Weekend O' Fun

What a great weekend I had!

About a month ago, I met a woman at the Sit 'n Knit at Purls of Wisdom and she lives in my neighborhood. (For those counting, that's two women besides me in my neighborhood that have the "obsession"!) Her name is Donna and she and her husband Darren moved here in April from Miami.

A couple of weeks ago, they had a get-together at their house for Darren's birthday. He's English and there was another English couple they knew from Miami visiting and a bunch of work friends and Jen (owner of Purls). We let the kids have a "sleepover" at the grandparents house and we went to the party. Excellent fun! We drank to our heart's content, ate good food, enjoyed excellent company and felt like grown-ups for a change instead of just parents all the time.

Now, I don't know if I've mentioned this but my husband is almost perfect. The only thing that keeps him from being so perfect I'd have to keep him under lock and key so people wouldn't try to steal him for cloning purposes is that he's not social and he doesn't dance. Not social. There's an understatement. He hates people. He hates bars and crowds and is sort of shy and doesn't like meeting new people.

He had such a great time at the party that he wanted to know more about Donna and Darren. Long story short, on this past Saturday, we dropped our kids at the grandparents and the four of us adults went to Elitch Gardens! (Dave and I LOVE rollercoasters. Part of our honeymoon, we went park hopping in California.) The four of us had such a great time! We got there right when the park opened and within an hour and a half we hit all the major rides. We went on the MindEraser one more time and then off to lunch at P. F. Chang's. (Dave and Darren both really like Chang's.)


It's kind of funny because in the middle of our time at the park, we went on this tiny log ride. I mean tiny. It goes up a hill, turns right and goes level for about 6 feet, turns right again, goes downhill into the water and under a bridge and then your done. But. That downhill slams an enormous wave onto the bridge so even if you duck the wave when you hit, the water comes sluicing off the bridge as you go under and you are SOAKED to the bone. No avoiding it. So even an hour later, when we showed up at the restaurant, we were all still wet!

While we were eating lunch, we were talking about other restaurants and Dave suggested next time we go and hit this burger joint that got voted best in Colorado. That's right, my husband the antisocial, was suggesting another activity! I'm so proud of him!

As an aside, when we told Donna and Darren about our honeymoon on the rollercoasters, Donna mentioned they haven't gone on a honeymoon yet. I told Dave that they were still newlyweds (married October last year). Dave said, "Really? That's cool! Ruth and I are Shouldn't'aweds." He's funny! Soooooo very funny.

When we got home, there was a note on our door from the neighbor up the street. T walks to school every day with the 2 kids in that house (Boy A and Girl A). Their mom invited T and D2 to go to Chuck E. Cheese that night for Girl A's birthday. We went and picked up the kids. I got 2 presents and wrapped them and when it was time, I drove them to the Chuck place and hung out for a couple of hours.

Actually, I bought 4 presents because on Sunday, we had another birthday party to go to. Dave had an online poker tournament he won a spot in so I took the boys on my own. It was a bit tricky trying to watch both boys run around 4 different pools at this community pool place but I didn't want them to miss it. The boy whose party we went to used to be in T's class and they were good friends. The boy's family had moved and this party was likely the last time they'd ever see each other.

2 hours at the pool and then 2 hours at the boy's new house and then home, change clothes, go to grandparents for dinner. After dinner, home for baths and bedtime. Sweet, sweet bedti....zzzzz

Happy but exhausted, Ruth!

Summer Reading

I've been keeping fairly true to my 2008 Reading Goals. The Tom Jones book put me behind some (also the books I've been sneaking in between my list books). Tom Jones was written in the 1700s and is a difficult read. It took me almost a week to read the first 40 pages! It's 18 "books" with little chapters in each book. Each book is about 25-40 pages, 850 some pages in all. I'm reading a "book" between each regular book I read. I should have this beast finished by the end of the year. It's a good read, just difficult, old-style English.

I loved Beloved. Loved it. It's as I remember other Toni Morrison books I've read - it makes your heart hurt but it's so beautifully written, you can't stop reading. Ms. Morrison shows us the basest, cruelest, most evil that the human race can be but then just when it feels as though she's reaching inside you to pull out your heart and show it to you, you come to that part of the book where you realize that she's reaching inside you to show you where your heart is. She shows you the beauty as well as the horror that is our pitiful, lovely species. Perfection.

I just finished Oscar Wiled and a Death of No Importance. What a waste that was. It's a fluffy mystery and with the cast of characters involved it could've been sensational. It wasn't. It was trite and fairly obvious. I knew about 1/3 of the way through who the murderers were (I was just a little off as to their motives). Very disappointing.

Is it pathetic and sad that I've already decided next year's reading? I'm pretty well decided that I'm only going to read books with sequels. On my bookshelves I have Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings/Silmarillion series, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, and many others that I've had for years and (with the exceptional exception of The Hobbit) have never read. I'm ending this year with Roots which would naturally have me starting next year with it's sequel Queenie!

I think for my in between books next year, I'm going to try to clear off my paperback shelf. It's 3 deep with mostly scary books (which are usually my favorite choice) and I need to read them, donate them to the library and move on! Like most of the books on my shelves, had them for years, haven't read them, but still buy more. No more buying, just reading what I've got and maybe borrowing from the library every now and then!

Wordhound, Ruth!

MASSIVE DeStash!

I've been talking about doing it forEVER but I finally went through ALL my yarn and reorganized. I have a HUGE Bin-O-Yarn that I'm letting go.

The link for my DeStash is here. All prices include Shipping and Handling (click on the pictures for yarn details and prices). I have much more to come but photographing all my stuff is becoming a second job!

I take Paypal and if you'd like the stuff I'm sellin', email me (Ruth AT 5elementknitr DOT com). I'll invoice you and when payment is made, I'll remove the pic's from the DeStash Flickr set and mail it off to you.

Please spread the word. Please - I want this stuff gone! Yes, there's fun fur but there's also lovely cottons and laceweight mohair blends and some rockin' Alpaca. There's even some beads and jewelry findings.

The fun fur would make great pet beds! haha!

Downsizing, Ruth!

Pride

Yarn Harlot wrote about the Pride march near her and where to find some cool rainbow yarn. She also put some excellent quotes from people who see that there's nothing wrong with being gay. The post is here. Out of nearly 200 commenters only 2 were negative.

Here's one of them:

" Ok, that does it. You just lost me. I can no longer support someone who promotes homosexual lifestyles. Sorry hun. You just dropped off my blog AND my book list. Anyone want some Yarn Harlot books, cheap?"

Posted by: Patricia at July 1, 2008 5:59 PM

Here's what I wrote:

"Hey, Patricia - you're going to give up all your Harlot books because she "supports homosexual lifestyles"?

Hell, I'll take 'em! Can I also go through all your music, books, movies and art? I guarantee most of what you have (all the secular stuff anyway) was created by people who are just fine with homosexuality, not to mention that quite a bit of the artistic world are ACTUALLY homosexual.

ooooh, and while we're at it, can I go through your clothes, furniture, home decor.. OH and your yarn! Do you have any hand-dyed yarn from indie dyers? Not to stereotype but most fashion, furniture, home decor designers I know or have seen on TV are part of the "family" (again, either in a supportive role or as actual players). Same goes for most indie dyers.

As anti-gay support statements go, yours was one of the most ignorant I've seen. And that's sayin' something!

Thanks and if you'd like to send me those books, you can find me at 5elementknitr.blogspot.com."

People slay me. Four of my closest friends in high school came out our senior year. When I was stationed at Ft. Huachuca, AZ (1994-96) I was surrounded by lesbians. On the Women's Medac Softball Team, out of 15 women, I was one of 2 1/2 that were straight. (Evelyn was bi. Her attitude was, "Why limit yourself?" Why indeed, Evelyn, why indeed.) My captain and my NCO (sergeant in charge) in the eye clinic were both women and both in monogamous relationships with other women.

When I met Dave, he used to tease me saying, "Seriously, babe, do you have any straight friends?" Of course, the majority of my friends were/are straight. My aunt is not. In the Army, they called themselves "the family" and I'm pretty sure that's not a phrase exclusive to the military.

I never saw what the big deal was. To each there own.

Friend of the Family, Ruth!

Out Of My Secret Closet

The Knitting Wildflower is having a blogiversary contest - it's here.

It says to tell a short story about a sock and such. My sock attempts have been abysmal. I think the problem is that I attempt these really difficult patterns. The first sock I ever attempted was also my first time on DPN's and my first chart knitting. I got to the end of the heel (top down) and when I looked at the sock, you could really tell when I figured out the DPN's because the first chart repeat (of 2) was much looser then the second. Rrrrrrrip-it! I'm about halfway through the first repeat again. I love the way the yarn looks with the pattern but the pattern has these evil Make Purls that are killing my hands.

Then there was the ill-fated Baudelaires from last year's Tour De France KAL. I'm in that KAL again this year and I'm considering trying to finish them. I have half of one foot finished. I got to the part where you have to do the increases but my increases would be beTWEEN the needles (magic loop). Couldn't figure it out. They are in the dreaded Closet Of No Return.

Of course, all I had to do was move the stitches around on the needles so the increases wouldln't be inbtw. Duh. I'm probably going to get them out and give it a go for this year's TDF KAL.

I suppose I could try a basic sock pattern but that seems so boring! I feel if I'm going to be knitting something I could buy (scarf, sweater, sock), I should be doing something fun and not just plain stockinette. I should probably do a boring basic one anyway, just to finish a pair. I have enough sock yarn for roughly 30 pair!

Do y'all have the equivalent of the Closet Of No Return? What/where is it? What's in it? I have everything I've either become stuck on or bored with. Mostly stuck on. Mostly, it's the designs I attempt. Most of my designs way outreach my actual knitting ability. I get to a part where I know what I want it to look like, I just don't know how to make it look like that!

The Hateful Bed Jacket is not in there. It's all sewn up and I've actually even worn it a coupla times. I did the edging for one sleeve, sewed it on and hated it. It looks very court jester-ish. I took the edging off and am just going to crochet a nice edging on. I'm still going to do the original edging for the rest of the jacket but I'm waiting on football season for that. It's an 8 repeat lace and every row is different. It also has a different stitch count every row, except for the 3 rows that are 17 stitches - but even these same number of stitches are each worked differently. Impossible to memorize. Hateful. Bed. Jacket.

Cleaning out my Closet, Ruth!

General Directions

Warning: Grossness ahead....

My little guy has this weird thing when he gets a bad cough. It gets so bad sometimes that it makes him throw up. It hasn't happened in almost a year, but yesterday it came back in full projectile force.

He threw up on the floor yesterday. Dave came home shortly after and I told him, "Just in time! D2 puked and now you get to clean it up!" haha. I cleaned it. As I was cleaning, Dave was teasing D2 saying, "We don't like pukey boys! We'll have to send you to another home! One where they DO like pukey boys!"

Usually, when we tease D2 like this, he says in a wavery/laughy voice, "Reeeeeeeallllly?" But today he got all excited, "Can I go to the Puke House?"

We laughed, "Where??"

D2: "The Puke House. You know.... where you can puke as much as you want to all day and no one cares about the puke?!"

The three of us were cracking up about that!

I'm on all fours, cleaning up nastiness and laughing about it. Love that kid.

As I'm cleaning, I look at the carpet cleaner I'm using. It's Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover and comes in a spray bottle (the kind you have to squeeze over and over. And over.) Not crazy about it's delivery system but this stuff works like crazy! I read the instructions yesterday and I've read them before but every time I do, it makes me shudder:

General Directions: Simply apply a generous amount on the spot, agitate with finger tips and blot with absorbent cloth. SPOTS DISAPPEAR INSTANTLY.

OK - pretty sure anything I'm using this stuff for is not anything I'm ever going to want to stick my finger tips into! Ewwwwwww! (I just use a towel to agitate it in and then blot.)

One thing that's not so funny is when D2 pukes at night. Which he did twice last night. Like I said, he hasn't done this in almost a year and we were hoping he'd outgrown the problem. (Last time it was so bad during the night that we literally ran out of sheets for his bed and he had to sleep on towels.) The scariest, like last night, is when he does it in his sleep and doesn't wake.

The first time last night was right before he went to sleep and we changed everything out. We always check on the boys before we go to sleep. Give them a last kiss goodnight, make sure they're covered with blankets and such. Last night when we checked on them, we were in D2's room and I said, "Ugh, hate that puke smell!" (His last bout was in the hamper in the hall waiting for their trip to the basement laundry this morning) Dave said he couldn't smell it. I said really?! Then he said he could smell it. Then I saw it. D2 had done it again but we don't know when because he was sleeping in it and it was all dried. That completely freaks me out because I get images of Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix, ya know?

Dave keeps saying we should take him to the Dr. but what're they gonna say? Or do? The kid coughs up some gunk from his latest cold, it gets caught at the back of his throat and triggers his gag reflex. Besides, every time I consider taking him for this problem, he stops before we get the appointment! sigh.

Any suggestions?

Quickly becoming the Puke House, Ruth!

Fetch

Here's a coupla FO's. I know, I'll give you a moment to recover. Not only actual knitting content but real FO's???



I've fallen for Fetching. Hard.



I made this pair for a friend who says she works in the Antarctic of air-conditioned offices.



The yarn is Classic Elite Waterlily. 100% merino. It took about a ball and a half on US 6 DPN's. Very soft and lovely. A bit splitty when cabling without a cable needle (thanks to Kelly for re-showing me how!). Also, the yarn is darker in real life and the cables aren't as noticeable.



This set was for a private swap and the recipient requested mis-matched mitts. Apparently there's this whole movement where you wear mismatched socks, mitts, etc. I think my recipient wanted them to be completely different but, due to my being a bit more anal then I'd anticipated, this was the best I could do...




The orange is Berroco Ultra Alpaca and the other color is Rowan Wool DK. Recipient requested orange and some other color. I was quizzing my husband, the sports fanatic, about orange. I couldn't think of a single color that orange goes with that isn't associated with a sports team! Neither could he! I had this orange in my stash and when I came home with the other color (wine? dark mauve?) he said it didn't look like any team colors.



Fetching is a SUPER quick project. Especially when you learn to cable w/o a cable needle. If you don't already know about knittinghelp.com - you gotta check it out. I'm the type that when taught, I go home and promptly forget! That site is an audio/visual knitting teacher 24/7. Brilliant!

Last year, everyone got scarves or bath mats for Xmas. This year, Fetching for all the girls!

Love playing Fetch!

Showing no signs of stopping, Ruth!