bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

First Day of Summer

I woke up this morning at 5am.  who gets up at 5am on their first day of vacation?  in a few minutes, J and I are going out for breakfast and then we'll finish packing, load up the mini and head down to NYC.  then tomorrow we're saying BON VOYAGE as we board our ship and head to bermuda, st. thomas and tortola.

i haven 't packed any knitting yet ... the natural choice would be to bring socks, but i don't feel like knitting socks this week.  there's this bag i could start on but it requires that i pack lots of yarn and i dont' want to drag tons of yarn with me (besides i'm not sure that the yarn i have on hand would actually work having done no prep for it).  but i am bringing my spunky eclectic yarn that i spun early this month.

the yarn ended up being thicker than i originally thought it would be but that's ok.  it's single-ply and i think there's a little more than 250 yards. 

before i go, i'm leaving you with my final pre-vacation FO, another pair of basic socks. 

last year, i knit a pair just like these which i gave to my mom.  i liked the colors and the stripes so much that i had to make myself a pair.

and look how great they look with my plastic, orange shoes.  (yes i went for it, but also bought a pair in navy, you know, for more formal occasions.  and i'm a little disappointed with the color.  they looked much brighter in the catalog.)

alrighty, i'm out of here.  i'm bringing the computer with me, the ship has wi-fi.

For Cathi

Because cathi tagged me.

The game is SCATTERGORIES, and it’s harder than it looks!

Here are the rules:

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question. Have fun!

Your Name: Maryse

1. Famous Singer/Band: The Monkees

2. 4 letter word: Moth

3. Street: Massachusetts Ave

4. Color: Maroon

5. Gifts/Presents: Marcasite Jewelery

6. Vehicle: Motorcycle

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Mugs

8. Boy Name: Massimo

9. Girl Name: Mabel

10. Movie Title: Monsters, Inc. 

11. Drink: Mai Tai

12. Occupation:Mime

13. Celebrity: Madonna

14. Magazine: Modern Bride

15. U.S. City: Marlborough

16. Pro Sports Teams: Manchester United

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Mood Swing

19. Something You Throw Away: Manure

20. Things You Shout: Mother-Fucker!!!! (which i never shout by the way)

21. Cartoon Character:  Mighty Mouse

Pre-Vacation FOs

having half done projects makes me a little anxious.  i'm not project monogamous but i don't like to have too many projects hanging around  before i start something new.  i certainly didn't want to bring an old project on my vacation (which actually starts 2 days from today and not three as i mentioned yesterday.  i found out yesterday that my weekly friday meeting has been cancelled -- yay!).

if you're one of my contacts in flickr or a friend in ravelry, this FO isn't going to be a surprise, but if you aren't .... i present to you ....

a giant granny square!!!

my version of the granny square is 34 inches square and is finished off with a simple single crochet edge. 

my baby niece needed a spring/summer blanket and so i collected all of my random skeins of sugar 'n' cream cotton and got to work.  initially i was going to make a bunch of smaller squares and you know, sew them up, but then i decided that a giant granny would be so much more fun.  and less of a pain in the ass. 

like for my version of the ripple afghan, i selected the colors at random, without pre-planning, and the sequence of colors never repeat.  i used a size I (5.5mm) hook to keep the blanket nice and drapey.   i'm really happy with how this turned out and maybe some day i'll make one big enough for a bed.   

and LBK (little black kitty) seems to like it too.  (by the way, don't be afraid to knit or crochet something other than dishcloths with sugar'n'cream.  it's cheap, colorful, easy care, easy to find, and softens over time and washings.)

more FOs tomorrow.

5 More Days

this monday i'm on the ball. 

ok, maybe i'm not.  i wrote that yesterday, which means that i had the best of intentions.  but then i got sidetracked.  but not today. 

so what do i like today (or rather what did i like yesterday?)

1.  i'm leaving for vacation in 4 days!  (it was 5 days yesterday).  i don't think i need to elaborate.  woo-fucking-hoo!!!

2.  on saturday, after working at graceful stitches (and selling lots of yarn -- and for once not necessarily to myself) i got to hang out with carole, martha (who might as well be blogless) and blogless sharon.  and i had a really good time. go read carole's post about our afternoon.  i not be so good with werds like she be good with werds ... english after all is my second language (no really it is, technically).   we did some knittin' (i have a couple of FOs to share, but that's for another post.  don't want to cram too much material in one post so that afterwards i have nothing for 3 weeks).  and we did some sittin' .  and some grinnin' and some spinnin'.  no pickin'.  because you can pick your friends and your nose, but not your friend's nose.

oh, and there might have been some margarita drinkin'. 

but no hoola dancin'.

3.  have i mentioned that it's 4 more days until my vacation? 

Before the Day Ends ...

my satuday sky (taken last sunday)

Eye Candy Friday

a lifetime ago, i used to work at boston medical center (before it was boston medical center) and a friend of mine and i used to walk to copley after work to catch the bus.  he enjoyed gardening (i do not) and he was always pointing out flowers to me -- flowers that i had usually missed.  he was always giving me shit for not noticing the flowers.  so this is for patrick.

from my mother-in-law's garden.

happy friday!

 

Because I Need Another Stash Like I Need a Hole in My Head

i was going to write a "things i like monday" post monday because over the weekend i came up with several things that i liked but then monday came along and  then passed and then tuesday came along and then passed and then today started and it's no longer monday so a post listing the things i like would be ok but then it would be "things i like wednesday" and not "things i like monday."  and i hardly have the energy to write a post about "things  i like" anyway.  why is it that it's so much easier  to write a post about things i don't like?  what does that say about me?

but enough with the whining...

1.  i like that i'm close enough to going away on vacation to actually start counting down the days until i go on vacation.  i don't like to get excited way in advance (one of my nieces has been counting down the days until vacation since january!)  because there's potentially so much unpleasantness to get through until that first day of vacation.  but i can start counting down now.  9  MORE DAYS!!!  and think about packing.

2.  i like shopping for fabric.  last thursday, stitchy  (dude, update the blog will you?) and i met at The Fabric Place for some notion shopping.  (is there anything more gratifying than shopping for notions?  remember when you could buy notions at woolworths?  remember when there WERE woolworths?)  i got there early.  walked right by the yarn department (if you've seen my yarn stash on ravelry you know i had no business being there anyway) and attacked the 50 cent  (no, not the rapper) fabric scrap table.   by the time stitchy had found me, i had dug  a hole in the huge pile and was practically crawling into it to get the good stuff at the bottom.  it was madness.

i found toile and fabric with chickens.  i like chickens.  and plaids and cute fabric with little flowers.  all for 50 cents a piece!  and no, i don't really sew.  well not beyond what i learned in 7th grade home ec.  this discrepancy (is this the word i want here?) will need to be dealt with.

3.  did i mention i liked chickens? 

4.  and last night i got to knit with ben and her adorable daughter ... well her daughter didn't knit but she did her best to gross us out by showing us pictures of sharks.  i don't like sharks.  but i do like little girls who like shark books.

He's Such an Angel When He Sleeps

he's probably praying that i don't kill him in the night. KIDDING!

In My Head

i've written several posts in my head in the past couple of days, but when i've sat down and actually tried to type my posts, well you know... nothin' .  even the picture taking has left me kind of cold.  talk about a rut.

all of this is weird because i actually had a decent weekend and monday morning, despite the fact it took me 2 hours to get to my dull job in the rain (because no one can drive in the rain here -- dumbasses), i actually was in good humor.  and no one managed to piss me off.  i even had a "things i like monday" post started.  right, it was in my head.   

anyway, look what came to live at my house. 

that, my friends, is a suzuki burkman scooter.  j's gone "green" and getting this was his solution to the "i can't spend $100 filling the tank of my big ass truck anymore" dilemma.  last weekend he went to motorcycle school and passed with flying colors.  and no, i am not riding it with him.  [i was going to post a picture of him with his silly looking helmet and safety glasses -- yes he rides it while wearing his work safety glasses -- but he begged me not to.]  this is why, no matter how much yarn or fiber i buy, i can't be made to feel guilty.    my toys are much less expensive than his.

[ETA:  here in MA, you have to get a motorcycle license for driving a scooter of a certain size.  i don't know what that is.  anyway, you don't have to go to motorcycle school, but if you do, you get a deduction on your insurance and you don't have to apply for your license through the RMV.  they just mail it to you after passing the course. ]

in other developments, monday afternoon i couldn't get out of work soon enough so i could rush home and spin this.

that is spunky eclectic's may fiber club selection;  coopworth in "nightshade."  isn't it pretty?  and boy was it fun to spin.  someone recently told me (i think it was laurie or maybe marcy -- an enabler certainly)  that sometimes you just have to let the fiber tell you how it wants to be spun.  and this coopworth was LOUD about it.  it wanted to be thin.  (yeah so do i.  sigh).

my next question is this -- do i ply?  i'm thinking a lace shawl of sorts.  it's all on one bobbin so if i ply i'll have to split it (i'm not doing that thing on the wrist thingy -- oh right, people in the know call it "andean plying" -- because there's a lot of yardage there and i would definitely end up cutting the circulation to my fingers).  i can't decide if my wanting to use it as singles is because i think it's pretty the way it is, or if i'm just lazy.  any ideas?

my voice is still in peril.  although i am getting better.  i guess it would help if i just shut the hell up sometimes.  don't you think?

 

April and May Project Spectrum Review

yep, june's here.  which means i've got another 2 month project spectrum retrospective for you.  in april and may, it was all about pink, yellow, and green. 

the next two months will be about red, black and metallics.  i don't know what i'll do yet, but i'm ready!