Ze Germans

Have you seen the movie Snatch? Well, there's a great running joke through the movie that the characters have to be protected from Ze Germans. It's kind of silly. But it seems fitting to mention since some lovely German yarn landed on my doorstep this week. When Handgefaerbt showed up on the Lime-N-Violet Chum, I knew I had to get my hands on some. (This is a pre-clutter free commitment purchase!)

Here's why...



HydraPound



Green Elve



Atlantis



An extra skein included in my order!!! Love that!

This yarn is squishy and lovely. Too bad Kirstin is on a little vacation for the next couple of weeks. Apparently I wasn't the only person to see her skeins on the chum...

The latest installment of the Rockin' Sock Club came this week too. Click here to see a spoiler picture.

You might be thinking that these latest posts are kind of all over the place. Well, I found the fabulousness that is scheduled posting. Blogger lets you write a post and publish it a couple of days from now. My Dad has been in town since Thursday. So I pre-wrote all my posts last week. It worked really well and took the pressure off coming up with something witty when I come home exhausted.

Anyway...Not much else happening here. Although I did go to Borders (with a gift card- no money spent!) for Eclipse. This is the third of the Twilight books. I was so excited when they found one in the back. Apparently these books are popular! HAHA! If you don't hear from me for a week or so, you know what happened.

The Sewing Bug

I've caught it. My little $55, Post-Thanksgiving sewing machine is seeing a lot of action lately. I'm slowly learning and working on improving my sewing skills. This has me wanting a new, fancier machine. But that will have to wait. No extra wants around here!

The immensely talented Heather Bailey had put out a new line of fabric. And it's GORGEOUS!!!!



This will be a Barcelona Skirt by Amy Butler. I made a basic A-line skirt last September and I love it. I'm trying to push myself into dressing more girlie. Plus people are so impressed when you tell them you made the skirt yourself. (no matter how simple it is!)

I'm also starting to pull together fabrics for a queen sized quilt.



More Heather Bailey in brights.



Heather Bailey pastels.

I'm thinking a little brown will set off these perfectly. But who knows...

All of these were purchased pre-CTC. And just because I'm not buying more things at the moment doesn't mean you can't!

Nova Made My Day!

I won a contest over on Nova's blog a few days ago. Well, look what she sent me!



Practice Roving...



Spunky Eclectic Merino Roving in Emerald Isle. So pretty and so extremely soft!

All for use on this...



What a beautiful spindle! It's unbelievably gorgeous. I'm not sure how she gave it up but I'm glad she did!!! Thanks so much!!!!

Foggy Tesseraes

When I went to Boston this Spring, these socks were the runner up for the "which socks should I knit on vacay" contest. Well, they had to be knit sooner or later, right?



Pattern: Tesserae from KnitSpot
Yarn: Yarn Pirate BFL in Fog
Needles: Size 1 dpn's. I broke about 6 needles knitting these socks- 1 set of ebony and 1/2 a set of bamboo. Did I mention I'm a tight knitter!?!??!
Date Started: 6/27/08
Date Finished: 9/14/08
Mods: None- except I had to knit the XL size due to my gauge. Oof!!! I know my feet are big but....



Close up of the pattern. I think these turned out beautifully. The YP BFL is very thin and a little splitty. But I loved it anyway. It's so, so, SO soft. And super warm. But maybe BFL is better saved for scarves or cowls. Hmmm...

Also, the new Yarn Pirate Booty Club shipment came yesterday. Click here for a spoiler. Perfect for Fall.

What's next???? Well, as I'm diving into my stash, I reached for the Knit Picks Sock Blank that I dyed at Scout's Fabby Dyeing class. Here it is in the "blank" form...



And here's how it's coming together when knitted...



Pretty cool, huh? We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for being patient with me while it takes me a week to comment and post. I'm still working on balancing the computer time with laundry and talking to my husband time!

And a Control The Clutter update... I'm doing really well when it comes to stuff. Not so well when it comes to eating out. So that's my goal for this week. Try not to buy food EVERY DAY! So unnecessary! Although I didn't bring in more stuff, I still spent too much money this week on food... Try, try again!

Did I mention I finished the first 2 Twilight books?!?!? They are AMAZING!!! I love them. And yes, I'm a little ashamed to be so into teen books. I'm borrowing the next 2 from a friend at Stitch and Bitch on Tuesday. Kind of pathetic. But I love it!

I'm Sad Today

David Foster Wallace was found dead in his home in Pomona, CA. He was an Amherst alum. His thesis, "The Broom of The System" was a New York Times bestseller. Yes, his senior college thesis. He received an honorary degree at my graduation. Couldn't have been sweeter or more gracious when I met him 10 years ago next May.

"Consider The Lobster" is a typical example of his writing which was anything but typical.

He was 46. My thoughts and sympathy go out to his family and anyone who knew this amazing writer.

I Prefer Quirky

Some people say I'm "anal." I prefer "organized." Some say "weird." Well, you can see where I'm going with this. KnittinWolf tagged me for this meme. I'll try to narrow my quirks down to the 6 required!

1. I don't like my food to touch. My mom bought me a divider plate once because she was sick of hearing about my annoyances when food would migrate. Thanksgiving is tough but usually I can keep the corn out of my mashed potatoes. And I absolutely can't do syrup because it gets on EVERYTHING!

2. When I drink coffee or tea from a paper cup, I make sure the seam on the cup is directly opposite the mouth opening on the lid. Otherwise, it drips. The Starbucks people look at you funny when you rearrange your coffee.

3. I'm VERY competitive. I hate to lose at anything. That's why I'm not allowed to golf anymore. Bad + Competitive = No Fun for Anyone.

4. I'm a pretend tough girl. Really, I'm a total sap. As we speak, I'm crying over The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.** Seriously, I'm a mess. Totally ridiculous!

5. I love Kid Rock. There. I said it. Did you see Fashion Rocks???? I'd have jumped him on that stage. He's #2 on the dirty crush list.

6. Speaking of the dirty crush list.... #1 is definitely Anthony Bourdain. Sorry but he's gorgeous. He has that dirty scoundrel quality that I was always drawn to in men. And now he has a child. UGH! The man is just getting hotter by the year!

That's it. Quirky as hell. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Inside this cool, collected exterior... I'm a mess!!!

ps- not having an office job has REALLY cut into my blog reading time. So I'm catching up when I get the chance. Sorry if it takes me a few days to get back to you!

**Netflix doesn't count as extra spending because it already exists as an expense in my life. AND it doesn't cause clutter.

Just in Time for 100 Degrees

I finished the February Lady Sweater! Too bad it's been over 100 for the past week or so.



Pattern: February Lady Sweater
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Wool
Needles: KP Options, Size 9
Mods: None really. Buttons from Clever Ewe in Ada, MI



I really LOVE the buttons! Now I just hope that it cools off soon so I can wear it. No modeled shots today. I didn't shower until 7 pm. And I wasn't exactly camera ready!

If you haven't seen Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, rent it now. It's utterly charming. Amy Adams is adorable. And Frances McDormand is fabulous as always. It may be up there in my favorite movies list.

31 Days of Need Not Want

In the spirit of Crazy Aunt Pearl's commitment to not buying extraneous items, I wanted to give it a go. So today (to start my 31st year) I'm pledging 31 days of not buying anything I don't NEED. This is going to be tough for me. I'm the girl who throws an extra chapstick into every grocery order. It is a very bad habit. Time to break that one...

The Rules of Control the Clutter...
1. Every single time I lay out money for ANYTHING I will ask, do I NEED this. If the answer is no, there will be no purchase.
2. Food is OK. But candy is not. And "extras" like Starbucks, Jamba, and eating out will be seriously examined.
3. No cosmetics, clothes, or office supplies.
4. Especially... NO YARN!!!
5. Use what I have. No need to buy more just because of nice packaging, pretty colors, or any other marketing trick.

This lasts at least until October 8. I promise to fess up if I mess up. But I'm committed to giving this an honest try. Want in????

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I celebrate my 31st birthday. I'm officially "in my 30's" instead of just 30. I spent the day in my pj's and didn't even shower until 7 pm. Take that, maturity!!! Then we went to Whole Foods for dinner. Yum! Sandwichs and wine- very good birthday dinner. I even got a slice of Tiramisu for dessert.

But the real celebration was last night. Brian took me to Top of the Mark in SF. I've been wanting to go here for drinks since we moved here. It's at the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill. Amazing views... Wanna see?????

Yeah- I forgot my camera. D'oh! Quite silly of me. Then we walked down the hill 1 block to go to Rue Lepic. Seriously, if you are in SF, go here for dinner. It's a sleeper hit! The food is amazing and there's 0 pretension. It may actually be my favorite SF restaurant. And I've been lucky enough to eat at lots of fabulous places. The place is tiny and they weren't ready for us when we showed up. So they gave us each a glass of wine while we waited outside. It was one of those perfect SF nights where a cool breeze is blowing but it's still warm enough to be outside comfortably. For dinner I recommend the 5 course meal for $44. Not at all pricey for SF standards. And BEYOND delicious! They even sent out dessert wine for my birthday. The place is fantastic. I love it! Go now!!!!!

It was a perfect night. Even though I had a runny nose so bad all day that I looked like Rudolph. Seriously, if I was skinnier, you'd think I had a serious cocaine problem. Today, nothing. Luckily Everything Balm seems to have solved the red nose issue.



Knitting Wolf sent me a nice package for my birthday! An M&M magnet and super cute stitch markers.



Aren't they adorable!!! How'd she know these are my favorite cookies??? Thanks so much!

At 31, I realize I'm not above peer pressure. The girls at Stitch and Bitch were toting the virtues of the Twilight series.



So I went to Target a couple of days ago and picked up the first two books. I'm holding off on starting them though. Need to finish a couple of books before these.

Hope you all had a great day! I know I did!!!

Did You Feel It?

Literally 5 minutes ago, we had an earthquake. 4.0 centered about 15 miles from me. Not too strong but a pretty good shake. Make me NERVOUS! Just when I'm getting comfortable in Cali, she reminds me that you never know when things will be shaken up!

I also jumped on the bandwagon and emailed Karen over at KaratStix for a custom set of her amazing bamboo gauges.



Chickens, of course!



A 4" gauge and a 2" gauge. And stitch markers that she threw in as a gift!



Needle Gauge



WIP tool (for my new spinning career!) and sock set- 2" cuff measure and sock needle gauge.

The attention to detail is amazing! The little skeins have bamboo and merino written on them! And Karen is just as nice as can be. Etsy is full of really talented people. But Karen in particular took very basic tools and made them works of art. Thanks, Karen!

I finished the FLS last weekend but I haven't been able to get pics of it yet. It doesn't help that it's about 100 (million) degrees here. I'll get around to that this weekend.

I'm working tomorrow. So I'm off to bed soon. As long as there's no more shaking!

The Best Lawn Mowers

One of the quirks of the Bay Area is that we use goats as lawn mowers to clear the side of the highways. You'll be driving along the freeway and around the bend there are 200 goats calmly grazing away. I know the places they usually hang out. So imagine my surprise when I took one of the exits leading my my house and there were the goats!



(Excuse the photos- camera phone!)



This particular goat was less than impressed by me. Or maybe that particular patch of grass was extremely delish!



They didn't seem to mind me too much. But I backed off promptly when this car headed down the hill. Although they are well fenced, there's no need to send them into oncoming traffic!