bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Filler

Brought to you courtesy of Jennifer ...

1. YOUR PORN STAR NAME: (Name of first pet / Street you live on):
Whiskie Oriole

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (Name of your favorite snack food / Grandfather's first name):
Cheetos Andre or Cheetos Joseph (neither are very good)

3. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME: (First word you see on your left / Favorite restaurant):
Mason Pho Pasteur

4. EXOTIC FOREIGNER ALIAS: (Favorite Spice / Last Foreign Vacation Spot):
Cilantro Montreal (ok, i like cilantro the herb, but it's close enough)

5. SOCIALITE ALIAS: (Silliest Childhood Nickname / Town Where You First Partied):
Frenchy Easton

6. "FLY GIRL/BOY" ALIAS (a la J. Lo): (First Initial / First Two or Three Letters of your Last Name):
M-Rou

7. ICON ALIAS: (Something Sweet Within Sight / Any Liquid in Your Kitchen):
Orange Coffee

8. DETECTIVE ALIAS: (Favorite Baby Animal / Where You Went to High School):
Kitten St.Cloud

9. BARFLY ALIAS: (Last Snack Food You Ate / Your Favorite Alcoholic Drink):
Pita Chip Gin Tonic

10. SOAP OPERA ALIAS: (Middle Name / Street Where You First Lived):
Danielle Fiftyfirst.   (Ha!  How about the street of the second place i lived?  Danielle Rider.  A little better.)

11. ROCK STAR ALIAS: (Favorite Candy / Last Name Of Favorite Musician):
I don't have a favorite candy or a favorite musician.  I can't even fake it here.

12. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: ( First 2 letters of your first name and the first 3 Letters from your last name makes your first name. Take the first 2 letters of your mother's maiden name and the first 3 letters of the city you were born in): 
Marou FaNew

Happy Easter!

if i had to name two things that symbolize easter for me, those two things would have to be ...

chocolate eggs

and

bunnies!

here's a bunny in a bag ...

bunny butts

ooh bunnies and peeps (ok that's 3 things).

don't eat too much candy today.  i wouldn't want you to get sick.

My! What Big Ears You Have

a few days ago, i purchased kate gibert's wonderful little bunny pattern, and started knitting bunnies up ...  well, you know ...  quick like ...  what else...but a bunny!

napoleon, however, doesn't seem very excited by the intrusion.

hmmm, i shall begin by sniffing the bunny's privates.  i am a cat, that is what i do.

just what i suspected...cheap bitch did not stuff the bunny with catnip.




damn, she's watching.  "feign interest old boy...she  will look away soon."

you are nothing to me rabbit!

*************************************************
in unrelated news, lunch with the girls was fun.  but you knew it would be.  and the taco bar was pretty good too. 

I'll Be the One With the Clap

later on today i'm meeting wendy and elisa for lunch.  see, we figured out that we all work at the same place ... kind of.  well wendy and elisa do and i kind of do.  but anyway.

so since i am meeting them for the first time, i decided to read up on wendy's tips for meeting to knit bloggers.

tip #1 -- you can never be too careful, wendy writes.  tell people where you are going/who are you meeting.

i'm not too worried here since we'll be meeting in a public place.  of course there will be two of them versus just me, but i'm a big girl and unless they tie me up with double strands of red heart i should be just fine.  just in case, i'll be sure to leave a note in my office that says "out to lunch." 

tip #2 -- when meeting the stranger, be sure to give a full description of yourself.

i'll definitely let them know what i look like.  although they should have no trouble recognizing me by the many photos of my eye posted on my blog. i am also much slimmer in person.  the camera adds 10 lbs to the size of my head.

tip #3 -- carry a sharpie (not a sharpei -- which is what i first typed).

i always carry a sharpie.  in fact, i carry several.  we science types love the sharpie.  i'll ask them to sign my belly though. 

tip #4 -- beware yarn store attacks

i'm not worried here since we won't be anywhere near a yarn store.  however, i promise not to pelt them with cadbury creme eggs from the nearby drugstore.  unless they want me to.

tip #5 -- be prepared to be amazed

i hope they like me.  i can be quite delightful in person albeit a little snarky.  and i will try to eat off their plates.  i hope that's ok.  they can eat off of my plate, unless i'm eating chicken wings. 

Movin' Day

run -- don't walk -- to claudia's and melanie's new blog homes.  their rss feeds are still a little wonky but they're there.  go ahead and pay them a visit. 

Secret Knitting

  i have a cold so i'm feeling stuffy and i have an extra  long day of work ahead of me, so i don't really feel like writing anything.  i'm just going to post some pictures today just so you know that i'm doing something.

this is the ribbed neckwarmer from the premier issue of knit 1. 

it's made with noro kujaku color number 15 (i think -- i lost the band).  i still have the edging to do and buttons to pick out.  although i'm thinking of going with a different fastener.  i'll have to see.

here's a baby blanket i'm working on.  it's made with some vintage phentex wool that i purchased sometime ago from ebay.  the wool is a little scratchy but i'm hoping with some washing it'll soften up a bit.

here's progress on a poncho i'm making for my 14 year old cousin.  she lives in france and her mother said she's been requesting a poncho.  and this is a girl who is very stylishly experimental.  at my wedding she wore her mother's black dress backwards  and believe it or not, she looked great.  i'm going to make this poncho with a rolled boat neck i think.  no pattern here.  just doing my thing.  you yarn snobs, i suggested you cover your eyes.  covered?  the yarn here is caron's simply soft in  paisley print.  i'm sorry but i love this stuff.  it's soft, the colors really are that vibrant, it's machine washable and cheap.  sure, it'll pill and probably not hold up as long as wool would, but it's a poncho for a 14 year old girl.  give me a friggin' break. 

finally, proof that spring is coming to new england. 

 

Happy Evacuation Day

j just called to tell me that there is a ginormous (is that how it's spelled?) box sitting in our living room.  it's norris!  it seems that the naming of exercise equipment is very much in vogue...bron's named her new nordic track treadmill attila.  don't let those names fool you though.  norris could totally beat attila's ass! 

on the topic of beating asses...one of my pet peeves is gratuitous "honking."  if there is no imminent danger, there should be no honking.  (honking to say hello is permissible.  i am not without heart.)  anyway, in boston, there is constant honking.  if the light turns green, heaven forbid you should sit on the brake for a microsecond, the bozos behind you start honking.  i hate it.  only makes me want to sit at the light even longer.  take my time.  sing along to the radio.  revisit my various options...do i go left ... do i go right... where to go.  what to do.  and no, i am not passive aggressive. 

honking isn't quite as pervasive in the 'burbs but it does happen.  this morning, i was on my way to the train station, sitting at an intersection.  i wanted to make a left turn on to the station road, i had a green light.  but i had traffic coming towards me.  i'm less than a mile from the station.  the train isn't scheduled (scheduled mind you) to arrive for another 10 minutes.  i'm not about to risk an accident by making a left right in front of oncoming traffic, especially when i can see an opening coming up.  and then i hear it... the honk.  i look in my rearview mirror, and there's this big ass car, and a gesticulating asshole driving it.  and said gesticulating asshole just happens to be someone i recognize as a fellow train rider.  when it's safe to proceed, i calmly make my left turn, with the gesticulating asshole right behind me.

it's not often that one gets to actually confront a gesticulating honking asshole but confront him i did.  i was polite.  and i made sure not to approach him too closely...it's funny how small  and nervous gesticulating assholes get when they aren't sitting behind the wheel of their yukon denalis.  i just calmly pointed out to him that there was no need to get impatient and honk so early in the morning, when it was clearly not safe for me to make a left turn and when we had at least 10 minutes before the train.  he never looked at me directly, just mumbled..."what do you want me to say."  nothing moron, just stop being an asshole.  by the way, the train was 7 minutes late...all that honking just to get to stand outside in 30 degree weather for 17 minutes.

finally, i'm totally jealous of colleen.  she's got today off.  yes, didn't you know?  st. patrick's day is a paid holiday in boston for anyone of irish descent. 

Post Something Damn It

i've been a little lame. since the last time i posted, i knit up another scarf and then ripped it. made some progress on a mitered square afghan that i've been working on for months. pulled out some granny squares that i made ages ago to use for another little baby blanket for another friend who has just given birth to a little girl. started working on a poncho for my 14 year old french cousin (no, not the martha poncho for god's sake) and mucked around with no success with charlotte's web. but i've got nothing to show you. sorry. however i did make a lovely little purchase this weekend. after careful deliberation, i decided that spending $75/month for a gym membership that i never use is just stupid. if i do go to the gym, other than playing around with the weights, i ride the elliptical trainer. (do you ride those things?) so i bought myself an elliptical trainer. his name is norris, the nordic track.

if i could figure out how to knit on the thing i'd be golden. but at least i can watch "gilmore girl" reruns and "what not to wear."

We Can All Relax...

a pattern for Martha's poncho has been released.  it's a good thing.  ;)

Me Me Me....

cathi tagged me so i wouldn't feel left out.  thanks cathi. 

1. Do you knit continental or English? i'm definitely a "thrower."  my mother tried to teach me to knit continental, which is how she knits, but i could never "get it" due to the fact that my left hand is pretty much useless. i'm anti-ambidextrous.  that's probably why i caught on to crochet sooner -- all my left hand has to do in crochet is hold the yarn.

2. How long ago did you learn to knit? i learned how to knit when i was 7.  but i didn't really start knitting until i was in highschool.

3. First FO? a boxy cropped turtleneck sweater from vogue knitting circa 1980 or so.  one of those "very easy very vogue" patterns.  it was the first thing i made from start to finish by myself.  up until then,  i would work on things with my mother.  she would cast on and off, do all of the shaping and i would do the straight knitting. 

4. Favorite yarn? i like to knit with wool best of all but i like cotton too.  or blends.  i'm really not picky.  as i've said before, i'll even use acrylic.  because yes, i love yarn.  all yarns as long as they come in pretty colors and aren't too novelty-like.  i definitely prefer smooth yarns.  i'm currently obsessed with noro, but i would never make a whole sweater in it because of the horizontal striping action. 

5. Favorite pattern? i don't think i have a favorite.  i love them all equally ;)

6. Favorite pattern source?  books.  i buy way too many books.  i love books.  although i've made a few things from knitty, i'm still attached to my books and magazines like vogue knitting and IK. 

6.5 Favorite knitting book for technique/reference (of any kind- general, fair isle etc)? (I'm answering this one, too!) Vogue Knitting and my 4 alice starmore books (which i've read like novels although i don't believe i've made anything from them).

7. Favorite needles?  metal straights, sometimes circulars.  but almost always metal.  i like the sound they make.  i  have a set of denises which i like but use mostly for travel or in a pinch when i don't have a metal circular.  i hate plastic needles.  and dpns.  i'm going to have to learn the magic loop if i'm ever going to learn how to make socks.   

8. Nicest thing you’ve ever knit? hmmm that's hard.  because i tend to undervalue what i've done.  there was a time though after college where i really tried some challenging stuff, kind of pushed my skills a little and those sweaters are probably the nicest sweaters i ever made.  i still wear some of them.  i've been somewhat lazy lately. 

9.  Most hated project?  i never finish anything that i hate while i'm knitting it.  patterns with typos or convoluted directions drive me crazy, so i'm apt to drop a project if i run across too many typos (ahem cough cough IK cough cough) or if directions are unclear.   

i'm not passing this along.  i'm too lazy today and i feel crappy (i'm at home sick) and it's going to snow AGAIN and that is just too much snow.

The Real World

a few weeks ago, i joined netflix.  and at carolyn's suggestion, i rented season 1 of the gilmore girls.  i am now obsessed.  i want to be part of the show, except that i want the show to be real life.   j and i would live in a house like lorelai's, with a big farmer's porch and archways in the entry.  i would run the local yarn shop/book store when i wasn't teaching biology  at the local highschool.    j would be the town handyman with his own handyman van.  lorelai and sookie and i would be friends.    it would all be very fun and grand.  my commute would be all of 10 minutes  and i could do it on my bike.  my friends wouldn't bore me with gymboree and playdate talk.  i could have house of my dreams and i could surround myself with beautiful yarn.  j has pointed out to me that wanting to be part of a tv show is insane.  he's also pointed out to me that a single mother, manager of a hotel, could not in a million years afford the house she lives in only 30 minutes outside of hartford, unless her very rich parents had in fact bought it for her.  he likes to burst my bubble.  he does like the idea of being the town handyman though.  (by the way, he's watched several episodes with me).  one question.  i'm almost done watching season 2.  and there are no season 3 or 4 dvds available.  i've been taping season 5.  can i watch season 5 now? 

my trip to alabama proved to be insanely busy but not very interesting. (not because alabama couldn't potentially be interesting by the way.  but more because i spent the entire 3 days in a hotel off of the interstate in a conference room with no windows.)   i did get to drive by a piggly wiggly but that was pretty much the highlight of the trip. i loved "driving miss daisy."  that's where miss daisy liked to shop.

even with all of that excitement, i did manage to knit up a scarf.  (yes it's from Last Minute Knitted Gifts)

Sweet Home Alabama

i'm not really a hat  person.  first of all, i have a supremely large cranium, making finding hats that fit somewhat difficult.  second of all, i'm not always so sure about the whole etiquette of hats.   i know plenty of men and women who keep their bosox caps on all day, indoors and out, but it just seems weird to me.   as for knit hats to keep warm, i have one.  i look like an idiot wearing it.  but it's certainly warm.

however, there's nothing like a bad haircut  to bring new light to the fashion possibilities of a hat.    with some stash mercerized cotton, i whipped up a 'head's-up hat' from the Spring 2005 edition of IK.   my gauge was way off but that was a good thing since my head measures 23.5 inches around, the pattern makes a 19.5 inch hat (pinheads ).

hat not on head

   
hat on head

i kind of like this litte hat and i'll probably make another.  the colorwork part was actually quite fun to make (a scarf may be in my future using a slipstitch pattern) but the crown was a bitch.  do not try to use aluminum dpns with mercerized cotton.  you'll be sure to poke an eye out as the needles go shooting out of your hands. 

rocky was so alarmed that he asked to go outside

i'm off to birmingham later on today.   3 glorious days spent in a windowless conference room in a hotel off of the interstate.  good times .  (actually the hotel is pretty nice, so that's cool).