bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

Ten on Tuesday

this week's Ten on Tuesday is "Ten things that scare you/freak you out." 

1.  the economy.  duh.
2.  the upcoming election and that it not go the way i'd like it to go.
3.  and even if it goes the way i'd like it to go.  that's kind of freaking me out a little bit too.  (i supported hillary).
4.  i'm kind of relieved that i don't have children because i'd really worry about their future.  as it is, i'm already a little nervous about my nieces and nephews futures. 
5.  i don't like snorkeling and i'll probably never scuba dive because the mere thought of fish or other marine wildlife brushing up against me gives me the heebie jeebies.
6.  snakes.  blech.
7.  my age.
8.  you know when fingernails either break really low close to the quick or if they come off all together (same with toe nails).  freaks me out.  more so if it's happening to someone else.
9. clutter.  let me qualify that.  clutter doesn't scare me.  but it does kind of freak me out.  i find it difficult to relax if there's too much of a mess and i get really impatient and annoyed.  and it's possible that i stomp my feet in exasperation.  (not in your house/office/etc.  it's funny that it doesn't bother me at other people's houses if all i'm expected to do is just sit there and "visit."
10.  not being able to take care of myself. 

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day 165 -- look at that!  200 more days!  now that's freaking me out.

It's the Economy Stupid

so, i really don't know anything about the economy.  which is fine in the grand scheme of things because it's not like i'm running for president or anything. but not knowing anything also makes what's going on right now kind of scary.  i don't even know if i should be outraged or not by the house's decision to reject the $700 billion bailout package. 

which is why i continue to do my part in boosting the economy.  here's my latest haul, most of which came from webs. 

well except for the STR in the foreground.  that's the latest club offering.  it could be my favorite this year.

so, we've got some lorna's laces shepherd sock in the back -- in "amy's vintage office" or something like that, and a skein of silk garden sock.  also what's not in the photo is a skein of noro taiyo in the brown, black, pink colorway.

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day 164 -- based on my background -- having lived in europe and the middle east -- i do have more foreign affairs experience than a certain candidate for VP.  if i were a better dresser and could do something with my hair, i'd totally run for office.

Wasted Weekend

ok, maybe it wasn't entirely a wasted weekend.  i mean i got to sleep.  and watch movies.  and i finished the border on babette (just need to block and trim some ends now).

but i spent virtually all day today screwing around with my computer trying to find files that had screwed up read-write permissions which kept causing my back-ups to stall out.  and j spent the whole weekend trying to fix our network.  what a pain in the ass.  he finally had to bring in the big guns (ie. a friend of his who knows what he's doing, unlike j).

so that's all i've got to show for this weekend.  iphoto keeps messing up.  i still haven't exhausted all of my options to try and fix it.  but at least i'm not freaking out anymore since all of my photo files are backed up.  but i am looking into a new photo organizing system to replace iphoto.  anyone have any ideas?

so that was my weekend.  good thing the weather sucked.

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day 163 -- at least i get to go out for dinner tonight.

Fall Rain

we're having our first official fall storm.  it's a little raw outside and gray and rainy.  a perfect day for staying inside and watching movies and crocheting or knitting in my pajamas.   

i'm this close to finishing babette.  i'm halfway done with the border and then she just needs a good blocking.  i've got a sock on the needles too.  i knit only one pair of socks this summer. i wasn't inspired.  but since i started this sock, i've been obsessed.  i think i just love knitting with tiny needles. 

that's all.

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day 162 -- how sad is it that paul newman is no longer with us.

FO Friday

it's been raining all day so again no new FO photos.  but when i was trying to figure out what i was going to blog about tonight, i remembered that there was one FO that i hadn't posted about.  remember this scarf?  well i had a little yarn left so i made myself a little something.

a simple, stockinette, laceweight cowl.

i think that my favorite thing about this cowl is how different the yarn looks knit up as a tube compared to what it looked like knit up as a garter stitch scarf.

anyway, that's all.  i raveled the details.

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day 161 -- maybe i'll try my hand at dyeing again this weekend.

Thursdays are for Quizzes

i'm kind of busy today, so i can't spend too much time thinking about writing a post.  so it's time for a couple of quizzes.

You Are 76% Interesting

Believe it or not, you are a very fascinating person. You're probably too busy being interesting to realize exactly how interesting you are. You have a rich, full life. You are curious about the world, and you are very open to new experiences. You have a lot to talk about, and people find you to be an amazing conversationalist. And most importantly, you are truly interested in other people. How could anyone find that boring? You truly listen and learn from others. You're not self absorbed or shallow.

Are You Boring or Interesting?

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day 160 -- well at least i've got that going for me.

WTF Wednesday

i'm kind of feeling out of sorts today.  i have what feels like the start of a cold or something coming on.  and i'm sleepy.  so sleepy.  work is annoying the hell out of me.  and all i want to do is hide until november 5th because i'm sick of hearing about the election.  (not because i don't care, but because i care too much).

and i want to knit.

i've got a whole slew of finished projects to update you all on, just haven't had time to photograph them.  we've entered into the time of year when the hours of decent light coincide with  the hours when i'm sitting in traffic OR in a windowless office.

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day 159  -- so mccain wants to postpone friday's debate to concentrate on the economy. sounds like he needs more time to study.  WTF.

Why I Do Not Have a Food Blog

if you've met me, you'll know just by looking at me that i do enjoy eating.  but if you've been reading this blog, you'll also notice that i don't blog very often about foods that i have eaten, or cooked, etc.  and there's a reason for that.

because i'm a lousy food blogger.

a couple of weekends ago, a few people in flickr and on the blogs started making these awesome looking soft pretzels -- using this recipe.  follow the link and check out the gorgeousness that are those pretzels.  and here.  go look at those.    

so i decided to try my hand at making them.

thing is... i didn't have parchment paper, my mixer is still in it's original box (a wedding gift people -- it's been almost 5 years!) somewhere in the basement and i didn't have kosher or sea salt.

but i threw caution to the wind and thought i could wing it.

alas, i could not.  without a mixer, i got lazy and  didn't knead the dough long enough.  without parchment paper, i instead greased the cookie sheet, and without the kosher salt, i sprinkled morton's on the top.   

and i ended up with these...

pretty fugly, huh.  interestingly enough they tasted ok.  but they didn't rise enough, and they were greasy (i was a little heavy handed with the melted butter on top too).  and the whole boiling them before baking step was seriously messed up because my pretzels kind of fell apart in the process.  they just didn't look right.

but yes, i ate them all.

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day 158  -- i need to dig out that mixer.   

Mondays Should Just be the Third Day of the Weekend

it's not that i hate mondays.  i don't.  because to hate mondays would mean that i actively had some sort of feeling about mondays.  you know ... had some emotion invested in mondays or something.  but really, all i want to do on mondays, especially THIS monday, is take a nap.  especially since right now my office is a little on the cold side and i'm wearing short sleeves and i came into work early today so i haven't even really seen the sun.  is it sunny out?  i don't even know.   

and for you crocheters out there.  here's my "how i crochet" video.  and yes, that's the babette i'm working on.

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day 157  -- when babette is done, maybe i should bring it to work for napping purposes.

"How I Knit"

the latest flickr trend is to post mini videos of how you knit, crochet, spin, whatever.  not one to be left out, i too jumped on the bandwagon.

here's my "how i knit" video, the extended version.  the rat bastards in flickr cut mine short. 

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day 156  -- did you notice that i'm totally incapable of talking without moving my hands A LOT?.