Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Friday, May 27, 2005
Knit Night
Last night I really enjoyed myself. It was the second week that I went to the Stitch 'n' Bitch night at Threaded Bliss. They have these knit times on Thursday and Sunday and I figured it was worth checking out since there weren't any sewing parties the past two weeks.
I called ahead and asked for details and made sure that a newcomer like myself wouldn't be out of place. Emily answered the phone and sounded so welcoming that I decided to show up, not knowing a soul. I'd been to the shop before to purchase supplies, but hadn't lingered because of the kids in tow. It's a place worth lingering, though. So much to look at and read and touch. All the yummy yarns and the space to sit and knit awhile.
Without the kids, I took Samantha and hoped to enjoy the company of other knitters and get something done. Last week and this, I've had not-so-easy knitting to accomplish...mistakes to fix or new techniques to attempt. What was nice, was the helpfulness of the owner, Sheila, and the other staff members and knitters. They also seemed to know (maybe unintentionally) when to give me space. After all, if I chat too much, I won't get anywhere on my project. It was a good balance. I was inspired and encouraged. Tina told me I should get "kicked off the island" for knitting so well as a beginner, and that I'm not really a beginner any longer. And as I left, Sheila said that they won't really kick me off the island.
So I came back this week. When I showed up, everyone was chatting in a circle and sipping on some wine. There were more new faces and new names that I'm afraid I don't remember. A very sweet woman helped me browse the books for a solution to my picot edging dilemma before her husband picked her up. Then, Emily sat with me again to get me started on the grafting technique I am using. I was dreading the finishing, but really got into it and thought it was fun once I could see it working. She also had the great suggestion to practice the technique on the bottom hem where mistakes would be less likely to show, rather than the neckline.
It was a blast. I know I'll go back.
Last night I really enjoyed myself. It was the second week that I went to the Stitch 'n' Bitch night at Threaded Bliss. They have these knit times on Thursday and Sunday and I figured it was worth checking out since there weren't any sewing parties the past two weeks.
I called ahead and asked for details and made sure that a newcomer like myself wouldn't be out of place. Emily answered the phone and sounded so welcoming that I decided to show up, not knowing a soul. I'd been to the shop before to purchase supplies, but hadn't lingered because of the kids in tow. It's a place worth lingering, though. So much to look at and read and touch. All the yummy yarns and the space to sit and knit awhile.
Without the kids, I took Samantha and hoped to enjoy the company of other knitters and get something done. Last week and this, I've had not-so-easy knitting to accomplish...mistakes to fix or new techniques to attempt. What was nice, was the helpfulness of the owner, Sheila, and the other staff members and knitters. They also seemed to know (maybe unintentionally) when to give me space. After all, if I chat too much, I won't get anywhere on my project. It was a good balance. I was inspired and encouraged. Tina told me I should get "kicked off the island" for knitting so well as a beginner, and that I'm not really a beginner any longer. And as I left, Sheila said that they won't really kick me off the island.
So I came back this week. When I showed up, everyone was chatting in a circle and sipping on some wine. There were more new faces and new names that I'm afraid I don't remember. A very sweet woman helped me browse the books for a solution to my picot edging dilemma before her husband picked her up. Then, Emily sat with me again to get me started on the grafting technique I am using. I was dreading the finishing, but really got into it and thought it was fun once I could see it working. She also had the great suggestion to practice the technique on the bottom hem where mistakes would be less likely to show, rather than the neckline.
It was a blast. I know I'll go back.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Take Two
Yesterday, we finally made it to the park.
I say "finally" because we tried to go to the park on Friday night last week after dinner but got in a car accident on the way there. We're all fine. It could have been much worse. The damage to the van was all on the front left corner, and thankfully didn't crunch in on anyone. We were hit by a truck pulling a boat that turned into us. No one in that car was injured either.
We have a rental car, and the body shop will probably have the van completely repaired in two weeks. I wish it had been "totaled"- it would have been much more convienent. The rental is an Altima and it is tight with three carseats and two adults. But, I now remember what I liked about the Altimas (both white) we owned. Nissan Altimas are good cars, and the new ones have a tremendous amount of "get up and go".
So, last Friday, like I mentioned, we never made it to the park. It was a lengthy wait for the police officer to come evaluate and write up the accident. Christie came and picked up the boys so they wouldn't be so bored. Later, Barbara showed up and brought Eric his license that he'd left at home and drove Lael and me back to the house. Then Jerry drove and helped Eric bend some of the metal away from the tire so that the van was driveable, allowing us to worry about a rental in the morning. We joked about how we might be able to involve any other neighbors in our little drama. Seriously, I love our neighborhood and the people we've gotten to know here. If any of them asked me to break into their house to obtain their driver's license- I'd totally do it! :-)
Yesterday, we finally made it to the park.
I say "finally" because we tried to go to the park on Friday night last week after dinner but got in a car accident on the way there. We're all fine. It could have been much worse. The damage to the van was all on the front left corner, and thankfully didn't crunch in on anyone. We were hit by a truck pulling a boat that turned into us. No one in that car was injured either.
We have a rental car, and the body shop will probably have the van completely repaired in two weeks. I wish it had been "totaled"- it would have been much more convienent. The rental is an Altima and it is tight with three carseats and two adults. But, I now remember what I liked about the Altimas (both white) we owned. Nissan Altimas are good cars, and the new ones have a tremendous amount of "get up and go".
So, last Friday, like I mentioned, we never made it to the park. It was a lengthy wait for the police officer to come evaluate and write up the accident. Christie came and picked up the boys so they wouldn't be so bored. Later, Barbara showed up and brought Eric his license that he'd left at home and drove Lael and me back to the house. Then Jerry drove and helped Eric bend some of the metal away from the tire so that the van was driveable, allowing us to worry about a rental in the morning. We joked about how we might be able to involve any other neighbors in our little drama. Seriously, I love our neighborhood and the people we've gotten to know here. If any of them asked me to break into their house to obtain their driver's license- I'd totally do it! :-)
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
That's the CD book I'm listening to on my ipod this week. With three cranky kids I rushed into he library Monday hoping to come away with a book to import. Since I didn't want to create a scene, I basically scanned the shelves for a name that might pop out at me- grabbed it- and checked out. I walked out with two books I know little about: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Fahrenheit 451. I haven't read either of them in print. I know that F 451 is a "classic" or at least that many people had it as required reading. I did not. And I know that Midnight in the Garden has in recent years been on a best seller list of some sort.
So, I began listening to Midnight in the Garden first and am enjoying it. I listened yesterday while cleaning and knitting and today while at the gym. When I got home from the gym, I decided to look it up on Amazon to get a bit more information and was pleasantly surprised to read that it is non-fiction. Already, only 2 1/2 chapters in, I was wanting to visit Savannah, GA and now that I know this is all real it makes me want to go there even more. But, I get the travelling bug pretty easily. I want to go everywhere.
If I became ultra rich, I don't think I'd jump immediately at the luxury cars, or the huge huge mansion, or the designer wardrobe. I'd want to travel. I'd even give up the live-in massage therapist and housekeeper to travel whenever and wherever I wanted.
That's the CD book I'm listening to on my ipod this week. With three cranky kids I rushed into he library Monday hoping to come away with a book to import. Since I didn't want to create a scene, I basically scanned the shelves for a name that might pop out at me- grabbed it- and checked out. I walked out with two books I know little about: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Fahrenheit 451. I haven't read either of them in print. I know that F 451 is a "classic" or at least that many people had it as required reading. I did not. And I know that Midnight in the Garden has in recent years been on a best seller list of some sort.
So, I began listening to Midnight in the Garden first and am enjoying it. I listened yesterday while cleaning and knitting and today while at the gym. When I got home from the gym, I decided to look it up on Amazon to get a bit more information and was pleasantly surprised to read that it is non-fiction. Already, only 2 1/2 chapters in, I was wanting to visit Savannah, GA and now that I know this is all real it makes me want to go there even more. But, I get the travelling bug pretty easily. I want to go everywhere.
If I became ultra rich, I don't think I'd jump immediately at the luxury cars, or the huge huge mansion, or the designer wardrobe. I'd want to travel. I'd even give up the live-in massage therapist and housekeeper to travel whenever and wherever I wanted.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
This is my pretty little toy that I got this past week. Isn't it cute? Eric brought one home from work the other day; it was some free deal/perk. I don't know all the details. But, he got an ipod mini last month- which made this new one mine. I was having a bit of a problem deciding if I should keep it or sell it and use the money for something I'd really like since I already have an MP3 player that was given to me for Christmas that works quite nicely. The ipod was green, and I made a comment that I would have selected the pink "but it doesn't really matter because I might not keep it". That evening, I had a pink one sitting on the counter waiting for me and it was just too cute and I had to keep it! My other player was smaller and held less, so this is just great. And it's so cute. Really, it comes down to it being *so cute*. And free. Cute and free. Today, I've been listening to a "book on tape" which probably wouldn't have been practical on my little one. Ah, modern technology...I feel like I might be catching up.
Samantha progress/ problems
I love the look of this pattern, and it has been extremely easy to knit with stunning textures...but there have been some errors. As a fairly new knitter, I am frustrated with my lack of knowledge- I don't immediately know how to tackle certain things. I contacted the designer of the pattern with my first issue, and she was very helpful but I don't want to e-mail with every little glitch I come across because I'm sure she has other things to tend to and she's pregnant. I know if i were pregnant, I'd not want to be tech support to a newbie knitter. But I googled and came across another knitter who was documenting her progress on Samantha on her blog. This might be helpful if I really get stuck.
My biggest trouble right now is figuring out how to hem the collar's open loops. Whipstitch? Backstitch? Right now, I feel like simply zipping my sewing machine through the yarn and calling it a day.
I love the look of this pattern, and it has been extremely easy to knit with stunning textures...but there have been some errors. As a fairly new knitter, I am frustrated with my lack of knowledge- I don't immediately know how to tackle certain things. I contacted the designer of the pattern with my first issue, and she was very helpful but I don't want to e-mail with every little glitch I come across because I'm sure she has other things to tend to and she's pregnant. I know if i were pregnant, I'd not want to be tech support to a newbie knitter. But I googled and came across another knitter who was documenting her progress on Samantha on her blog. This might be helpful if I really get stuck.
My biggest trouble right now is figuring out how to hem the collar's open loops. Whipstitch? Backstitch? Right now, I feel like simply zipping my sewing machine through the yarn and calling it a day.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Another tidbit from our trip to California. We were able to get together with some old friends. This picture shows how much the group has grown since we lived out there. We have three children, Adam is now married to Alicia and has baby Katja on the way (and don't forget dog Sobi!), and Shane and Erika have their son Ethan. We had a lovely early dinner in Adam and Alicia's back garden. Grant and Dean acted up a bit, but we still managed to talk and visit a little. Right at the end, we attempted to snap a photograph self-timer style. This one is alright, but there are others that aren't so great. Sobi wouldn't stop turning her bottom to the lens. Every other shot has Sobi's bottom in the foreground. I'll have to post some of the cute photos of Ethan and Lael when I put them in the computer, too. I've got one of them holding hands! Erika, I'll e-mail them to you when I get around to it. So sweet.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
I am still working on "Samantha", but it could quickly be finished if I wasn't too tired at the end of the night to work on it. All the same, my mind wanders onto "what will I do next?". Today I came across this sweater ( www.knitpixie.com) and thought it was lovely. I like the high ribbing on the tummy area that *elongates* the torso. I could wear that.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Well it looks like living in the South has changed the way I talk...
quiz via Jess
quiz via Jess
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 80% General American English |
| 15% Yankee |
| 5% Dixie |
| 0% Midwestern |
| 0% Upper Midwestern |
What'>http://www.blogthings.com/amenglishdialecttest/">What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
Thursday, May 12, 2005
The Penny Drama
Another lovely vacation memory.
Wednesday last week, we were supposed to be hanging out with Becky and Aaron. Instead, we wasted a lot of time on an unexpected "project".
As we were loading up bags and strollers and stuff into the back of the vechicle, Dean and Grant were supposed to be climbing into their carseats waiting to be strapped in. Dean took the opportunity to climb around up front and play with car things. Adjust the mirror, turn on the hazard lights, pretend to steer.....AND shove spare change into all available "money slots".
Because, of course, the crevices around the AC levers and the CD player are just the perfect size for pennies and dimes!
The big problem was that we didn't see it happen. But Eric was tipped off when he tried to lower the AC lever to "cold" and it snapped off. A hidden penny was preventing the lever from coming all the way down, but the pressure on the plastic knob made it snap right off from the internal metal lever. On our rental.
Eric fished out all the change he could, but the lever was still broken and a penny was still lodged in that slot. So we drove to Aaron's house anyway for the guys to work on it together. They tore the dash apart, retreived the change, and tried to glue the plastic knob back on. I think they went through Super Glue, and hot glue and finally Gorilla Glue (which seemed to partially work but didn't feel 100% solid). Feeling terribly responsible, Eric started calling around to price check the part.
$175.00
That seemed like a lot, but we assumed it would end up much more expensive if Hertz billed us on the back end. Still, we called Hertz anyway and told the story and they said that it wouldn't be a problem since it was all under warranty. Eric hung up, but didn't feel exactly right about it- really, how could this be?- so he called back and spoke to a manager (making it clear that our child caused the problem) and got the same answer. What a nice surprise.
Three hours wasted, but no money out of pocket and we have the privledge of saying we know what the inside of a Chevy Trailblazer's dash looks like.
Another lovely vacation memory.
Wednesday last week, we were supposed to be hanging out with Becky and Aaron. Instead, we wasted a lot of time on an unexpected "project".
As we were loading up bags and strollers and stuff into the back of the vechicle, Dean and Grant were supposed to be climbing into their carseats waiting to be strapped in. Dean took the opportunity to climb around up front and play with car things. Adjust the mirror, turn on the hazard lights, pretend to steer.....AND shove spare change into all available "money slots".
Because, of course, the crevices around the AC levers and the CD player are just the perfect size for pennies and dimes!
The big problem was that we didn't see it happen. But Eric was tipped off when he tried to lower the AC lever to "cold" and it snapped off. A hidden penny was preventing the lever from coming all the way down, but the pressure on the plastic knob made it snap right off from the internal metal lever. On our rental.
Eric fished out all the change he could, but the lever was still broken and a penny was still lodged in that slot. So we drove to Aaron's house anyway for the guys to work on it together. They tore the dash apart, retreived the change, and tried to glue the plastic knob back on. I think they went through Super Glue, and hot glue and finally Gorilla Glue (which seemed to partially work but didn't feel 100% solid). Feeling terribly responsible, Eric started calling around to price check the part.
$175.00
That seemed like a lot, but we assumed it would end up much more expensive if Hertz billed us on the back end. Still, we called Hertz anyway and told the story and they said that it wouldn't be a problem since it was all under warranty. Eric hung up, but didn't feel exactly right about it- really, how could this be?- so he called back and spoke to a manager (making it clear that our child caused the problem) and got the same answer. What a nice surprise.
Three hours wasted, but no money out of pocket and we have the privledge of saying we know what the inside of a Chevy Trailblazer's dash looks like.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
While we were in California we had the wonderful opportunity to sneak away for a night. Chances like this are rare and treasured for us since we have no one to watch the children overnight here in Nashville. Thankfully, Grandma and Papa were willing and we booked a hotel and escaped.
We stayed on Shelter Island at Humphrey's. Dinner that night was superb at Il Fornaio on Coronado Island. We were seated outside right on the water at a table next to the fireplace. The only downside was the loud table next to us with two extremely "informative" people at a table of four. Eric and I never really heard the other two people in the party talk or ask questions, but apparently, the loud pair knew everything about everything and was extremely happy to share it. Opinions on food, cars, industry. I ordered an amazing and unusual ravioli dish: grilled pears and fresh mozarella in pasta ravioli with asparagus gorgonzola cream sauce and chopped walnuts. It was so good! Then we walked along the water and watched the sun set. Coronado is one of the sweetest places and would be the superb place to live if it weren't for the pricetag.
We planned on dessert, coffee, and live jazz back at the hotel's lounge but there was no seating upon entering and I felt a bit out of place in the bar-like setting. This girl's never had her hand stamped and ID asked for like that before- I've lived a sheltered life. We somewhat awkwardly left because there was no where to sit, but I would have stayed otherwise- the music sounded good. Instead we hopped in the car and drove around in hopes of finding a place to grab the dessert I was craving. Finally we settled on a frozen yogurt place called "Funnies" because there doesn't seem to be much else on a Sunday night in Pt. Loma except Denny's, Coco's, or Starbucks. In hindsight, Starbucks might have been a better option, but I really wanted try something new. Starbucks falls under the "safe" and "same ol', same ol' " categories.
The next morning we lounged around and took our time getting ready to head back up north. No crying children, no preparing of breakfast- it was so relaxing.
Of course, we still missed the little rugrats, so we talked about the cool reception we'd get upon arrival. Eric told me how neat it is to show up after being away on business trips and get the huge greeting and tight "squeeze hugs". I rarely am in that position, so I got excited and wouldn't you know...they blew right past me and my open arms and attacked Eric with hugs and kisses, "Daaaaad!!!!" Oh well. I promptly grabbed Lael and stole my hugs from her.
We stayed on Shelter Island at Humphrey's. Dinner that night was superb at Il Fornaio on Coronado Island. We were seated outside right on the water at a table next to the fireplace. The only downside was the loud table next to us with two extremely "informative" people at a table of four. Eric and I never really heard the other two people in the party talk or ask questions, but apparently, the loud pair knew everything about everything and was extremely happy to share it. Opinions on food, cars, industry. I ordered an amazing and unusual ravioli dish: grilled pears and fresh mozarella in pasta ravioli with asparagus gorgonzola cream sauce and chopped walnuts. It was so good! Then we walked along the water and watched the sun set. Coronado is one of the sweetest places and would be the superb place to live if it weren't for the pricetag.
We planned on dessert, coffee, and live jazz back at the hotel's lounge but there was no seating upon entering and I felt a bit out of place in the bar-like setting. This girl's never had her hand stamped and ID asked for like that before- I've lived a sheltered life. We somewhat awkwardly left because there was no where to sit, but I would have stayed otherwise- the music sounded good. Instead we hopped in the car and drove around in hopes of finding a place to grab the dessert I was craving. Finally we settled on a frozen yogurt place called "Funnies" because there doesn't seem to be much else on a Sunday night in Pt. Loma except Denny's, Coco's, or Starbucks. In hindsight, Starbucks might have been a better option, but I really wanted try something new. Starbucks falls under the "safe" and "same ol', same ol' " categories.
The next morning we lounged around and took our time getting ready to head back up north. No crying children, no preparing of breakfast- it was so relaxing.
Of course, we still missed the little rugrats, so we talked about the cool reception we'd get upon arrival. Eric told me how neat it is to show up after being away on business trips and get the huge greeting and tight "squeeze hugs". I rarely am in that position, so I got excited and wouldn't you know...they blew right past me and my open arms and attacked Eric with hugs and kisses, "Daaaaad!!!!" Oh well. I promptly grabbed Lael and stole my hugs from her.
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