Adventures in Berkeley

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Yesterday, I got off work a couple hours early, the Husband picked me up, and we headed to Berkeley to see Stephanie. Her talk was great (Note to her publisher: she did indeed read excerpts from her book), especially the parts for which we were sworn to secrecy. During the question and answer period, she outed the Husband as a Canadian with the secret Canadian password. Then came the time to wait in line to get books signed.

While standing in line I got to meet Kathy from San Jose (who I’m certain I’ve seen post comments on the Harlot’s blog even though I can’t find a single one now)… I think I somehow managed to find the only librarian in the room, so we talked shop as well as knitting. There was much feeling of yarn as we made our way past the shelves.

During the 2 hours I stood in line I never imagined I’d ever hear the Husband get into an argument with anyone, let alone Stephanie, about the toast. When I got up to her the 2 of them were bonding over all things Canadian including the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. (It was just after this that we sadly learned that Don Cherry is now on a 3 second delay after saying something bad about Edmonton. *sigh*) Knitters can always talk about yarn with each other, and Canadian can always talk hockey.

Getting to meet Stephanie in person was great. This of course means that my social ineptitude came shining through (or at least I think it did). Not wanting to seem overeager to meet her… not wanting to fawn all over her… what do I do? Clam up almost completely. *sigh* (I still haven’t managed to find a good balance between being appropriately out-going and not bouncing off the walls… especially when I’m excited.) I asked her if I could have my picture taken with her and mentioned it would go in my blog (please ignore how red my cheeks are, it’s a whim they have). So, she asks what my blog name is, and I tell her… and she recognized it. I nearly thought about fainting. 🙂 Here was a person who’s blog is read by hundreds of people, but she recognized my blog name. (And, apparently, I’ve saved all the fawning for my blog entry.) I am quite proud to say that I did not leave the interaction thinking anything along the lines of “I can’t believe I opened my mouth and allowed that statement to come out.” (This happens after many social occasions… I spend a good deal of time dwelling on something I said that I consider to be highly moronic, believing that those who heard it uttered probably discussed my stupidity amongst themselves as soon as I left.)

The wonderful evening was capped by a quick jaunt down the street to pick up a Zachary’s spinach and mushroom stuffed pizza to take home. Then, it was bedtime… I think I laid there for awhile trying to compose today’s blog entry, all of which I forgot during the night. I’m sorry to say that this is a sad attempt to recreate some of the clever prose that came to me as I drifted off (but that’s usually the case).

Today is the first day of the next 2 weeks

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Geez, how’d it get to be Thursday already? (Not that I’m complaining really, Thursday today means Friday tomorrow.) Today was the start of a rather busy 2 weeks for me. Thankfully, while many things are things that need to be done, several things are guaranteed to be packed full o’fun.

Schedule thus far:
Today
Morning dept all-hands meeting
Afternoon chiropractor appt

7/29
Morning company all-hands meeting
Afternoon team meeting

7/31
Hot tub for an hour
Kill 2 hours while the Husband gets a 2 hour massage

8/1
9 am Monday morning meeting about website

8/2
Yarn Harlot in Berkeley

8/3
Morning doctor’s appt about knee

8/5
The Husband’s sushi class

8/6
Friend’s garden party

8/7
Head to Monterey to see my sister’s presentation on her trip to Vietnam

8/8
Morning dentist appts for both the Husband and I

8/12
Wine guild meeting in Monterey

At least there are a few places here and there for breaks in all the action. Meanwhile, I have not been able to get me, my camera, and the basket full of prezzies my secret pal sent me all in one place at the same time… well, that’s a lie sort of… we’ve all been in the living room together, but my memory has been absent each time and I have not remembered to take a picture. I’ve been too busy knitting up a couple afghan squares for Annie’s project as well as trying to get the last of my secret pal things together so I can take the box to the post office.

And they’ve only been sitting on my camera for 3 days…

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Knitting has been taking place

After several very distressing tries to get my photos uploaded, I finally managed to get them online. Thus, I present 2 of my current WIPs. I believe I’ve just started the 4th repeat on Birch, but I’m not sure because I haven’t really been paying attention, and I really don’t feel like counting the stitches to see where I stand. I finished the body of my Ribby Cardi awhile ago, just never took a picture. I have finally finished all the increases on the first arm and am slowly plodding away to get it the right length before beginning the shoulder shaping. I haven’t been working on it all that much because I suddenly became horribly bored with K2P2 ribbing. I have a feeling I’m going to be on Sleeve Island for awhile with this one.

I’m hoping to get Birch done quickly… I’ve just received the invitation to my 10 year reunion and it stated Cocktail Dress. So, I’ve got a month and a half to finish the shawl and try to find a nice dress to go with it. The reunion is in Monterey, so the shawl should definitely come in handy — summer nights in Monterey tend to be cold and foggy like SF. And I want to show off my mad knitting skillz… got to have something to show off besides The Husband, right?

The Coolest Purse Ever

Well, at least I think it is. I usually have a hard time finding a purse that I like the looks of and don’t find too difficult to carry around. Up to this point the purse I have been using was a simple smallish messenger type bag made out of black canvas. It had 2 small pockets right under the flap, a big open main compartment with a zippered pocket, and another zippered pocket on the outside back. It has been extremely serviceable, but is now starting to fall apart, mainly the straps are starting to come away from the body. So, I was beginning to contemplate the thought of a new purse. Like I said before, this is hard for me… I’ll find a purse I like the looks of only to open it and discover it either doesn’t have enough pockets or has way too many. And, no, I can’t tell you what the appropriate number of pockets is cause it depends on the purse.

The coolest purse ever caught my eye while I was knitting with a friend in Santa Cruz. I could easily see it and 2 of its friends casually hanging out on the door display of SFB Silk, the sun glinting off its silk panels. Soon, I could not ignore its siren call any longer. I went to investigate, sure that I would open the purse and find the wrong number of pockets (or an outrageous price tag). First, there was an examination of the outside of the purse, its shape and coloring were intriguing. Opening the purse caused wonder, for this purse had the number of pockets I thought it should have: one zippered pocket, a cell phone pocket, and another open pocket slightly bigger than the cell phone pocket. Now, I began thinking because this purse has now met my pocket needs it most likely has a price tag well over $200. I find the tag and turn it over… *gah* it was under $100. Of course, I had to get it…. well, after I spent at least 10 minutes hemming and hawing over do I really need a new purse, is this truly too much to spend on a purse (previously the most I have ever paid for a purse was $40, and it was leather).

My friend tried to be helpful and told me to wait a week, come back and see if I still liked it. But, I was afraid that if I did that the purse would be gone in a week. I would have been sorely disappointed to find it gone, so I broke down and handed over my check card. And, thus, the purse came home with me. The only downside to the new purse I can find so far is that it does not fit in the underseat storage of my scooter, which isn’t too bad because it doesn’t go with my black and red leather riding jacket. 🙂 Okay, I’ve fawned way too much over my new purse, so on to one final topic…

Flowers!

Clean-meister

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This past weekend went quite nicely. The Husband and I went down to Santa Cruz to see some friends. I got to hang out with Kalendar Girl and knit while basking in the slightly breezy 72 F Santa Cruz weather (it was 91 F when we left Mountain View). She introduced me to a cute new knitting store called Swift Stitch. There was a French bakery where I got a strange latte (They steamed the milk, poured it in a glass, then poured in the shoot of espresso… I had to find a spoon to mix it together because the espresso just hung right beneath the foam… weird). I ended up being naughty and buying myself a new purse from the silk store that was next to the knitting store. The purse was hanging on an outside display, and I found my eye being drawn to it while I was knitting. After awhile I just had to get a closer look… it’s an unusual looking purse. It’s made by Oovoo Design. The bag I got looks similar to their Baroque Baggy… the colors and stitching is similar, but the shape is completely different. I’ll have to take a picture tonight to share.

After knitting and purse buying adventures, my friend and I headed back to her place where The Husband was to cook dinner for us and a few other friends. Very tasty, but simple food. And it was a lot of fun to just spend time with friends that we hadn’t seen for a couple months.

Sunday was more adventurous. The Husband and I have been discussing buying a new bed for at least the last 6 months. Sleeptrain was advertising a sale with no interest till 2007. So, we headed off to take another look at the Sleep Number beds. Testing a couple of models out convinced us this was the way to go (The Husband likes his bed firm while I like a softer bed). The salesman we got was great, lots of fun to talk to, and he gave us a tremendous break on the bed, quoting a price that was $300 less than a guy at a different store quoted us for a less plush model. How could we say no?

Because we ordered the bed before 2 pm, we were able to get same day delivery. Same day delivery of course meant that I had to find my bedroom floor before the delivery guys showed up expecting to set up the new bed for us. I was at it for about an hour and a half, but I found the floor in front of our closet, managed to get clutter off a few flat surfaces, and even wiped away months worth of dust. So, aside from a couple of clutter hotspots in my bedroom, it looks the best it’s ever looked since we moved in 2.5 years ago. Quite the workout.

The Husband was taking care of laundry while I tackled the dust bunnies, so we had nice new clean sheets to put on the new bed. We spent a good hour playing with the controls, trying to find where each of us thought felt the best. I think I still need to experiment a bit more; the setting I used last night might have been a bit too soft. But, this is such an improvement over a spring mattress with memory foam that’s come down with Alzheimer’s.

Friday

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The Husband is going out to play Vampire tonight, leaving me home alone with a movie, wine, and my knitting.

But, what I really want to do is spin… and I can’t. My knee is still too sore to use it that way. All the talk about spinning that’s going around is making me miss it. I haven’t spun since the last weekend of May. I had just started spinning up the fiber I had dyed.

Of course, I also want my knee to get better, so it might be time to pull out a drop spindle.

I’ve got 2 increases left on the first sleeve for my Ribby Cardi. I’m not sure if I’ll continue working on the sleeve or if I’ll try to work on Birch tonight.

Fun car news
Last week I discovered the chrome on the inside passenger side door handle was peeling off on my car. How did I discover this? Why I managed to slice 2 fingertips open on it while trying to get out of the car. While chrome may look insubstantial, it’s rather quite sharp. Thankfully, neither injured finger is terribly important for knitting.

So, yesterday I took my car in for it’s 35,000 mile oil change and asked them to take a look at it. Wouldn’t have been any problem except the warranty that covers such things expires at 36,000 miles, and I was a bit late bringing my car in at 37,000. I managed to use my blonde powers (don’t worry I only use them for good) and the nice car guy ran off to speak with his supervisor about. He was back within a minute to inform me that they’d cover it. Woot! So, they replaced the door handle assembly; no more sharp chrome.

The Husband took a co-worker out to lunch today and discovered that the new, shiny door handle doesn’t work. You can’t open the door from the inside. Unfortunately, he was unable to get it in today, so we have an appointment Monday morning to have them look at it again. *sigh*

Quite the update

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I seem to be going through one of my don’t-really-like-computers phases. This usually consists of my only really using a computer at work, avoiding email, and (obviously) not posting to my blog.

I haven’t really been doing tons of knitting either, and I certainly haven’t taken any pictures. I did manage to finish the body of my Ribby Cardi even with the short delay of having to redo the right front armhole shaping section. For some reason, instead of doing the k2tog at the end of the RS rows I did them at the beginning of the WS rows (oh wait, that’s right, the pattern didn’t tell me where to do them). It wasn’t too hard to rip it out and reknit it. And I can say that I learned something (besides the fact that I’ve decided I don’t like patterns that tell you to knit one part like another, but change something). I’ve started on one of the arms… I’m knitting it in the round using the magic loop technique. I’ve got 4 more increases to do before I need to start worrying about length and shoulder shaping.

I’ve only completed 2 repeats on Birch… total. I just don’t feel like working on lace when I get home from work.

But, then, the thought of knitting with any kind of wool the last few days hasn’t been entirely appealing since we went from rather moderate weather to sit-on-the-couch-in-shorts-and-a-tank-top-while-drinking-chardonnay-
and-not-moving weather. I’m just glad I don’t live in Gilroy… 100 F… *ugh*

Now the funny part is I’m sitting at work wearing a scarf and fingerless gloves cause I’m freezing. I’m even thinking about putting on my hat. Geez. I get in in the morning and it’s actually rather nice, but come afternoon, once the a/c is really going, my fingers start turning blue. I’ve complained to facilities a few times, and it get better for a day, then I’m back to figuring out how to wear my winter wardrobe without dying of heat exhaustion while coming to work on my scooter.

Maybe I should have a cup of peppermint tea. My secret pal sent me a great card with peppermint tea to get my through the stress of my manager being on vacation. Yes, a hot mug of pepperminty goodness… that would be nice.

That’s just disturbing… Ack!

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Ugh! I hate silverfish. 🙁 This is why I screamed when I turned my head and saw one crawling towards my head on my pillow last night. Ugh! The Husband valiantly killed it for me, but I was left feeling creepy crawly all night. I would wake up and roll over and go to fluff my pillow, then think twice about even touching the thing. I was so tired when I woke up this morning… not being able to get comfortable due to lack of pillow fluffing and nightmares with insects crawling all over my bed were no help at all. Ugh! Why can’t I find silverfish where they belong — the bathroom?! Why do I always seem to only find them in my bedroom. Most knitters spend their time worrying about moths getting into their wool. I’m spending all my time worrying about my books and photos. Ugh! And now my head… *creepy crawly shivers*

Of course, on the topic of bugs, I saw a small moth in my living room a couple days ago and ending up smooshing it when it landed on the Husband’s cheek… he just loved that. So, between seeing one small moth, then another in my bedroom yesterday afternoon that I didn’t manage to catch, and a posting in the Livejournal knitting community about infestations, I’m worrying about my wool. I did a cursory scan of my fleeces and such and everything looked untouched. So, of course, now I’m thinking, “Wait! I saw it in my bedroom… where my nice silk and wool clothing is… where the Husband’s expensive tux is… Ack!”

And I used to think that spiders were my biggest worry… *sigh*

Sadly, I have not managed any lace knitting recently, even with the long weekend. I have, however, been working on the Ribby Cardi. I am almost done with the armhole shaping on the back. I did both front over the weekend. Unfortunately, I need to redo the right front. Apparently, I’m a moron when it comes to patterns that say “Right armhole shaping: Reverse left armhole shaping.” Instead of doing a k2tog at the end of the RS rows, I did it at the beginning of the WS rows, which made a weird looking decrease rib thingy. The plan has become for me to finish the back, then rip back the right front and do it again. At least this can be said to be a learning experience, right?

The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?

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Or, possibly the worst play I’ve ever seen.

The Husband and I went up to the city last night to see the last play of ACT‘s season. This is the theater’s description of the play:

A.C.T.’s new production of this landmark and controversial play brings the powerful voice of three-time Pulitzer Prize–winner Edward Albee back to the Geary stage for the first time in over 30 years. Martin is a middle-aged man at the pinnacle of a successful career. He has loving relationships with his brilliant wife, Stevie, and his teenage son, Billy. But suddenly Martin makes a shocking confession that changes everything. As he struggles to explain himself to his family, they all sink deeper into the awful realization that something truly terrible has happened to their beautiful world—something so far outside of “normal” that it just might destroy them. Clive Barnes of the New York Post deemed The Goat “unquestionably one of the wittiest and funniest plays Albee has ever written.” The original Broadway production won the Tony Award for best play in 2002, and was declared by the Village Voice “the play most likely to be talked about seriously—angrily, ferociously—for years to come.”

Sure, it was funny for the first bit… very black humor sort of stuff. But, by the end, it was taking itself way too seriously. I don’t know, maybe I missed something. But, I found the ending disturbing… who wouldn’t find it disturbing? It end with a woman covered in blood, a dead goat, and a man sobbing over said goat while his son and best friend watched. Yeah…

So, because of this jaunt to the city, I got no knitting done last night. I got home and fondled Birch a bit, but I had to convince myself not to actually work on it. I was tired… my eyes were tired… not a time to work on lace. We’re going out to dinner with one of the Husband’s co-workers tonight; I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do between getting home and going out. I think I will give it a go though… I’m in love with the soft fuzziness of the fabric the Kidsilk Haze is making.

Now for a real post

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I did indeed cast on for Birch last night. I even swatched first… and I’m not entirely sure I was getting gauge because Birch is one of those patterns that gives you gauge in pattern instead of stockinette stitch. It looked like it was right, and this is a shawl, so I don’t need to be bang on. Of course, now I’m worrying that my gauge might be a little on the big side. Of course, I’ve only knit 4 rows so far, and the cast on edge is really loopy, so it’s hard to tell if things are a bit loose or not. It could just be that I haven’t knit enough yet. When I was swatching for Ribby Cardi, I got a gauge of 8 sts/inch after knitting about an inch… my gauge changed to 9.5 sts/inch after I knit another inch. I think I’m just going to have to cross my fingers and hope that the stitches work things out amongst themselves… ripping this out would be beyond a pain in the ass. I tried to rip back my gauge swatch and ended up breaking the yarn. *sigh*

Thankfully, I have all these knitting problems to worry about cause otherwise I’d be worrying about the fact that my manager is on a 2 week vacation to Europe. This is worrisome because there are certain things that have to be done on a daily and weekly basis… and it’s end of quarter, so I have to take care of that report, too. Of course, one of the automated scripts we have broke on Friday night, which meant I had to run a whole bunch of things manually when I came in on Monday. Boy, did I have an argument with that computer… I had to reboot 3 times. *gah* And now people are coming to my cube and asking me questions about projects I have no clue about because I’m not working on them.

Other manager: Can you tell me when we’re planning for this search tool project to go live?
Me: No, but I can tell you that it’s being tested* at the moment.
OM: Can you tell me which server it’s set up on?
Me: Nope.

Hopefully, this won’t drive me crazy… I just have to make it to the 12th.

*And that’s only cause I’m included in the alias my manager sent an email out to.

Ooo… softness

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There’s something really nice about an anticipated package showing up a whole day early. I ordered 3 balls of Kidsilk Haze in Majesty and Rowan 34 from Knit Happens last week after they announced a sale. (Unfortunately, the day after I placed the order I heard about the eBay place that sells Kidsilk Haze for $9.50… *sigh*) According to UPS, my package was to arrive on Tuesday. I like to check how things are going (even when there’s a date set for delivery and it says it’s on time. Things can change…), so this afternoon I ran my tracking number through the UPS website, and it says it was delivered this morning. But, the nice shipping guy had not been by my desk. I decided to check my mailbox on my way to get some tea from the breakroom, and that’s where I found a nice package filling my cubby hole. 🙂

The Rowan magazine is lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. And there’s actually some other pretty things in it… sadly, Rowan considers a 40 inch bust measurement to be an XL. I may have lost 25 lbs on my diet, but I’m still 6 inches away from a 40 inch bust.

The Kidsilk Haze is so soft. I know people have been fawning over it all around the knitting universe, but wow. I’m glad I decided to make Birch out of the yarn called for. This will make a really nice shawl.

I think I’ll probably be casting on tonight…