Monday, July 31, 2006

Surfing USA

Grrrrrrr.... Bloggers not letting me upload photos. Anyways....
Earlier today Tanya pointed out to me that a portion of my blog entry from last Monday was published in Sundays edition of The Sacramento Bee. The column I was included in isn't online, I guess its only in the print version.
The column, "Surfing USA, A selection from the week's blogosphere - Compiled by John Hughes", included my little blurb in which I whined about the heat last week. Nothing major, definitely not my best writing sample, but I may pay a bit more attention to my grammar from now on.
Now, if Mr. Hughes did a feature on knitting blogs......

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Lamb Town, U.S.A.


Friends and I went to Lamb Town Saturday. Fun was had, garlic fries were consumed, and yarn was purchased. I'll have photos of the yarn up as soon as I have better lighting.
I don't know what kind of sheep this is, but he was so cute, and kept posing for me so I had to take a pic.

Monday, July 24, 2006

random thoughts

Its nearly 1 am and still 86 degrees outside, but with the 46% humidity it feels more like 90. We aren't supposed to get this kind of humidity in Sacramento. We're supposed to have that infamous "dry heat" and the humidity is worse. it makes the air weigh heavy upon you, coating your entire body with a layer of perspiration simply from stepping outside.
I'm in my bedroom and can hear the dogs getting in and out of their wading pool outside my window. I wish we still had a pool. I'd be floating in it right now if we did.
Mental note: next year, take an Alaskan cruise in July.

I'm thinking of going blonde. I'm not sure why. Maybe not completely blonde, just lots of highlights woven in.

I'm getting a toothache.
Must go to the dentist soon.

Lambtown is in Dixon next weekend and it's also one of my friends birthdays. She also happens to knit. We're looking forward to going and perusing the handspun yarns available.

I'm STILL considering getting a new, used, car. However, fuel efficiency is becoming more and more of a factor in my decision. I'm currently thinking of a Toyota Camry.

33 days until I turn 30. No festivities are planned. I'm not sure if I want a big celebration or just a quiet evening at the pub with my close friends.

Must clean my room. I have way too much crap. But, where do I start?

Need to organize my yarn. Should this be done by weight? Color? Fiber content?

My beading supplies are a mess as well.

I have some laceweight alpaca yarn. Its been sitting in my stash for several months and I have no idea of what to do with it. Perhaps a lacey scarf for this fall? Should I follow a pattern or try to design one myself? I do like the design process but don't have much experience with knitting lace.

I was at a friends housewarming party Saturday night and seeing the paintings she has done made me realize how much I miss painting. I'm thinking of taking it up again and possibly taking a class either at the local community college or at the Learning Exchange.

I wonder if grandma would let me turn the spare room into a studio, both for knitting and painting. Hell, crafts in general. A craft studio. I would love that. I'd definitely have to get some shelves from IKEA.

I want a new bed. I've had my eye on the Noresund at IKEA for a while now and while I was there Friday night I saw that they've marked the price down to $194. It's tempting. I could also use a new mattress.

Its past 1 am. i need to get up for work in 5 hours. Why do the weekends always have to go by so quickly?

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Oschuns Bag

Here it is, my latest felted purse, modeled by my sister.
I called it "Oschuns Bag" because Oschun is a caribbean goddess of the sea that my mom is fond of.








I'm working on getting the pattern written up.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Because Weekends Were Made For Fun...

I didn't do much of anything productive this weekend...
Friday night after work I went to Erin & Jeremys (E&J's) to help them move in, but by the time I got there they had already finished unloading the truck so we headed over to the pub and had a fun evening with friends.
Saturday, it was so hot out I decided that my spoiled ass dogs needed a wading pool to help them keep cool. In search I went. Evidently, the rest of the universe decided that they needed hard plastic wading pools as well. There were plenty of the inflatable kind, but I wanted to get the plastic kind just to be sure that their nails wouldn't puncture through. Ultimately, I ended up driving all the way to freaking AUBURN to get a damn pool. Its about 25 miles and 30 minutes from my home.
Other than that, I did NOTHING Saturday. Well, I did TRY to knit that blanket. I don't know if its me or the pattern, but I kept losing stitches on the 2nd pattern row so I gave up and went with a crochet pattern I've had plenty of success with in the past. its a simple patter, but with pretty sideways shells and it works up incredibly quickly.
Sunday, I slept in, went to knitting and then went to E&J's to help them finish unpacking and afterwards we had an impromptu dinner party.
I was able to finish the felted bag I was making. Photos will be posted in a day or two once I've found a willing model.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Back Home

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts and well wishes. I'm doing okay and my family is as well. The services were nice and it was good to see some family I hadn't seen in a few years.
I flew home this morning, took a nice long nap and then met up with some friends at the pub.
Tomorrow my dear sweet beautiful lovely fantabulous cousin Erin is moving back to Sacramento so I'm looking forward to that. Oh, and her husband Jeremy is moving with her. I guess thats okay.
I'm just kidding, I'm very glad that theyre both moving here and Jeremy knows that harassing him is one of my favorite hobbies. He is the closest thing I have to a brother-in-law after all.

Now, knitting projects. I finished the first felted purse I was working on about 2 weeks ago - just with all thats been going on I haven't sewn in the handles yet. So far I really like how it's turned out and I think my mom will as well - did I ever mention that it's for her?
Now I'm working on a crib blanket for a friend who has a niece on the way. I've already had to start the thing 4 times. I'm hoping to not screw it up yet again and be able to finish it within a week or so.

While in Oregon I was able to play with photo shop a little bit. For the little program booklet thing handed out at the viewing and services my grandpa wanted to put a photo on the back of my grandma and a photo of her garden. She loved to garden and could grow some beautiful irises and dahliahs. I found a GREAT photo of her taken at a casino back in the early 60's (she also enjoyed the nickle slots) and a photo of her garden, not in its glory, but still nice. After stumbling through some knock off version of photo shop that my grandpa had on his computer but had no clue of how to use I was able to come up with this:

I know that I'm biased, but I think she looks a bit like Jackie O. in this photo.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

At Peace

Dee Ann Steinbrecher
July 25 1938 - July 8 2006

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

I'm off again....

I'm taking half of tomorrow and Friday off from work to fly up to Portland to see my grandparents again. Things aren't looking very well. I'm scheduled to fly back Sunday afternoon, but thats subject to change.
It's 11:30 and I have yet to do any laundry or pack a single thing.
In fact, the only thing I have packed is a bag of stuff for my dad that he had his girlfriend put together for me to bring with me.
I'll be sitting up with my grandma through the nights that I'm there, so I'll be taking a couple of knitting projects and a book or two.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

I'm off to the pub to enjoy some beers and the company of friends for the afternoon.
This evening it will be bbq and fireworks with family.