later on.*)
The third project is a headband (the same one that Femiknitter made a while back) that I just started yesterday as I waited to leave for Oak Brook. I'll talk more about it later, because right now it is just i-cord, and you know what that looks like.

I left my house about 4:00pm with my knitting, necessities, water, and camp chairs. Why camp chairs? Because I heard that Borders in Oak Brook was only putting out 75 chairs. Then I heard it was 100 chairs. Foolish muggles -- when will they learn?

Laugh at me if you will, but I get a little nervous driving into the suburbs when I'm going somewhere for the first time. I don't get nervous about the actual driving, but I worry that I'll miss my exit and accidentally drive to Indiana (almost happened once).

I arrived without mishap at 5:10pm. Here's the view I had (from the fourth row... yes!!!!)


I walked in and saw the tell-tale signs that I was not the only knitter there. Shawls on shoulders, knit-or-die t-shirts(no actual picture, I was walking out of the bathroom and, strangely, didn't have my camera ready), felted bags... it was great. I bought some books and while I was in line I saw a woman wearing this great pink cabled sweater (do I have a picture? No, of course not) and I asked her if she made it and if I could touch it AND SHE DIDN'T BACK AWAY! She was a knitter and she understood!



I don't know if this applies to anyone else, but I've gotten the feeling that people (muggles) think I'm working a few beers shy of a six-pack when I walk up to them and ask to examine their sweaters. This is off-putting (to me) and makes me feel like my knitting is this highly un-understandable weird anomaly, and therefore, you know, so am I.



But this! This room full of knitters! I felt completely at home and comfortable. If you know me personally, you might snicker at this, but generally I feel kind of shy and awkward with people I don't know. Especially groups. However, this appears to apply only to muggles. I was all over the place, talking... (turns out my one-seat-away neighbor Renae [Hi Renae!] used to live in DeKalb and demonstrated how to use 2 circular needles to make an in-the-round item [a new-to-me concept]) ...and ogling yarn across the aisle and getting up to talk to the knitter about where she got it and what was it, and having a grand old time. Everyone was saying things like "I love that, what is it?" and "What are you working on" and eventually a wise woman stepped up to the microphone and said "While we're waiting, who wants to have a show-and-tell?" So we all showed off what we were working on. It was amazing. It was like this huge stitch-n-bitch full of happy energy. During the show-and-tell (I think), Nick sent me a text message saying he hoped I was having fun. My return text message said "I am with my people!"

Anna (who has written about all this already) and Heather were there by this point, and we were just looking at each other grinning. Grinning like fools.

Then Stephanie appeared. She blogged us blogging her blogging us (one of those infinite cat things... infinite blogger?),

(the Bohus? freaking stunning in person)
and she spoke. And she was hilarious and encouraging and unifying and hilarious and smart and strong and ohmygod was she funny. I saw her two years ago (or thereabouts (I just said "thereabouts." I am my father.)) and I loved that experience, but I had just learned to knit and didn't feel comfortable doing any work while I was trying to listen to her. This time, I had no trouble knitting while she was talking (I knit on the socks only, by the way), and could even look up from my knitting when I got to the stockinette parts! I felt like a real, live, grown-up knitter!

After she was done speaking and taking questions (during which she introduced a seven-year-old knitter to the word "harlot" and some of its meaning, and almost fell over laughing while doing so), we all got in a line to get our books signed (knitters with children first!). Strangely, the three of us all had socks on the needles. A lovely fellow knitter took our picture:


and then I took hers -- blog, meet Rachel. Hi Rachel!

Her sock (that of her second pair ever) matched her knitting bag and her top and jacket ENTIRELY BY COINCIDENCE. She may be the most coincidentally well-put-together knitter I've ever met. (it was great to wait in line with you!)

Then we got to the signing table and I gave Stephanie some wee gifties (from the three of us DeKalb knitters) and I got to hold the sock (!!!)

and of course, we're blurry.

I had the best time.

*(And the socks that were wildly different lengths when I began my tale?...

... I can't tell them apart now!)

Matters of Great Import

1. The Llama Song
I am going to be singing this in my head all day today. And now, so are you. Because the orange slayed the rake. Think about that one.

2. The Walker Treasury Project Hosts a Contest
Yes, friends and neighbors, a contest! Head over to The Walker Treasury Project and check out the contest page. You can win fabulous prizes just for commenting! Or for swatching up a pattern from one of the treasuries and posting for the first time during the month of April! Or for taking a really good picture! The possibilities are almost endless. I'm donating a bunch of MOHAIR yarn as prizes (it's good stuff, it just isn't my scene, man), and Karrie is donating some world-famous moustache buttons (god, I love them!). You need to enter the contest.

3. This Is What Spring Looks Like Where I Am





Yes, my town still has its Christmas tree up. I took this picture last week, when it was still March, but still -- it was March, and Christmas had been over for three whole months. 'Tis no longer the season, and we're not a town known for its year-round jollitude. Let's just put it away.

4. Work Gives Me Nightmares
I sort of woke up this morning freaking out (but slowly, in that half-asleep way that seems all fast-paced in your head but is really just you drooling on your pillow and twitching) about the software switchover going on this week at work. I'm so delighted to discover I'm this immersed in my job.

5. I'm going to see the Harlot tonight!
I've planned my knitting, plotted my route, and taken the day off work (in the midst of software switchovers, we are in life). I'm going to purchase a few necessities, pack a lunch/dinner/meal thingy, and get to Oak Brook by 5pm (at the latest). Stephanie's not scheduled to start talking until 7:30, but Borders is only setting out 100 chairs. Foolish muggles *shakes head*. When will they learn? And don't these people research anything about their speakers?

I'll report back tomorrow(-ish) with pictures from the Dada camera (hopefully it'll take a few decent shots, what with the event being indoors at night -- its favorite environment) and tales of my exploits. Ah yes, the exploits.

The Magic Words

So, this past weekend (that of the 24th to the 25th), Nick and I went to Geneva for a little getaway. I planned the whole thing without telling him where we were going, where we'd be staying... only that we would be going away for a night. Orginally I wanted to stay at a cozy little bed and breakfast with lots of hiking trails and scenery, but holy crap on toast -- those cute little B&Bs cost upwards of $200 a night. Even in off-peak, non-tourist season. Curse them. We ended up staying at a very nice (and well within our price range) chain hotel in Geneva, with a lovely room, and only a short drive up the river to the downtown area.

Some of you who know the area might think that I planned this getaway in this particular location because of a particular store in the downtown area. I did no such thing. My only consideration was that Geneva is close to DeKalb (about 30 minutes' drive) and picturesque (of course I don't have any actual picturesque pictures because the camera has entered its Dada phase, the stupid bastard, and refused to take pictures of anything). My plans had nothing at all to do with shopping.

Right. Yes. So, Nick was all surprised and happy when we got to the hotel and saw our room (it was very nice), and then I gave him his gift (sorry for the stock photo, blame the Dada camera). His eyes got all big and he looked kind of sad and said "Honey, I didn't get you anything, I'm sorry."

And in the same breath he uttered the magic words:

"We can go to the yarn store tomorrow."

And we did, and my husband bought me Koigu for our ten-year dating anniversary.


He helped me choose the color (I love when he has input on my knitting!). I had it down to three different colorways, and he liked this one (after I explained that lots of colors are fun on socks -- he's a solid color kind of guy).


And in case you were wondering, the skeins are sitting on this book, with which I am in serous lurve



This Just In: This arrived as I was typing up this post!


Hooray! The book is here! I'm going to see her on Tuesday and I have the book! Hooray!

O Frabjous Day!

I'm knitting again!

The chiropractic problem with my wrists/shoulders has been solved, and I'm knitting!


This is one side of the to-be-felted-tote. It is garter stitch and a little boring, but I love it! Because I can knit!


This is the side of the bag with the pocket sitting on top. I think the log cabin deal is going to look very cute, and will dress up the whole thing a bit.


These are the two ends of the rectangle. I'm knitting (!!!) them at the same time for speed and consistency (because garter stitch is so very difficult...?).


These are the next pair of socks that I mentioned having cast on. They are the same pattern (.pdf!) I used with my first pair of socks, except I'm working over 64 sts and I've put -- what else? -- a 2x2 ribbing on the instep which will continue up the leg.


The yarn is Socks That Rock Fred Flintstone, purchased at Stitches Midwest last summer. I showed these socks to Heather the other day and she got all googly-eyed and demanded to know what kind of yarn that was so that she could buy some and make it her own THISVERYMINTUE! I told her and then she looked a little sheepish. "Oh," she said, "I have that in my stash at home." Snerk.

And today is frabjous for another reason. Ten years ago today Nick asked me to be his girlfriend. Ten years. TEN YEARS. I stand gobsmacked. And more goofishly in love than ever. Woohoo!

The No-Knitting Content part of my Knitting Blog

I just realized that the last four posts of mine have been entirely without photos. That's boring. Really boring. So, to revitalize this blog, I give you pictures of what I've been up to during my non-knitting time.

1. I haven't had these since fourth grade





I now have bangs.

(I was going to talk only about this new haircut and title this post "She Bangs" [because for some reason Ricky Martin songs are burned into my brain and nothing NOTHING! can remove them] but I didn't want the really creepy perverts finding this site. I'm only comfortable with the sort-of-weird.)

The last time I had bangs was the fourth grade. I would get bored in class and just stare at my hair, which screwed up my vision, and which resulted in my not having bangs ever again (and also in my getting glasses in sixth grade, the end result of which are my new glasses visible in these fine photographs).

I got the rest of my hair cut, too, but I'm still not sure how I like it. The very enthusiastic stylist suggested layers, and I wanted a change so layers sounded really good. Then she took off so much hair that I feel dangerously close to mullet territory. THEN! she blow dried it all poofy and put more hairspray in it than I use in an entire year, and I looked like a lion. A lion, people. I've been wearing my hair up ever since.

2. What does a vegan have on her pizza?

We made pizza on Sunday night, using the following ingredients...


black beans...


diced cooked potato...


sauteed/carmelized onions (so tasty!)...


fresh mushrooms...


green olives (for which I have a mad passion)...


avocado (which we peeled and diced, of course)...


and fake mozzerella cheese, from Vegan Gourmet.

And pizza crust, and pizza sauce. And it all turned out amazing and tasty and good, but I didn't get a picture of the finished product because I was hungry like the wolf and ate it all up before I even thought of the camera. Best pizza I've had in a long time.

3. When you can't stitch, plan your next project!

Or your next project after the fifty in line ahead of this one.

There's this long story behind the pictures I'm going to show you, but as I want this post to be more about the pictures and less about me rambling on and on about some crazy story, I give you the pictures.


This is Nine-Patch Number One...


...and this is Nine-Patch Number Two.

I started making these squares about three years ago, thinking that I'd make Nick an afghan (a visible and warming manifestation of my love). Turns out these squares are pretty small (7 inches across). I've made 20 of the buggers, and I'm not making any more. My current plan is to (1) Weave in the ends, (2) Crochet them together, (3) Somehow make one afghan out of two giant squares. I think I'm going to crochet a border around the nine-patches, then attach the two and make that the central panel of the blanket, then work some basic stitch on the sides.

Easy as pie, right? I'll get to it right after I finish everything else.

It will make a great 15-year anniversary present.

Laughter makes the cramps go away

Dude, go here.

And know that though I am not posting about knitting (again), I have a doctor's note to hide behind. I've been told to lay off the knitting for a little while, because it's screwing with my wrists, shoulders, neck, the state of the spotted owl, and the weather.

Apparently knitting is that powerful. (Although I suspect my physical issues have more to do with my sitting in front of a computer for 40 hours a week, it's difficult right now to say I can't work, and easier to set aside the non-income part of my daily life. If "easier" means "more financially sound," and it does right now.)

So please, bear with me as I post very little about yarn and the looping of it over the next few days. I hope to get back to it soon. Before I really start getting cranky.

I am nothing if not complex

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess-Palatine Katherine the Complex of Yockenthwait Walden Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

(unabashedly stolen from Kate)

Today's post brought to you by the blogging trifecta of Laziness, Nothing Interesting On the Needles, and The Wretched Time Change.

I know the time change was on Sunday (ages ago in blog years), but it's still screwing with me. The later nights this early in the year ... it's nice, but it's making me a little nutty. The light in the sky says it's early, but the clock says it's late. I'm already not-very-punctual, and this isn't helping.

The weather is lovely, though. Apparently it's 69 degrees F right now. March 13th, everyone, and we're pushing 70 degrees. Of course, it will return to its usual weather devilry this weekend when we have a high of 35 on Saturday.

I am really just defining the word "lame" here aren't I? I'm using my blog to talk about the weather. Ugh.

I really should get something interesting on the needles. Right now it's all garter stitch, working up that bag. Doesn't make for spectacular blog fodder the way home renovation, or a cute FO, or a stunning shawl, or a new job, or a baby (which can arguably be called a "cute FO" as well) all make for spectacular blog fodder. As I have no home to renovate, no fabulous job offers, and no immediate plans to reproduce, I guess I'll have to get on the knitting and finish the bag.

Was I also going to talk about Laziness? Meh...

A Miracle of Time Management

This is what it says on my latest KnitPicks order...

Order Number: ******
Order Date: 3/4/2007
Status: Shipped
Ship Date: 3/8/2007

Note the date of today's post. Note the ship date.

Now, maybe they have a time machine that makes it possible for the future (3/8/2007) to be in the past ("shipped") and if that's the case I want it, or maybe they're just doing some really good drugs. In which case I want those, too.

Some Observations

1. The weather has gone bat-shit crazy, as is usual here for March. Yesterday it rained all morning, got sunny and warm at lunchtime, then went grey and evil during the afternoon. Then it snowed all night with high winds (my apartment building? It sways in the wind. Yes.), and that seems to be the trend for today. Fantastic. But the weird-and-happy thing is, the wind that's blowing feels not as soul-crushingly cold as it has been. That long-awaited season (I'm not going to jinx it by saying its name) is coming!

2. I have purchased new yarn.

Cherry Tree Hill in Monet.


Fleece Artist in Moss.

I decree that this is not a falling off of the KFYS wagon. I have determined that casting on for a second pair of socks practically equals finishing a second pair of socks, the prerequisite for purchasing more sock yarn. Plus I wanted it. Plus the CTH has turned into a beautiful teal-green-based rainbow of a yarn cake. And the pretty pretty Moss is for a specific project (more on that later... it is marinating just now). So I am entirely justified. I mean it.

3. Our friends Mark and Amy are coming to town tonight! We haven't seen them since New Year's Eve: Hammerfist Style and I'm totally excited about it. Friends of ours are having their wedding reception tomorrow, and MarkAmy are staying with us and it's going to be awesome with the cooking together and the dressing up for the party and the hanging out. I've started the pre-preparation for the crockpot dinner I'm going to put together on my lunch hour, and dinner will be ready just after they get here, and all will be awesome. Awesome, I say!!

4. I have made progress on the to-be-felted tote.

I finished the base,


and cast on about thirty-seven times for the side. First it was too small. Then it was too big. Then it was way too big. Then it was too small. Now it is just right. Ugh. Garter stitch is a little sneaky stitch when it comes to how many stitches equal how many rows. This last time (the time that seems to be working, unless I have jinxed myself by saying that) I cast on 64 stitches, which is the number of ridges (2 rows of garter) I have in the base. I hope this is right.

5. My Mom's feet make sort of cracking/snapping sounds when she walks. It's not painful (I think) or problematic, her feet just do that. When I was little I could always tell when she was walking down the hall or up the stairs or wherever, just by hearing her feet snap. I never really thought about it until I moved out of the house and didn't hear it regularly anymore. This morning, as I got up early to chop vegetables, my feet made the snapping noise and I realized that my feet have been making that noise for a long time. I have my mother's feet. It made me all happy.

(I just don't have any good recent pictures of me and Mom, what with the camera being a twit, so I give you a picture from my wedding day)

Anyone else have any physical trait from your parents that makes you smiley and happy?

Aw, You Guys!

I am feeling better now, and in posession of all my wits enough to say:

• Thank you to everyone who shared their happy things with me. Vacations, planting the garden, wine, finishing projects, new sneaky yarn -- hooray for you ladies! Winter hasn't kicked our asses yet! Especially not those of us who live in Australia and who are revelling in summer. Kate.
• Thank you for your well wishes. Lisa, I didn't get a chance to try the hot toddy -- I took some NyQuil on Friday night, slept for 10 hours, and woke up feeling much better than I had the whole past week. Then Nick and I cleaned house all afternoon and I felt way better (it was the stuff of nightmares). My kitchen is actually amazingly clean, courtesy of my husband -- hey! my dream totally came true! Awesome!
• Thank you for the happy comments on my socks, which I posted about almost a month ago. I'm sorry I didn't say Thank You earlier, and appreciate everyone's input. It's nice to be validated.
  
• Thank you to everyone who said nice things about my birthday, which was a month ago. What is my problem? Sheesh! I am shamed. But still grateful for the happy wishes. They all really perked up my day.
  

And now, I'm going to run away from this room in my apartment because I (stupidly) opened up an old jar candle to see what it smelled like, and it smells like awful cheap perfume. And it's making me itch.

May your day not involve awful smells.

I Snark Because I Care

Let me just get right to the reasons for my snarking.

Reasons One through Five: I have a cold and I have no idea where it came from. I have been a good girl this winter and have worn my woolen hat and wool/alpaca blend scarf EVERY DAY, even the warmish ones! I have taken my vitamins, have been drinking LOTS of water (okay, and beer, but still! lots of water!), and have diligently sanitized my hands and the gym equipment every time I use them (both hands and gym equipment). FROM WHENCE CAME THIS EVIL PLAGUE??!

I had to take Monday and Tuesday off work, went in yesterday and today and moved, as my Grandma would say, slower than molasses in January due to all the snot sloshing around in my noggin (yes, I'm being disgusting). And I have to go in one more day this week. One. More. Day. I don't think I can make it.

To top that off, I'm taking this lovely concoction



and it says it doesn't contain alcohol, but I think they're lying. Unless they are using alcohol-flavored non-alcohol. Ponder that one for a minute.

Reason Number Six: My camera is beyond being a jackass at this point. Now it's just taunting me. I finally got my shit together (yes, I'm swearing) to post on the DeStash Blog, wound up all this yarn I want to sell or swap, and took pictures of it. In natural light. For I hate myself and want to make my life harder. Of course.



Can you tell what that is? Through the horizontal-blind-like madness of my camera's fiendish gaze? It's mohair, kiddies, and it looks pretty craptacular.

Reason Number Seven: I still haven't figured out how to knit by using only my brain, so progress on all projects has been slow, much like the proverbial molasses in January. Although I did rip out the bottom to the to-be-felted tote and cast on fewer stitches, as it was way too big initially. So, does that count as progress or not?

And I know I should find seven things to be happy about, as is my wont, but I am so cranky about wanting to feel better (it's lovely, really, to see a grown woman whinge about like a toddler with a toothache. Shame you aren't all here.) that it's hard to see the happy things.

Really hard. I'm in massive hate with the whole world right now.

Seriously.

Okay, fine. I'm really not that cranky and I do in fact have a heart that could be compared to marshmallow fluff and not granite. Witness:

Happy Thing One and Thing Two: The needle cases I ordered from granny's closet came today and made me smile all big, through my snot. They are pretty and perfect and well-made with love and care.


Circular needle case, holds nine.


Double-pointed needle case, holds eleven sets.

Happy Thing Three: My neighbor gave me this anerable bumper sticker, and she left it stuck to my door in a sneakily fun way, and it made me laugh out loud. And then cough.



Happy Thing Four: I'm wearing my travelling garden gnome pajamas,


from Wanda and Heath, from two Christmases ago. Thank you.

Happy Thing Five: We watched The Protector (a.k.a. Tom Yum Goong) last night, and it was the most amazing kung-fu movie I have ever seen and I now have a love for Tony Jaa that knows no bounds and if you don't see it there will be a hole in your heart and you will weep. There were three distinct fight scenes during which Nick said "this is the best fight I've ever seen." Story, not fantastic. Fight scenes, freaking amazing.

Happy Things Six and Seven: More Ghirardelli Intense Dark Twilight Delight 72% Cacao chocolate, because he feels bad that I feel sickly. Good lord I love this man.

Okay, now that I have proven my ability to find some good in this world, you have to spread the cheerful love and tell me at least one thing that has made you happy this week. C'mon. Help a sickie out.