bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

More Random

1.  by now you  might have heard about the latest study to come out of the New England Journal of Medicine about the contagiousness of obesity.  i have just one thing to say ... if you've put on weight since knowing me ...IT'S NOT MY FAULT!!!!  DON'T GO BLAMING ME FOR YOUR EXTRA LBS IS ALL I'M SAYING!!!!

2.  i've always been envious of women who are impeccably put together.  if you've met me, you know that i'm not one of them.  my hair is always a little bit out of control.  my nails are a mess.  i carry too many bags.  i trip over my own feet.  when i was a kid, my uncoordinated-ness was a source of frustration for my parents who didn't always understand that kids got dirty, sometimes just by standing still.  so i've always been a little self-conscious about it.  yesterday had to be the worse.  i spilled coffee on three ... THREE ... white shirts, the first two before i even got a mile away from home.  the third one, i was already at work, and had to meet the boss with a big old coffee stain on my left boob.  yeah, i'm dressed for success. 

3.  it's friday and that means it's time for a little eye candy. 

sea gulls from st. thomas. 

Random Wednesday

1. j normally works three 12-hour shifts per week so even with my 3-4 hour daily commuting time i still manage to make it home before he does on mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays, even if it's just by minutes.  usually i don't care but yesterday i was very relieved to beat him home, because sitting on my front stoop was a big box of yarn from knitpicks and my spunky club fiber for july package.  not that he cares what i buy especially since his toys cost him SO MUCH MORE than my toys ever do, but you know, i just didn't want to have to hear it.  "JESUS CHRIST WOMAN!  HOW MUCH YARN DO YOU NEED?"  especially since just days before, i received my fiber of the month from adrian and caroline.  yes, i'm a joiner even if it means i have to pay to get into your club. 

2.  what is that yarn from knitpicks for? babette.  i'll have you know that i'm not jumping on some bandwagon here.  i've been planning on crocheting this blanket for a year.  just ask anyone who knows me.  anyway, since koigu is a bit too $$ for me, i decided to go with palette and ordered one skein of every color.  yeah i know -- that's a little overkill as the pattern only calls for 17 or 18 different colors.  but i needed to do a little experimenting and who knows what kind of modifications i might make.  at first i was a little disappointed when i opened the box.  but this morning i mixed all of the skeins around and saw some intriguing color combos develop.  after i weigh each and every skein (yeah knitpicks i'm watching you) i'll start crocheting.

3.  i'm this close to finishing the boteh scarf. but i have to frog the last triangle as i don't have enough yarn to crochet the border.  pictures are coming.

4.  finally, the pictures that i normally would include in this post are in my camera.   and since i can't post without a picture ... it makes me itch ... i give you fruits and vegetables from dick kelly's farmstand in upton ma that i took on sunday.

Ravelry Invite Raffle!!!

jackie's got two ravelry invites to give away.   go here for the rules of the game. 

good luck!

The Grafton Flea Market

i'm not much of a flea market aficionado.  i like the idea of them and i love what some people manage to find at flea markets but most of the time, i have trouble seeing past the crap.  two sundays ago, though, i was bored and decided to head out to the grafton flea market just to see what it was like.   at 2 in the afternoon, not all that much.  well, except for fudge.

i gave it a go yesterday but this time i was there at 7:45am.  some vendors were still setting up.  within 15 minutes, i had found what i was looking for -- a big ass crockpot for dyeing.

and then i found some fiestaware.  oh nothing old and antiquey, but still.  look how pretty!

i came home with an orange pitcher that i love.

and then i walked around and check out some of the other stuff i saw.

an old croquet set.

and old bottles.

cooking utensils.

and um.. a boar's head.

i'll definitely be back.

In a Lorikeet's Garden ...

LORIKEETS!

after doing a little googling, i learned that lorikeets are indigenous to australia and new guinea, so what they were doing in st. thomas, i don't know.

but they are awfully pretty.

when she saw this picture in flickr, adrian remarked that these two guys look like they're wearing matching pants.  i think they also look like they're wearing orange and green yoke sweaters. 

that little cup in front is filled with nectar.  at coral world in st. thomas you could walk into their big cage and actually feed them. 

Random Thursday

i have stuff to tell you about but this morning, the part of my brain that stores words and then strings them along conveying thoughts that are constantly rolling around in my head is on the blink and that kind of annoys me as that part of my brain doesn't work all that great when it isn't on the blink.  it kind of worries me that it makes seem kind of simple when i don't think i am.  or maybe i am simple and just delusional.  but anyway, i'm rambling.   maybe i should have called this post "rambling thursday."  oh well.

tuesday morning, i ordered a shit load of yarn for the babette blanket. and so i was a little disappointed that when i got home yesterday from work, my package wasn't here.   YEAH I KNOW THAT'S CRAZY SINCE I DIDN'T EVEN PAY FOR EXPRESS SHIPPING.  no, i didn't order koigu.  that would have just been crazy, and despite my love for variegated and handpainted yarns, i don't like how they look in crochet.  but i did order a shitload so i can play around with the colors.  i will not be using the same exact colors as designed.

and this morning, i saw this ... (scroll down the post) -- look on the cover.  PLASTIC CANVAS PEOPLE!!  yeah i'll be thinking of trying that.  (i won't say i'll be actually trying it because i probably won't.  i'll just think about it really hard.  i think about doing things a lot. )

hmmm.  that's all.  i thought i had a lot more to say, but i guess not. 

ooh one last thing .. does this picture remind you of something?

Welcome To The 21st Century

i'm not much of a techie. i don't have an ipod and i record my favorite soap opera on a VCR because we don't have tivo or other digital recording device.  and until yesterday, i had the oldest phone in the greater boston area.  hey, if it ain't broke, why upgrade?

that red nokia phone on the left is 10 years old.  and pulling it out when it rang, especially when i was on the T with a bunch of snot nosed BU undergrads was slightly less embarrassing than if the phone had been the size of a shoebox (watch any movie from the 80's-90's if you don't know what i'm talking about).  but at the same time, i was/am kind of proud of it.  i mean, who else has a 10 year old working phone?  the sales guy even admitted that they don't make them like that anymore.

last month i received a letter from my cell phone provider informing me that it was time to trade it in because at the end of the month, they would no longer be able to provide me with service. something about not supporting the technology.  fuckers.

so i bit the bullet.  although the phone cost me nothing, my new plan will cost me at least an additional $15/month.  fuckers.  and they don't have my favorite ringtone so that's kind of annoying.  i'm going to have to download a ringtone.  and of course now this phone has all sorts of fun features that of course if i use i will have to pay extra for.  fuckers. 

and yes, i did contemplate getting the iphone, but after playing with it for awhile and reading a couple of reviews, i decided to postpone.  besides an iphone costs as much as a good macro lens. 

anybody need an old nokia phone?

 

This Piggy Went to Market

but managed to only be able to bring home a very small roast beef because the bag ended up a little on the small size and floppy.  i should have anticipated the small part ... duh ... the final measurements are included in the pattern AND my bag ended up being bigger anyway.  but the floppy was a surprise.  but i didn't use the yarn specified and those are the breaks.

before felting

the width -- 22 inches

from the top of the bag to the bottom -- 14.5 inches

the straps -- 9 inches long

after felting

the width -- 18 inches

from the top of the bag to the bottom -- 11 inches

the straps -- 7.5 inches long

ta-daa!  a finished french market bag.

yarn:  Great Adirondacks Montana 550 yards
needles: size 8

And Then There Were Three

until a couple of years ago, i had gotten used to being a bit on the fringe, and surrounding myself with acquaintances rather than people who really GOT me.   i had been ok with the way my social life was going.  i had a great husband and fun inlaws.  and since i'm a fairly social person, it wasn't like i was lonely. 

but i didn't realize what i was missing until "my boyfriend"  came along.     it was with warmth and humor and open arms that these girls accepted me (and maybe dragged me a little kicking and screaming  -- i'm a tough bird sometimes) into their lives. 

but nothing lasts forever i guess.  first it was melanie who announced that she was taking her family out of dodge.  then jackie who left town in the dead of night.  weeks later, it was wendy who left boston to raise her young family closer to home. 

saturday, it was elisa's turn to pack her and her husband's belongings into a 22 foot penske truck and with her best friend kim start the trip west.  "if we hit the ocean, we've gone to far."

debbie and kellee ... if you leave me now i'm going to kick some serious ass.  don't say i haven't warned you.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation: Not Much Knitting

ha!  i bet you thought i'd be posting more pictures of my vacation that i have yet to leave on and yet have come back from.  nope, not today.  i'll save the last stop for another day.

but i will show you what i knitted or started knitting.

so in anticipation of plenty of time just hanging out on a boat, i packed 3 projects:  one simple garter stitch scarf in noro iro (inspired by this one);  one french market bag; and one lacy scarf made from my own homespun.

what did i manage to finish?  one simple garter stitch scarf (which was knit primarily on the car trip to nyc).

see, proof that i knit on the boat (or at least i draped the unfinished scarf on the railing of the boat)

this scarf was made with two skeins of noro iro.  i cast on 24 stitches with size 10.5 addi turbos.

how far did i get on any other projects?

far enough on my french market bag to manage to take a picture of the yarn cake.

give me a break!  i was playing bingo, working out at the ship gym (I KID YOU NOT-- EVERY DAY BABY!!), spending money at the casino ... who had time to knit?!

 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation: The Big British V

*sigh*

anyone else not feel like blogging?  because i certainly don't. 

but i don't feel like doing work even less. 

*sigh*

so here we go....

next stop on our cruise after a day at sea was Tortola, one of the islands of the British Virgin Islands.  It was my first time in Tortola and after docking, my MIL and I decided to do a little exploring.  Since it was 300 degrees, that got old fast.  (I would just like to point out that my skin is the color of paste.  I am not evolutionarily suited for the environmental or climatic conditions in this this part of the world.  AND YES EVOLUTION IS PRETTY MUCH SCIENTIFIC FACT!!!)

so we quickly hopped on Captain Friendly's taxi/bus/pick-up truck with seats, for a 3 hour tour.

for $15 we got a little history (there were a lot of pirate stories .... arrrgggghhh) and current events (apparently  the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies were filmed here) and we got to do a little shopping and a little relaxing and we got to see a lot of beautiful scenery.

*according to captain friendly, johnny depp stood on this beach*

What I Did on My Summer Vacation: Bermuda Shorts

two years ago, i went on a bermuda cruise with the inlaws.  it was a nice easy cruise -- we left from boston, sailed to bermuda over a day and half, stayed in bermuda for 4 days, then sailed back.   this year, the cruise was a totally different experience ... not bad ... just different.  there was a lot of time spent at sea and very little time spent on land.

our first port of call was dockyard, bermuda.  first of all, bermuda is beautiful.  it was my favorite stopover. and because i'd been there before, i didn't waste any time with any of the on land excursions organized by the cruise line.  j and i bought 1-day bus/ferry passes and hopped a ferry straight for st. george's, which is where i took all of these pictures.

the inlaws headed for the beach.  j was bored out of his tree and wished he'd gone to the beach with them, but it's not like i hadn't warned him. 

Phew, Well That's a Relief....

in yesterday's post, i started telling you about my summer vacation -- the one i took  LAST WEEK -- and it's funny but in most of the comments i was wished a great trip.  UM...I'M BACK PEOPLE.  SEE?  I EVEN ANNOUNCED IT! 

hey that's ok.  it gave me a good chuckle.  and hey, at least you were wishing me a good trip and not suggesting that i heave myself overboard or something.

and i now don't feel so bad for SKIMMING since i know all you do it too.  (well most of you anyway).

heh heh.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation: The Prelude

it's a good thing i get to go to beautiful places because otherwise i'd be really screwed when it came to posting pictures for Eye Candy Friday.

the first leg of our trip was to get ourselves to nyc which we did the night before we were to set sail.   i hadn't been to nyc since july 2001 (yeah that long ago) so i got a little teary as we got off the last exit before the george washington bridge.  (or it could have been because i was so relieved that we didn't end up in new jersey -- no offense to new jersey by the way -- it just wasn't our final destination).   by the way, what kind of cluster-fuck is the cross-bronx expressway?

Happy 4th!

And I'm Back!

i'm back and it's monday so it's time for a "things i like monday" entry.

1.  so the boat had WI-FI but it cost a bazillion dollars for 15 minutes so i said "spelunk it" and went internet-free for a whole week.  and i liked it, although it was a little odd not knowing what was going on in the world.  of course i'm paying for it now as i've got 30,000 posts to read (or skim -- i'm just going to be straight with you).

2.  and as much as i love going away, i love coming home too.   i'm not a lover of tropical weather.  i don't like extreme heat and humidity and bright sun hurts my eyes and burns my skin, so i really like that when we docked in nyc yesterday that the weather was cool and breezy (and is still that way today).

3. and i really like that i'm still on vacation for another week.  woo-hoo me!

the little girl was just told that her vacation is over tomorrow.