Confessions

This weeks wednesday blog challenge is on the topic of confessions.
(Amanda posted hers yesterday but I was at work then class, so mine's 2 days late)

* Unless I've got somewhere fancy to be or I exercise, I dont shower on Sundays. I'm too lazy and it gives my hair a rest.
* On friday's I drink more than 1 pint of beer. Its generally 1/hour so it ends up being around 4-5. (technically thats binge drinking, I disagree). This is a confession b/c alcohol interacts w/ my diabetes medication (metformin) but my liver and kidney function tests show I'm super healthy.
* Sometimes I leave the lab and forget to wash my hands. But I wash them before I eat.
* I eat way more chocolate and sweets than a diabetic is supposed to.
* If something in my nose is bothering me, I pick it. In the bathroom where no one can see, of course.
* If my jeans dont look dirty or smell, I wont wash them for about 3-4 weeks. I just forget to throw them in.
* I dont like underwear. esp in the summer. When I get home from work if I change or take a shower I dont put them back on. The exception is once a month and during exercise. I have to wear underwear for exercising.
* I talk to myself, my plants, my experimental mice, and inanimate objects. I answer my own questions too.

New adventures and challenges

This past Monday the Yarners got together to learn how to crochet and to record an episode of the FiberCult podcast. As promised, here is a picture of my very first crocheted circle.

Since I wasn't following a pattern, and I was increasing at will (which is not as random as I would have liked it to be) it doesn't exactly lay flat. BUT, it does resemble a circle, which is entirely the point on a first go. Catherine was a fabulous teacher and showed me how to begin the circle. Very excited. I can see more crochet in my future!








The second thing I have to share is the starting of my Luna Moth Shawl! (This picture gives a better idea of the pattern, but in a different yarn).

You probably do not recall, but I posted a while back professing my love for this particular shawl (in the Callista yarn color pictured and everything) to go with my espresso colored strapless dress for my cousin's wedding in August. In this post I also asked everyone's opinion on knitting this pattern and whether it would be too much for me, or too difficult. Well, no one commented. So I took that to mean that it was manageable. Then, a month later when I was ready to start, I took the pattern to our Monday night Stitch and Bitch and asked some questions to clarify the pattern. Some of the ladies tried to give me a good dose of reality considering the trickyness of lace patterns and my time deadline. I dont like to hear reality if its discouraging. And who would?
Being the obstinate chicky that I am, I decided to just go for it.
Also, those words of discouragement actually had the opposite effect: I'm even more determined to knit it now than I was before. This commonly happens with me, if someone tells me I cant do something, and I think I can do it, well then I'm super motivated to prove them wrong.

Since the pattern called for a crochet provisional cast on, after the mini crochet lesson on Monday all I needed was some quiet time to begin. The pattern is actually knit as increasing semi-circles so you have to start by turning your stitches into a semi-circle. I'm not very good at reading a pattern and envisioning it in my head so I wasn't exactly sure that what I was doing was correct, but once I started knitting it it became clear to me. It actually took me 3 tries before I got it right and could start the actual pattern work (I kept losing my stitches when I would unzip the provisional cast on -- my fix for this was to put the needle through the stitches and then unzip -- took more maneuvering of the yarn, but it was only 3 stitches so it wasn't that bad). But it could have been worse.

You can see the fruit of my labors in the picture below. Pretty nice eh? (:{ Notice the wonderful lifeline, and the nice arch of the semi-circle.

The only complaint I have so far is that I've already run into some yarn yuckyness and had to cut it out and re-attach the yarn. I really hate when that happens. I see a complaint letter to elann.com in my future. But other than that, so far, so good.
And I'll be sure not to make the same mistake I made with my first attempt at lace work: I will not bring it to Stitch and Bitch. Lest I get to talking and mess up all my beautiful stitches. This is strictly a quiet me time knitting project due to the concentration I want to give it. And yes, because of this I may not finish by the wedding, but I will finish. (:{

Birthday Meme

Ive been tagged for this meme (my first meme tagging!) by Amanda.
The deal is that you go to Wikipedia, look up your birth day, and then post 3 events, 2 births, and a holiday. Then tag 5 people. I don't actually know that many people on the blogosphere, so I'll tag Anne, Alexis, and Ariel.

May 10
3 events, plus an extra special bonus event (:{
1497: Amerigo Vespucci leaves Cadiz for his first voyage to the "New World"

1872: Victoria Woodhull becomes the first women nominated for the President of the United States
(sad that our world hasn't gone much farther after this....)

1908: Mother's Day is observed for the first time

1970: Boston Bruins win Sir Stanley's Cup for the first time since 1941 when Bobby Orr scores in overtime -- hereafter referred to as "The Goal" (look it up kids, its probably THE most famous hockey photograph)

Births
1838: John Wilkes Booth
1899: Fred Astaire
1957: Sid Vicious
1960: Bono
1965: Linda Evangelista

Holiday
Astronomy Day in the US (who knew? not me)

Also oddly enough, John Wayne Gacy was executed on this day in 1994. And in 1999 Shel Silverstein died.

Also, last night I learned to crochet! Pictures will follow soon.

FO: Star pendant necklace

Found this awesome bead at Beadworks on Friday, just had to make a necklace out of it! Its black wood with white bone. The rope is black hemp.







Here is a simple hemp knot bracelet I made to match the necklace. I planned something a bit more involved, but I kept cutting off pieces of hemp too short. So I have a bunch of bracelets for anyone w/ 4.5 inch wrists....








Theres the clasp of the necklace. Doesn't it look all professional and stuff? My first go at crimp end clasps. Good stuff.






Yay, finally something for me! And now its time for bed!

FO: Zombies for Liz

Project Name: Zombies for Liz (Zombie 3)
Pattern: Zombies Need Not Apply, free on MagKnits, originally by PieKnits
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull; 0090 Black, 4516 fuchsia, 0010 white; less than 1/4 skein
Needles: US 2 and 3 metal dpns
Pattern adjustments: accidentally messed up the first 3 rows of fuchsia/black patterned colorwork so i messed it up at the end so it would match. You cant tell though unless you look at the pattern and then look Really hard at the wristcuff. I also have a problem with casting on too tight so I cast on the larger needles instead of the smaller ones.
Notes: Really liked the way it turned out. Liz loved it. I actually finished this one right after the other two, but couldn't show it since it was a birthday gift for Liz. Her birthday was a couple weeks ago, but she has mono so I didn't get a chance to see her until this past week. Now that I've made some for other people its time to make mine! (knowing how often I get around to knitting for myself, this could take awhile)

Weds Blog Challange: Food Quirks

My life has been a little crazy lately and so this challenge is a bit delayed.

• The smell of meat cooking makes me nauseous (so much so that I was a vegetarian for 7 yrs b/c of it)
• now i eat plenty of seafood, chicken, pork, and other fowl, but I can't cook it.
  
• I don't eat cow. Since I was 13. It still makes me sick. Even cooked. Ewww.
  
• The above are all very Big deals when growing up in the farming midwest where all there is to eat is cow and veggies.
  
• Peaches make me ill. The smell, the taste, fake peach smell/taste is even worse. Love nectarines though.
  
• I'm a bit of a foodie and I like to pay attention to what I'm eating. It tastes better. Friends who have eaten with me often comment that I stop paying attention to the conversation and they catch me "intently studying" my food. Even at work everyone says I act like the Japanese in that matter. I take food seriously.
• I LOVE peanut butter. I have been eating PB and something (jam, banana, nutella, apple) sandwiches nearly every day for lunch for over 20 yrs and I still love it.
  
• I love yogurt. All kinds. Greek, tart, fruity, savory, in sauces, in dips. I love seeking out new kinds and trying them.
  
• I love milk and still drink 1-2 glasses a day. I feel weird eating breakfast and dinner if there is no milk. When I was growing up my parents gave us 2 drink choices for dinner: milk or water. Can you guess which I picked?
  
• A couple years ago I discovered organic milk. I will never buy regular again. Its awful in comparison. (The taste is worse and there is less nutrients and more harmful stuffs (hormones, antibiotics) in reg). Trust me, I'm a milk connoisseur.
  
• I like "strong" tasting things. Raw onions, garlic, vinegar, tart fresh yogurt, black coffee, black tea, beer, wine, dark chocolate. Yum
• Love dessert. I get this from my father who almost always orders dessert or goes home and has ice cream. Sadly I did not inherit his skinny genes, my sister got those.
  
• I have a strong dislike for coconut. My mom blames herself since when I was little I asked her what one was in the grocery store and she said they were fruit with milk in them. I didnt believe her. She said if she shook it, I would hear the milk sloshing around. Instead of shaking it Close to my ear she hit me in the ear w/ it (on accident). It hurt. But really I just dont like the taste/texture of it. I can tolerate it if its hidden and I dont know about it (Like in a 7-layer dessert bar).
  

I think thats about it......

I'll be posting another FO tomorrow since Liz is finally well enough to be back at work and I could finally give her her b-day gift.

the IRS is.... honest?

Remember back when I first started blogging and I complained about writing the govt a check for the $2.09 I owed them on taxes?
Well, today I received a letter. From the IRS. Saying I did my taxes incorrectly. Cue FREAK OUT. (I have always done my own taxes). Then I turned the letter over. It says my refund is $495.
Refund?? As in, I made a mistake and they owe me $495? Holy sh*t the govt actually corrects mistakes in my favour??

Then I went to Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in Jamaica Plain with Ariel and looked at artist portfolios and talked to some of the artists (including the man himself who sadly is booked for the next year and isn't even making any new appts for 2 mos). I booked a consult with an artist he recommended. For tomorrow! So now I have the money I need to get the tattoo ive wanted. And its happening soon! (Hopefully)

Secret Summer Solstice Pal

So our knitting group decided to do a second secret pal swap (I didnt have a blog for the first, Secret Cupid). And this time I pulled Ariel's name out of the hat. Well, ok, it was a knitting wip bag, but you get the point. You have already seen the knitted gifts I gave Ariel (Zombies Need Not Apply wristcuffs, and the stars). I also gave her little starry trinkets.


Here's Ariel hiding behind her pillow wearing the wristcuff. Funny story about the pillow is that after we chose names I was walking with Alexis and Catherine and Alexis spotted this pillow in the window of Walgreens and declared that whoever had Ariel had to buy it. Well, of course I had to buy it. Too bad it was on top of a tall display case and we nearly knocked over a whole isle to get at it. Luckily Catherine is taller than I and was able to grab it.









And what is this? Why its my gift from Amanda!!

Its a beautiful reversible cloth wip bag from Blue Kitty Designs. (the inside is rolled down for your viewing pleasure)















And inside the bag was Godiva chocolates (oh heaven), Cheeky Monkey Yarn, kitchener stitch markers, and the Perdita bracelets from Knitty! Yay!
The kitchener stitch markers are super cute, they tell you how to kitchener stitch up a toe of a sock. They are shrinky-dinks! (I used to love those -- I'd always turn the light on in the oven and watch them transform).












Here is a close-up of the yarn porn. The name of this colorway is Strange Brew, yay for beer references!











All in all a super happy day. I've already worn the black bracelet, thanks Summer Solstice Pal!