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January 25, 2010

Good finds

I am still working on Citron. It is coming along at a very slow pace. I am hoping the end results will compensate for all the mind numbness. Not much to see there, but I did have a bit of yarny fun this weekend.

Last Saturday, I dragged J to a thrift store. Because I needed spoons. I do not want a set of flatware, just spoons. DH likes to eat yogurt while driving to work. I like to eat cereal in the morning, sometimes also in the afternoon. DH does not remember to bring the spoons back from his car. I get tired of reminding him. This results in spoon shortage, no matter how often I run the dishwasher.

After we finished the required spoon gathering, we wandered the isles. I saw some garish acrylic crochet throws, not garish enough to be kitschy cute. At the back of my mind, I was thinking there will be fun stuff. Mom find fun stuff at garage sales / discount stores / whatnot, maybe I will too. I have a couple of good finds from thrift stores, but not often. The store was nicely color coded. This is very helpful to monochromatic me (not so helpful for colorful people, like J!). I found a Brooks Brother heather charcoal merino turtleneck (and a black / white embroidered cotton dress). There was also a few very cute, unfortunately colorful, sweaters that I had to pass on.

On second look, before checkout, J spotted a small hole on the bottom part of the sweater. "no worries, I have yarn/thread that may match this color". So I left the store ~$14 lighter, with a dozen spoons, a merino turtleneck, and a cotton dress.

I used J's suggestion of Cascade 200 Superwash Black Heather to fix the hole. DH declared it not noticeable. Woola! This ultra fine gauge sweater is light, warm, not very pilly, just the sort of sweater my Dad prefers. And bonus, it is Made in Hong Kong :) I was very amused that the find + a little effort = end result that put me in a good mood. I even did my 1:2 closet clean up this morning. Next time, I shall spend some time in the Men's section, maybe I will find a gem for Dad.

January 1, 2010

Cute overload ...

... HAPPY NEW YEAR! ... how about some cuteness. This is Boris, J (and N)'s puggie.

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You see, my fuzzy aggressive chewers do not get squeaky plushy toys. They get hard bones- the kind that will take out your toes if you kick them. And I kick (and step on) them a lot, since they leave their toys ... well, wherever. Anyways, It was great amusement to watch Boris squeak and attack this little plushy, and then take a nap on top of it.

Oh and I had to take this picture, of a well loved and new toy (more for ginger, their boxer).

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Happy New Year! Here is to a plushy start :)

November 24, 2009

The bright side

Mending a hole in a second hand sweater Mom was alternating for herself, priceless.

Sometimes, it is more pleasant to look at the bright side, instead of the crap crap crap situation. For example, this time around, we paid an arm and a leg for my interview trip. BUT ... who wants to think about that?! I prefer some sanity, if just for a moment.

J rescued me from travel-knit-paralysis with a good pattern pick. On the flight, the girl next to me was crocheting a cotton wash cloth for her mom. It took a bit of effort for me not to crafty-geek out on her. whoops. The lady across the isle had a sweater part (arm I think). The lovely flight attendance asked what I was making... that's a whole of lot of craftness.

Mom made turnip cakes for me, and transportation to and from BART station. Mom rocks. After the interview, we went to Article Pract. I have no idea why I overlooked this LYS for so long. It is a wonderful shop with lots and lots and lots of variety. It is awesome. Mom found a bag of Noro Kureyon in the 'sale hallway'. :) On our way home, we stopped at TJ for more dried cranberries (Dad really liked them and requested some more!). I told Mom the story how G ate all the Route 29 - Red & Black Licorice Piglet I brought back last time. So we stopped at Peet's (next to TJ) and she bought another tin (for G!). Spoil!

As with most visits, Mom is always working on some project. This time, it is a selvage hand knitted sweater (garage sale? second hand?). The sleeves were too long and it had a hole. I offered to mend the hole for her ... "but I would need some yarn". She ripped the sleeve seam, handed me the sleeve and some yarn. (Look closely, and you will see the spot).

Time to join the rest of the reality show. Happy almost Thanksgiving!

September 14, 2009

Apples on the tree

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no knitting for the pass few days. I've been preoccupied by DH acting out his stress. So perhaps a detour into the non-crafty life...

... I have been actively looking for gainful employment - 9 mos+. I am feeling very weary, complete opposite of this fruitful tree. This morning I woke up 'writing the Christmas Letter" in my mind - sorting through the feelings and thoughts, and wondering how will this year end. Media and news stories of "great recession" not withstanding, I've had a lot of brain cells to be (more) introspective. My thoughts often turn to a) this is the longest I've been "not-working" since I was 14 b) what more can I do to increase my chances of a job c) how best to use my time d) how this recession have changed me, and others e) meritocracy, fairness f) identity, relationships, family, and communities

At this moment, all of these thoughts are all tangled in my mind. For now, I am going to let them go, stay balance, positive, and upright. Perhaps I will revisit them (or they will haunt me!) when time comes to write the Christmas Letter.

February 13, 2009

Latvian Mitten class at Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat

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Back in November 2008, J and I signed up for Latvian mitten class . I was waxing that a lot will change between then and now - well, a lot has and nevermind that topic..

We set out early and drove to swank Hotel Murano in Tacoma. The environment was full of enthusiastic fiber types. I did not add to my yarn stash. Phew. J bought me some awsome Highlighter Tape from Knit Foundry. And we found Hello cupcakes and a big mountain.

Oh, the mitten (Ravelry link) ... it was painful. One of the rule of the class is no frogging. I sneaked a couple in - knitting wrong side out, missing an inc. I also left quite a few in - fudging missing stitch, braiding the wrong way, etc. The sticky shetland did not want to come out of the ball, and fiddling with that made my tight nervous knitting gauge even tighter. I made a huge mess :) There was a pile of techniques and I think I managed to learn (and hopefully retain) a couple. I am very happy that we went. Happy Knitting!

December 31, 2008

Happy birthday to the fuzzies

They were born on December 30, 1998. Winter and Kooler are 2 out of a 4 litter of pups. You have given me unconditional love and endless joy. I love you! Happy tenth birthday! (* don't worry, there are lots of photos waiting to be transfer from the old site )

November 23, 2008

Sunny Sunday

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Yesterday, the Davis came over for dinner. (sorry, no dinner pic, we were enjoying the fud instead of staging and taking pics) .They rarely come over since Sh is very allergic to fuzzies. He was very brave and got doped up to visit us. This is probably the second time they has ever been over in the 4+(?) years we have known them. It was quite an occasion :)

Anyhoo. GD and I got some crafty conversations in and she was kind enough to adopt my ew-FO of Endpaper mittens. But before she walked out the door with them, one of the thumbs unraveled. (The mittens hate me! ). They are fixed now and ready to go to its new home, where it won't annoy me anymore. Maybe, work willing, tomorrow GD and I will be washing her cherry bonbon and my dumpling at the laundromat.

But before that, today, instead of the usual trapped in the house cleaning and misc, I got to spend time outside doing some fall clean up. It was sunny and warm. Beautiful day. Fuzzies say hi!

September 10, 2008

More conversation ...

Me: [holding up the Noro sleeve] do you want a scarf like this?
DH: [looks at it] No.
Me: I'd thought you would like the colors
DH: Yeah. But I already have a scarf I like.

a scarf. one. scarf.

July 29, 2008

Overheard ...

I came home today to the new Rowan #44 (preview at The Knitting Garden)

me: "oooh" sets the new Rowan on the coffee table
DH: looks up at me "what? Is that like magazine crack?"

June 20, 2008

Stormy Winter

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J and N visited mid-June. (Yay, we (L) J and N visits!). It was great incentive for us to put our house back together (ahem, barely presentable, but thats a different story). J gave me this gorgeous long skinny scarf - STR 81% superwash and 19% silk in Stormy Weather. It is so soft and so purty. Thanks J!

April 14, 2008

Happy Birthday week to J..

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Hi. And some strange weather for you. :)

It has been a very busy many weeks - moving back into our un-complete-remodel-house, all the associated house clean up projects, plus all the busy work. Which leads me to ... procrastination.. and J Happy Birthday week! ( You see, I am terrible with dates. ) On top of that, she sent me package with yarn (mmm PF!) and books (crochet, cause we all need another hobby) and trash ties (I am wearing one now!) and good smelly soap (lime lavender!) ..Phew.

Happy Birthday J!!! Fuzzies hug too!

December 30, 2007

Happy ..

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Happy birthday to the fuzzies. They are nine today :) This is now their preferred position - sleeping. (sorry, I woke up Winter when I took the pic).

Also progress on the Bird in hand mitten. It is painful to knit worsted weight wool in tiny gauge. I am also unhappy with cuff and will frog and redo, but I will have to wait until I find (or buy!) more needles. Speaking of ... I did a little therapy today and bought more Patons Classic Wool Merino. It was on sale and I need some sweater (mindless) knitting. And . ahem... stash is .. well.. too much work to dig in the boxes.

Happy New Year!

October 8, 2007

No knitting here ...

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The last few weeks have been filled with work and house and more house and work ... So when I received the Vosges catelog... I thought, what a wonderful idea. I should make myself some good Vosges hot chocolate.

A warm wish of wonderful hot chocolate to everyone. (except those in 90 degree heat ;-) )

March 1, 2007

Powdered sugar ..

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e says:
we had this weird powedery snow/hail on the ground

j says:
the little balls of snow-like-stuff?
like if snow and hail got together and made a baby?

November 23, 2006

Just visiting ..

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DH and I are visiting J and her DH this weekend. I brought the Purple and Pink Donegal tweed with me to swatch.

Happy t-day!

September 13, 2006

Happy bday GD!

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Raspberry + chocolate cake for GD. This one net to ~5lbs :)

June 4, 2006

I look like ...

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As drawn by the soon-to-be-famous-artist-Syd of Chez Davis.

Purple and plush

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The cutest purple plush ever came from W+Jo yesterday. They had called a couple of weeks ago(?) to tell me Monterey Aquarium's newest sunfish is in their Outter Bay Tank. Oh my! A PURPLE PLUSH SUNFISH and a silver sunfish charm!

Continue reading "Purple and plush" »

June 3, 2006

Thank you J!

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I got package from J, the enabler, yesterday. I opened the box and it has a cute card that detailed all the goodies.

- 5+ skeins of Noro silk garden (for Kiss purse perhaps!)
- KP main line and shine worsted (cotton blend yarn for petting and swatching)
- AV fall 2003 book (not photographed, for I-like-that-neckline-sweater)
- and a present for GD (not photographed)
- a corkscrew scarf pattern

and the BEST part ...

Continue reading "Thank you J!" »

May 18, 2006

You seem ...

Yesterday, GD visited our home (for the first time) for lunch. I gave her a quick house tour (note the lack of door trims, baseboards, empty living rooms, beige blinds ... eek). That took five seconds and we moved on to more important things ...

Continue reading "You seem ..." »

April 28, 2006

Fashion homage

ladybugs and vans

These arent mine. That's J's coolest socks and vans. There are two kinds of people in this world (well, not really! but you know what I mean) - Converse or Vans. She is all about Vans. She told me she was wearing her ladybugs and red Vans. "Hey, you must take a pic..."

Ok. Yeah. I am nerdy.

April 26, 2006

A good home for Soleil

I freed Soleil last weekend and it found a good home. Whoohooo! I am happy I dont have to frog and J is enjoying it! yay. Oh, and a bonus:

Continue reading "A good home for Soleil" »

April 23, 2006

Devotion

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GD and I had a superfun time. We had a play day plan and we started by going through the stash she acquired at Parkside's going out of biz sale. She knew what I really wanted to say that day was 'buy all the black yarn you see'...

Continue reading "Devotion" »

February 14, 2006

Stuffy

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me: "why are all the bears you give me slouchy?"
DH:"cause I like the slouchy ones."

Someone wuvs me.

February 13, 2006

C***K

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So being the nerdy nerd I am, I added a category of "Happy" because I realize I dont have a happy category. Hrmph. I fixed that little problem. What I am so happy about?

Continue reading "C***K" »