bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Head Scratchin'

so last week, i'm doing my job and an email gets delivered in my inbox.  it says something like "for those of you getting a bonus this year,  ....."

what?  people get bonuses here?

ring ring.  "hello, this is maryse."  "yes, apparently there are bonuses"  " no, i don't think we're getting one.  don't go on a shopping spree or anything."  "yes i agree it sucks."

i let it go.

yesterday, another email gets delivered to everyone in the company.  "dear X group staff,  if you got a bonus, you should have heard by now from your supervisor or manager....yadda yadda yadda."

ok so now, clearly since my group isn't included in the X group, we aren't getting a bonus.  fine, whatever.  i'm not surprised since i knew there would be no money in our project budget for such a thing.

the thing is this.  UNTIL THOSE TWO EMAILS MOST OF US WORKING FOR THIS COMPANY DIDN'T REALIZE THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY GOT BONUSES AROUND HERE!!!! 

so i wrote a little reply.  "dear YOU, since not all of us work for X group and are also not getting a bonus, i think it's inappropriate that you should make announcements about bonuses that most of us are not getting."

reply back: "oh sorry, but it's so much easier to make an announcement to everyone ....."

so much easier?  SO MUCH EASIER????

what am i missing here?  i'm not upset that i didn't get a bonus.  we're nonprofit.  we aren't supposed to get bonuses.  that's what you give up for 4 weeks of vacation and being able to wear sweatpants to work if you want.

what got my panties in a bunch is that now, because of this broadcast message to everyone in the company, because people are too lazy to write emails to only those people who did get bonuses, or to the X group since it only involves people within that group, we all know now that some people get bonuses and some people don't.

because it was easier to do it that way. 

Q is for

QUAY

so i've been screwing around with this post for over a week now.  i had "q" down weeks before that, but i haven't been able to write anything that doesn't sound forced and stupidly encyclopedic to accompany these photographs.

english was never my best subject in school, but that just means that i got A-/B+ instead of A's. my writing is utilitarian, grammatically ok, and just perfect for writing up lab reports, work memos, and scientific papers.    a few years back, i took a creative nonfiction writing class at grub street and didn't make a total fool out of myself -- a very brave thing for me.  since starting this blog, however, i realize that my writing compared to others really just sucks.  like there's some sort of funnel between my wordless thoughts and the part of my brain that puts those thoughts into words through my fingers onto the computer screen.  i'm an excellent and very fast typist so it's clearly that part between my emotional thoughts/feelings and forming words based on those thoughts that is all muddled.

of course none of this has anything to do with my post.  or these pictures. 

see, when i try to get back to this post, i've got "nothing."

even this picture is all out of focus.  kind of like my brain.  by the way, this is a bouquiniste's (secondhand bookseller's) stall. 

they sell old magazines, and newspapers, paintings and prints, photos, gentlemen's publications (cover the children's eyes!).  great old stuff from as early as the turn of the last century if you're willing to take the time to browse.  i find them to be a little sad, and am amazed that these guys actually manage to make a living especially since most have resisted filling up their space with plastic eiffel towers and cheap t-shirts.

It's Not Even 9am

and i'm already aggravated.

j was supposed to go work overtime today but decided at the last minute not to.  this is annoying for two reasons.

1.  i was looking forward to having a saturday to myself to do stuff around the house, clean up clutter, do some spinning.  it's impossible to do that kind of stuff with him around. 

2.  he sleeps through alarms, so i have to get up at the crack ass of dawn in order to wake his ass up.  fine whatever when he actually ends up going to work.  annoying, when he gets up only to call in and tell them that he's not coming in.  YOU MEAN I WOKE UP AT 6:00 ON A SATURDAY FOR NOTHING???!!!

3.  miss-i'm-getting-out-of-the-house-don't-expect-me-back-for-another-two-months had me running around in our weed infested backyard looking for her after she escaped.  once they've seen the next street over, there's no keeping them on the farm.

4. our printer/scanner is out of black ink.  it will not scan without replacing the black ink.  YOU DON'T NEED FRIGGIN' INK TO SCAN!!!!

ok, i've gotten that out of my system.

here's my new favorite spot in the house.

the table and chairs were picked up yesterday.  it's such a bright and sunny spot.  (and the windows are filthy -- don't look at them).

remember this?  this is what i'm making with it.  i'm on the sleeves now.  two at a time.  hope to finish it (and actually like it) by labor day.  and then become blond and thin by the following tuesday. 

and last but not least, this week's saturday sky.

Eye Candy Friday and an FO

doesn't matter where you see her, she's always beautiful.

i finished these socks a couple of weeks ago and never posted about them.  i think i'm all caught up with no UFO hanging over my head other than the sweater i'm working on.  the sweater's not a secret, it's just not very exciting right now. 

finally ... how wrong is this?  after a lovely meal in the north end with old friends from my crate and barrel days, i was assaulted by this image.  good thing that my friends acted quickly and dragged me away before i got my ass kicked.  i would have been grossly outnumbered.    assuming they didn't dive first.

Back to the Drawing Board

on saturday, i went in to boston to pick up my brand new shiny wheel.  so pretty. 

the first chance i got, i gave her a spin.

what a disaster!
you see, i was getting the hang of it on adrian's green s17.  i still had a little too much twist ... but i was this close...

ha!  what a difference a wheel makes.

grrrrrr it's the twisty curling yarn monster!!!!  hide the fiber!

napoleon's on the case.

P is for ...

PIANO LESSONS
(and you thought i was going to say Paris)

when i was a little girl, my mother had me take piano lessons. at first i was excited.  my first teacher was this young, right out of music school, crunchy granola type who wore birkenstocks, didn't shave her legs and smelled, i would later recognize, of patchouli.  it was 1970.  i was 7.  i didn't know any better.  my excitement wained when instead of having me play contemporary tunes that i heard in movies or on television, she had me playing bela bartok. 

my next teacher was the pretty young music teacher at my brother's elementary school.  the music choices were better, but i hated practicing for 30 minutes a day, and she was so nice that she didn't seem to mind that  that musically i had no talent what so ever.  my last teacher was probably 100 years old.  she had taught at the new england conservatory and was now retired, crippled by arthritis, and needed help getting up the stairs into our living room.  when she drove up to our house in her 25 foot (it seemed) oldsmobile, you couldn't even see her head above the steering wheel.  just her little crooked hands. 

my mother finally let me quit after 7 years of torture;  torture for me, and the rest of the family that had to listen to my pounding several days a week.  she said i'd always regret quitting.  but honestly, i never have.  my old piano still sits at my parents house, unplayed.  kind of sad really.  for the piano.

a couple of years ago, my inlaws gave j and i an old piano.  no one else wanted it and we had room for it.  plus i think it's a beautiful piece of furniture. the cats like to play it.

Nightmare in Milford

thank you so much for your enthusiastic response to my scarf.  i really would have never finished it if you all hadn't been encouraging me to do so (or daring me to).

it's hard to explain.  it wasn't technically difficult.  but it was a royal pain in the ass.  i couldn't take it anywhere, so i knit it mostly sitting on the guest room bed while watching tapes of "The Young and the Restless." 

sometimes the construction directions didn't make sense, so it took me several tries to get them right (and i'm still not sure i got them right).

even when i was knitting something as simple as garter stitch, it required all of my concentrations. knitting with 2 strands of embroidery wool is annoying and if you don't pay attention you end up with holes and loops where you picked up only one strand.  and then i was always worried that i would run out of a particular color.   i don't know if it was the way i knit, or just errors in the pattern, but half of the time, i was worried that i was going to run out of yarn.  so the finishing sucks.  many times i didn't have enough yarn to weave in, so i was stuck making tiny little knots everywhere.   so don't go asking to see the underside because i won't show it to you. (i'm tempted to line it actually, so that i never have to see those tiny little knots again.)  a couple of times, i did run out, so i made substitutions, which is ok with me, but also tells you that for some other colors, i had tons of yarn left over.  i bought the yarn as a kit, and i triple checked the colors with the list in the book so somewhere something's not quite right.  i shouldn't run out of one color after knitting up a tiny square, and be left with 5 skanks of another.  just doesn't make sense.  i didn't add some of the doo hickeys like buttons and such either.  because c'mon, i'm never going to wear this thing wrapped around my waist.  but somehow my rendition doesn't look nearly as nice to me as the one in the book.  the power of professional photography perhaps?  (i also saw some finished edges in the photos, that are never mentioned in the instructions.  hmmm... so i did my own improvising.)

i love the idea of this scarf though.  i was drawn to it because it was exactly the type of project i would have designed had i been creative enough. it's totally me.  but if i ever do something like this again, i wouldn't use this pattern.  i'd change some of the colors (it's a little too heavy on colors that look like baby shit).

some sections i absolutely love.

but others leave me cold. and i even think are kind of ugly.  oh well.

but it's done!    is it too late to get my medal?

Pattern:  Color on Color Scarf, Scarf Style

Yarn:  Paternayan Persian Wool.

DONE!!!!

the saga began on a cold february day, day one of the knitting olympics.  i was ready, i was excited.  I WAS DETERMINED!!!

i should have known better.  allegations of drug use sullied my reputation.  i prayed for miracles.  and then i just gave up.  i wasn't going to finish.

it was a disappointing day.

a couple of months later though, i was given the ok by the host, to join the knitting world cup.  the GOOOAAAAALLLLLL was to finish the scarf by the end of the final. 

the fans were great.  so supportive.  but even the roar of the crowd didn't help.

nor did the power of prayer.

by the end of the tour de france, i still wasn't finished.

but i am now...

i have a lot to say about this horror show that was this project.  but this post is long enough.  i'll tell you about it next time.

Neutrals

Kozy Up with a Good Book

the wheels started turning a few months ago after stitchy mc yarnpants announced that her book was coming out.  there was much rejoicing of course.  and sucking up.  (because of course who doesn't want to be chummy chummy with a published author. )  and finally, inspiration.  others are inspired by nordic patterns, complex lace, beauty in nature, gorgeous yarns.  i'm inspired by scary clowns made of red heart and the nausea inducing yet oddly comforting granny square.

i present to you my latest crochet incarnation ... "The Kitschy Kozy."

made of non-kitschy patons classic merino, the kozy can also be crocheted in red heart (preferably).  i used odd balls of paprika ("shag carpeting" rust), dark olive ("avocado"), old gold ("harvest gold"), chestnut brown ("ugly fake wood paneling" brown), and red.

would you like a kozy to protect your museum of kitschy book?  it's really quite simple.

the front and back of the kozy were made of 4 4-rowed granny squares stitched together.  how big your squares end up being depends on your gauge and the yarn you're using, so experiment.  with the right side of each panel facing you, on one side of each panel, single crochet an even number of rows so that the the total number of single crochet rows is as wide as the binding of the book  is wide.  sew the binding edges together so that wrong side of each panel are facing eachother.   then starting at one of the binding edges, single crochet around the whole mess.  i needed to only crochet 1 row.  again, depending on the size of your squares, you may need to crochet more rows.

to attach your kozy to your museum of kitschy stitches book, make 2 chains that when pulled taut are long enough to reach from the top edge of the book to the bottom and attach to the single row edging. 

to create a tie closure, to keep your book closed, make two chains and attach one to each panel opposite the binding side.  then tie.

voila!  you're done.  and your book is protected and decorative at the same time. 

Tax Free Weekend and Kitty Comes Home

damn you mitt romney and the massachusetts legislature!  why did you give us an entire 48 hours of no sales tax?  what kind of sicko encourages an entire state to throw caution to the wind and to spend $$$ like a bunch of out of control compulsive shoppers?  bastards!!!

yeah, j bag and i went a little nuts.  on the home front, in anticipation of my parental units visting in september, we bought a kitchen table and chairs.  because you know my mother would question why we don't have a kitchen table.  people need kitchen tables.  a kitchen table is the right thing to have.  (and question.  why are chairs so damn expensive?). 

then j dragged me off to the appliance department, showing me the GE Profile range.  it has two ovens, he says.  why would i need two ovens, i ask.  well you just do, is his reply.  he goes on and on about all of the features of this stove from the gods -- have i ever mentioned that j doesn't cook at all?  that he wouldn't know what to do with two ovens?  there's just two of us here.  and even if i were to have people over, i can't fit two ovens worth of people in the house.  and i don't want to have to read a manual just to cook an egg.  i just want to plug the damn thing in and turn a knob.  screw "state of the art."  i think it's the control panel that he's in love with.  and he's right we do need a new stove, our old one still works but it's probably about 25 years old and it's kind of disgusting, and we're missing some of the knobs.  i finally give in because it's easier than arguing.  and it is a pretty stove. 

but it didn't end there.  saving the best for last, of course, i did it.  i bought a wheel.  i know i know.  you all told me to try a bunch of wheels out before making a decision, but like j who needed to buy a stove this weekend, i needed to buy a wheel.  it was tax free!

yeah i'm a little anxious.  i don't always spend money well.  unless it's yarn. 

but this is good news.  i have 3 cats.  2 months ago, one of my cats disappeared.  she ran off.  and when i didn't find her before leaving for france, i was sure i'd never see her again.  a couple of weeks ago,  j saw her.  but when he came towards her, she'd run off.  finally, on saturday, i saw her and was able to lure her home.  the vet said she looked good.  the other two cats are less than excited that she's back.  but i sure am.   and the way she's been following me around, my guess is that she's happy to be home too.

there was some knitting and crochet this weekend too.  i'll post about that later.

O is for ....

THE OPERA

the day we visited the Opera Garnier (not to be confused with the modern, more controversial Opera Bastille) was a hot one, and we spent several minutes sitting on the cool marble steps inside.  unfortunately the only picture i got of the inside was that of the mask above.

a week later we visited the Musee D'Orsay where they had an exhibit on the design of the neighborhood and architecture of the opera, including a cross-sectional model of the building, and a model of the stage showing the behind the scenes pulley system.  i apologize about the quality of the pictures.  it was hard to take pictures without flash.

Saturday Sky

yeah yeah i know.  yet again...another france picture.

Eye Candy Friday

j called me a freak of nature when i ran out to take a picture of the moon the other night.  whatever.

Christmas In August

look what mr. postal worker brought me monday.   

first off, coleen sent me these cute little stitch markers as part of Pay It Forward.

aren't they pretty? 

then the wonderfully generous and creative anjo sent me this wonderful project spectrum package.

a quilted card.                                  a ribbon and button pin.

a project spectrum CD -- the color mix.  check it out.

finally, some thread and floss in august neutrals and the best neutral of them all -- chocolate.  thank you anjo!

then cathi sent me this awesome package packed full of stuff.  you know the kind of package that when you go looking through the packing material you actually find more stuff:  "french" stitch markers, mini toy car, 7 episodes of veronica mars 2nd season, a denver coffee mug (yes, we'll have that cup of coffee together in real life some day), a gnome patch, jam, candle ...

beautiful red sock yarn ...

mints ... heh heh

i think my favorite part of this package though is all of the little post-it  notes that she stuck on every item explaining where she got it, why she got it, which little pink tore into it before she could put it in the box (they like mints i hear and mini coopers).   thank you cathi.  thank you so much.

thank you all.  i was really touched that you thought of me.

The Bug Bit Me

one question... what do i get ... single or double treadle?

IT'S HERE!!!!!!

GO BUY IT!!!!

Cleaning House

it's august, and in project spectrum world, that means "neutrals."

just so you know, i'm not good with neutrals.  but i'm going to give it a go.

remember this?

i was going to finish it, and then i start thinking about it, how i didn't want to finish it, and how i was just not excited about it, and it wasn't the type of sweater i actually wanted, so....

i frogged it.  heh heh.  i feel so much better.

and another reason i feel better after today.

yep, it's blocking.  i've got to weave tons of ends in but LOOK HOW CLOSE I AM TO FINISHING!!!!

Eye Candy Friday

The Good, The Bad, AND The Ugly

this little find confirmed in my mind that it was time that i learn to spin.  clearly, spinning is in my blood, perhaps even imbedded in my genetic code, somewhere on chromosome number 5, next to the gene for actually choosing to eat snails and being able to pronounce a french "r."  (think coughing up a fur ball)

when i learned how to drive, i went to professionals.  so when i decided it was time i get behind a different wheel,  i scheduled a lesson with adrian.  how did it go?  with apologies to carole for stealing her "good, bad, and ugly" idea, allow me to show you.

The Good

adrian. she had the AC on full blast -- important for any wool fiber activity.  because it was hot on saturday.  and she had all sorts of wool ready for me.  and her yarn house...she really lives in a yarn house...

she was also a patient and knowledgeable teacher. if you want to learn how to spin, and like me suffer from anxiety at the thought of looking like a failure in front of many people (which is why i've never been able to learn during fiber fests), i highly recommend learning from adrian.  she even knew to praise the pathetic pupil that i am.  i haven't been in school in 12 years and yet, i still live and die by a teacher's praise or lack thereof. 

finally, she sent me home with her teaching louet (i'm renting) plenty of fiber to practice with and this great reference book .

The Bad

oh my, the spinning. and the anxiety of the spinning. and how even with the huge orifice of the louet i still needed to use the hook because i was so nervous and anxious that i couldn't thread the yarn through the orifice  and i'm babbling now which i did a lot of at adrian's and adrian's husband who was sitting quietly in the other room who must have thought i was a complete idiot.  spinning isn't supposed to be stressful and yet i was so nervous that my left hand was clenched into a claw which caused the lovely fiber to form a ball that was impossible to draft from.

The Ugly

need i say more?

but it's my first spun yarn and i love it.  adrian also taught me how to ply.  and she showed me how to navajo ply which is really just an exaggerrated crochet-like chain stitch (done with your fingers instead of a hook ).  HA!  YOU ANTI-CROCHET PEOPLE WHO NAVAJO PLY ...

anyway, i've got some practicing to do.  gotta go.

N is for ....

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL

i'll let you read about notre dame, because everytime i go, i'm rendered speachless speechless (and totally freakin' unable to spell).  i only wish my photos could convey the awesomeness that is this architectural marvel.