bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

I *heart* Barney

"We feel love and we feel it in a way different than you," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is openly gay. "We feel it with someone of the same sex, male or female, and we look at your institution of marriage and we see the joy it brings. How do we hurt you when we share it?"

Do As I Say

Rachael's in the midst of buying her first home. because i'm so well experienced in the world of real estate (not), at the beginning of her search, i advised her to keep a cool head and not to get too emotionally involved in the process and not to "fall in love" with anything right off the bat. if only i listened to myself.

J and i have been casually looking for a new house. and we've become obsessed with an 1887 colonial. when i contacted our agent to make an appointment to see it, she told me that an offer had already been made and accepted. this was yesterday. this morning i went to www.realtor.com AND IT WAS STILL THERE! it's still available for showing JUST IN CASE the sale falls through. woo-hoo.

*sigh*

on the knitting front i joined Crafters Choice, the craft book club. i figured that since i buy the books anyway, might as well. so i ordered 4 books, 3 of which i've received. and the only one i really love is Scarf Style by Pam Allen. i'm not a scarf person, but i may become one. no one will notice that i wear the same jeans and shirt if i'm wearing a different gorgeous scarf every day...right?

Mee-Ah

i was a little kid during the vietnam war. i don't really remember anything about the vietnam war...except for one instance when i was in the 4th grade.

instead of "show and tell" we had "current events" which was when we were asked to bring in a newspaper article that we had to present to the class. when it was my turn, i talked about the POWs and the MIAs. but instead of calling them P.O.W.s i called them pows ... and mias (mee-ahs). no, i had no idea what i was talking about. and the teacher never corrected me. i guess it was enough that i was trying to read such a thing -- comprehension wasn't a priority.

i'm not going to apologize for being mee-ah though. that would put me in a certain category of blogger that i'm not sure i want to be in.

but i will leave you with this little quiz. if you don't know who eddie izzard is, then i suggest you not have coffee with the president of burundi.

Which Eddie Izzard line are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Dear Secret Pal

thank you so much for my package! what a pleasant surprise to find a little package pour moi amidst all of the bills and junk in our mailbox. i love my bookmark

- baaaaa -- and my fancy tape measure that will not get lost in my knitting bag.

i also received the latest issue of marth stewart's living. it's ghoulishly delicious. boo!

finally, i know i haven't ranted lately about bush et al. do not believe for one millisecond that it's because i don't care anymore, or i've given up or anything like that. it's just that if i get all worked up about it, i'm sure to hurt people.

i swear whenever i see a pro-bush bumper sticker i want to grab the driver of the car by the collar and cuff them good and hard about the head and say to them repeatedly...."CLEARLY YOU ARE A MORON!!!"

*ok...i'm good now*

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

september totally rocks in new england. the weather's been a perfect 65-70 degrees during the day. the sky had been this insanely gorgeous blue and the nights have gotten cool enough that now i can cuddle under the comforter and not end up sweating like a pig at 3am. at home the leaves are just starting to turn. i'm in the mood for new clothes, a new hairdo, a new pencil case (vestigial from my school days). it's all excellent.

of course in a few months my world will look like this but i try not to think about that too hard.

anyway, last year about this time i was in super freak out mode (as opposed to just superfreak mode which is much more fun) because i was planning a wedding. after the idea of eloping was vetoed (J insisted we have a proper wedding -- even though he'd already been married before -- because as he put it, "you'll regret it if you don't") i insisted that we have it in the fall. which meant that all of the things that i love to do in the fall ... apple picking, the head of the charles regatta, leaf peeping ... i didn't have time to do. (because you do know what happened, don't you. once i gave in to J and said ok to the wedding, i had to do everything). i couldn't even go to a craft store without distressing about wedding crap .. because yes that's what i was calling anything wedding related by the end...CRAP!

anyway, it's with great pleasure that i look forward to this upcoming season. no wedding to plan. no invitations to mail. no coordinating with friends and family about upcoming showers or bachelorette parties. when i go to the craft store, as i walk past the wedding "crap" my walk just gets a little bit jauntier and i laugh demonically to myself, hahahahahahahaha i don't have to go there anymore -- hahahahahaha)

Dear Secret Pal ....

please get me this bag....

um...$348 is kind of beyond the limit isn't it... um

ok, forget it.

thanks anyway

Every Day is a Lovely Day for a Guinness

i'm liking this secret pal thing i think. today i got this very cute e-card from my secret pal. then it got me thinking, "hey i haven't sent my secret pal -- recipient an e-card! I'M A BAD SECRET PAL." so of course i'm going to do that soon but not right now because what if she reads this blog and then gets an e-card and puts 2 and 2 together!? we can't have that.

i have been thinking a lot about what i'm going to send her though and i'm very excited. i found something on CB2, the funkier offshoot of Crate and Barrel, that may end up in one of her packages.

no, it's not the chair....but close! how cool is that chair by the way?

Secret Pal 3 Questionnaire Part Deux

on the SP3 page i found three more questions of interest. here we go...

22. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
my favorite animated character has got to be The Tick. so sad when it was taken off of the air. when i was a kid and lived in france, i remember watching hours of Candy, a japanese cartoon that centered around the adventures of Candy, a young teen-aged orphan girl. it really was more like a soap opera for pre-adolescent girls with a handsome prince and all of the fairy tale fixin's. my best friend and i used to spend hours on the phone discussing every episode at length. as for a favorite animal -- probably cats although dogs are growing on me. as for a favorite bird -- i wouldn't say i have a favorite bird, but i do have a kind of ongoing thing with my friend lu about chickens.

23. What is your favorite holiday?
probably christmas but really any holiday is a good holiday if i don't have to go to work.

24. Is there anything that you collect?
i used to collect shot glasses. i have probably well over 150. now other than photography and knitting/crochet books and magazines, i collect decorative copperware like pitchers, etc.

Blame Canada

i haven't posted in over a week because J and i have been on a whirlwind tour of Canada. in 4 days, we drove 1,600 miles. i'll be sure to give details after i develop my film (yes i still shoot film). in the meantime, while i was away, we were assigned our SP3 pals. so like a good do-be, here are the answers to the SP3 questionnaire.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
do i prefer the nice stuff? yes. do i buy the good stuff? no, not usually. honestly, although i lust after some of the more beautiful yarns out there -- koigu be still my beating heart -- some of that stuff i think is just too expensive. i like to play around much too much to invest $50-$100 in something that may not curl my toes when i finally finish it, assuming that i do. i do avoid red heart, but not because it's acrylic but because it's not always very soft and the colors can be a bit cheesy. i'm not above knitting with lion brand, TLC, sugar-n-cream. they're great for practicing my knitting and crochet skills and allow me to play with colors and textures without breaking the bank.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
i crochet. i enjoy crochet as much as i enjoy knitting. i just prefer crochet for some projects and knitting for others.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
not really. i don't care for smoke, or some perfumes, but i wouldn't say i'm allergic to them. i'm sensitive to eucalyptus, ragweed, grasses, but i don't think anyone is planning on sending me a piece of their front lawn.

4. How long have you been knitting?
my mother taught me how to knit when i was about 7 or 8 years old (same with crochet). i managed to make a garter stitch swatch that my mother still has in her sewing box which she uses to hold her sewing needles. i've done both off and on since.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
i have an amazon wishlist, but it hasn't been updated in awhile. i'll post it once i've updated it.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
i don't care for candles. i'm afraid of burning the house down. as for scents in general, i prefer classic fresh scents. nothing too fruity, nothing too intense. my favorite perfume is Chanel #5.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
not really. i like ice cream and i've been into lite cool whip lately (i know so odd) but given the choice, i'll choose dinner over dessert any time. i even take my coffee black, no sugar. i love coffee by the way.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
i tried to give stamping a try and spent a lot of money getting started only to realize that i didn't really get excited about making homemade greeting cards. so i'll be selling a lot of this stuff on ebay shortly. for our wedding last year, i made the 'save the date' cards, the invitations, the programs and the centerpieces for the tables. although it's not really considered a craft, i do enjoy photography. i like to use my camera to tell a story. oh, and since meeting my husband, i have learned how to do a few things around the house.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if you want to make her a CD) i like a variety of music, but don't really have any favorite artists. the last CD i bought was Maroon 5. at work, i listen to a classic hits station. my computer does play MP3s and i do have a minidisc player.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? my favorite color is red. and i'm drawn to bright turquoise blue, orange and purple. i have to say i really like intense clear colors these days. blues probably look best on me. beige, earth tones (except for chocolate brown), light pastels, and murky olive drabby type colors look like ass on me.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? i've been married for almost one year to my best friend and soulmate. (we have so little in common that we had to be soulmates because otherwise we'd never be together). we share custody of one 80 lb alaskan malamute/shephard mix named Rocky (his) and 3 cats (mine).

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) i don't really know. i guess to have my loved ones be healthy and happy. so trite i know.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? hmmm i like knitting in wool and wool blends, in a worsted weight. i'm kind of obsessed with variegated yarns because i like the interplay of colors and i like watching the random patterns evolve.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? i don't care for novelty yarns out there that require size 15 needles to knit. in fact i'm not fond of bulky yarns that require big huge needles. although i like the look of mohair and angora, they're a bitch to frog so i'd better not make any mistakes.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? i don't really have an obsession. i have been avoiding knitting sweaters though. i've put on a lot of weight of late, and i don't like what anything looks like on me.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? anything with color and/or texture such as cables, etc.

17. What are you knitting right now? i'm working on a mitered square afghan (inspired by the mitered square rug on the IK website) for my living room couch. ii'm also working on a "scrap" poncho that may or may not end up actually being worn.

18. What do you think about ponchos? (this is really a curiousity question for us) i like them. but i like them big and comfy and warm.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? i prefer straight, aluminum needles. i know, so retro but i like the noise that they make when they click together. i only use circulars when knitting in the round or if my straights are just not long enough.

20. How did you learn to knit? my mom taught me the basics and i used books as refreshers and for learning new skills.

21. How old is your oldest UFO? my oldest UFO is actually a crochet project. i still have a crochet bag that needs to be put together that i started in April i think.

i hope that was helpful!