Halfway Mark

Today is the mythical halfway point of my softball season. I say mythical simply because today is the last game before a 12-day break for winter quarter final exams. It's my very favorite time of the year.

I have this weekend totally off. I'll go to the Glendale Quilt Show on Friday and possibly Sat. or Sun. I'll go quilting on Friday night. I'll watch lots of college basketball.

I won't spend a whole lot of time in my office and the only traveling I'll be doing is for personal enjoyment. I'll knit. I'll quilt. Maybe I'll even manage to machine embroider something. Woo-Hoo! :)


Here's the Koigu I bought at Wildfiber last week. Ain't it nifty?


I think it's going to turn into the Wendy Knits generic toe-up sock pattern.

And, to prove that I really am doing some knitting ...


Roaming Tigger thought that my sock looked like a really cool hat. So he tried it on.

Just about time for first pitch. Catch you soon!

Recovery Mode

It has been a long time since I last posted. Sorry about that. Life has been kicking my ass.


Last weekend, I spent a ridiculous chunk of my life at the softball field. On Saturday morning, Roaming Tigger (RT) decided he needed a glamour shot of his own self with the field in the background.


Later in the day, we had a very special Softball Skybox appearance by the local fire department. They parked in the fire lane in left field between the scoreboard and the fair pole. Hey, if anyone can block the fire lane .... may as well be an engine!

After watching 12 softball games over a three-day stretch, I started a marathon cross-country trip. The athletic department at Thomas Jefferson's University wanted to interview me for a job opening. That particular university is a place I've always wanted to work. And it's the most beautiful college I have ever visited, although I didn't really see any of the academic areas on this particular trip. Added bonus? 4.5 hour drive to see my family instead of a 4.5 hour flight.

So I was on a 6:30 am flight through Atlanta on Monday morning. That means I was up at 3:30 am PT and at LAX a little before 5. Got to my destination around 5 pm ET. Got a brief driving real estate tour, then dinner with the person making the hire.

RT decided to boycott said university and did not get his photo taken with any local landmarks. In hindsight, probably a good decision.

Of course, with the time change, I couldn't get to sleep until probably about 10:30 pm ET. Up at 6:30 am ET on Tuesday since my first meeting was a 7:30 am pick-up. What followed was a series of meetings and other interview-type stuff that finished when I was dropped off at the airport at about 3 for a 5 pm flight.

I totally couldn't sleep on the flights home. Killed my 3+ hour layover in Atlanta by talking to friends and family and reading mindless stuff. Still, when I got home and passed out, it was about 12:30 am PT, so I had been awake for 22 consecutive hours.

I had a road game on Wednesday at 6 pm PT. At 5:15, my phone rang and it was the person making the hire. They hired a graduate assistant over someone who has been full-time in this business for more than 10 years. Stupid bastards.

I'm hanging my hat on the fact that somewhere over middle America on the flight from Atlanta to LAX, I had several moments of Panic. It had nothing to do with flying, and everything to do with "something wasn't right on this trip." I still don't know what caused that, but I worked pretty hard to ignore that feeling and I know I would have ignored it entirely had I been offered the job. That probably means that this outcome is for the best.

Craft-wise, I've been doing more un-knitting than knitting. I have my second KnitPicks Slipper Sock past the heel and ready for some serious brainless work. My toe-up sock is in a similar state, rapidly approaching the heel turn.

I had my (brown) cable sweater almost through the first 33-row repeat when I realized that I had seriously screwed up the center cable multiple times. It has been frogged and this morning I cast it on again and I'm through the set-up row and first row of cabling.

I'll take some knitting photos in the next few days, and i'm seriously hoping I can get inspired to embroider two quilt labels in the next few days. Photos and apology letter to follow if I can actually get that pulled off.

Thanks for listening to me whine. To all of my local quilty friends, I hope to see you at the Glendale Quilt Show next weekend (anybody know what's up with those goofy hours on Friday?). I need some fiber therapy in a big way, and the Koigu I bought yesterday at Wildfiber ain't gonna cut it all by itself!

Hibernating

Well, sort of. I'm doing some knitting. I have the back of the brown cable sweater knitted through two skeins of yarn and it's sitting on a holder waiting to make sure that the armpit decreases are correct on both the front and back. No photos, 'cause it basically looks exactly the same as it did the last time I showed you.

I've also started the front. I've only had time to do about four rows a night, so it's going slowly. I had "homework" for a field trip early next week. Hopefully I'll have a little time for RT to get his picture taken a time or two on the grounds of Monday/Tuesday's destination, but I doubt it.

Don't want to jinx the field trip by talking about it too much, so I'll shut up now.

On Tuesday, the hubster went up to school with me for my home game and the aforementioned Tuesday evening field trip. It was a really clear day in Los Angeles. The kind that makes me really wonder what the hell we're breathing the rest of the time. Anyhow, I whipped out my camera and instructed the hubster to take a photo or two. The shot below was taken on the northbound 405 freeway about two miles south of the 105. And the HOLLYWOOD sign, which is circled in red, is probably about 20 miles away. It's a little fuzzy in the picture, but clear as day when you're looking at it live.


This scares me, because on a regular day in LA, I can't even see the mountains when I get to the 10 freeway, which is awfully close. The air is probably about as good for us as the tap water, which tastes like dirt. I love this town (not).


And, a final gratuitous shot of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. We got a far-away shot in this earlier post, but on the day of the skills competition (Sat.), our bus drive managed to drive right up to the front of the building on our way to the field. So I took advantage and took a kick-ass picture from the bus.

RT will probably make an appearance this weekend at softball. That's where I'll be for all of the upcoming three days. Enjoy your weekend. I'll be working.

Thawing Out

Last night was as cold as I can remember being for a very, very long time.

I started freezing to death around noon. I had to score a game out at the "minor league" fields. Once I was already out there, wearing shorts, the wind kicked up to about 40 mph and I wound up sitting in the shade shivering for quite a while.

Then I sprinted back over to the field where my own team was about to play. The photo below was taken from a nearby vantage point before I started turning into a popsicle. Most of the way through my first game of the day, some friends decided I looked cold and got me a hot chocolate. Many humble thanks to Mama E and Becky! I put on all of my remaining clothing layers for our 8 pm contest, but still was literally shaking from the cold by the time that game ended. Not. Fun.


Roaming Tigger (RT) is seated on the storage unit of the tri tip stand at the complex. These are some of the best sandwiches EVER.


The proprietor of the stand asked what I was doing. When I explained, he said "he needs a picture with the sandwiches!" So here is that resulting shot. I'll have a sandwich for dinner tonight. My special treat for the weekend!


Earlier in the morning, RT was kickin' it at the hotel, soaking in the golf course and poolside view. This was well before we realized just how effing cold it was going to get


Just to prove that I do stuff besides softball (although not much these days!), here is a baby blanket I finished up for a friend I'll see this weekend. It was a panel kit from Keepsake Quilting. I quilted it ages ago and whip stitched the opening during Grays Anatomy the other night.


And, here's the progress I've made on the cable sweater since its last photo op. About 10 more inches of stockingette and I'll be ready to start making some changes.

Gotta go score another game (surprise). Here's hoping that today remains exponentially warmer than yesterday!

Spinning, and I don't mean with fiber!

The weekend in Vegas was fine. The bed was comfy which is a huge plus. The only problem was that we played LATE on Saturday and EARLY on Sunday. A bigger issue when you remember that somewhere between that Late and Early, you must Pack and be ready to get on the bus to check out of the hotel at the appropriate time.

I've been fighting an annoying little cold. I don't feel bad I just feel wiped out. Ugh.

I also have a "thing" tomorrow morning that I'm nervous about. I'm trying to ignore it as best I can, but we'll just have to see what happens.

Then it's off to Palm Springs for another weekend of softball. Aren't you jealous? I think my local friends are starting to wonder if I still exist.

Yes, there has been knitting. I've pretty much decided that my toe-up sock will be OK. I'm mostly bugged by the needles I'm using. Of course, I'm having a complete brain fart trying to remember who makes them, but they're the plastic-ey needles that bend as you knit. I'm not really a fan, but I don't have another pair of US 2.5's so I can't just switch them out. Bummer.

No new photo of that sock. However, we do have a half-finished object to show from the weekend in Sin City


This is the first of my Slipper Socks, a free pattern I got off of the Knitpicks website. I'm zipping along in Memories, the suggested yarn for this pattern. I'm happy with my results so far.

Last night, while the hubster was gone for his workout, I got an itch to start a sweater. It's this fantastic cable sweater out of this book. If you go to the "look inside" link and scroll to page three, it's the brown cable sweater that's four down on the left-hand pile.


Thanks to this fantastic YouTube video I found on Wendy's blog about a week ago, I was able to do all of the pictured cables, after getting through the first row, without a cable needle! WOW!


Here's a "money shot" close-up of the cable. Color is more true in the larger photo.

Well, I need to finish up a few small things, then get my butt up to practice. I have to pack again tonight. I hate packing!

Fabulous Las Vegas

Yep. I'm in Fabulous Las Vegas. Watchin' some softball.

The host school set the schedule with three-hour windows between games. This is both good and bad. It's good because you know that you're going to start on time. It's bad because when there's a quick game (we played in 95 minutes earlier today) then there is a loooooooooooong time between games.

I skipped the lunch field trip with the team, so I've spent a good solid six hours at the field today. Fortunately, there's a very nice press box, so I'm plenty comfy.

I also decided it was time to bust out my roaming gnome. Meeet Tigger!


In front of Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas


In front of the Hard Rock Cafe. This is where we ate dinner last night. I had a cobb salad. It was yummy.


With part of the Las Vegas strip in the background


And with the Thomas & Mack Center, the site of the NBA All Star Game ... the rookie game will start roughly at the same time as the second game of the day for my team.

I got a tiny bit done on my KnitPicks slipper project, but not much. I'll keep chipping away on that. It's what is calling me right now.

On the Road Again!

Sorry I have been so scarce. Left a week ago today for a work trip to Phoenix/Tempe. That didn't go so well. Had a home game on Tuesday and now I'm about to get on a plane to Las Vegas.

While that announcement makes most people say "AWESOME!" please let me explain why it makes me say "CRAP!"

** It's NBA All-Star weekend. We are staying in Henderson, Nev., and playing 4 of our 5 games on campus at UNLV, which is Strip-adjacent. This means we'll be spending way too much time on a bus going to-from our games.

** I don't like to gamble

** I do like to visit quilt shops and knitting stores but, remember the bus?, I am without transportation and therefore essentially locked in at the hotel/field.

** A hotel that probably won't have a workout room. Bastards.

As long as I'm whining, I'll also mention that I woke up yesterday morning with a cold. At least I've consumed about 2 liters of water already today!

I have been churning away on several knitting projects. I finished the next-to-last pair of Fuzzy Feet. Ginormous pair #2. These are for my friend Bill. Pen included for scale


Yep. They're huge. Hopefully they felt nicely. I'm looking forward to being done with this Fuzzy Foot experiment. Just the re-knit of my dad's pair left to go.


What is this, you ask? Well, I placed a KnitPicks order a few weeks ago. This is their Memories yarn (Yukon colorway) being worked up into their Slipper Socks pattern. I'm a fan so far.

I also have yarn and needles at the ready to do their Come In From the Cold pattern as well.'

I have a pair of toe-up socks on the needles as well. (previously modeled here by Baxter Bear). As I continue to knit these socks, they continue to look HUGE. My stitch gague is accurate. I'm thinking I'll knit a little longer then revisit my decision. It's really bumming me out, actually. I keep drooling over all of this great sock yarn and can't get my sock mojo to cooperate.

I'm also itchign to sew again. My second Starr block of the month showed up while I was in Phoenix, and I have my M&Ms blocks due. Haven't even thought about those. Yikes!

Well, I need to get my work bag packed up and ready to roll for today's adventure. I remembered to pack my Roaming Tigger so maybe I'll get some photos from the field in Vegas. Happy All-Star Weekend! :)

Speed Posting

I have about 10 minutes before I have to pack up and walk out the door to start the first road trip of the 2007 season. I'm excited, and looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Why sleep? Because I've skimped the last two nights. Tuesday night, a college friend of mine was in town and once he got settled at the Hilton near the airport, he gave me a call and I zipped up there for a beer.


Jamie and I worked on our college newspaper together and he currently lives in DC. This means we don't see each other very often, but he's a great guy. He and a friend made a pilgrimage to LA to see The Price is Right before Bob Barker retires. Keep your eyes peeled for that prematurely gray head in the early portions of March. :)

Last night, I had to pack. That always takes longer than I expect, hence the later bedtime than I would have really liked.

There has been some knitting going on. I finished the first of the dark green Ginormous Fuzzy Feet. I have started on the second one, then just have my dad's lime green pair to re-knit before I am totally finished with that undertaking.


Meanwhile, I finished my Lorna's Laces mittens. Very fun. Hat is next.


Hey, Baxter got to model last time. This morning, it was Derf's turn.

Gotta run. Will try for pictures from Phoenix, but we'll see what happens.

Stars, Stars, Stars!

That was the primary theme of last night's gathering at Sandy's house. Well, at least for me. The obiligatory dog photos were taken. Here's the best one from last night: Paulie, the elder statesman of the group, snoozing.



Denise joined Sandy, Anne, Beth, Carol and I, taking over the real estate vacated by Lisa's pending trip to Martha Pullen. She's probably on an airplane (or still in route) as I type.

Carol was kind enough to meet me for dinner at Outback. Even though I wasn't anywhere near this snafu which would have made my life completely miserable had I gone to work yesterday, it still took a ridiculously long time to get to the restaurant. Carol and I highly enjoyed our meal, as always. We all got to yell hello to Carol's hubster and my favorite lurker, Ole, later in the evening when he called her from Norway where he is working at the moment. Hi, Ole! Hope the weather clears up! :)

On to the sewing. Overachiever that she is, Denise has finished all of the larger setting stars for the Starry Starry Night quilt that was the inspiration for our blue and white MMs exchange last month. I posted a photo set on Yahoo! here. They look awesome. Here's my favorite:



As for me, I spent the entire evening cutting up teenytiny squares ... that I then sewed and squared up ... to make the friendship stars for my Starr BOM. As has become my habit, I cut WAY too many squares to make the friendship stars. I should have thought through the instructions better before I put rotary cutter to fabric, but since this is Month 1 of 12, I should be able to recover just fine. The bad new? LOTS more squaring up of friendship star triangles. Once I exhaust this supply, I will be doing 1" Thangles for any/all remaining small stars.


I also sewed my large paper pieced star together. I'm pretty damn happy with it if I do say so myself. This quilt is gonna rock ... assuming I can keep up with it and not get overwhelmed with the backlog of paper pieced blocks. Hey, the paper piecing is actually the fun/easy part. It's the friendship stars that might be the death of me!

Today is very low-key. Hanging with the Hubster (once he gets back from Costco and the grocery store), maybe a dinner out. Maybe a stop at the J-store to check on plastic storage ... it seems like I never have enough of that! ... but generally a low-key day. Tomorrow is the Big Game. I'll go to Beach Knitting in the morning and probably come home about an hour before kickoff. Then Monday is the start of my first Game Week since December. Here's hoping I'm ready to get the train rolling!

Shhh ... Don't Tell the Hubster!

I kind of acquired another Penguin today. He could be a cookie jar for small cookies, but apparently arrived upstairs full of candy, many moons ago. Badly photoshopped can included for scale.


He originally came from Sea World. When I visited said 2nd floor office this morning, I immediately noticed this guy and was informed of the correct person to ask if he was homeless. My adoption application was immediately approved, and he now resides in my office. Now I just have to give him a bath and clean things up in my office (Surprise! It's a disaster area in here!) so he has a place to hang out!

Oh, and in case I hadn't mentioned it, while I was in Omaha in December, there was a department-wide office holiday party. They had a mock game of "Family Feud" I was a distant second most popular answer to the question "Whose Office is the Biggest Fire Hazard?" (a semi-kind way to say messiest office!)

I'm taking tomorrow (Friday) off from work. I plan to start my kick-ass day of Cult-ing at Luella's to pick up an extra 2 yards of a fabric my mom wants. They open at 10.

[NOTE: The Hubster refers to my Friday Night quilting group as my "Cult" That's all I mean by the above statement. We'll just ignore the addiction factors in my two little hobbies!]

Then it's off to Beach Knitting for a morning/afternoon of Knitting with Irma. I'll leave there around 2:30 to go home and switch to my quilting gear, then it will be an evening of fun and dog snoring at Sandy's house. We'll be short a Twin, as Lisa leaves bright and early on Saturday morning for Martha Pullen School. We'll miss her!

I plan to finish the "Über-block" of my Starr Designs BOM ... get the paper pieced eighths sewn together into one big block, make all of the surrounding stars and sew it all together. I'd crank on my MM block, but I haven't tracked down my fabric yet. Bummer. At least Lisa was able to draft Thangle-like triangle paper for 3.75" finished half-square triangles. Bonus!

I started Mitten #2 last night and have just a round or two left of the ribbing before I begin the stockingette and thumb gusset portion of the program. I need to re-weave the thumb end on the inside of Mitten #2, but otherwise they are just peachy and quite happy-looking! Hat is next!

Oh, and stop whatever you are doing RIGHT NOW and check out this site. I thought it was hysterical!

Yay, Me!

I made it over to the Wooden Center this morning for my first "real" workout in almost a month. Did 30 minutes on the elliptical, 15 on the treadmill. Woo-Hoo!

I also finished Mitten #1 last night. Woo-Hoo, again! Didn't want to cast on for Mitten #2 last night, since we were watching The DaVinci Code. I've read the book, but wanted a thinking-free knitting project for viewing during that movie.

I tried to cast on for the back of my Jo Sharp Cable, but ran into a snag when I once again had the Lantern Moon Destiny Circulars problem. When BOTH wooden ends simultaneously detatched from the center cord. Perhaps it's a bigger problem with the larger sized needles, since this is the second pair of US 11's to have this issue.

So I busted out the second half of the hubster's Fuzzy Feet. And finished it! Yay, me yet again!


Here is the cute and talented Baxter modeling my first toe-up sock. Well, the second try on my first toe-up sock. I did 2-3 rounds on this last night too, then decided I'd drop a stitch on those little needles if I tried to knit that and do a movie at the same time


And a close-up of the actual knitting portion of the program.


I've been talking about it for too long without a money shot, so here is my paper pieced Starr block of the month first block! I'll sew the pieces together on Friday night, then start sewing the stars to go along with this month's kit. LOVE this pattern, and all the blocks are equally stunning in my opinion.

I've been running around like a nut all day and "lunchtime" is just about over, so I'd best be getting back to finishing the things I need to finish today. Have a great evening!

[In case anyone hasn't already noticed, I always find myself searching for an ending for my blog posts, then work too hard on it and type out something lame. Save me from myself!]

A 6-Dog Night

The usual suspects gathered at Sandy's house on Friday night for an evening of stitching. I'm a doofus who left my camera in my office, so these photos are courtesy of Lisa. Thanks, Lisa!


Don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Sandy and Deb (Sandy's daughter) have SIX, yes six! dogs. Five are pugs, I believe all of the pugs are rescue dogs. I have half of the names down, and I know Vinny (the only non-pug of the family) and Gertie are not in this photo. I think the big black butt is Louie's, so the other two are either Tatty, Paulie or .... OK. I think my brain just exploded. I have no idea which dogs are in this photo, but they are darn cute!


Sandy opened the evening with showing off her finished quilt top. Ain't it nifty?


Carol bought a Moda "Sanctuary" JellyRoll (roll of 2.5" strips showing the whole fabric line) and sewed them all together. There is one red fabric that we all think "pops" too much, so that's probably going to become a narrow inner border. She bought two packs of the 4" charm squares and will use them as an outer border. These aren't my normal cup of tea, but I liked them enough that I bought the necessary cut fabric when I saw them at Luella's on Saturday afternoon.

And what did I sew? Well, I paper pieced on my Starr block of the month! My main block is done, just needs to be sewn together. I LOVE THIS QUILT! I'll do my best to get the necessary glamour shots taken tonight so I can post them tomorrow.

I also finished both sleeves for my Countess, and seamed the first shoulder of my purple V-neck on Friday afternoon. Someday, I'll have a photo of a finished sweater. I hope!

Meanwhile, it's back to the grind. The hubster and I went to a retirement dinner last night and I got home totally wiped out. It was a great evening, but last night, and this morning, I felt like all of my energy had been siphoned away. I'm trying to hack my way through Monday, go to bed at a reasonable time like a grown-up, and take another hack tomorrow.

Procrastination is an Art!

Yes, I'm procrastinating. I spent my morning helping a co-worker with a technical issue and still haven't gotten in my workout pre-lunch. This means I'd better get over there to sweat soon, or the place will be crawling with ... students. Ewww. (OK, they aren't SO bad. It's just that when there are lots of them you have to wait for cardio equipment and they tend to leave really gross things in the showers instead of using a trash can. Use your imagination).

I re-cast on for my Lorna's Laces mittens, what will hopefully be the start of a mittens/hat/scarf trilogy. I'm enjoying this yarn, but the more I knit with it, the more I realize that the "this would make a cool sweater" vibe I got when I saw a different colorway was more about my love of speed knitting on big needles and not so much about what would truly make a cool sweater.


I cast on at about 7:30 last night, and this is where I was when the hubster got home last night, I looked at the clock (10:45) and realized that if I was going to scrape my sorry butt out of bed at 6 am today to take my car in for service, I'd better get to bed.

The pattern is easy to follow (Ann Budd's generic mitten recipe from here) but when they say a hand circumference of 7", they really mean 7"! I've been trying on said mitten to check length and it is snug. Very snug. Should-I-rip-this-again-or-not snug. I'll make a decision once I get home tonight.

Tomorrow (Friday) is going to be an action-packed day of fun. I'm taking the day off and will knit from when Beach Knitting opens (10:30 am) until about 3 pm, when I do my best Clark Kent/Superman impression, stop at home and get the tools necessary to switch from a mild-mannered overwhelmed-with-projects knitter into a night-on-the-town quilter with a sewing machine, a paper piecing pattern and an attitude ready to tackle any errant seam allowances.

Yep. It's a Friday night at Sandy's house. Look out, we're ready for trouble.

Well, if I have any chance of breaking my way too long streak of workout-free days, I'd better go break a sweat. Wish me luck!

Calm Before the Storm

Hi! Not much content today. Mom and Suzie left this morning to go back home. That always makes me a little sad.

Plus, I am now freaking out just a little bit that it has been a MONTH since I was last working out regularly. This is not a good thing. Gotta get back on that routine tomorrow. Whether I want to or not!

I am now in the portion of the year that feels like ... and is ... the calm before the storm. I have exactly 14 days to call my own before I leave on the first trip of the 2007 season. Of course, as soon as you look a little closer at that time span, I have a retirement banquet to attend this Sunday at 4, which will officially cut in to my knitting time at Beach Knitting this Sunday, and a few other activities that take up chunks of what would otherwise be "free days."

It looks like we're going to have a party for that big football game on Feb. 3 as well. The hubster's team is the NFC representative (chicago), so having a party is his call. I just hope I can talk him in to getting the Sumo bean bag chair in time for delivery prior to the big game. My brother has one of these and they are incredibly comfortable!

Thursday will be a normal work day, then I'll probably take at least part of Friday off. I'm hoping to go knitting for a few hours before heading to Sandy's house for a Friday night of sewing fun. Since I don't yet have the fabric swatch to pick my fabrics for our MM block exchange (pattern here but we aren't using those fabrics. We're picking a swatch that can be sashing and we make sure nothing clashes with said swatch), I'm about 95% sure I'll work on my Starr block of the month that I acquired at Road last week.

I actually have a free evening tonight, so I'm going to take one more look across my desk to make sure I'm not missing any fires that are still smoldering, then I'm headed home to clear some TiVo and watch the NHL All-Star game.

I'll try to take some knitting photos, but there isn't much exciting going on. I've finished the first sleeve for my Countess V-neck (pattern is the V-Neck 4th from the bottom, yarn is the chocolate brown) and have the second sleeve through the first ball of yarn. The sleeve cap shaping seemed mildly funky to me, so I want to make sure Sleeve #1 is correct before I forge on with Sleeve #2.

Otherwise, I cast on for my Lornas Laces mittens but didn't like the left-facing increases I had done, since they left holes, so I frogged it. Who wants holes along the thumb gusset on a pair of mittens? Not me!

Simply to avoid a photo-free post, here is a picture of me with the fantastic quilt of Floribunda, a quilt blogger in NorCal who I read pretty frequently. It was amazing in person. Lots of accurate seams on teeny-tiny pieces. WOW!



And, just for fun, a picture of Irma's knitted teddy bear. He's absolutely adorable, but I don't know that he'd be a project I'd be willing to tackle. Again, WOW!



That's it from my corner of the world. Hopefully things will be less blue and more rosy tomorrow. It hasn't been a great day today. Oh well.

DPUTiger Rewind

Media guide is done (awaiting a proof to sign off). Sleep has been enjoyed. Knitting has been done (sorry, no pics today). Road to California has been visited.

I'm way behind on my blog entries. So I shall try to catch up!

Last Monday (Jan. 15), we had our block exchange for the blue star blocks. Carol had misplaced her fabrics ... and instructions ... when heading out to Friday Night at Sandy's house. They have since been located, but she didn't have time to finish her blocks in time for Monday's exchange. Hey, I understand. I stayed up until midnight on Sunday night to have mine finished in time!

Nonie and Denise were unable to attend. Pics of all of the M&Ms in attendance, with blocks in hand, are here. (Hopefully that link takes you straight to the correct file. Yell if there's a problem, please!) As a bonus, here is a pic of the twins. No, they don't check wardrobe before they leave the house, and yes, they do this with some frequency. It's part of why we love them! :)



In other news, last Tuesday, my mom, aunt Suzie and I road tripped to Santa Barbara to take my Quinn cousin Molly (freshman at UCSB) out to dinner for her 18th birthday. A photo of the three people who ate dinner and at one time or another had the last name of Quinn


Mom on the left, Molly in the middle, Suzie on the right.

We ate at the Paradise Cafe in Santa Barbara. I highly recommend it. My Symons cousin, Barbara, picked the restaurant, since she also attended UCSB and has lived there for quite a while. Symons family relatives:


Mom on the left, Barbara in the middle, yours truly on the right.

Wednesday, I finished my media guide. Thursday, we went to Road. Biggest purchase there was signing up for a paper-pieced queen size Block of the Month quilt from Starr Designs. They don't have a picture of the BOM quilt on their website. Hopefully soon.

I didn't photograph most of my swag from Road. There wasn't all that much, but some of it was pretty cool. I'll try to do that tonight and get back to you. The front and back of my Countess sweater are finished, and I'm into the sleeve cap shaping on Sleeve #1. I started (and finished) a pair of Fetching from Knitty and have them at the office today.

I'm planning to cast on for a mittens-hat-scarf combo in some fantastic bulky Lorna's Laces superwash tonight. I'm pretty sure it's Shepherd Bulky in Rainbow. Yummy! That's about it from here. Later!

I'm FREEEEEEE!!!!!

Yep. The 104-page softball media guide is burned to a CD and sitting in the sports info office patiently waiting to be picked up by the printer. And I'm taking Thursday off to go to Road to California with my mom and aunt Suzie.

WOO-HOO!!!!!

Humble apologies to my faithful, if silent, readers (hi Ole!) assuming that any of you are still checking the site. I've been so busy with this media guide that I simply haven't had time to post. Or do much of anything besides work and sleep. Even my workouts have gone by the wayside over the last two weeks. Next week's goal is to get back into that routine.

So tonight, I'm going to plow through some of the things that have been in my head waiting to be posted for quite a while. Tomorrow, I'll post anything interesting from Road and the "reveal" from Monday night's M&Ms block exchange.


First, as I have just foreshadowed, I had M&Ms exchange blocks due on Monday night. 6" finished stars, two sets of 8. I showed up at Sandy's house on Friday night in this state of preparation


I got one block totally done on Friday night and had Step 1 finished on the second block before I realized that I had been outsmarted by the block. I wound up finishing the second block at midnight on Sunday night after I picked mom and Suzie up at the airport.


Sandy and her daughter, Deb, went to Mexico for Xmas and they brought home presents for the humble sewing buddies. A nifty armadillo from the shell shop (dime included for scale) and an extremely cool little clay catch-all jar. Both made it to my office for photo opportunity and haven't moved. The armadillo is going to live on my monitor stand at the office with my lego elephant and scary-looking lego snowman. Jar will come home once I get some sleep and clean up a little bit.


The other piece of show-and-tell was a gift from one of Sandy and Deb's friends in Mexico. Iguanas are supposed to be lucky. Aren't they lucky to have this guy?


The other news from the last 10 days or so was that we had free Bruin-branded Crocs available to full-time staff last week. Ain't they stylish?

OK. I'm about to fall asleep at my laptop, so I'd better shut up and get some shut-eye. I'll try to check in tomorrow night, worst case on Friday. I'M DONE! I'M DONE! :)

Media Guide Stupor

Yes, it's beginning. I am eight days out from my deadline. The thing is, I keep having things that are out of my control pushed back, so I will now be incapable of hitting that deadline. Well, I'm still shooting for the 12th, then I'll just have to dump in a few photos on the 15th and we'll be in business.

But, there have been some cool things to come out of my cleaning up over the weekend. My knitting stuff is fairly organized, and I have a good idea of the projects that are sitting around and waiting for me. No, I'm not signing up for the knit from your stash fad, but I do have a better idea of what is already in my house, and in what stage of not-quite finished it's in.

Both of the front pieces of my Jo Sharp cable are finished up to the shoulder shaping bind-off. I have a ridiculous amount of yarn sitting in my stash for this project. I blame it on two things: 1. when I bought the yarn, I was a size 18. Now, I am a size 4 or 6. That's a LOT of yarn difference to cover that size difference (who knew that losing a bunch of weight would make it cheaper to knit sweaters? I never thought of that!). Reason #2 is that Beth had me all freaked out that this yarn would be gone forever if I didn't get enough. Yes, I understand dye lots, but even in my larger size, I didn't need 40 skeins of the stuff. But I digress.


Here's what I have left to knit the sleeves, back and do all the finishing. Considering that the medium-sized storage tub is full-to-explosion with this yarn, I think I have way more than enough.


This is the tub of Berocco Touche that is also sitting around waiting for me. The front of this sweater is patiently waiting for me, but I'm having issues with big gaps on my knit/purl transitions unless I crank the yarn amazingly tight. Here's a close-up:


It's a great yarn and I want to finish this sweater, but I think this is going to take a back seat to the colder weather wearables that are in the in-progress portion of the stash.


And finally, the glamor shot of the glass penguin that my aunt Suzie gave me for xmas. Lip balm included for scale. LEGO elephant included because it's awesome, and it lives on my monitor stand in my office, where I took the picture.

That's it from Amy's office for today. I have a bit or two of work to tackle before I can leave without feeling guilty (even though it's almost 7 pm already), so I'd better get back to it.

My Holiday Weekend

This is one of the best holiday weekends, because you can just sit around and watch football for three days. Nothing wrong with that?

(Unless, of course, you are the Hubster, in which case one of your teams stunk last night and the other stunk today)

I enjoyed my team's overtime win yesterday, while I dealt with this:


Yep. I grabbed all of my knitting-related stuff that wasn't already in plastic tubs and dumped all of it right in front of the TV. Then I organized.

Most of the loose yarn is now in tubs, or will be following my Rose Bowl nap. The "best" of the remaining yarn familys and all of my "nearly finished" projects are featured below. I didn't photograph the sock-and-mitten yarn stash, and I'm too lazy to get up and do that now.


Now, I shall explain everything. Follow along like you're reading. Left to right, then top to bottom.

Top left: my green pocket sweater. The sleeves are basted in, so I need to seam those on, seam the armpits and pick up and knit the neck.

Top middle: my stash of Debbie Bliss Cotton DK. I bought all of this on clearance and am sniffing out more of same with no success yet. I want to make a scrap sweater with it.

Top right: My Cherry Tree Hill shell. Again, the shoulders are basted in. It looks big, so I'm a little concerned it's gonna be tooooo large for the current me.

Center left: Countess. I put this aside because doing the side shaping and cable simultaneously was making my brain melt. But this yarn is amazing and the pattern is good, so I'll need to pick it up pretty darn soon.

Center middle: Blue Sky Organic Cotton. It's going to grow up to be an Irish Hiking Scarf. Eventually. Picked it up at my 2nd favorite knitting store on Saturday (Unraveled. Too bad they're in Monrovia or I'd be there all the time. Oh, wait. That's probably a good thing!)

Center right: Alpaca cable. Front and back are finished, but I was waaaaay too tight on my 3-needle bind-off, so I need to rip that out and re-do it. Sleeve #1 is up to the shoulder shaping decreases and Sleeve #2 is a figment of my imagination.

Bottom left: Tahki cotton colors. It's a short-sleeve shell. One sleeve is basted in. This is also low on the totem poll at the moment. Gotta finish the "winter" stuff first!

Bottom center: Beth's V-neck. Needs seaming and neck. Top of the finishing list.

Bottom right: My Cascade 220 stash. In the back are the red/green/white skeins that are going to grow up to be this. Yup. The cover model. In front are three hanks for the stash and the gray tweed on the right is going to be fuzzy feet for the Hubster. He's been patient, so I should get those done.

Well, it's time for my Rose Bowl nap. Better to nap before halftime, then you won't miss anything too critical. ;-) Glamour shot of new glass penguin will have to wait. He wasn't feeling photogenic today and the three shots I took were all out of focus. Happy New Year!