bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Lipton Soup Mix

like cathi, i too enjoy a little Inside the Actor's Studio  with James Lipton sitting there behind his little TV tray desk.  and after watching will ferrell doing him on SNL this past saturday with alec baldwin as charles nelson riley, i too felt moved.  delightfully so.

1.  What is your favorite word? i like the word maniacal.  just the sound of it and the way it feels when it rolls around in my mouth. 

2.  What is your least favorite word?  this will sound silly but one word i dislike is "congrats," especially when it's mispelled "congrads."  c'mon, if you want to congratulate someone, make the extra effort and just say "congratulations!"  i mean honestly. 

another word i hate is panty or panties.  hate it hate it hate it.  i can't even say it without making a face because for such a harmless word it sounds so distasteful.  i mean boxers or briefs just doesn't have the same effect.

3.  What turns you on creatively, emotionally, spiritually?  Creatively i'm turned on by colors and patterns. in fact i look for pattern in everything -- nature, architecture, sounds, numbers, words.  i can't help myself.  it's like i'm some sort of rainman or idiot savant (according to j with an emphasis on the idiot and less on the savant).  emotionally, i get turned on by j's soft skin and his big bearlike paw hands. 

4. What turns you off?  Conservative, right-wing republicans and the 4o some odd percent of americans who are under the delusion that george w. bush is doing a good job.  fuckwits.

5.  What is your favorite curse word?  Fuck.  it's really the best curse word of all.  i also like fuckwit and fuckwittage, which i pronounce by putting emphasis on the last syllable...fuckwitTAHGE (rhymes with garage).  kind of makes it sound a little continental.  ha!

6.  What sound or noise do you love?  the sound when j stops snoring and when he calls me his dove.

7.  What sound or noise do you hate?  the honking horn of a car.  usually it's  a strong sign that there is an asshole in the general vicinity.

8.  What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?  i would have loved to do something more creative -- be an artist, illustrator or designer.  i think i would have enjoyed being an architect -- it's a profession that has an equal blend of right and left brain abilities.

9.  What profession would you not like to do?  there are so many professions that i wouldn't want to do but one that I DID want to do once is to be a doctor.  i was premed in college and even considered applying to medical school after grad school but i'm glad i didn't make that committment.  i don't think i could have handled holding people's lives in my hands.  in my current job, if i make a mistake, it's not that big of a deal and it's usually fixable.

10.  If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?   "See?  I do exist after all."

50% Off

i just got an email from JoAnn's.  they're having another 50% off 1 item special until june 1. (promotion code MAYE550)  and i checked -- the swifts and ball winders are back in stock.

Cats and Dogs

so as you've probably heard, saturday a bunch of us local boston/eastern mass knitters set up shop at wendy's for a taste of yarn/stuff your face/drink tons of sangria party.  because i'm lazy, and don't feel like repeating what has already been written up about this wonderful event, i'm just going ask you all to visit kerstin, elisa , colleen and melanie for some of the details .

but i did get a few pictures.

things started quietly enough.  here are jackie, melanie and colleen trying out some of the very lovely yarns that everyone brought. 

once stitchy's sangria came out though, things then got a little crazy.  here's wendy getting ready to fling herself into a basket of yarn like it was some sort of mosh pit.

luckily i was the only one with my wits about me so i was able to talk her down.  the yarn basket wouldn't have been big enough to break her fall.

then there was the zoo love.  although melanie claims that future man (a most luscious cat) had only eyes for her, the truth of the matter is that as soon as the party ended, future man met me at doyle's for a night cap. 

finally, since i'm an equal opportunity knitter and since no one specified that the yarn we brought actually had to be attractive, i thought it might be fun to bring something ugly as sin.  and ugly it was.  in fact, it was uglier knitted up than it was in the skein.  the name of this yippy dog with mange fur yarn is voodoo by patons. 

A Quick Post

i've got some knitting progress to show.

the fancy clap is fini.

a little detail

this clap was made with 3 skeins of lorna's laces lion and lamb, colorway uptown. 

this was all the yarn i was left with even after decreasing the the number of repeats during section 3 by 2. 

of course the softness of this yarn is wonderful, and i love the drape.  on the other hand, my el cheapo clap is so thick it would choke a horse and is really a winter scarf , but i like the colors better (the colors are better in el cheapo clap in real life.  that picture sucks).

and i  went back to work on a project that i started ages ago.

a blanket for the living room (pay no attention to the ugly couch.  j and i bought a new couch and love seat which should be delivered in about 8 weeks.   i do believe it will be a lovely couch and loveseat although it's hard to tell since i had a hard time stretching the 2 square foot fabric swatch to fit a 7 foot long couch -- so helpful the little tiny swatches).

here's a close-up.

finally, this last picture has nothing to do with knitting but i thought i'd post a picture of my latest shoe purchase.

(psst -- i got them at target -- 12.99)

*Starstruck*

The Yarn Harlot left me a comment. 

I have arrived.

Sloth and Gluttony

yesterday i was woken up at 7am by sun coming through the bedroom window.  i spent the next two hours catching up on all of my blog reading (yes it took two hours to get through my bloglines).  then after watching East/West  (a very good movie by the way) i spent the next 13 hours watching an America's Next Top Model marathon while eating salty snacks and later chinese food.  the only reason i was able to rationlize watching this crap was that during this whole time i was knitting.   for the salt overindulgence, there was no excuse.  i woke up this  morning with sausage fingers and no eyelids. 

from june 1st through august 21, the boston museum of fine arts will be hosting an exhibition on the quilts of Gee's Bend. the boston globe has something written up too.  this exhibition is definitely something i'm going to want to check out. 

that's enough for now. because of my tv marathon yesterday, my big ass wore out the couch, so today we're going couch shopping. 

Whatcha Readin?

oh my.  i got tagged by both ben and cathi for the book meme (me! me! me! -- hey that's what i'm thinking when i see the word meme).  my reading choices really aren't all that fascinating.  really.  quite lame actually.

1. Total number of books in your house:  easily hundreds.  i have quite a few of my college and grad school text books (some of the grad school ones i also have at work ).  I still have my biology text from freshmen year, the contents of which is probably now obsolete since no one is allowed to teach evolution anymore.  oh...that hasn't happened yet?  ok...i have of course a pile of knitting and assorted other craft books -- i showed you those during "here's my stash" day.  i've also got plenty of magazines (i got rid of a ton when i moved but i've kept a lot of craft magazines and martha stewart livings.  i have vogue knitting magazines that are over 20 years old).  most of the fiction i have are books that i have not read or books and authors that i like a lot.  i may not read them again, but i like having them there.

2.  The last book you bought was:   our friend the yarn harlot's, At Knit's End.  and Simple Socks Plain and Fancy by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts.  when i lived in boston, i used to walk by Brookline Booksmiths almost every day and i bought at least one book a week.  somehow buying books has never struck me as an extravagant or needless purchase.

3. What was the last book you read before reading this:  i've had a hard time getting into a book of fiction lately.  but i started The Lovely Bones by alice sebold monday morning and i've gotten seriously sucked in.  i'm getting to the home stretch and i'm already a little sad that it's ending.  next on my list is a book that i borrowed from our work "library"  (the work library consists of a series of shelves with books that people have brought from home for others to read) called Middlesex.  everyone and their mother have been telling me what a great book it is.  i don't know now if i even should read it.  what if i'm disappointed?

4. Write down 5 books that you often read or that mean a lot to you:  i almost never reread a book.  i did read The Perfect Storm twice, before and after seeing the movie.  the first time around all of the technical stuff was over my head and that bugged me.  so i had to read it again.  and every now and again, i do reread Gone With the Wind.  and i'd like to reread some of the books i read in highschool and college for classes such as Tess of the d'Urbervilles (there you go cathi) and the Grapes of Wrath.    i love anything by david sedaris.  in fact, i love him so much that i even love his sister, amy sedaris.  and all of the other sedarises (sedarii?).   i also loved Stones from the River and I Know This Much Is True  by Wally Lamb.  i hated Wally Lamb's other book, She's Come Undone.  everybody loved that book and went on and on about how in tune he was with a woman's mind, they couldn't believe a man had written such a character, yadda yadda yadda, and all i could think about was how unpleasant and whiny and miserable a character she was and that in order to write such a character, that he must hate women.  hated that book.  blech.  i'm making a face showing my distaste for this book as i'm typing this.  (and yes, i read the whole thing because 1. he's a good writer and 2. i kept hoping she wouldn't be so pathetic. )

Update:  oh oh oh how could i forget another of my absolute favorites:  A Prayer for Owen Meaney.   love -- that -- book.

5. Who do you tag?  my favorite aunt, crazy aunt purl

Yarn Harlot

hey!  who's going to see the harlot tonight?  anyone? anyone?  bueller?

UPDATE

so when i cried myself a river because i missed the harlot the last time she was in town, claudia and wendy said they'd be going to see her tonight. 

well they aren't. 

it's 6 o'clock and i'm still at work.  and acton is far away.

and i'm lazy.

i'm a sucky knit blogger.

Spring Nor'easter

Todd Gross, the weatherman from WHDH TV in Boston, says we're lucky that we aren't having snow. (trivia of the day:  Todd Gross was the weather man portrayed in The Perfect Storm .)  yeah, whatever.  at least pollen counts are low. 

so other than the fact that we're having crappy weather, nothing is really going on around here.  i'm working on another clap, this one with the lion and lamb that i bought off of carolyn.

j and napoleon are having some quality time together.

and this morning, i made pancakes.  with rocky's help of course. 

who needs a housekeeper?

Jonathan Swift

look what was waiting for me at the door when i got home tonight.

take a closer look

closer

ooh... could it be? 

yes it could!  50% off baby!

Big Pig

my social life comes in waves.  i can have absolutely nothing to do for weeks on end and then all of a sudden, bam!  it's one event after another for 2-3 days.  and then again, nothing.  (of course i should consider myself lucky that i even have a social life now that i'm married and living in the suburbs.)

last friday is a case in point.  during some email chitchat earlier in the week,  scratchy yarn in pants asked if i was going to bask in the glow of the harlot.  as much as i wanted to, i regretfully was not able to because i had accepted a "real world" friend's invitation to participate in the bane of the suburban wife existance (this suburban wife anyway), a "Tastefully Simple," party.  yes, i was going to a friend's house to be guilted into buying dip so that my friend could get free dip.  i could have easily called and said, "hey real world friend, something's come up, i can't come tonight," and changed my plans.  but no, i try to be a good and supportive friend.  unfortunately, i don't always think i'm treated like a good and supportive friend.  because this "so called friend" (who shall for the remainder of the post be referred to as "so-called friend")  decided to cancel the dip party and managed to get the word out to all of her guests EXCEPT FOR ME!!!!!!  yep, i drove to worcester for nothing ... not even dip, when i could have been having fun.  i hear that post-harlot there was even beer.  *sniff*

but the evening wasn't totally ruined, because when i got home from worcester a package from vera was waiting for me.    unlike my "so-called friend," vera had actually remembered me and had sent me some piggly wiggly goodness.  i am totally about the pig now.

thanks vera!