Cables and Wool

MOVING

2008-09-11T11:32:00.002-04:00

I've gone and done it...i've gone and moved. If you're interested in following my blog, point your browser to http://jerryc37.wordpress.com/

I think that's where I shall be from now on.

Great

2008-09-11T10:01:00.004-04:00

I just updated my blog to do something with folloing other blogs and it fucked up my haloscan comments. I hate technology. Now to remember my haloscan info so I can go re-install it....I wish Blogger made it that easy to add 3rd party templates...assholes.

Oh geez...I'm a happy guy, eh? I will return....I think a pill may be in order...it's one of those days. I can feel the fury rising

I give up....tried reinstalling...doesn't seem to have worked. Sometimes it's better to just leave well enough alone. SInce the advent of Ravelry and Plurk, there really is no need for web rings anymore and I haven't liked Blogger for a while so maybe it's time to move.

I WANT DRUGS!

Black Void

2008-09-05T20:08:00.007-04:00

How long can one man survive without intimacy and passion before he snaps? Is 25 years long enough? Is it real or is it an illusion Hollywood has manufactured? I believe it is real...for the truly breathtakingly beautiful people of which I was not one this time around. Teetering on the edge of blackness yet again is frightening-the coldness of the world and the male race in particular is no fun.

Then again, artists are too sensitive and I can fully see why we are driven to drug abuse & suicide. My next life I want to come back as a female much like an ex freind of mine who had men (GAY and straight ) falling at her feet to do whatever they could to be in her presence because I fully intend to use and treat men like the shit they are.

I've prayed and cried to the universe....it has not brought Danny any closer to me. A drug habit is real close....just where to find a dealer? I can no longer live like this. It's time to escape.

For You Danny....You'll never know just how much of an impact you've had on my life. For 16 years my heart has cried rivers for you-when you walked into the room, you did set it on fire. I only hope wherever you are and whoever you're with, you are safe and happy. That's all I ever wanted for you...I only wish it were me that got to share that with you. I just didn't try hard enough. You were shy and I was too scared...I blew it without even trying. I'm sorry....I hope we'll meet again on the other side, I miss you so much....I'll always love you...And I would walk a thousand miles to see your smile (and eyes) one more time.

Interesting Accent

2008-09-05T18:15:00.000-04:00

I found this interesting...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
Boston
The Inland North
North Central
The South
The West
The Midland
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Traumatised

2008-09-02T17:52:00.002-04:00

My doctor got a bit more intimate than I cared for today...knew it was coming,just not when. While I recover, I leave you with this teaser....

Twisting Wicker

2008-08-30T09:39:00.004-04:00

Err, Dicker Twicket....no, no...WICKED TWISTER! That's it! I made an interesting discovery last week at Cedar Point thanks to this ride. I found my extreme hesitation to do rides like Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda ka have to do with the fact I'm not too keen on laying on my back facing the sky at a 90 degree angle. I don't know why.

This ride was the closest I'll ever get to the now defunct Chiller that Six Flags fucked up (as only six flags knows how to do). CRAZY FUN! You get launched 3 times forward, twice backwards on this fun contraption. 215 feet tall, 70 MPH. First launch takes you part way up the spike, ditto the reverse. When you come down from the back spike the first time, you feel just how strong a push the magnets thrust you out to climb much higher on the front spike. ALl the while twisting around like a candy cane.

I did not mind being on the back spike, facing the ground at 90 degrees...the front spike spooked me a little bit. I'm not real sure why-that's fucked up logic, no? Looking at the sky should be easier and the ground scarier? For this reason I probably could never go up in the space shuttle. But now that I see where my fear lies, I can probably conquer TOp Thrill Dragster next time.

I actually made a second discovery-I'm no longer so enamored with the poorly run, money grubbing, highway robbery chain known as Six Flags. I'm a confirmed Cedar Point fan boy! Six Flags ought to be ashmaed of themselves. No, let me rephrase that...Red Zone management and the asshole that is CEO should be...the park was fine until he took over. Fuck him and his chain-we goin' back to the point next year!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!

Next post will come my newest love who stole my heart..but that's for next time. Gotta present her well, she's very very special!

For now....enjoy WICKED TWISTER! The music stinks but the ride kicked ass! Loved this.Chris was laughing every time we ride. Said it made my hair look like I stuck my finger in a power point. LMAO!

Here's an on ride POV from the front. Sorry, the raw intensity of this just does not come through in videos. it's probably the most intense coaster I've ever ridden, but that's just me.

Leaving...On A Jet plane

2008-08-21T06:08:00.005-04:00

Off to Ohio to go ride some coasters. Got a 10 AM flight and am freaking out. I wanna be on the Motley Crue jet getting wrecked with Nikki and Tommy so I don't know or care we're in an impossibly heavy suppository. I want the rock & roll BLARING. I'll take a Xanax about a half hour before we're set to take off. On an empty stomach it hopefully will chill my ass out some but given what happened Saturday on two of them, I dunno. It may have no effect at all.

Thinking I may be done with the platinum too. She's WAY over processing me all of a sudden. The last two times she's bleached me up to white and that's a BIG no-no. Now it's starting to break off in front and I'm just so done with this-I can't lose anymore. She was doing great at first...dunno what's up now. She knows better too. I'm going for extensions when we get back. UGH1 THe older I get the more high maintenance I get. Does this shit ever stop? Youth honestly really is wasted on the young.

SO...I'm wondering how long after take off I can put my iPod on? I don't see what the deal is with an iPod. Mobile phones I do...that damn thing interferes with my computer speakers, my television, my radio....I totally get the mobile phone but whatever.

Wow...in a few hours I'll FINALLY get to ride a stand up coaster. I've done floorless, I've done traditional sit downs, I've done inverted, I've done launched (God I miss you Chiller-Mark Shapiro you bastard!), I've even done 'em laying down staring straight at the ground below...never done a stand up. Gonna be wild! :D

I was gonna put Kickstart My Heart here but I used that one below. shrugging shoulders

OK, I'm off...this is fear making me ramble now. See y'all on Wednesday

KNITTING!

2008-08-18T13:50:00.005-04:00

Knitting content...can ya believe it? I'm about 50% done with Whitby now...actually, I consider it more like 75% done because the final sleeve will work up so fast it won't even be funny. I wish I could knit on the plane. But I'm sure long haired, bleached blond, tattooed dude and pointy sticks will put a major knot in the ass of TSA agents. Coz I look like a terrorist, right? Well...maybe if the pilot or co-pilot is some major babeage ,I could become a bit of a nuisance. LOL!

We fly out to Ohio Thursday morning...I'm SO not looking forward to this flight. I just hope the fear of post 9/11 in a plane doesn't overpower the Xanax. I remember all too well back in the metal days when we'd be so wrecked and if something freaky happened, having the situation sober you up in the blink of an eye. That happened a few times.

Saturday I picked up Nikki Sixx's book, The Heroin Diaries. I was never a HUGE Motley Crue fan. I liked 'em but I didn't break out over them like I did/do King Diamond or Warlock or Lita Ford. Anyway, I'm about half way through it and it is mind blowing. I can relate to a lot of the pain and fears he's writing tho. It's kinda spooky.

Saturday Night was so crazed it's unreal. The assholes out back had a party which...fine-I'm not an unreasonable guy I don't think. They had shitty music blasting but they had a fucking mixing desk OUTSIDE so this shit was blaring NON STOP It was like the K-Tel record from hell...8 PM came and it was still blasting so after 7 phone calls to the useless police dept in this ghetto I couldn't take it anymore and at 10.30 PM I went psycho on their motherfucking asses. SCREAMING like a lunatic TURN THAT FUCKING SHIT OFF! YOU HAVE NO FUCKING CONSIDERATION FOR ANYBODY BUT YOURSELVES! IT'S 10.30 AT NIGHT! This asshole yells back "It's weekend mon....no work." SO I yelled to go take it back to the ghetto where you belong and bother them. I can't fucking deal with this anymore. SO I popped 2 Xanax, threw some shit in a duffel bag and went into Boston like a fucking lunatic rock star at 11.15 PM and got a room at the Westin....I paid $400 fucking dollars (including a $40 bar tab) for 6 hours of sleep because ghetto trash has no consideration for anybody around them. I SO wanted to do a Sharon Osbourne and throw a fucking roast over the fence but they'd probably have lit the grill and cooked it. If my dad weren't already pissed off enough himself, I would have put some Slayer or Venom on and given them a real concert.

Which leads me to....when people take a holiday and come to Boston...where the fuck do they have breakfast? It dawned on me Sunday morning when I woke up and looked out the hotel window and it dawned on me I wasn't in New York. There are no diners to pop into for a bite to eat. How do visitors eat in this half-assed city? There must be a restaurant or something in the hotel I imagine. I didn't see one.

Since I'm reading his book...let's close this with some rockin' good tune...How about:

Songbird

2008-08-12T21:42:00.004-04:00

At some point there must come a time when your soul heals and your heart smiles. I'm not even close yet. Maybe that only comes when we move on to the next plane of existence? I don't know anymore. For you grey eyes, with all my soul...

Pianos

2008-08-08T14:31:00.004-04:00

SO I found this guy on the 'net who tunes pianos. Found several actually but this dude sounded the best of them so he came today to tune my piano. First time its been tuned in 19 years. Was WAY flat....it's better than it was but still flat. He comes again next week to tune it again and this time it should be in perfect tune. He said it actually appreciated in value-it's worth 2 grand more than what my grandparents paid for it when they got it for me back in '86. Good to know but I don't plan on selling it. I banged out a little Kate Bush, F'wood Mac, Queen and Suzanne Ciani. Feels good to play but I'm really really rusty and it's a bit embarrassing given the level I was at back in the 80's.
I don't like to be heard just yet but my dad paces round and round.

I'm thinking of taking lessons again, classical. I love the discipline of classical but I remember how hard it was at the time my dad got early retirement. I was already pretty adept at that point and having him pace round and round would throw my count off. Not sure it's worth it to take again even tho I want to.

Ain't she purdy??!

He even told me to polish the brass...I didn't know, for some odd reason,this could be done. The Yamaha logo is actually a brass inlay in the wood. I thought it was painted on and lost forever. It was really really dingy. Looks like the day the 3 guys brought her in and set her up! The pedals too-they were BLACK. Not anymore WOOT! WOOT!

I also got a couple movies from Amazon. On Ravelry, a friend was saying there's this German movie with English subtitles...Mostly Martha. Loving the German language so much, I ordered it. Wouldn't you know it came today-when the Olympics begin. DAMNIT! I also got Fantastic Voyage. Love those old sci-fi moves.

Purple

2008-08-05T13:16:00.001-04:00

I am purple. I think there were 5 unticked boxes from this quiz I stole from my friend Moon over there on the Nocturnal Knit Witch. I expected it to tell me I am black but it said I am purple.

you are purple
#800080

Your dominant hues are red and blue. You're confident and like showing people new ideas. You play well with others and can be very influential if you want to be.

Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right.

Your outlook on life can be bright or dark, depending on the situation. You are flexible and see things objectively.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Which colour are you?

Movie Rentals LOL!

2008-07-31T07:02:00.005-04:00

So I'm truckin' along on the Whitby jumper....really enjoying that. It was supposed to be finished for the spring-I said I was going to wear it on the first harbour cruise of the season. I'm about 3/4 the way up the back and 3 more pieces to go. No big deal, I can still wear it in the autumn. I'm debating weather to make another pair of log cabin socks....that Elsabeth Lavold angora/wool blend if he's a nice guy, Shetland wool if he's not. Too soon to tell yet. I can knock those out in a week or less so I'm not worried.

I just finally ordered a Doctor Who t shirt from my favourite episode that is on the UPS truck as I'm typing this. I can wear it tonight to knit night :) WOOT! WOOT!!!

I also ordered a new night stand that I think I should have Monday if the confirmation e mail is correct. I'm real excited about this-it's really really nice...and no, it's not a naked guy table LOL! It's even better...at least it's ilk have been nicer to me than guys ever have. I now need to find what to do with a huge stack of art books because there is no under the table shelf or storage. I guess it'll be relegated to the attic with everything else. There's so much that needs to be thrown out up there but my dad won't do it so I have the lovely task of doing it when he's dead 'coz he's just as big a pack rat as my grandfather was. Funny, he berated my grandfather for that and he does the same damn thing. I should just start doing smaller stuff now. See, this is the reason that anything I throw out now I smash with a sledgehammer-my dad went and fished a broken electronic typewriter out that is still sitting in his bedroom. He doesn't type and the damn thing is broken but still, he's saving it. For????????? Chances are good if he's not attempted to use it in 23 years, he's not going to. GET RID OF IT!!!

In meantime, I got all my DVD's sorted. This is part of them. There's another shelf off to the left of this that is filling with TV shows and music videos and that lot. I could open a rental store, no? LOL! According to Delicious Library, I have 458 DVD's....LOL! I own more DVD's that CD's. Never liked CD's but I'm not going there now. I think if you click the pic you can see a lot of the titles...not sure if Blogger shrinks it more so you can't? Apparently Blogger shrinks it even more so you can't read the titles.

One Word

2008-07-28T17:51:00.001-04:00

I saw this on my friend Lorraine's blog so I stole it. I think I did this once before but what the hell....

Rules: You must answer the questions using only one word. Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? Dresser

2. Your significant other? CK

3. Your hair? CANDYFLOSS!

4. Your mother? Dead

5. Your father? Home

6. Your favourite thing? Roller-coasters

7. Your dream last night? Sex

8 Your favorite drink? Absinthe

9. Your dream/goal? Happiness

10. The room you’re in? Office (?)

11. Your hobby? Knitting

12. Your fear? Heights

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy

14. What you’re not? Laid

15. Muffins? CUTE!

6. One of your wish list items? Muffins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

17. Where you grew up? Here

18. The last thing you did? Showered

19. What are you wearing? Jeans

20. Favorite gadget? Vibrator (you want honest or a lie?)

21. Your pets? Cat

22. Your computer? Macintosh

23. Your mood? Horny

24. Missing someone? Yes

25. Your car? Jaguar

26. Something you’re not wearing? Shirt

27. Favorite store? Tiffany

28. Like someone? Yes

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? Just now?

31. Last time you cried? Yesterday

It seems that everyone has been tagged for this- but in case you haven't been - please play along. Finding a single word for an answer can be challenging.

How come the link didn't work?

I don't have one, shit out of ideas

2008-07-25T23:42:00.001-04:00

I'm feeling really vulnerable and uneasy the past couple days which means my bohemian streak is starting to rear its head.
That means I'm fighting an urge to put the purple back in my hair. I'm getting older so I dunno what the fuck I care what other people think but I'm thinking if I do it is exactly when I'd bump into D again and that's all I need after 16 years of heartache over him, to run into him again looking like a freak. Would it even matter to him? Someone else I have my eye on too that I see fairly regularly.....not sure he's gay for starters and is he even into older men if he is? He's really sweet but I'm 40 and have a lot of baggage that I'd not expect a 20 something to deal with...he shouldn't have to. He's young and that's a time to enjoy yourself, not having to deal with some old fuck's problems...I wish I could go back and do it again.

I guess I'm feeling like a caged animal and I don't like it....I could bust at the seams. It has to stop....I can't deal with this. I want to jump out of my skin.

I fucked up the last row of knitting...have to rip it back tomorrow.

There's something wrong with me.I wish I could get electroshock done to scramble my brains....forget everything up until the point in time it was done...get a totally new lease on life.

I think the best thing to do is for me to do first is seek a past life regression therapist....delve into that to see what the fuck exactly I am here for 'coz I can't figure it out anymore and I'm damn tired of the bullshit. I thought I had it figured out at one point but I guess I was dead wrong. I'm just tired of it all...and everything.

Felt good for a couple weeks and BAM....feeling like shit again. I need to get laid...for one thing...that's a major part of the problem. Who knewthis is how it'd be when you're involved with someone?

I'll leave you with this video....Damn Terry Bozzio is fucking hot!!!! Love his expression beating those skins during the solo-so sexy!

Settling In and knitting

2008-07-16T10:27:00.002-04:00

I got my new waterbed yesterday. Dude from the store came and set it up in about 45 minutes. I clearly remember my old one taking my dad and I MUCH longer. I was amazed to see this guy haul the headboard himself...it's huge and heavy and it's attached to the frame before he can lift it. He wasn't much bigger than I am either. SO for the first time in over a week, I finally slept well last night. I guess the novelty of a new bed made it feel like the first time ever on a waterbed. The mattress pad is different so that had to play into it as well.I used to use these cheap ass synthetic pads on the old bed and they'd bunch up and shift and I HATED the sand it left behind that I had to clean up every 6 months. This is a very heavily quilted envelope the mattress goes into, you fill it then zip the pad closed. It's like sleeping on a cloud. I'm tempted to say it's similar to those egg crate things except only more comfy than that.

The frame is nice tho I wasn't all that wild about the roses painted all over the glass. My old one was all wood, no glass but the 80's are over and waterbeds are not the popular things they were back then. Back then you couldn't go to a mall or any place without seeing a store for them.Now I know of only one place in my area that sells the classic waterbeds and the styles are very slim. Still, I'm happy with it. I LOVE the King size...never slept on a King size before and I did not want to get out of bed this morning. My back is not screaming at me anymore and my shoulder doesn't hurt as much. I guess after 24 years of sleeping on one, it is the only thing I can sleep on anymore.

I've been knitting too. I got about 28 rows done which is one complete repeat. I'll work more on that today. I should have the jumper done by the fall if I work on it steadily.At least I'm knitting again and that feels good. I guess the stress down that hell hole was just too much. I'm far more relaxed here.

The madness of moving

2008-07-11T14:48:00.005-04:00

Well, I'm back living at my dad's. I just couldn't take it down that hell hole another day. Last Thursday night I stormed off. Called the mayor the next day telling him I was forced out of my own home and thank you for dicking me around on buying my house. First he said the city was interested-no shit-they could expand the fucking dept. of public works-then his people told me he never said any such thing and he has no authority to say any such thing. What did I do, pull that statement out of my ass? Can you see the mentality I'm dealing with-the mayor should have known that if it's true but whatever. So I called him again and told him since I can't get hold of him and he refuses to return calls (this from the person who said he was the most accessible mayor this ghetto has had in years) I have no recourse but to go to the local news channels and expose how corrupt the city really is. The next morning I found the back window to my Jag smashed. I wish I saw who did it so I could have gone out and dismembered them.

ANYWAY....life is much less stressful here but carries with it some stresses of its own. It's not easy at 40 to go back home. Still it beats the shithole I was living at before. I've not had much time to write as my BF comes up to visit me at night (he stayed at the house or my dad is pacing around which really grates on me at times....retirement shouldn't be an option for people that have no real hobbies....it's dangerous really to have all that idle time and it just rots the brain. Not healthy. Mental activity is important and watching tv and looking out windows doesn't do the job.

I got hooked up to Verizon DSL for internet but have big problems with e mail and they're useless as they don't support Thunderbird...they only support MS Outlook Express. I asked them if they're aware MS abandoned that a few years ago.

A heavy metal concert would be great about now but ya gotta love the USA...they decided we didn't need metal and killed it off. This Numetal shit they can keep...it ain't real metal. Something is gonna have to give 'coz I can't blast music anymore and that's not gonna work. I may need to get me a passport and go to Germany to see some concerts. Soft music is going to kill me.

The bed I've been sleeping on is crippling me, I've been sleeping on a waterbed the past 24 years. I ordered a new one Monday or Tuesday and got a call it will be delivered next Tuesday. Thank god! I can't wait...at least I'll be able to sleep comfortably again. The bed I'm on is like sleeping on cinder blocks and is REALLY hard to get to sleep. This move is costing me a lot of money-UGH!

Still, I was able to knit yesterday, 2 rows but I did some anyway. I guess I'm still getting settled in. My cat is loving exploring the house, looking out windows and not being blocked from the other side of the house by a division wall like at the other house. I think she's tired from so much to see LOL!

Doctor Who is on tonight...first time I've gotten to see it in three weeks...can't wait! I suppose I could buy the past two episodes I missed on iTunes but I'll get the whole set when it comes out on DVD No big deal.

I'll close with this:

What's Going on?

2008-07-02T08:49:00.004-04:00

OK, normally, I despise rap music but this is sorta fusion. The fact this reminds me a lot of the opium tinged Alice In Wonderland doesn't hurt...nor does the fact the singer is fucking hotter than hell. Holy shit.....

Sunday Morn' Creativity

2008-06-22T11:54:00.003-04:00

LOOK OUT! Helter Skelter

2008-06-12T20:52:00.000-04:00

At some point things are going to look up...they have to, no? A person can only take so much negativity and frankly I'm tired of it but I got even more bad news on selling this twat trap so......I've been singing this, shouting is more like it, all day. When I've not been crying on the sofa.

I'm sorry for being so whiny and immature lately, I've just had more than enough fucking negativity and can't take anymore.

In two weeks,we will be in New jersey riding roller coasters at Six Flags. Suffice to say,I'm planting my ass on row 9 of Nitro and NOTHING is going to pry my ass off that coaster.
This ought to be cute,pulling back in crying because it feels to good to ride.

In meantime, crank up the volume and sing along. I generally don't like covers but Pat Benatar did an awesome job of this, I think.

Expression

2008-06-06T15:46:00.003-04:00

I guess this is pretty self-explanatory to anybody who knows what has been going on the past few weeks.To those that do, yes, it's tearing me up inside. To those that don't...it's just artistic expression. As always...this is for you D...if you ever see this.

I'm a Mean Motherfuckin' Man

2008-06-03T13:42:00.004-04:00

City fucked me around for over a month to tell me they're not interested in buying this fuckhole. ANybody wanna buy my house? Can blast your stereo 24/7 and not bother anybody...I'd love to put a fucking needle in my arm right nw...too bad I'm such a pussy.

I'm fucking OUTTA HERE! FUCK YOU EVERETT MASSACHUSETTS!!! NO MORE LOW CLASS WELFARE TOWNS FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!

In My Dreams

2008-06-02T12:03:00.001-04:00

Great Dokken song...but dreams can be torture.

Two Moon Junction

2008-06-01T18:00:00.004-04:00

I was feeling great last night...made some good progress with my writing and have been bolstered up to the heavens since I just got Mike Oldfield's autobiography on Friday. I think I understand his music a bit better and so far, it feels like someone looked into my life and described it-I can relate to the isolation and being outcast and all that stuff. The book is amazing.

I watched Two Moon Junction as well. I forgot how hot that movie was...smokin' hot! Great couples movie to get the blood flowing. It's been years since I saw it and it just popped into my mind for some reason. I need to order it on DVD. Sherilynn Fenn was absolutely gorgeous in that...I don't think she's ever looked better. Platinum blonde suited her well. Maybe I'll watch it again tonight, not sure.

Speaking of platinum...busy week for me. I go get the second laser treatment on my face Tuesday morning and then Thursday I go get my roots done. It's really thinning on top at the crown...may be time to start looking into weaves or a wig. YIKES! I can't deal with it. I see some of these guys..like Mike Oldfield..he just turned 55 years old a couple of weeks ago and still has a full head of hair, ditto Ozzy Osbourne, and a smattering of other rockers...what did I do wrong? Is the key to retaining hair taking drugs? If I knew that's what I needed to do to keep my hair I'd have developed me a drug habit instead of just experimenting. Seriously....I cannot handle losing my hair. Thank god it's still full everywhere else, for the time being.

I'm supposed to be knitting, huh? Been ages since I've blogged about knitting. It's a little too warm to knit right now tho.

Time to go do some writing now...

Paradise..Tesla

2008-05-25T21:38:00.003-04:00

I dunno what to say. I'm writing, the book is coming along well. I'm really happy with how it's going. It feels like I've been given a muse. At the same time I'm scared the flow is going to end so I'm doing as much as I can when I'm feeling it. I just feel this flow of creativity like I've not felt since the 80's. I don't want it to end. I should be trying to get some music going too but writing is what I find the most difficult now so that's what I'm concentrating on. With 14 chapters written in about 3 weeks, I think I'm doing pretty well.

One scene I just wrote tonight involved a concert which made me think of my past and this song. It's always been special to me.I know it's probably futile at this point but D....This song goes out to you.

I am smarter than 75.01% of the rest of the world.
How Dumb Are You?

Smokie vocals

2008-05-17T23:12:00.001-04:00

Wow...what a night. I've been working on some music and lots of stuff came flooding back. I'm hell-bent on recording Smokie's "If You Think You Know How To Love Me". I've been belting that out all day. Actually, I've been listening to Smokie most of the afternoon. They just had that damn feel good vibe of the 70's. As I was working on a short story just now, This gem came on and stopped me dead in my tracks. It's kinda hard to sing for a few reasons, not knowing it all that well for starters but this conjured up memories of my past. A certain someone who will never leave my mind and also my mom. I'm sure my mom is leaning on a chair or something watching me work on the vocals to this. I was unable to find a video for it that Smokie recorded so this will have to do. I want to say, even tho I know he's probably not ever going to see this, all those nights delivering to Rockit, I've never forgotten you Pizza Boy. Those eyes and that smile are burned in my memory forever. So for you mom...and for you D.......

Bring on the lasers! I'm fighting back!

2008-05-13T20:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I had an appointment for Botox today at a medspa and decided I wasn't sure if I wanted the maintenance of it. Every 4 months going back for another injection. I have a dent between my eyebrows that has bothered me for a long time and I've been considering this for about 2 years I guess. The nurse told me to take my time and decide
-she didn't try to pressure me into it. If the Botox didn't smooth out the dent on its own, I could get a Juvederm injection which is really what I wanted but she said that the muscles are too strong and too active between the brows and the Juvederm would break down within a month and be wasted money.

I had asked her opinion on IPL treatment, a Photofacial. She said she loved them and thought they were good. I had read they were snake oil, have read a lot on those and while most were relatively benign, I thought I'd ask. Well, one could be done right there on the spot. So I went ahead with that, not really sure what to expect.

Let me say right now, I can fully understand how people get addicted to cosmetic procedures. The Photofacial was not at all like I expected. I didn't feel a thing on my forehead, around my eyes or on my cheeks. It did HURT when she got to where my beard was. Less painful than tattooing but it stung. She said because the hair absorbs the energy. I guess it must be like what electrolysis feels like, I dunno. I've only ever waxed my face before and this was different.

Right off the bat with only one treatment,I can see a significant difference in a red splotch on top of my right cheek I used to agonise over with make up to cover and it never STAYED covered. I would say it has lightened up about 70% and will be completely erased with the next treatment in 3 weeks. I THINK maybe I see a difference with the baggy areas beginning to form on the sides of my nose, they seem less pronounced but I can't tell yet if it's real or just wishful thinking.

I am now seriously thinking of going to the dermatology dept. of Mass General hospital for C02 laser which is pretty serious business-it's the most aggressive laser, I had the weakest today and it wasn't even a laser what I did today. That will most assuredly do what I want that I know this Photofacial can never do. C02 laser will tighten my skin, it will smooth out the texture and given how I look now, I think I can turn back the clock and make me look more like I did at 23 or 24. TO tighten up the frown lines, erase the crows feet starting to form and even out the texture is really what I want and make me happy. I also think I am going to go ahead and get the Botox/Jevederm but I still need to weigh that....that is a process that needs to be done every 4 months...the Botox anyway...and I already have a heavy commitment with keeping my roots up bleaching them every 4 weeks.

I never said I planned to age gracefully. As a teenager I was a tough-talker, saying I would get a facelift when the time came. Done right, I think they look awesome but as the years have passed and I've seen what these surgeries actually involve...I'm not such a big mouth anymore and lasers are one of the few things left that do not scare the shit out of me (maybe they should?) It's the only thing, aside from chemical peels, that I have left to fight time with. Surgery with knives is out...I just can't do it but I'm still young enough that lasers can work miracles if I choose a doctor wisely.

If I go with the C02 laser, I'll really have no choice but to get the Botox/Juvederm as that dent ages me and is really what started all of this.

I can hear my mom now, what a vain bastard I am, wasting my money...but I can't help it. Is there anything wrong with wanting to look like I'm 24 while I'm still young enough to do it without looking totally ridiculous? What's wrong with wanting smooth, even toned skin? Why shouldn't I exercise that option? What is wrong with wanting to look youthful while I still can?

I know already that I'm in big trouble...I cannot handle ageing....there's nothing wrong with it except I do not want to get old looking. I'm not ready...when will I be ready? I dunno,maybe never, I have no idea. I just know right now I'm at a point where I can fight back and I think that's just what I'm going to do. I don't have unrealistic expectations, I'm not doing it for anybody but myself. I'm seen as a freak already so I don't really care, I only care about making myself happy and I think this will do it.

Moonlight Shadow

2008-05-03T23:51:00.004-04:00

Maybe it's when I get in low cycles of mood but this is one song my my biggest non-metal idol, Mike Oldfield. This man is a guitar god like no other, and far more than a musician. I can't tell you how long I've been into him, I was very young when I first got Tubular Bells, maybe 12. Before I go rambling, here's one of my favourite songs sun by a vocalist who wasn't with him long enough, Scottish born Maggie Reilly. She has the voice of an angle and I guess she still releases records. For you John Lennon fans, take a good listen to the lyrics, the song was said to be inspired by John's assassination.

One more...Five Miles Out....Can you tell this man is a demi-god to me? Once upon a time I could hit all of her notes....no more :(

OK, Last one, I promise. This one's called Punkadiddle.....it has always been a huge favourite and very near and dear to me. It's kinda crazy, a whole lotta fun....I love how at the end he's toying with the audience and enjoying it ;)The studio version is a bit better but it's always fun to see them perform it live.

Ever-Evolving

2008-05-02T05:51:00.003-04:00

Jesus it's been over a month since I blogged. A lot has been going on, a lot of internal stuff I've been struggling with. Some personal issues which are really hard to deal with and other stuff that's just frustrating like living in this dump with the noise. I only wish the two newest industries moved in a year prior to my moving here
and I never would have destroyed my life by leaving home. Its cost me a lot in terms of personal happiness, health and stability. Not sure there's a lot to do with the economy in the shitter, I've endured far too much to take a big loss on selling in this market. HOWEVER...

I've been writing again because I just need to. There's things swirling in me and bubbling and it needs to come out so I'm working on a story and have about 4 or 5 more I started that never finished. Maybe I'll work on those once I get this one done.

I also hadn't anticipated my current venture back into music. A good friend of mine is gearing up to release her new CD this summer and as we were talking, I googled one of the programmes she's using and watched the demos and thought about it for about 3 and a half minutes before promptly ordering the damn thing. SO now I sit, frantically trying to learn Apple's Logic that I bought last year for some strange reason or other and only installed but never used. This new programme reminds me a lot of my vintage 80's synth, the Fairlight CMI which I ache to use again.

This'll be different as I've not really done electronic music since the mid 80's. I switched over to guitar because I got sick of screwing with computers and this and that setting and all this other technical stuff. With guitar, you just plug in, tune up and rock out. But here I go back to the rocket science again...and it really is now. Back when I was doing it before it was sort of in its infancy and so new that it was easy to grab what you needed to know because we were all learning together but now it's mind boggling. It'll be interesting though to see where this leads. I've always admired Mike Oldfield and put him up in some pagan God-Like status...maybe I can create soundscapes as haunting and beautiful as he has.

I don't know if this is the blessing or the curse aspect of being a Pisces. It's interesting tho how things cycle and evolve and constantly change. For now, I'll leave with a pic of two of my favourite people I recently met.

Let's ride a bull!

2008-03-28T22:04:00.004-04:00

Well, I said I'd take ya on another guided visual of another favourite coaster. I'll apologise in advance for the video, the dude is screaming before anything happens but it's the only video I could find that starts in the station. I hope you like steep drops 'coz this is the mother of all drops at the moment. El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure. 181 feet tall...not too bad given Nitro is 230 feet tall, eh? The drop is 176 feet at a 76 degree angle and for all intents and purposes, it may as well be a sheer 90 degree drop because when you're on that train and round the bed and begin pointing down....it IS a straight drop.

So you make your way to the queue. It's always packed unless you hit it right when the park opens. The only bad thing about El Toro is they let too many people into the station. It's small in there and get too crowded. For air time, you gotta sit in the back. It doesn't really matter where you sit, you get a great ride. As you're standing there, you watch a few trains come down that drop and you wonder what you got yourself into. The train speeds by in a blur...70 mph never seemed so fast and this ride is 10 mph SLOWER than Nitro. It sounds aggressive, it looks aggressive, it IS aggressive. Two people ahead of you then it's your turn to board. They load, their train is checked and off they go. You stand there, heart beginning to race and you think you'll have a few minutes to compose yourself but think again, here comes the second train, it unloads and the air gates hiss open. You notice how long the train looks ass you slowly edge forward and take a seat on the outside seat.

You're sitting down when I tell you you're sitting on the seat belt and you definitely need it on this ride. Lifting up, you grab the belt, fasten it and pull the lap bar down.
"What does extreme uplifting forces mean?" you ask me as you point to an overhead sign. I smirk and tell you it means exactly what it says....this coaster has extreme ejector air...and I mean EXTREME. "But it's fun, don't worry." "It's less scary than Nitro because it's not as high, right?" you ask with a nervous laugh as attendants come down the line and staple you in. "Let me put it to you this way....Nitro is like a Maine Coon cat...it's big, and it looks tough but a gentle giant. El Toro means business...it is going to buck you around and your butt isn't going to be in your seat until the end of the ride, during the twister section...just before we pull back into the station." Your eyes widen as the ever-familiar "All Clear, Enjoy your ride on El Toro" is announced and the train begins to roll forward slowly and makes a very sharp left turn.

We approach the lift hill and there's a sudden loud BANG! "That's just the catch car engaging the train." I say leaning my head back to enjoy the warm sun on my face. Suddenly, the train gains a lot of speed, almost like a mini launch. It takes no time at all to reach the top and the cable lift, the first on a wooden coaster, is eerily quiet. It slows as the train inches over the top and you notice the front reaching the drop. It is very quiet and still up here but there's not much time to take it in as we're beginning to get whipped over the drop.

STRAIGHT DOWN the ground is racing up to meet us, your butt is not in the seat and the train is going so fast it feels as if we're going to crash through the track and keep on going straight through the ground. 'Holy shit!" is all you have time to say before the G's plant you firmly in your seat as we race up the second hill where you again become airborne but smile and say CHEESE! It's picture time at the bottom of this hill. Again we race up and there's a very swift,sharp turn to the right...into a very heavily banked swoop to the right. The lateral G's are nice here. Racing to the sky again and turning to the left slightly we're diving into and behind the structure where the head-chopper effect is amazing. The train begins to turn to the left again and I say "This is the best part-hold on!" And it's true....after this swoop there's a slight incline as we cross over the other wooden coaster, Rolling Thunder and get one spectacular moment of extreme ejector air before the train hurtles into a very severe but extremely fun serpentine twister section that snakes along Rolling Thunder's infield. Pulling out everyone is laughing and cheering as the train finally begins to lose some speed and hit the brakes before pulling back into the station. "I wanna do it again!" you say running down the exit to get back in line.

The only real problem with El Toro is for the extreme speed, it's too short a ride. It is honestly over WAY too fast. During construction of this, there was one photograph someone snapped that showed workers on the lift hill and the first drop was in gorgeous view. It make both the lift and the drop lok impossibly vertical, I wish I could find that shot but I can't. I have this one but showing the workers strapped to the lift while laying down the track really put things in perspective.

"Stuck"

2008-03-22T20:34:00.004-04:00

Wow...I don't even know where to begin so I guess at the top is a good place. I think I'm over my bad mojo. I've been working on a lace shawl. Beltane from Goddess Knits. It's perfect...not too hard that it's frustrating and not so easy that it's boring. See:

Actually, I'm a bit farther along than that-I finished that portion and picked up around the edge for the border. There's a few more of her shawls I want to get...they'll look great strewn over a book case and my bed's headboard. I'm going totally bohemian now that I'm 40.

Somebody started a roller coaster group on Ravelry. That was cool-I had thought about starting one not long after I got my invitation but didn't think there'd be enough people.

I've got an idea for a story. Actually, I had started it a while ago and didn't like how it was going so I put it aside. Now i've got some idea on where to go with it and was all excited to sit and write tonight and I can't. I get 'stuck'. I dunno what the hell is wrong with me. I'd got the ideas and I know it'll begin to write itself once I let go and become a passive vehicle but getting from "here" to there is the problem...I can see it all going on in my head but to click into that moment and do it...I dunno...

I was never like this...I used to write 9 pages per night EVERY NIGHT back in my 20's. I'd cook an idea during the evening, let it take shape and being to write about 9.30 or 10 at night and go until 2 or 3 in the morning. I was NEVER at a loss when it came to writing and now I have trouble...and it's not usually with the ideas bit just getting myself to click into that mindset and sit to do it. I dunno, I don't like it. I don't know if it's my environment (probably), my frame of mind...what.

I think I need a vacation from me. I keep hearing Pink's song "Don't Let Me Get Me" in my head...that's how I feel. What happened to that cosmic river of creativity that was so abundant in the 80's...it's just not there. I should probably have a glass of Absinthe or two...maybe I will...I dunno.....just not in the mood for alcohol. Oh this is horrible!

One thing I'm happy for is I got my roots done for my 40th birthday....my hair is so damn white, I'm over the moon with it. I'm so loving this. Why does it even matter?

I promised a few people another virtual ride on another coaster...next entry.

Now Playing: Pink ~ Just Like A Pill

Now Showing: Rosemary's Baby

The View from 230 Feet above the ground

2008-03-04T06:45:00.002-05:00

I guess this is the time of year when things get really bad, just before the amusement parks open up and my roller coaster withdrawal gets really bad. The final month before opening seems to go by like frozen molasses, so close yet seemingly so far.

For the past five months, I've been riding this over and over in my head and on my coaster simulator computer programme. Every night when I get in bed I walk the queue line,walk up that long, tall flight of stairs and quickly walk to the back row of air gates just as a train pulls into the station...the clamshell harnesses open...the riders get off and walk down the exit.

I smile as the air gates hiss and swing open, take my seat in the final row either outside seat. Row 9 right makes you feel like you're going to get tossed and fly out on the turn of the second hill (it's a very sharp left turn), Row 9 left seat makes you feel like you are just going to slide right out and drop. Either side is amazing but Row 9 is where to ride this baby.

Dude behind the control panel checks to see the 2 other attendants have their thumbs up, he gives the familiar "All clear. Enjoy your ride on Nitro" (I'm getting goose bumps typing this) and the train is dispatched. Slowly rolling forward until it takes that brief diving swoop to the left and begins the noisy climb into the heavens.

The 52 second ride to the top is peaceful...you take in the sunny day,a you rise higher and higher more of the layout comes into view and you begin to get giddy with anticipation that in a short time you'll be flying over the tracks. Higher and higher you climb until.....is that the curve...yup...at the top...

Feet sticking straight out...Check, hands in the air....check, big shit-eating grin plastered across face...check and there's no time to think...the back row gets pulled over and down that sweet 215 foot drop at 80 MPH at a delicious 68 degree angle and for the next 2 minutes, everything is right in the world. NOTHING else matters...there is no stress, there is no anxiety, there is no sadness, there is no anger. Just pure joy-joy that comes from deep within your soul. There is nothing better! Not food, no drug not even sex can match the joy of this.

The train screams over the steep hills, into the hammerhead turn-around which is overbanked so the train does not lose speed, over another hill, into an S curve which whips you into a sweet double helix...the G's are so strong it's a fight to keep your hands up in the air. Sometimes there's deer feeding at the base of this helix...if you look down you can see them. You pull out and into the mid course brake run where you slow down somewhat but it doesn't matter because you're at the final 4 bunny hops baby....your ass is out of your seat! Hands up...feet out...butt up...into the brakes and back to the station. If it's still early in the day you can run around the exit and get back in the station for a re-ride fairly quickly...no more staying seated-they won't let you anymore.

Hello...my name is Jerry and I am a roller coaster addict. LOL!

I CAN'T STAND IT!!!!!!! I need to get on this again, it has been FIVE LONG MONTHS and will be at least another month before we get on it again.

R.I.P. Chiller :'(

2008-02-20T20:58:00.006-05:00

It's been ages, I guess I've been lost in the bad mojo. I'm still frustrated as hell I can't make a sock. I got to the heel of those Socks of Kindness and figured the short row heel wouldn't be a big deal...WRONG! Frigged the whole thing up, got really pissed off and frogged it. The next night,I started again and distractions caused me to screw up on row 2 so being annoyed as I was...I threw the whole damn ball of yarn away. Umm, I don't know how to apologise to the knitting gods for attempting a cat bordhi sock but I swear I'll never try that stunt again...just please smile on my bleached blond head and let me knit socks again. please?

Yesterday I guess it was I sat on the sofa and cast on big ass needles with worsted weight yarn and attempted to knit JUST a short row heel. Wouldn't ya know it, sonofabitchin' thing turned out perfectly....large enough, in fact, to become a hat for my cat. I got photos but need to edit them else they'll be monstrous in size.

SO on the knitting front, I've cast on for yet another pair of fingerless mitts since I can't work on the denim sweater at night...the yarn is too dark to see well and the lighting in this house is shit. I've told Chris that if I ever become homeless, I'll be the best dressed hobo in the city with all these fingerless mitts.

On a lighter front, Chris renewed our season passes to Great Adventure. YAY!!!!! Just a little over a month the park opens for the season and we can once again go riding the rails. I think that'll help me jiggle things back the way they should be and maybe I can once again knit socks? However, this season is very sad for me.

I don't know how many of you are coaster fans or if you have a favourite over all others but this is the first season my beloved Chiller is no longer standing. Great Adventure decided at the last minute to remove it. Yes,it suffered an awful lot of down time, there were problems and even a couple accidents. I think a large portion of it was due to neglect. Prior Six Flags management did nothing but throw up coaster after coater...higher, longer, faster...and let the older ones rot. Sadly, Chiller was one. Other coasters took priority and they neglected Chiller. When new management took over last year I guess they just decided enough was enough even tho they said up until the end, and I quote, We are not giving up on Chiller. Well, lying bastards did. I was in shock when I heard it was coming out and didn't beleive it untilI saw most of the track gone.

Yeah,I know it's just a roller coaster but it was so much more-if you ever rode it you know it was more than just another roller coaster-it really was something special. The utter raw power of it was unreal...it launched you from 0-70 mph in 3.5 seconds through a cobra roll on the Robin side or into a unique inverted tophat on the Batman side, through a zero gravity roll (replaced with a dumb hump last year) and up a 200 foot spike only to stall out and drop back down and you got to do the whole thing all over again.... backwards. Chiller was unique in that it was the world's only dual tracked LIM launched coaster...that alone should have made them do more to save it. Throughout the entire park you could hear its roar. Some complained it was the most obnoxiously loud coaster but it was comforting to hear it roar. We never did get to ride the Batman side as it was open very rarely and Chris didn't ride the Robin side much with me...the G forces were very strong and he said it crushed his chest...so I often rode it alone which was fine with me. I'm not embarrassed to admit I have choked up and shed tears over this. I don't know what it was about Chiller but I loved it. It only lasted 42 seconds from start to finish but what a 42 seconds it was. I'm not even sure I can walk to Nitro, our second favourite, as you have to pass by where Chiller once stood and it's too hard for me. I can't even begin to put into words what I felt on this coaster other than crazy, intense fun. I'm surprised it has affected me the way it has but I loved the damn thing. While Nitro is equally as fun in different ways, I will miss taking my first ride of the season on Chiller...hearing the electricity sounds as you enter the queue, walking up the dark ramp into the launch house, sitting in the train knowing in seconds we're gonna blast off at crazy speeds,hering them count down and feeling the juice feed the LIMS just outside the train, the train would give a little shake and you were sent off into orbit. I can still remember my first ride, how nervous I was and as soon as it launched a big grin plastered across my face and I was in love. What made it even more intense was you got turned upside down and had nothing but a lap bar holding you in-there were no shoulder harnesses...they took them off six yeas ago.

I hope one day soon another park that will take care of it properly buys it and gives it new life..a park close by because I will be there to take the inaugural ride. I miss my Chiller.....

Front row P.O.V.

And off ride footage showing it in action:

And finally...both running together two months before the accident...nobody was hurt-the train just stooped abruptly on the track on the return trip. This was a very rare but beautiful sight to see both running:

Hallo?

2008-02-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

Jerry --

[noun]:

An alien

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

That about sums it up....

Its been a while, hasn't it? Not much really to say I guess? I got my roots bleached today and am really happy with it-she's making it look so good and no more 3rd degree burns and clumps falling out. Platinum doesn't HAVE to destroy your hair if they know what they're doing.

SO I decided since I'd be sitting there for quite a while to take a pair of socks to knit. YOu remember I had trouble after that damn Cat Bordhi book? Well....It's BAAAAAAAAAACCCCKKK! I decided to do the Kindness socks (Google Kindness socks, the pattern is on Flickr) in the cool orange/black/grey halloween yarn I got from Yarn Pirate. I was cruising along until round 12....the last round of the repeat. Came up one stitch short...counted and recounted, ripped back the round and did it again...still messed up. Took the needles out, ripped back a few rows, counted my stitches...all 64 are there...was truckin' along again until round 12. And again 63 stitches. SO I put it back in my bag and after supper I ripped back to the ribbing and started over...all went fine until Round 12.

At this stage, I'm through knitting socks. Not a friggin sock has turned out since I tired knitting from that fucking Cat Bordhi book. I was reading on the Yarn Harlot's blog that Ms.Bordhi delights in coming up with difficult ways to do things. Let's see if she delights when I give her a piece of my mind after I calm down. My suggestion would be for ms. Bordhi to move to a major metropolitan city which would force her to get a real job thereby decreasing the abundance of time she seems to have. harsh? No, I don't think so...knitting isn't supposed to be rocket science. If that is what she wants then she should seek employment at NASA. I am so sorry I wasted the 30 bucks on that book..TOTAL waste of money. I swear she has cursed me...I have not had a SINGLE sock get much past the ribbing since I attempted one of her goddamned socks. Can you tell I'm her biggest fan? :-/ Her bio says she was a math teacher...I hope she explained math to her class better than her knitting patterns else there's a lot of not so good at math people walking around. Me thinks she's just a little too into trying to be clever.

This has really thrown me because I've been knitting for 30 years off and on. I am NOT a beginner and have tackled socks more difficult than these Kindness socks. It's pretty bad when I'm left looking at "Patrick", the Rowan jumper I knit last year-just to reaffirm that Yes, I CAN knit and intricate stuff at that 'coz this sock shit has really rattled me. Now I am left trying to figure out what to do with $120. worth of beautiful Wollmeise sock yarn because I'm done with socks. Claudia has a nice Mobieus on her blog I will try to do..the thought of 420 stitches makes my head hurt but it's better than letting the moths get to it. As to the rest of the balls of sock yarn I have....what do you do with fingering weight yarn? I have A LOT of it.

No more socks for me...I'm spending too much money to keep my hair white...I don't need this crap giving me dark hairs. Stay tuned...when I return from New York I am going to burn the book...pictures will be posted here.

Now that I'm thoroughly aggravated, I'm going to go to bed.

PS...I see the spell checker isn't working again, I'll have to use my computer's spell checker. I just love all the mediocrity...thank god Blogger is free. This is what my friend Lorraine refers to as your mood going form shit to fuck. Amazing how fast that happens.

I want a tardis of my very own

2008-01-24T12:58:00.000-05:00

Before I get into catching up here, Lorraine tagged me for a meme. I'm supposed to go to the current book you are reading, on page 161, and copy down the 5th sentence: It falls in the middle of a paragraph so:

That was it. Months of effort , for nothing. We lost! It was over. We caught up with our contact in the CDC.

I'm reading Lessons in Becoming Myself by Ellen Burstyn. I started this a few days ago after finishing Harry Potter. Which brings me to:

On Monday I ordered the British Harry Potter set. Tuesday they e mailed me to announce it had dispatched. Today, Thursday just 3 days after ordering it has come from Scotland, cleared customs and is in my hands-72 hours people!!!! WOOT! Colour me impressed! Now I'm debating weather to start them again from the beginning.

Knitting wise I'm working on another pair of fingerless mitts. Why am I making so many of these? I wear them all the time but really....do I need 5 pairs or however many I now have? My Ravelry to-do list keeps growing, I'm hoping we have a very cool, short summer LOL!

I've become a rabid Dr. Who fan. Since I'm often up at 5 AM making breakfast, I've caught a handful of season 3 episodes and liked it. Unable to resist David Tennant, I've gone and bought the 3rd season DVD set and can't get enough. I'm going to have to get the first two seasons now. I never thought I'd see the day I'd be a Dr. Who fan. I'm not a huge Sci Fi fan, never got wrapped up in Star Trek or Star Wars but there's something unique about Dr. Who. As a kid I remember seeing a few in the early 70's that scared the living shit out of me but I guess now as a Slightly South of Sane adult, they're brilliantly wacky and appeal to me. This poses a problem in that I have NO SPACE left to store DVD's but does that prevent me from buying more? Of course not. I'm gonna need to have 50 friends come help us move (I don't have 50 friends at hand)-between the DVD's and the books, moving is going to be a total nightmare.

Took my daughter to the vet-I made the mistake of saying I think she has a little cold 'coz she's got the trots (I keep the house at 64 degrees, I probably shouldn't with a short haired cat). Well-straight away, I was presented with a list of antibiotics I needed to take a pick of one antibiotic-could be parasites, could be non-cancerous inflammatory bowel disease, could be something else, could be cancer-they'll need to biopsy to be sure. And do I want the one year rabies shot for her or the 3 year one."What's the difference?" I ask. "Well-one she has to get every year, the other only every 3 but that one has a higher incidence of causing tumours." Gee, let's see, real tough decision...why don't we go with the annual one...WHY EVEN OFFER a 3 year if it poses a higher risk of tumours? Would you stick your kid in the arm with a chicken pox shot that had a higher incidence of tumours? Someteims I wonder about this shit.

WHOA! Before we start cutting my cat and turning her into Frankenkitty...let's try this vet cat food you insisted I buy and see if that helps....Let me quit there because there's this $175 litany of tests they want to do to get a baseline...I thought we did that last year. Ever see how they get a urine sample from a cat? That was done to her last year, it is NOT being repeated unless I get to stick a needle into THEIR bladder to get a urine sample...just so they know what the cat feels. Her kidney functions were tested last year with this test....so like I said, it's not going to be repeated...they have that baseline already in their charts, if that's not good enough then I'm a bad pet owner.

I think I'm gonna go make a cup of tea and work more on the last fingerless mitt. I'll leave you with a pic of my sleeping angel

End of an era

2008-01-19T19:48:00.000-05:00

I finally finished the final Harry Potter book today...Deathly Hallows. Seeing as how I took my sweet time to complete I won't say anything other than WOW in case there are others taking even longer.

I milked it for all it was worth because for the past 10 years, we had a new book to look forward to every 18 months or so. I remember back in 1997 hearing about it and on a whim picked up the first book o a whim, never expected to get so into a children's book. WRONG! I was rabid from day 1.

I'm really going to miss a new adventure with 'people' we've come to know and love over the 10 years they've been published. It was an awesome series, I'm really happy that J.K. has had such incredible success, she was so deserving of it. There was a lot to take from it.

My only desire now is to obtain the complete British series of books so I can read them as they were written.I have been annoyed the entire series of the Americanisation of them. I would gladly trade my US set for the hardbound,first editions of the British series if they're in excellent condition. My eyes stick to American spellings like "color" because I have never in my life spelled that way- for starters- so it grates on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. It was a British series, it should have been left as such. I'll quit there or this will get into a long drawn out tirade but suffice to say, this has been an ongoing thing with me for MANY years, and not just with Harry Potter. The Frank monster in Hellraiser was another one-deemed too British, he was dubbed with an American actor. ACK. He was far scarier from the clips I saw with his British accent, not to mention it made for a far more cohesive film. The talented Alida Valli, an Italian actress who spoke perfect English, had her voice dubbed by an American in Argento's film Inferno when her beautiful, CLEARLY UNDERSTANDABLE voice was not dubbed in Suspiria several years earlier. Conversely, Pans Labyrinth was not advertised as a Spanish film and I loved how the tv ads for it you didn't hear a single word of the dialogue.. it was left all in Spanish...how come it was not dubbed WTF??? It was a lousy movie and frame for frame the 1986 masterpiece Legend was a far better movie. I hate being misled that way. There is a whole world outside of the USA but it only seems to be selectively applied.

Anyway, Thank you J.K. for such a brilliant series. Something this special comes but once in a lifetime and I'm glad it came in mine.

What a journey!

Snow White

2008-01-17T07:54:00.000-05:00

And that's no lie! We got snow earlier in the week and I finished my angora scarf so I ventured out to snap some pics since we seem to get snow so rarely. It was so white and so fresh and so was my hair! You couldn't tell where one ended and the other began ;-)

I'd forgotten how yummy angora was to work with and now I want to make another one in green but have to wait a bit. Besides, if I knit with it too often, it won't be special anymore.

I also made these fingerless gloves, Evangeline from the current issue of Magknits I'm not sure they work in this yarn. Too busy I think. I was so sad to learn Mountain Colours discontinued it, the colourway was Painted Rocks. I love the colour :( Hope they bring it back soon.

There's a ball of fur on my lap so it's a bit tough to type. I best run...have stuff I need to do anyway.

I hate clever for clever's own sake

2008-01-12T15:33:00.001-05:00

If anybody is contemplating Cat's book on socks, New Pathways book one...I would sincerely advivse you find pretty patterns from other resources. I don't know how many weeks this woman takes to come up with this stuff but they are not do-able. I cannot stand when someone comes up with stuff in an obvious attempt to be clever. The cast ons are absolutely asinine and even tho I take tranquillisers, these STILL manage to raise my blood pressure to the point I want to annihilate something.I came pretty damn close to jamming one of my Knit Pick's Harmony needles into my kitchen table. Thank god I didn't waste a needle.

The socks are nice and her attempt to keep them out of the realms of most knitters by intentionally making them extremely complex has worked. I've knitted the better part of my life and can't make heads nor tails of this crap.

This was the biggest waste of $30 on any knitting book I have ever spent and I wish to god I could get my money back.

It would be nice if these patterns could be converted for normal knitting...I have not the desire nor inclination to even think of doing that right now but this book is on the verge of being set aflame.

Some may give this book 4 stars...I give it a big fat Turkey

The Q-Tip knitting machine :-)

2008-01-10T19:09:00.000-05:00

Yes, I guess I have lost my marbles LMAO! The title will become apparent in a little bit. Where to start, where to start...I guess I'll say I knit a lacy scarf with the KidSilk Night that my friend Lorraine gave me. I wanted to try one ball to see what it was like to work with...it's really really nice! It's also really really expensive. I found a scarf on Ravelry that uses 9 balls of it that I want to make. WEBS, however, is out of stock on 4 of the colours I want. See...

Don't look too hard, I could stand to drop about 10 pounds again, damnit. I didn't snap that shot for the cheap thrill, it wouldn't ever show up on anything I wear since I'm mainly in dark colours.

Next up, a three year wish came true.I finally got the purple angora to make a scarf. I stretched the knitting out over 3 days just to make it last...I don't know how anybody can say they loathe angora and will not touch it (two people have told me this-both men). It makes me want to strip off my clothes and roll around in it. I knit a navy blue scarf with it 23 or so years ago and have to admit at that time, it was mainly for trophy value. I didn't (or I had forgotten) just how warm angora actually is when we had a deep freeze about 2 weeks ago and it kept my neck and lower face REALLY warm. Now I understnad why women say angora sweaters aren't really practical because they're too warm. The purple is probably pushing the envelope a bit too much, but I'm crazy enough to wear it anyway. The navy blue one is perfect.

The second shot on the needle is the correct colour. I think I need to create a custom white balance for the camera, it's got too much blue in it.

Notice anything? From a certain angle I look like a Q-Tip...I got my hair bleached again Tuesday. I called my old hairdresser and explained to her what I had done and what was going on. I told her I had an appointment for this Thursday and I was going to cancel because I was too scared to go.I was tired of getting burns and thick scabs, I was losing hair at an alarming rate. What didn't break off when it was done, would come out in clumps when I'd run my hand through my hair. If I went to arrange spikes on top of my head, the ends would break off. For two days every time I went I had to freak out with all the hair I'd lose. Long story short, she is now doing my hair platinum and is ok with it because the scary part of overbleaching what was done before to even the colour out from the foils is done. There is A LOT of yellow in it thanks to the high lift blond that asshat did (she had a difficult time lifting it)...that also gave me the most severe burns I've ever had. It felt like someone was pouring acid on my scalp and my skin was being eaten away. His bleaching would tingle but that high lift shit he put in was actual, physical pain and the thick scabs covering my scalp were disgusting. This was about 4 hours what she did this time but it was done properly-no burns, no scabs, I have not lost a single strand of hair, not a piece has broken off. NOW I remember why I quit doing platinum in my teens, it took to damn long all the time but I'm determined to keep it now. It took me long enough to get it back and man alive did I suffer for it. I'm in good hands.

We're going to New York first week of February. I can't take it anymore so I took the spousal unit by the ear and said "Find some time off, we're going to New York!" so he found some time off and I booked a hotel. I cannot wait. I'm really excited-I can't believe its been 3 years since we were there last.

I'm also nearing the end of the final Harry Potter book. Can't believe it's taken this long to get through it but I didn't want to rush through it-it's going to be strange knowing there will never be another one.

Whew, that's a lot of jabber.....I'm done

High Maintenance

2008-01-04T08:35:00.000-05:00

Well...what else do you call a guy who knits himself cashmere socks? I finished them last week. Put them on to take the photo and am afraid to wear them. They're so soft & cozy I said I needed to get suede or leather soles so they don't wear out quite so fast. I would love nothing more than to open a drawer of NOTHING but Jade Sapphire log cabin socks. Hmm....I wonder if I could eventually make a pair in each of their colourways? That'd be an awfully expensive drawer of socks. Here they are:

So now I have a pair of these in cashmere, a pair in Elsebeth Lavold Angora/wool and am waiting for 100% angora to arrive. I ordered that from Canada right after Christmas and it should be here any day. Deep purple colour...it'll be a scarf. Well...I TOLD ya I was high maintenance.

Today, at 2.50 PM will be the 4th anniversary of my mom's death so I'm going to run out and get some elbow mac and pepperoni to make pasta fagoli for supper. That was one of her favourites and was definitely mine when I was growing up. I probably shouldn't have the pepperoni given I have gallstones but I'll boil a lot of the fat out of it first.

My musical taste really is evolving, I saw this guy on tv a couple weeks ago and the song is catchy. I think I like the glint in his eye and the devilish smirk a little too much. I was bummed to find he was playing in NYC not that long ago. I'll have to keep an eye on when he is again so we can go. I dunno what for, he's 28, a lil too young for me maybe? I dunno. He's a cutie... Josh Zuckerman....

Oh yeah, I've been knitting a scarf to try out the Rowan Kidsilk Night my friend Lorraine gave me for Christmas. I'll drape it over a stained glass lamp or something-it's far too lacy for me to wear but it'll make a nice accent piece somewhere. Let me see if I have a photo of it...Damn, No, I'm fast. I'll post it when it's done.

Hope you all had a great New Year!

My View

2007-12-28T14:35:00.000-05:00

I hope this isn't the shot that gets grabbed to go in my Ravelry profile....I figured since I sounded like a freak in my last post, I'd let you see what I get to look at every morning when I open my eyes and what makes me so irate when they run all night long...all night? ALL weekend long is more like it. This is the view from my bedroom window...it is also what I see from my kitchen window. NOW...imagine those fuckin' trucks running 48 and 72 hours non-stop. Sounds real purdy in the wee hours of the morning.

Got 50% of log cabin socks in Jade Sapphire cashmere done.

Christmas 2007

2007-12-25T22:15:00.001-05:00

Well...I'm speechelss, crafters make the best Christmas gift passages.I was so happy to make the new friends I did on Ravlery but the couple who sent me presents just really made it extra special. If I get spacy I just popped two tranquillisers-not even on Christmas can I relax-suffice to say I am going to start looking into moving to Manhattan. If it's a safe haven for immigrants who barely hve two nickels to rub together, there's no reason on earth I can't make the place I've always felt was home BE HOME. In have got to get the fuck out of this ghetto. I can't take it anymore-aside from the round the clock mental anguish, the health effects of what this is doing to me scares the piss out of me. Not going there-I don't want to get riled up. I hate Boston and I hate Massachusetts I don't plan to stay her any longer than absolutely necessary; I always have been a New York CIty boy and if it's the last fucking thing on eath I do, I am going to live there. But it MUST be Manhattan. Not Brooklyn, Not Queens-if it's not Manhattan, there's no point in moving.

Anyway....first package I opened was from my friend Liz as she was the first parcel I received in the post. It was this unusual and pretty wax burner. It uses soy 'seeds' unlike the big round wax tarts like what Yanke Candle sells.I've not used it yet but am going to tomorrow. It looks pretty as you can mix and match and layer then and what not to create pretty custom scents. Next up was Megann with the second parcel. I had no idea she did glass work as well so when I saw this gorgeous slumped candle holder, I got warm fuzzies inside. I've always admired people do did slumping, it takes glass to a whole new level and it must be frickin' cool to end and twist glass into share. She sent some scented votives to go along with it ;-) I've already burnt one. I about had a heart attack when I saw the skein of Wollmeise she sent me. OMG, the colourway is spectacular-Claudia really is amazing with her colours and this is beautiful. Will have to look around for some really special sock to make with it. The teas are new to me, I never had chocolate tea before and now I have a new tea place to add to my bookmarks to check out when it's time to order. The chocolate/spearmint tea is unbelievably good!

Next up is my friend Lorraine. The pickle ornament was sweet. It's got roots in Germany that says it was hidden among the tree and whoever found it was granted a very special Christmas present. I didn't have to look for a needle in a haystack-I found some wonderful new knitting friends on Ravelry. Then the marzipan pig...this brought back a lot of sweet memories of when I was little and my grandparents would take me into the "North End" of Boston...Little Italy for all intents and purposes back then. There'd they'd buy me all these amazingly colourful and beautiful hand painted Marzipan treats/ornaments. There ere snowman and christmas balls and sleds and stuff like that...problem was, they really were so beautiful I coulon't bring myself to teat them. The tea she included smells out oy this world and tastes really nice. I can't place my finger on it.

YOu guys really now how to make a dude feel good! Thank you....I love all of you so much!

Ther's more I wanted to say but the tranquillisers are knocking me on my ass and I can't barely see my nse at the end of my face LOL!

SLeep tgiht all

Dear Sinter Klaas

2007-12-21T22:15:00.000-05:00

I know it's late to put in my list, but I have no real list, you see. There's not much that I want but there is one thing I am asking for-every year I ask and every year under my tree is bare. I've been good, I swear I've been good. So pleasecan you bring me...

PLEASE?? I promise I won't ever ask for another thing again.

Socks...and more socks....

2007-12-17T14:29:00.001-05:00

So there's something to be said for being diagnosed with a hernia. You can make these:

instead of having to go out during a Nor'Easter and shovel. Of course, the down side is I can't lift much of anything aside from a box of shoes anymore LOL! I need to make more of these in different colourways and more starkly opposite colourways. There's A LOT of potential in these socks and since there are only 4 stitch repeats to the patterns, I could sit there some night with graph paper and chart my own. Hey-WItch socks! WOO HOO! Never thought of that before. We need more dark, stormy days so I can pour an Absinthe and try to come up with something along those lines.

I also made these Log Cabin socks for myself:

I've loved these ever since I made them for Chris who has NEVER worn his-they're balled up on a shelf collecting dust. I like the colourway I did his in but mine are nicer ;-) They're angora :-D These are sinfully soft....I'm VERY tempted to make another pair using up the rest of the Jade Sapphire I have but can't bring myself to use cashmere for socks..How dumb is that? ANgora socks but I can't push myself to make cashmere socks?

ANYWAY, we got a boatload of snow over the weekend...nice that I didn't have to shovel it but the city really does a piss poor job of it and I'm gonna start shit with city hall over taxes due to it but I'm not planning to take a Xanax today so I'm not gonna go into that. Those of you who know me know where I'm headed with this. I'll spare you the rant.

I think I'm gonna go another pair of socks now. There's a pattern I found on Ravelry that looks like it was made to go with the Patrick sweater I made last winter.

3.19 PM Edited to add- I just bought 5 skeins of cashmere. Jade Sapphire-yes, I know I had a horrible time with that last December-I know what I'm in for and I'm armed with Pharmaceuticals this time :D There will be another pair of these in cashmere...oh dear Goddess my feet can't wait!

On the Devil Box: Tales of the City

Met a Raveller Today

2007-12-01T23:12:00.001-05:00

I went into Boston to meet a fellow Raveller today. We've been talking for a while and it was nice to meet someone into knitting that much. We had a cup of tea, sat in the Prudential Centre (high end shopping mall type place) looking through a couple of her Kaffe Fassett books and she took out her knitting. She was doing a nice fingerless mitt in the magic loop method. I've tried to do this before but could never wrap my head around it and it always ended up all sixes and sevens. I think I got it today....she had me do a few rounds and it was fun. I'm just not quite sure how to start off but I can figure out out pretty easily or we can meet up again and she can start me off.

I also got my first knitting in public experience doing that today. It was fun, but it was a quiet part of the mall and the few people around were too busy in their own conversations or food to give a toss what anybody else was doing. I could see maybe doing this in a group but as far as me pulling out sock or something to knit on the train going into Boston, I don't think so.

Speaking of socks, how's these babies?

When I saw these on Ravelry, I had to get the pattern and yarn. They are just so me-they're a lot of fun to knit as well. It's good to do some colourwork again. I guess it's safe to say this just kinda cements the point that I've crossed the line into being eccentric.I think CC Deville of Poison said the difference between crazy and eccentric is the size of your bank account. I'm not sure where mine officially puts me but I'm going with eccentric.

Suffice to say, I think there are a lot more of these in my future since I've got some great colourways in other yarns and there's a lot of variations on this sock so there's more fun to be had with these yet....

Listening to: Rob Costlow, Oceans

Cable Sampler Done!!!

2007-11-29T18:32:00.001-05:00

SO...do you know what happens when you do this:

You end up with this:

I finished it the other day, put the collar on yesterday and blocked it and here it is. WHEW! DONE! FINITO! This was the third time I've knit this and I earned every bloody stitch of this. I will never knit this again even tho I wanted this in the original colours.

I'm not quite happy with the sleeves...the right sleeve is narrower than the left but I kinda figured that was going to happen the way the shaping happens. I'm not quite sure why the cast-on's for each sleeve are different. You start with 7 stitches on the left sleeve then keep adding 4 sts every other row for 17 rows or so, the right sleeve you add 2 sts every other row for 12 rows then 4 sts for X rows...bizarre! If this wasn't the third time I did this, I would re-do it and alter the sleeve shaping just to see what happens. I also would change the cables. The right sleeve is very drab...it's just rope cables with moss stitch dividing them. Given that this has 11 charts to follow, I don't know why they didn't just add 2 or 3 more to make the right sleeve a bit more interesting.

I've started a pair of Fair Isle socks last night that are fun. I was watching a movie and started dozing off while knitting-I think it's going to take me a while to get used to something not so involved now LOL! I do have a pattern from my friend Lorraine that I want to do, it's a beautiful cable jumper and will give me a good excuse to order some Black Water Abbey yarn I've been dying to try for the longest time. I need to make a cardigan...I've got all pull overs and no cardigans.

Damn! There was a sweater I saw on a tv show I wanted to try to copy too....I hope this is a LONG ASS winter, I've got too much knitting to do!

Would ya take a look at that fuckin' hair?! At this point, if I didn't think it would fly off on a roller coaster, I would cut it all off and buy a platinum wig. This is strawberry blond he did this time to give my hear a break. I didn't have any breakage since this was colour, not bleach but HOLY SHIT!!! It felt like acid burning off my scalp. I'm expecting scabs tomorrow morning I'm getting tired of this...I only want white hair and apparently it's either too damaging for my middle aged hair or it's not being done right which resulted in only the top of my hair burning off...I'm not sure which and at this point I really don't care. It looks ridiculous now....not sure what I'm going to do. Isn't there ANYBODY on this bloody earth that can bleach my hair platinum without breaking it off? SOMEBODY must be able to do this.

Anyway, I'm happy with the sweater. Onward and upward now.

Listening to: David Bowie~ Fame
On The Devil Box: The Man Who Fell To Earth

Yeah, I dunno...I'm in a Bowie mood I guess.

Thank you Maria!

2007-11-26T11:25:00.000-05:00

TO Maria from the Ravelry Cable Lovers group...I tried to find you but not sure what your screen name on Rav is. Just wanted to say Thank You! I called WIndsor Button and they did have some so Im' holding 2 skeins in my lap. WIll work on it later on.

I panicked because I thought Jaeger had been out of business for a while and didn't think anyplace would still have it. How long ago did they go belly up, I wonder?

Now I have a bunch of household things I need to do so I can sit down and finish this.

DESPERATELY NEED YARN!!!!

2007-11-25T17:59:00.000-05:00

Man, I'm desperate...I am 28 rows from finishing this cable sampler and I'm out of yarn. I need 2 more balls of this yarn to complete it. If anybody has Jaeger Matchmaker Lot 7B2 Shade 639 I need 2 balls I will buy off of you. I had planned to wear this sweater on 13 December as we're going out to dinner with some of my partner's co-workers but it looks like I won't get to wear this and will have to wear a sweater I've been seen in already several times.

I was talking to my friend Lorraine of Sheriff of Knittingham and we decided this sweater was supposed to teach me something. Patience? Perseverance (No, I think the Kaffe taught me that in spades). Whatever it was, it appears I was not meant to own this sweater. This is the third and final time I'm doing this...I will not knit this bitch again. Three times is more than enough for any garment. There are other Perry Ellis sweaters to tackle.I loved this because I 1) never had a dolman sleeve before-I don't think they're that common for men and 2) there are 11 different cables on this.

I'm not mad, I'm just frustrated. It's like the Aran cardigan my grandmother knit...2 of those, one for my dad and one for my grandfather-both of them are gone...vanished, POOF! nowhere to be found so I have nothing wearable from my grandmother and the second huge challenge in this cable sampler and for the third time, it didn't work out unless I can mange to score 2 balls of this grey Jaeger DK yarn.

LOL! It's kinda like there's all these little tests in my life to see how much I can take...like living in New York. I cannot afford Manhattan real estate and it's the only place on earth I want to be. Since I was 13 years old, the only place I've wanted to live was New York and I can go for a week's holiday and then have to leave. Growing up I saw these beautiful Aran cardigans my grandmother knit and now that they'd mean so much since she's gone, they're nowhere to be found. "Here Jer...look at these...see them~ Love them? Touch them?! WEAR THEM! YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!"

Anyway, if anybody has 2 balls of this yarn, I'd really appreciate hearing from you.

Stay warm!

Cable sampler

2007-11-20T11:12:00.001-05:00

Well, here's some progress pictures of this Perry Ellis Cable Sampler. This is in need of serious blocking but I'm happy to say this is coming along well. The yarn is old...moths have gotten to it and I've had to do a fair amount of clipping and re-attaching to get out the frayed bits. I'm not at all sure I like this in solid grey now but it is what it is. Here is the "full" sweater:

It's a dolman sleeve so it's knit in one piece starting at the front, adding stitches to knit the sleeves horizontally and taking stitches away to go back to the body. Already I see a glaring fuck up-Oh well.....I don't know how you mothers with young kids do it...I really don't. But I give you credit. I can't wait to move into a nice house with a room somewhere and a lock. There will be a rule that when that door is shut and locked, I am knitting. If you knock on that door for any reason other than to say there is a ghostly apparition of my mom in the house, it will set forth an issuance of fire and brimstone.

Here is the left sleeve

And below is the right.

This is supposed to be done in colour and originally when I knit it, it WAS-each cable panel is a different colour. However, the first time the yarn was too light to support the weight of all the cables and it stretched to a sweater dress length. Those of you who know me by now will not be surprised to learn I was so torqued off that I cut the sweater up to ribbons with a pair of scissors and threw it in the trash.

When I knit it the second time I was in the midst of knitting a Kaffe Fassett and was so not into messing with more colour, I wasn't paying attention and messed the cuffs up-as soon as I got to the top of the shoulder, I began binding off which resulted in cuffs with a 2.5" circumference. No adult human has that small a wrist so I ripped it all out and the yarn went into storage. Shortly after that I began knitting it again but just put it down for several years as I was bloody tired of knitting the same damn thing three times.

Dare I now say that I'm wanting this in the colours it was originally designed in? Will I knit this again in colour? I may but it would have to be with yarn that came pretty dang close to the colours of the original Aarlan Royal yarn this was done in-knitting the same sweater FOUR times is overkill in my mind. Not sure I can handle it a fourth time. Here is the original. Gorgeous, eh?

And the sweater isn't bad either, is it? ;-)

P.S. Have I mentioned I'm seriously contemplating knitting another Kaffe Fassett? :-)

Boy Interrupted...

2007-11-16T20:57:00.000-05:00

I feel so scatterbrained. I've thought about doing an audio post but then I start and don't know what to say, sort of like now. A million things on my mind and I dunno where the hell to start. I started to take y'all with me on a trip to the grocery store but all you hear is me yelling at everyone calling them an asshole

See, now I'm off my train and not sure where to pick up again....AARRGGHH!!! What is wrong with me?! Maybe I can do this better tomorrow.....

9.23 PM...I found some cool themes but just tried to do what one said and it just comes up a white page Blogger blows this way. I don't think any are all that easy to change on your own but Im bloody tired of this boring black but hate the other crap they offer. I should see if there are any 7 year olds in the 'hood that could do it for me LOL!

10.09 PM...I don't know why but this song reminds me of Danny. There's no particular reason why, it's not like we ever went out driving anywhere or had a date but I hear this and think of him and see those deep grey eyes. LOVED this as a kid, and still do. It's probably one of the top songs ever recorded.

Listening to: WASP~ The Neon God Pt. 1

A meme

2007-11-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

I've not done one of these in forever so when I saw this over on Kyle's blog, I had to steal it.

01. Can you cook? Absolutely and I love to cook.
02. What was your dream growing up? to be an actor or musician
03. What talent do you wish you had? the talent to appreciate the talents I do have
04. If I bought you a drink what would it be? Absinthe but since it's illegal in this damn country, a Grey Goose and tonic
05. Favorite vegetable? Broccoli, I guess. Artichokes-I love vegetables so it doesn't matter
06. What was the last book you read? I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can
07. What zodiac sign are you ? Pisces
08. Any tattoos and/or piercings? Many tattoos, a pierced navel & multiple ear piercings (7 to be exact)
09. Worst habit? I'm neurotic about too damn much
10. If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride? Sure
11. What is your favorite sport? Rugby and Baseball...
12. Negative or optimistic attitude? Me? Somewhere in the middle.
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Not sure I can print that on a G rated blog LOL! Hmm, evil prat I am, I'd probably try to scare you
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? Watching my mom die and holding her during the process. Better for her if it eased her passing but it fucked with my head in a BIG way.
15. Tell me one weird fact about you. Just the one? Hmm, this'll be hard, there's too much weirdness with me. When I get overwhelmed or upset, the easiest way to deal for me is to throw strange colours in my hair like purple or blue or magenta or something like that. I guess at 40 it's more eccentric than rebellious but.....
16. Do you have any pets? Yes, a cat and a ghost cat
17. What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly? I'd make a pot of tea and we'd sit and knit. Or go to WEBS and blow a few hundred dollars on yarn
18. What was your first impression of me? That you're a very creative guy
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? scary
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? I want the perfect skin back I had as a youth
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? Crime probably. I don't like convincing people to do stuffm so I'd be partner in crime.
22. What color eyes do you have? What colour would you like them to be? I have grey, green, blue, violet, silver and gold
23. Ever been arrested? Almost
24. Bottle or draft? BOTTLE!!! I've seen too many nasty things going on with draft...NEEVR EVER DRAFT!
25. If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? 7 grand would go to a vintage double neck BC Rich Bich guitar.How much Woolmeise can I get for 3 thousand dollars?
26. Would you date me? If you were single, yeah.
27. Where's your favorite place to hang out? now? Dunno-my kitchen knitting, I guess. How boring, eh?
28. Do you believe in ghosts? Absolutely, I do. I've got one, a cat that likes to play tricks and possibly more in this house.
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Create...something...
30. Do you swear a lot? Yes...it's amazing how I watch my tongue on this blog 'coz in person, I pepper my conversation liberally.
31. Biggest pet peeve? Oh no....is there enough space? Off the top of my head, chewing with your mouth open. I HATE eating noises. Another one is If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the damn seatie!
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Passionate. I think that encompasses a range of emotions which is me.
33. Do you believe in/appreciate romance? I'd like to.
34. If you could spend 12 hours with me and ask/do anything you like, what would it be? I would want to ride roller coasters with you. Are you a rail junkie Kyle? :-)
35. Do you believe in God? I believe in a higher power. I don't think she is happy
36. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same? I did

For Jewels

2007-11-03T21:16:00.001-04:00

A friend on Ravelry was asking about the Perry Ellis Zebra sweater I knit back...oh, 24 years ago. I've been promising her I'd take a picture in it and post it so this is for you Jewels.
I can't believe that after 24 years this still fits me and I'm so glad it does. I dug out the Holiday 1983 issue of Vogue Knitting this was in and was looking at the chart for it. I'm wondering if I'd have better technique now that I've been knitting off and on the better part of my life. All I remember was I had to knit combo style...left hand Continental, right hand English style. The yarn I used was Reynold's Town & Country wool since we were unable to find the Penguin wool it called for.

Don't you love the top of my hair how it's all burnt off? It was shorter than this, it's growing back. I'm still not sure what we're doing...if I can stay platinum or what. I hope I can, I love the white hair and don't want to stop.

I thought while I was at it, I'd take another shot in the bloody Tumbling Blocks sweater. It looks so cool but I hated every frickin' stitch of it.

I sat on the sofa watching that old movie, FAME, that came out in 1980. I was dying for Chris to go away so I could watch it. This movie started it all for me..my love of New York City, my burning desire to perform, my refusal to really look outside the arts for a career, my introduction to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I love the movie but it depresses me in a big way. Back as a teenager there was a panicked sense of urgency that I HAD to do it and do it right then or I'd miss my chance. I did what I could with acting classes and bands and what not but not ever really being taken seriously and being too young to really do anything about it, it just...well....I'm not going down that road again. As a middle aged fart, it hit me differently tonight. I cried a lot (I knew I would) but the urgent panic was replaced with a calmer sense of feeling I'd let myself down. My time is past and "entertainment" isn't what it was back then. Celebrities are a dime a dozen. The trash calling themselves "stars" is vomit inducing. Because you are a media whore and don't mind having your naked crotch plastered on the internet and tabloids as you get out of a car does not make you a star. It makes you a pig. If that's the attention you're looking for, it's pretty pathetic.

Anyway...this is about knitting, not anger LOL! I'm debating weather to watch it again with the commentary because I know I'll not watch it again until the next time Chris goes away which probably won't be till Christmas.

I pulled out that Perry Ellis cable sampler again. I started it a while back and have met with disaster every time I've knit it. THis is it...I'm half way up the front the last time I put it down. I tested my gauge and it is still spot on so I'm gonna give it one more go. If I fuck it up this time I will burn the yarn and probably that issue of Vogue Knitting so I won't ever be tempted to make it again LOL! I want this sweater so bad.....

Guess that's it for now. There's a lot more swirling in my head but I can't gather my thoughts to get them out. I'm sailing down a reverie that's taking me back to the early 80's and it feels good...melancholy but good.

Howze I Look?

2007-10-27T01:04:00.001-04:00

Greetings from Leopard...Howze I look? I look like something out of one of those twisted children's books that you think it cute yet gives your children nightmares for several nights, no? Big head ,itty bitty nose....WOW! I've just spent the last 12 hours happily installing and getting Apple's new OS, Leopard, up to speed. Just when I think they can't improve the OS any more than they already have, they do. I sit with my chin on the floor and drooling with each new OS they release. This is one MAJOR overhaul tho.

I think I heard my knitting needles crying for me. Hell's Bells, I forgot to even have lunch. I think I'm just about done restoring stuff. I was nervous reading stuff that old programmes may or may not work. Happily, everything I've installed thus far works, including Adobes CS 3 which I was most nervous about.

Do you even care about any of this? If you're a PC user you're probably twiddling your thumbs going "Yeah,yeah....where's the knitting?" If you're a fellow Mac whore ( I can say that, right? I mean, I am one...if it's got an Apple logo, I'm buying it) you're too busy playing in Leopard and not reading this.

Hopefully tomorrow I will knit. If I can tar myself away....Cover Flow is just awesome...can finally flip through my knitting folder and see at a glance what pattern is what without having to open it.

Here's a cute video....this is about the point I'm at now...

Restless Knitter

2007-10-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Well, what to say? I had to frog the shawl. Apparently, my picture is in the Oxford Dictionary next to the entry for "Dumb Blond." I've been six stitches short the entire time but somehow up until the last 4 rows, it had all worked out. I couldn't find where I lost the six so I frogged it and will start again. It killed me, I had 42 rows done and it was A LOT of work I've seen the shawl almost entirely done and blocked and all I can say I have to get my ass in gear. It is GORGEOUS!!!!!

I did cast on for another project in its stead only I can't post pictures of it because the intended recipient may read this blog, I'm not entirely sure, and it's a gift for her. I know she has the url. If you're on Ravelry, you can hop on over to my profile and see a picture of it there.

In other news I have fallen in love with Maine Coon cats since joining Ravelry and ow want one only not sure it's a good idea since I don't know how, after eight years (???), Ms. Midnight would take to sharing me or her home that she has been Queen of all this time. I worry about the jealousy issue too. I thought maybe getting a kitten would be a lot easier to integrate into the house but I just am not 100% sure and there's no guarantees.

Somehow I found myself on YouTube looking at videos of Maine Coons and then I typed in this song Lost by Roger Sanchez that I love, it reminds me of my German friend from las year on Second Life. Well, there was another song, Another Chance that grabbed me. The fact it takes place in NYC just caught my eye but the video kinda hits home for me. It's sad but the song is very cool and that brought to mind someone who has been on my mind a lot lately. He haunts my mind, memories and dreams....I can't let go and this song just makes me think of him even more for some reason.

Listening to: Roger Sanches ~ Another Chance
Feeling: I'm not entirely sure.

Lace

2007-10-15T17:10:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd take a progress picture of this now. This is a Halloween Knit Along on Ravelry I thought I'd try. The dragon shawl I tried a while back was too damn hard but lace is something I've never done and wanted to see if I could do it.

This is proving to be a lot more enjoyable than I thought. It's challenging enough to keep you on your toes but not so hard that I'm throwing it across the room and inventing new curse words. The one thing I'll say is this requires INTENSE concentration. I can't even think of anything else when I do this.

You probably can't see theme even in the close up but there's glass seed beads in there too. Not very many right now but they're there. It looks amazing in person...they are black with a gunmetal hole so there's enough glitz without being too gaudy. Im not exactly sure yet what makes this a Halloween themed shawl...we're supposed to find out with the last clue which I think is posted next Saturday. I'm not going to be anywhere near that yet. I'm only on row 35 and there's 80 rows total for the first set of instructions. When I look at this in pictures I'm still having a hard time believing this came from my hands....I've seen some who are further along and it just looks amazing! I think I'm getting addicted to lace knitting. I can't wear shawls but nothing saying I can't knit 'em and throw 'em over the piano or a window or something. Aren't shawls strewn about a house sort of bohemian anyway? I like that idea.

I also found this video on Continental Knitting in a group on Ravelry. This is so helpful. I've been wanting to learn to do this better for a while now and this has helped a lot. I could knit Continental, though slowly, but I was doing it backwards. It worked out ok, I just had to work into the back of the stitches but this video is really cool.

Update on the Harmony needles from Knit Picks....get 'em!!!! I don't want to stop knitting now. They are amazing...very comfortable, very fast and just a pleasure. I hate to put my knitting away at night now LOL! They are worth every penny, at least I think they are.

Sentimental fool

2007-10-09T17:44:00.000-04:00

That's me. I decided rather than sell my grandmother's hutch, I'd keep it myself and put yarn and knitting stuff in it. My dad helped me bring it back to my place, there's just too much history attached to this to sell it. So I've got some yarn in there and will load more up. The drawer will be good for notions and the bottom has books. I dunno about you but I think there needs to be some 100% angora up there on the top shelf to keep the alpaca company.

I'm finding it harder and harder to go there and do the work to get it up to speed to rent. It's cold and empty and it's so odd to flash back to when it was filled with laughter and fun and good smells from whatever my grandmother was cooking or times I slept over there. Today I wanted to run home and take a couple Xanax and just forget but I didn't.

But to sort of help with the feelings, the UPS man delivered these today:

I got my Harmony from Knit Picks :-) These needles are ~~nice~~ freakin' awesome! I almost want to start using circulars to knit everything just to use them but I am a bigger fan of straights.

It's weird, while looking at these needles, my mind began to wander and I started to think how when I was a little tyke, this time of year was cold and there were pretty coloured leaves on the ground, after school we'd be outside playing and the air would smell of burned leaves and you could see smoke curling up from the chimneys along the street. The world is so different now. I'm not sure I like it.

I got an idea for a short story, a few 'fans' (that sounds weird) wrote asking about this fabled book I started writing in the 90's. While it's too large to put up on the erotica site, they gave me an idea for a short story on how the two main characters met. I didn't hit on any of that when I started writing it, just jumped right in. Now I need to try and make some time to write it. I'm kind of excited about that. Which also calls to mind that I've not touched Harry Potter in a few weeks....I need to get reading as there's lots more books waiting for me to read them.

Wow, I had all this stuff I planned to write about and I'm drawing a total blank now.

Now playing: Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Feeling: Melancholy

Yarn Hutch

2007-10-04T11:32:00.000-04:00

I need to make some room in the upstairs hall here. I just decided I'm taking my grandmother's knick knack hutch to store yarn in. It's small enough to fit in the corner at the end of the hall. That makes me feel good, I was really getting bummed as my dad & I just finished painting the kitchen den and I guess once I sell off the furniture, it won't be long before I can put it up for rent. It feels so alien there now, not the cozy, warm place I remember.

I came home to fid THIS waiting in my door today:

It's called Spooky by Yarn Pirate. Now I just need to find the perfect sock pattern to go with it. I have 3 more hanks coming probably next week, Halloween colours and a kit for fair isle socks from Blue Moon Fibre Arts.I told ya Ravelry is dangerous...in a good way LOL! Which reminds me, I need to order another hank of halloween sock yarn called Witch in a Blender.

Funny thing.,.I joined a halloween shawl KAL. THis requires about 450 beads so I go and look around on line> I'm not a bead worker, I've never really done anything with beads so I'm totally green. I see a 40 gram package and wonder if that's enough? No, they come in a half kilo package too! WOO HOO! I click ADD TO CART! Put my info in and off it goes. As the day is progressing I'm beginning to wonder if a half kilo is enough, maybe I need to get a second half kilo just to be safe. We're talking SEED BEADS here people. SO to be safe, I e mail the company and ask. They reply (I should have called so I could hear the maniacal laughter) "A half kilo contains approx. 48 THOUSAND beads...you'll have enough for a bunch of shawls. Two days later the package arrived...I could only stare at it and laugh. There looks to be a gajillion beads in there. Anybody need any black seed beads? ROTFLMFAO!!!!

What else? I guess that's about it for now.

Now Playing: Elton John ~ Someone Saved My Life Tonight

Feeling: Happy & Content

OMG-I love finishing!

2007-09-29T20:28:00.000-04:00

When I posted after I went to WEBS, I got so lost in the yarn p0rn, I forgot an item I bought. A DVD called The Hand Knitter's Guide to Sweater Finishing with Leslye Solomon. This was, hands down, THE BEST fifty bucks I ever spent-she is AMAZING. I never dreaded stitching a sweater together but by the same token, I didn't look forward to it either. This video changed that. No more bulky seams, no more dents where the side seams start. This sweater I just finished would make my grandmother proud the way I put it together. It's the neatest job I've ever done and you can't see it at all. I did graft the shoulder seams, afterall.

If this DVD is not in your library, GET IT! It covers EVERYTHING and I'm looking forward to finishing and stitching a sweater together now, almost as much as actually knitting it.

I probably should have made the medium, I love oversized things, even more now that I'm getting older, but I can fit a second person in this with me, like the model in the book...I'm just sayin'. I love this sweater tho, it's going to be my favourite. The yarn is awesome, Rowan plaid. I have more to knit another jumper. It's so soft...and WARM! Of course, winter donesn't really arrive till February anymore so I've still got a few months to wait.

I'm just as addicted to Ravelry as I was Second Life when I discovered that, if not more. No, I'm not stopping blogging tho I dunno how many read it anymore. I think a blog goes hand in hand with Ravelry. One word of advice....FREEZE YOUR CREDIT CARDS NOW BEFRE YU GET YOUR INVITE! I'm droppin' money left & right now. Nobody warned me once you're on, your credit cards melt into a puddle of plastic. I got a bunch of sock yarn on the way here...can't wait!

I joined a Hallowene shawl KAL. I never did a knitting KAL before. Funny thing is shawl calls for approx. 480 beads so I went off in searh of some seed beads. Found some no problem and ordered half a kilo. Then I wondered if that was enough-what do I know? I never did beads before. SO I wrote them and asked if I should get another one. ROTFLMFAO!!!! They replied today saying there's approx. 48 THOUSAND seed beads in a half kilo. Anybody need any black seed beads? LOL!

Here's a shot of me in the new sweater. Guess you can tell the top of my hair is kinda burnt off. I hve a small patch in front still very long. I decided since I'm not yet ready to look normal and quit bleaching it white, Im going to turn a negative into a positive...I'm gonna have him cut the little bit remaining so it's the same length...this way I can spike it up and maybe throw some manic Panic in-purple and green and fuchsia and orange and whatever else catches my eye. No blue...the blue is so goddamned strong and I don't want it turning the rest of my hair blue. I can always add extensions if I get too down on the short hair.

I'm In!!! I'm In!!!

2007-09-25T20:43:00.001-04:00

So I got my Ravelry invite this morning when I was down my grandfather's painting swatches on the wall to pick a colour to paint the kitchen and den. I took a break and checked via my iPhone and it said my invite had arrived. Freakin' cool is all I can say. There's so much there....I started putting my stash in but it's gonna take a lot of photos and time to organise myself there.

I'm kinda bummed tho...there's a NYC knitters group....I know it's dumb since I don't live there but REALLY wanna be a NYC knitter. Can't I be an honorary member? This whole NYC thing is going to gnaw away at me until I draw my final breath on this planet. Maybe in my next life I'll be fortunate enough to call NYC home for real. I do now even tho I don't live there LOL!

Anyway, I finished the Rowan Atmosphere sweater. I'm going to see if I can get it blocked tomorrow and then I can stitch it together and wear it. Well, assuming the winter isn't full of 92 degree days like tomorrow is supposed to get. We had started to get a chill in the air and I was getting all into the fall and here we go back into hot, humid August weather. I have my frickin' Halloween decorations up! I guess that's what I get for decoratin' early. Hey, this Witch can't wait! Autumn is my favourite season.

Short Rows

2007-09-20T09:56:00.000-04:00

SO I decided to try doing the short row technique for shoulders. I always hated the stair step edge as they looked like crap and were often too bulky when seaming them together. I picked up the technique pretty easily, it wasn't has hard as I thought it would be BUT...

What do you do when the back shoulders have more stitches than the front shoulders? On my back piece for this sweater, I have 4 more stitches on each shoulder than the front. I have re-done it several times and it seems to be right. Now I don't know if I'm better off ripping it all back and doing the damn stair step way OR using a 3 needle cast off and knitting two together evenly spaced on the back needle. I cannot graft the shoulder seams since there's more stitches on the back than the front. I don't understand this LOL!

It looks like my place in Ravelry may be coming over the weekend. I hope so! I've got a lot of yarn to catalogue there. The invites are going faster than I thought.

In other news, my doctor called me yesterday to inform me...I have gallstones. WTF???! I don't fit the profile for them and I was never big in dairy. I have decided all this bullshit on tv and in the magazines and stuff is just that...BULLSHIT. I eat right (salmon & other oily fish, lots of sushi and skinless chicken mostly), hardly ever eat red meat, don't drink excessively (tho I had my bouts of very heavy drinking in my late 20's thru early 30s), never touch fried foods or ice cream, I don't use salt at all. Snacks for me usually consist of salads or broccoli or celery or a nice big tomato sprinkled with garlic powder and olive oil and I end up with gallstones, high cholesterol and a hernia. Go figure. I was sort of intent on telling my doctor I want my gall bladder out NOW before any attacks happen but I'm being told by friends they won't do that...so apparently, I need to suffer excruciating pain of an attack before they'll remove it. I got one word for that....PERCODAN!!! COPIOUS amounts of Percodan.

I've been reading labels since I was in my early 20's, I've been a MAJOR PITA with my diet eating only healthy stuff-genetics suck LOL! BUT it could be worse so I'm not too upset, just really baffled.

Rowan Plaid

2007-09-16T08:51:00.000-04:00

I don't know what to say about this yarn other than is is so soft and wonderful, it's like knitting a cloud. I started that pattern Atmosphere from the Rowan Plaid book, and here is a progress picture. Actually, quite a bit of progress has been made since I shot this last weekend. The back is done and I'm up to the underarm shaping on the front as of 10 PM last night.

I'm so digging this sweater and can't wait to wear it.

I think I've given up on the dragon shawl for now. I don't have a nice house to display it yet so what's the point? It's a lot more difficult than I thought. There is a neat shawl pattern I can try to get my groove with in Rowan magazine 34.

I am so anxious to get into Ravelry, have been not-so-patiently checking my space on the waiting list and if the invites continue as they have the past two days, I should be able to get on there by the end of next week, unless they crank out the invites even faster, who knows. I'm absolutely DYING to get on there!!!

I also am eating a nice, big, juicy, fat crow pie. Umm, for years I have railed against cell phones. I never saw the attraction, obsession or need for them unless you were a doctor who had patients lives hanging in the balance. I bought an iPhone this past Friday. Apple whore that I am, I just couldn't resist any longer. It's not so much for the phone, I barely talk to anybody on my home phone as it is but the Notes feature is really helpful, the camera will come in handy for a quick snap of a new luscious yarn to add to my stash or a ~~cute guy on the street~~ new pair of needles I have to have and add to my list. I'm really impressed with it and love it so far. I guess this means I won't be getting the new iPod Touch now LOL! Apple's new products are worse than drugs in that sense....I crave them. It's funny, anybody that knows me now is so surprised "YOU, of all people, got an iPhone?" RTOFLOL!

Felting and WEBS and S.E.X.

2007-09-02T12:47:00.000-04:00

I don't know where to start first. I guess at the beginning is the best place. In my last post I said I was working on an awesome pair of slippers. I can't wait to show them off so here's a quick shot as they're drying to shape. These Elf Slippers caught my eye about a month ago and just begged for me to make them. I have never felted before and wanted to try it, and this pattern was perfect. These are so me it's not funny LOL! They said for kids & ladies but a kooky bohemian type like me, why not?! These were so easy to do and fun, I'll be making more. As soon as they're dry, I'll take better pictures. I was going for a jewel tone with the yarn. I got blue, purple, burgundy and green. The purple looks darker here than it really is...it is really pretty in the daylight. Felting is a lot of fun!

Yesterday, we went to WEBS...I've been ordering from them for a while and decided to go, they're only a hair under 2 hours from where I live. WOW! What a place, err, palace LOL! It reminded me of the yarn stores that were so abundant around here when I was a kid. WEBS might be great on the internet but in person...HOLY CRAP!!!! They're so friendly and all that yarn! HONESTLY...I DID NOT MEAN TO SPEND $300. THERE! LOL! I got some Noro that had me drooling, the way the colours look knitted up, I thought they'd make a great scarf. The blue tones of the Rowan Plaid are going into the sweater DYLAN from their Country book. And although the name Kaffe Fasset sends me running to the hills pulling clumps of my hair out, I couldn't resist this Regia sock yarn he has out. I'm not real sure which sock pattern I'll use with it. The Lopi colours are for another pair of slippers.

And I got these books. This New Pathways for Sock Knitters is a MUST HAVE. I'd never heard of Cat Bordhi before but this book has amazing socks and new techniques I can't wait to try. The other book, A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting, had neat stuff. I have to knit my cat a bed....it is just too tempting seeing them in the book.

I guess that's about it for now. I don't know what to go jump into first now with all these goodies.

WHOLE BOOKS FOR A DIME?

2007-08-30T06:59:00.000-04:00

Currently, I'm working on a pair of those awesome slippers I mentioned in the last post. I think I'm going to need more yarn, maybe we can take a ride out this weekend to get it. I live only 2 hours from WEBS :-) I have a GPS, I should just plunk my ass in my car and go myself. Horrible to be so phobic.

Since I've been cleaning out my grandparents apartment in hopes of renting it, MY place has become a shithole. Boxes EVERYWHERE. If this is only a few things from my grandparents' place, I shudder to think what it will look like when we move from this dump.

In any event, the knitting books my grandmother had have been wild. A LOT of patterns, and I do mean A LOT. It's sort of bitter-sweet to look back when the newspaper had a "Chatters" column where knit & crochet patterns were exchanged-my gram has a lot of patterns clipped from newspapers. One upon a time, even magazines like Family Circle, Good Housekeeping and Woman's Day had free patterns as well. Those were the days. I guess it's too much to ask to have a pattern or two when there's more pressing issues in life such as how, when, and where to have sex. I guess I am an odd-ball...sex is overrated, I'd much rather knit any day of the week. No mess to clean up, no sweaty sheets to change and there's something to show for your time.

I was thinking of trying to make a book with the newspaper clippings, sort of like the Griffin & Sabine books. If you've not read those. Griffin & Sabine is a very tactile read. It's a series of letters written back and forth between the two characters. You open envelopes of different sorts on each page and pull out & unfold a "letter" to read. Not sure how I'd do that with knitting patterns but take a look at some of the prices on these books. You couldn't even buy a single pattern for this price today.

I go to get my roots bleached today....this SHOULD be the day I turn totally white. We'll see. He better be less rough and messy than the last time or he's gonna hear about it.

HA! I just saw we can now add video clips. Hmmm, Chris got a clip of me on a coaster this weekend-I'll have to try that later.

Bales of Hay and knitting slippers

2007-08-18T10:39:00.000-04:00

Here's a couple of photos of the bale of hay I call hair.

Actually, it's not too bad at all. It is not as damaged or straw like as I remember it being the first time I went this light. The top of my hair is pure snow white-I wish it would just all go pure snow white on its own and be done with it. I'm not sure if the rest of it will get that light next time. He was EXTREMELY rough with me resulting in a lot of breakage. From my left eye in front straight back to my crown is all burned off. There's also a patch beside my left eye that he was so rough with he literally pulled my hair off. Someone doesn't want me blond? What am I to think? He was very sloppy too.he ruined a concert tee shirt I had with bleach, he got as much bleach on the floor, smock he made me wear and the mirror as he got on my hair. SHOWERED me when he shampooed all that crap out of my hair. Too bad I like it so light, I think it looks good and you can't even see the spot on top that is thinning anymore. You'd think in this day and age there'd be pills we could take to change hair colour. Minimal to no damage and be as simple as that. How hard can it be? There's just serious issues I seem to have with hairdressers. I don't seem to get on too well with them. I just can't win.

On the knitting front....I'm waiting for some wool to come in the mail so I can knit the most amazing pair of slippers ever. I can't wait to do these and show them to y'all! I'll wait for the spousal unit to get home so I can go to Boston and get the needles. I don't own DPN's past size 10.5's. He likes to go to Boston with me, I'd rather be there now so I could get home and do what I want.

I've been blogging how long now? I've had the same layout since I started. I need to figure out how to alter the template and do funky backgrounds and what now. I love basic black but I'm bored with it now.

Have I mentioned I cannot seem to get past Row 32 of that dragon lace shawl? I've started that 4 or 5 times now. I put it aside, won't try it for a while now.

Feeling: a lot of anxiety

Listening to: Mean Man by W.A.S.P. (this has become my new theme song)

Once more into the bleach

2007-08-07T06:37:00.000-04:00

I finally found a new hair stylist who said he can do what I want. I go Thursday to get my roots done but he is doing my whole head so I'll be a total blond (that doesn't sound good! LOL!) and no more bloody foils. I told him I want to be pure white...weather he can achieve that I'm not sure. I'm not too keen on his attitude...maybe it's a guy thing but I don't like guys doing my hair. I think men turn out better with women doing their hair and vice versa. I'm getting nervous now that I'm going to end up with a lot of breakage which shouldn't happen if he stays on me watching like a hawk. I will not end up like I want on Thursday...if he takes me up to white, it'll be a slow, gradual process as my hair can fry off but in any event, I should appear much lighter once all the roots are done. That darkens it and makes me unhappy I think. I just wish I could figure out why this sudden 'need' to go pure snow white. My hair already knots up something fierce as it is when we ride roller coasters and I still have some natural hair. I can imagine when I'm totally bleached. OMG! LOL!

Sometimes I wish my hair wasn't thinning on top, I'd love to take a break from the bleach and dye my hair dark, to the same colour as Katharine McPhee's hair which is slightly darker than my natural colour was...oh how many years ago did that see the light of day? LOL! The darker my hair is, the more noticeable the thinning spot on top is which is why I keep it blond...the lighter my hair, the more invisible the thinning spot is.

On to knitting news....I think I'm going to abandon Rowan's Seahorse sweater. I like it but not enough to keep knitting it-my friend Kyra sent me a link last night for a new book coming out that has this sweater in it:

I love this so much so I think I'm going to rip Seahorse back and rewind the yarn into balls and wait for this book to come out and knit this. I'll have to order about 10 more balls which means the dye lot will probably be off some but that's ok...the yarn fades in the wash. I wish I could get hold of the designer to ask how much yarn it takes.

I guess this means I can go grab some sock yarn and get going on some new fall socks in the meantime LOL! I have a funky slipper pattern on the way to me too...can't WAIT to do those!

I also need to work on that dragon shawl...I've had nothing but trouble with one row. I love a challenge but this is proving to be to difficult and I usually don't have all that much trouble with hard stuff. It's the easy stuff that throws me.

New Socks

2007-08-03T08:15:00.000-04:00

I was scanning some blogs and found these socks over on Criminy Jickets and thought I'd give them a whirl. I love the J-Walkers but wanted to try another pattern for a change. They knit up really fast but unfortunately, the cable pattern doesn't show up well in this yarn. It looks nice in person. The yarn was, I believe, Mountain Colours' Wildflower.

There's another cable sock I am dying to try but I just sent for yarn for a Dragon Shawl that should be coming any day. I don't know where I'm going to put the shawl. Maybe hang it on the wall since with my cat, it's a dangerous proposition to drape a lace shawl on the sofa. I may be biting off more than I can chew with this since I have never tried lace before and this looks quite involved.

The Fall issue of Interweave Knits arrived in my post box yesterday. Ummm, I'm officially asking that this autumn extends until next July as there's FAR too many things in there I want to knit. First of which is the Cobblestone sweater from Brooklyn Tweed. I've always loved what I've seen him do on his blog so it'll be a treat to get to knit one of his designs.

Lots of other stuff going on that I don't feel like getting into but we're going to go ride coasters again in 3 weeks. This is a record for us going to NJ and man it feels good!

Happy Knitting!

Rail Riding!

2007-07-06T13:08:00.001-04:00

Wow, it's been forever since I last posted. I've been knitting a bit here and there. It's the pattern "Seahorse" from the Rowan Denim book.It is a beautiful pattern but I'm finding it more difficult than Patrick LOL! GO figure. I always did say I had an easier time with the harder stuff than I did the things that should be easy.

I was also told by my doctor that I have a hernia. Wonderful...just one more thing for me to obsess over. It's small, he says, and he didn't seem too concerned with it yet but eventually I'm going to need surgery and I'm not thrilled with the idea. I'm a wuss that way-this is why men don't get pregnant. LOL! Women are stronger.

I'm still writing erotica, have had several stories published and was asked to write a story for a publication coming out next year. That'll give me time to develop a story I've had in my head for months.

Chris and I went to the amusement park last month. Finally got over my fear of hypercoasters. It was never so much the height that scared me so much as the LONG, SLOW trip UP the lift hill. We met a friend of mine there and first ride of the day was on Nitro...230 feet tall, 66 degree drop. I dunno what the hell I waited so long to ride it for...it was pure heaven and the lift hill wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Here is a shot of us on it...this is taken at the bottom of the first drop. No, those two kids next to Chris are not my friends, I dunno who they are. My friend was there with her son earlier and had to leave.

I'm in the black t shirt with the pink BC Rich guitars logo on it. Chris is next to me with his eyes tightly closed LOL! I'm almost ready to do Nitro with my hands in the air. Here's a point of view video of it..I did not shoot it. NITRO

Then we rode El Toro , one of the largest wooden roller coasters on the East Coast and currently the steepest drop on ANY wooden coaster in the world-not sure how long that record will last but this thing is fast, intense and WAY too much fun. I am now addicted to step drops. While Nitro is smooth as glass and a very gentle ride-EL Toro is just as smooth but is literally like riding a bull...it has MASSIVE ejector air. Your butt is not in your seat from the first drop until you hit the intense twister finale.

Here is us on El Toro...

We're going back in 2 weeks and have one more coaster left to conquer, Kingda Ka. That'll be a piece of cake. Can't wait to get back and spend all day on the coasters again.

I also started playing guitar...again. I bought myself another one to complete the set I had started. This is a BC Rich Bich....10 strings. I was never able to get this guitar back in the 80's...something always happened when I ordered it. 20 years late but better late than never. Ain't she purdy?

Hope you all are enjoying your summer....more later...

TOYAH!

2007-04-25T11:26:00.000-04:00

I just saw this on You Tube. God I loved Toyah....she was great! The 80's were so much fun!

I can't sleep

2007-04-18T22:57:00.000-04:00

I thought since I cannot get to sleep due to noise round here, I'd make an appearance on my blog. I just took a Xanax which will hopefully knock me out, or at least zone me out enough that I can fall asleep. This is the 4th night I've had to take one to get to sleep and I don't like doing this. They were not given to me to sleep-I am going to need these during the summer for my nerves and I'm on my last refill. I'll have to see next month if my doctor is still willing to give me more. I hope he is...I'm not keen on the idea of turning back into the psycho lunatic I was before January. The Xanax has stopped me from annihilating furniture and expensive electronic equipment.

A few weeks ago I ordered more Rowan Denim yarn for another sweater from their Denim book. It arrived this afternoon but I was running around like a madman I didn't get to dig into it. I got the darkest blue, I think it's called Tennessee? I now need to make up my mind between the two sweaters I got it for. Seahorse is one and Sheringham is the other.

I'm still writing. I'm in the process of finishing up another story. It's a bit slower going now than it was in my 20's....I can't shut the world out here. When I was living at home I could just close my door and that was it. I don't have that luxury here. There is no door to close. When I move I will make sure I have a room to write that has a door I can close. That scene in The Shining when Jack flips out and tells Wendy whenever she hears his typing to stay way really isn't that far off from the truth.

There has to be a happy balance between creativity and life...I just don't know how to strike it anymore. I used to...it's just not working out anymore. My life has become too damn structured. I live by rigid schedules, something I used to shake my head at my dad for doing-I've become worse than my dad ever was as far as that goes. I don't even fart if it's not scheduled in.

Happy Knitting...;-)

Sexy & Romantic glitter graphics from Sexi Luv.com

HI

2007-04-12T17:46:00.000-04:00

Still alive and knitting...writing a short story too and listening to Metallica at the moment. I thought this was fun:

*45 of the most random things you probably never needed to know about someone*
whats your name spelt backwards?:	Yrrej
What did you do last night?:	Worked on a short story
The last thing you downloaded onto your computer?:	A pic of a hot guy...wanna see? :-)
Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery?:	Of course....hasn't everone at one time or another?
Last time you swam in a pool?:	Bloody hell, 10 or so years ago?
What are you wearing?:	Otomix sneakers, Levis 501'a and a DIO concert T shirt
How many cars have you owned?:	5, I'm on my 5th
Type of music you dislike most?:	Rap
Are you registered to vote?:	Yes-why I bother I dunno-they do what they want anyway.
Do you have cable?:	No, DirecTV, I hate cable.
What kind of computer do you use?:	Apple Macintosh baby! PPC G5
Ever made a prank phone call?:	As a wee lad, sure
You like anyone right now?:	Yes
Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?:	I did bungee jump once...that was enough.
Furthest place you ever traveled?:	Mexico
What's your favorite comic strip?:	Rose is Rose, Fox Trott was a close second
Do u know all the words to the national anthem?:	Yes
Shower, morning or night?:	Someteims morning, sometimes night-sometiems both
Best movie you've seen in the past month?:	Hmm, The Night Listener
Favorite pizza toppings?:	Garlic and anchovies
Chips or popcorn?:	Popcorn
What cell phone provider do you have?:	None yet tho possibly Cingular when Apple's iPhone comes out
Have you ever smoked peanut shells?:	Pardon me? Is this like that joke of smoking banana peels to get high?
Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?:	No
Orange Juice or apple?:	Both please ;-) But not together
Who were the last people you sat at lunch with?:	I dunno, strangers last Friday in Cambridge
favorite chocolate bar?:	Hershey's special dark
Who is your longest friend and how long?:	Paula...22 years, 23 years and counting
Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?:	last summer
Have you ever won a trophy?:	yes
Favorite arcade game?:	MARBLE MADNESS!
Ever ordered from an infomercial?:	I dont think so, no
Sprite or 7-UP?:	Ginger Ale (can ya tell I'm difficult?)
Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work?:	Yes-it didn't last long
Last thing you bought at Walgreens?:	I don't go there. I prefer Duane Reade (told ya I love NY)
Ever thrown up in public?:	Once, yes. You're not a true metal head till you have
Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love?:	I can't have both? True love
Do you believe in love at first sight?:	yes
SPONGEBOB OR JIMMY NEUTRON?:	WHO?
Did you have long hair as a young kid?:	No. That's why I refuse to cut it now as an adult
What message is on your voicemail machine?:	None, I erased the answer phone this AM
Where would you like to go right now?:	Silly question...New York City
Whats the name of your pet?:	Midnight
What kind of back pack do you have, and what's in it?:	I don't have one
What do you think about most?:	Guys, clothes, Guys, roller coasters, Guys, sex , movies, Guys, did I mention Guys?
Take this survey \| Find more surveys \| MySpace Surveys Bzoink - The Original Survey Site

Erotica...(or a dirty story depending on your perspective)

2007-04-08T09:55:00.000-04:00

I went to Boston Friday early afternoon to look for an Elizabeth Zimmermann book, "Knitting Workshop" which I picked up along with a
hank of green Mountain Colours wool to make another pair of fingerless mitts. it felt so good to get out again that I jumped back on the train and headed over to Cambridge for lunch. I had to spread out a magazine to dive into as I *hate* eating alone.

Anyway, on the subway ride back, where I had to switch trains I saw this guy walking down the platform. Umm, you know the line in the Eagles song Life In The Fast Lane "He was a hard-headed man, he was brutally handsome." Well...that was this dude-BRUTALLY handsome. I'd peg him in his mid 20', no older than 26 I guess. So he's been on my mind. I woke up yesterday morning and did something I've not done in a LONG time. I sat my butt down and wrote a short story....actually it wrote itself. I used to write erotica back in the 90's off and on. I'd like to do more of it, it's fun but how many hours are in a day? Where do I apply for an extension...27 or 28 hours may be more what I need.

I've been thinking of joining myspace as I saw there's a plethora of gay erotica writers there...do I *really* need to do this? It might get me and keep me writing but do I honestly need to take on one more internet thing? This is one thing I guess I could go do in Boston...grab my Powerbook and go sit somewhere in the city and write smut LOL! I just cannot bring myself to knit in public :-(

I do have to say it feels good...you'd think I won the lottery but getting that short story out sent me over a cloud. This is what I need...the creativity is starting to flow.

And what are the chances this dude is reading this? Slim to none but on the off chance you are...you had a brown leather jacket on and a coloured iPod (I'm not giving it all away-gotta make sure it's you, don't I? *GG*) I was banging my head to Guns & Roses-I stood right in front of where you sat and saw you checkin' out the Borders bag I was carrying- Orange Line out of Boston Friday afternoon about 3. Thank you for the inspiration-your eyes are incredible....you are HOT dude! Contact me!!!

We're going to my dad's for Easter dinner. We so rarely eat together anymore. My mom had the whole family every Sunday. Now that there's only my dad left....Umm, I'm not going down that road right now.

Bored....

2007-03-31T23:07:00.000-04:00

OK....It's Saturday night and I'm sitting here listening to W.A.S.P.'s 2004's effort "The Neon God Pt. 2: The Demise" I had planned to knit but I'm waiting for yarn to come for another Denim sweater. The yarn is on back order and expected in a couple weeks max. Boo Hoo! Yesterday also arrived a new pair of contact lenses so I think I now have every colour of the Ciba Radiance line. Autumn is my favourite, Sunrise is awesome too. Eden doesn't show much at all on me and I'm not sure about Moonlight. Sometimes it did and other times not so much when I had them before.

I started writing short stories again and wanted to write but it's after 11 now and I'm not sure I want to stay up until 3 AM writing.

I got bloody mad Thursday at my hair stylist. She did my roots as always but for the past few visits seems more and more distracted. For one thing, the cell phone needs to be locked away somewhere not in the shop-there's always a little too much chatter and not enough concentration. When you're putting bleach on my hair, I kinda expect full attention on my hair, not a phone call or who is being stood up or the details on a sofa and its cost. This time I paid for it dearly...my hair looks like someone pissed on it. I have NEVER been this brassy and I've been bleaching it since I was 21-almost 20 years. She insists it's platinum-it's light but not quite that light. It's golden-I don't like it. I went to see her the next day and straight away, "I did exactly what I was supposed to.' Umm, no not really-you didn't leave it on long enough! Long story short, she got my cheque, ripped it up and threw it at me. She absolutely refused to take ANY responsibility which to me showed she knew she fucked up. This is MY fault? I don't think so. I wasn't looking for my money back, what I wanted was for her to say "We'll correct it next time." but she's insisting I got what I wanted.

No...I've been asking all along for rock & roll hair and I don't get it. How bloody hard can it be? That's ALL I WANT, I just want my rock & roll hair. Wild, unkempt platinum blond hair. I can sorta manage what I want on my own but I can't bleach it...I can't see in back to paint the crap on. So now I have to find a new place. Actually, I may have. I stopped in a mall (UGH!) and asked if they could help. They said no, not right now-I'd end up with major breakage and hair loss but they did ask why this woman didn't put a toner in it. [shrugging shoulders] She seems to think she can handle all tones of blond with bleach alone, I dunno. Usually she is spot on, this time she was too worried about other crap. She's bloody lucky my hair didn't burn off but that's ok. She wants to throw away a 17 year relationship, fine with me. I've decided I think I'm done with foils too...I want my whole head done from now on.

I've been sorely tempted to colour it purple again, that would take care of the problem nicely-I've got the manic panic colours but I've got my eye on someone and don't want to scare him. He doesn't know me yet and I can be pretty wild when the mood strikes. And I like the blond, I don't WANT it purple. Not all of it anyway. Instead, I've been forced to wear my top hat out which I've never been comfortable with. I like it but I just don't think hats are me. Funny how bad hair changes your mind and you adapt ;-)

This photo is a few years old but I got bitten by the *MOON* bug ;-) I decided to mess with my photo. I'm debating weather I want to be bothered with the maintenance of going snow white like Johnny Rod of W.A.S.P. fame. Google him-he was HOT!!!!!! God I loved him. He's a paramedic in PA now. Hmmm.....he can work on me any time but I don't think I got what he's after :-/ It looked so good on him but it's such an incredible PITA to maintain.
I was platinum before-the upkeep grew old REAL fast but it looks so bloody good. Well, it did when I was 21.

I'm rambling now...have a good night ;-)

Thank you and I'm sorry

2007-03-27T20:29:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for the wonderful comments on Patrick. I've tried to post comments to your blogs-Moon and Sue and Blogger isn't letting me long in. If I try the new account it cycles endlessly on the password and if I try my old account, it tells me I've switched to the new blogger.

I think I need to get away from this and go some place else to blog. Blogger screwed itself but good. It never ceases to amaze me how they can fuck up a good thing in the blink of an eye. Commenting is messed up, spell check does not work-did they even bother to check this all out before they forced it upon us?

In meantime, I've ordered more Denim yarn and am tossing two designs around from the same book Patrick came from. Not sure which one I'll do-both require the same amount of yarn. One is called Seahorse and the other is the very last one in the Denim book...the very casual V neck with the garter st. borders.

I started knitting a Nancy Bush sock...I've got about half a "Friday harbour" sock done (I think that's the name of it?) and it's going to be too small to fit my foot. I'll rip it tomorrow maybe.

I started a "100 things about me" and am about half done with it. maybe I'll have it done for whatever I end up with a new blog.

Other than that....I'm just lusting after one of these cars. I want a Lotus Esprit. Pity I can't drive a manual. I'm thinking of learning just so I can rent one of these this summer. Im tired of drooling over it-I want to drive it before I become too old and lok as ridiculous behind the wheel as the white haired grandpas driving Corvettes. I'm not all that far away from that age bracket. YIKES! YOu can see this baby in action best in Basic Instinct. Julia Roberts also drove one in the beginning of Pretty Woman. Sharon Stone looked better tho ;-)

Patrick is done

2007-03-24T08:39:00.000-04:00

Patrick is finally done. Aside from a 6 or 8 week detour where I was wrapped up playing Second Life every bloody waking moment, it didn't take all that long. This is the best picture I could get. Started Oct. '06, finished March of '07, would have been February if not for Second Life.

All I can say is this is such a satisfying achievement. It was a lot of fun to know and certainly keeps you on your toes. If I did it again, I may make it an inch or two shorter. it's supposed to be this long but it just makes me think of the girls in the 80's who wore sweater dresses, tights, spiked heels and a real thick belt round the waist. A great look...but I am not a female nor do I wish to be ;)

Can't decide weather to make another cotton sweater for summer or order some wool for a saddle shoulder gem from Knit Picks. I'm looking back through some 80's knitting books too (I can hear the groans LOL!) and may do one of those just for fun. There was nothing about the 80's I didn't love-the clothes, the hair, the music-everything...was the best. Hasn't been another decade that has come close to the fun of the 80's.

Gosh I look grumpy. I'm really not that grumpy LOL! I was very happy when this was taken.

Still Alive

2007-03-17T20:32:00.000-04:00

I'm still alive LOL! Today I was determined to knit and stayed the hell off Second Life.

At 7,58 PM tonight, just as my DVD of Basic Instinct ended, I cast off the last stitch of the main knitting on Patrick. WOOT! WOOT!

Tomorrow I will tie off the loose joins and stitch the one shoulder,wash it and see how it shrinks up.Then all that is left is to knit the patterned collar and I can wear it! WOO HOO!!!!!

I think while I've got the enthusiasm, I'm going to put in the animated movie Flushed Away and knit a square so I an shrink it with the sweater. This yarn does shrink up quite a bit according to the instructions. I need a washed and dried block for repairs if I need it.

LOL! Blogger still can't get its shit together with the spell checker. Doesn't work. Hmm.....WACH AUF BLOGGER!

Goodies!

2007-02-15T13:11:00.000-05:00

No, I've not fallen off the face of the earth...I'm just firmly entrenched in Second Life. In any event, we got some horrid weather. The weather people were on about this big storm only we didn't get quite so much a storm as we did a big, frozen pile of ice. It was mainly sleet that has frozen and is bloody heavy....too thick to chop through.

Somehow the postman managed to make it through and delivered this box of goodies to my door. After all these years, I've finally got to hear and see the Goddess of Knitting, Elizabeth Zimmermann in action. I only have watched one episode so far but it's FAB! Well worth every penny.

I should be done with and wearing Patrick but seeing as how I live in Second Life when I'm not in Real Life....I've not got much knitting done. Hence, I cannot attempt these Fair Isle mittens until I am. I'm going to see if I can sit down with the the knitting podcasts and get some work done. It's so close..

SO...Bis folgendes Mal (Until Next Time)

I apologise to any Germans if I said that wrong...please tell me the proper way. I'm trying to learn the language.

Second Life madness

2007-02-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

Hello....Man did I ever step into an addiction. Valium holds nothing on Second Life. I had heard about it on a podcast last weekend and Friday night thought "Hmm, let me see what this is all about." Now, I played video games with some buddies when I was a teen. I wouldn't ever say I was addicted to them-I got frustrated easily and that always seemed to keep it in check.

Did it shock my ass when I found I was losing hours in Second Life. I sat down Saturday and the whole bloody day was gone before I knew it. Huh? What do you mean it's supper time? I just put breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. Holy Crap this game is fun!!!!

If you click the link and check it out, just be forewarned....it can be EXTREMELY addictive. I think I would have had my sweater, Patrick, done by now had it not been for Second Life. I still have a bit more than half to go on the final sleeve. I'm going to attempt to take my ass away from this computer because I cannot sit down anymore without wanting to go into SL and poke about. It's just too damn cool for words! Maybe I'll post my avatar, I've grown very fond of him and am rather protective of him. Is that completely daft or what?

Anyway, hope you all are knitting and being productive. I'm going to see if I can't build knitting needles and yarn in Second Life. I'm sure it's possible to knit there-I'm just too new yet to figure out how. ROTFLOL!

I switched to the new blogger....apparently the spell checker is not working.

Templates

2007-02-03T19:44:00.000-05:00

Somehow I managed to sign in FINALLY under my old Blogger. I refuse to switch to the new one but in meantime...if anybody understands how to change templates and doesn't mind helping me, can you please leave a comment so I can get in touch with you? I'd like to change this before I'm forced to switch to the new blogger at which point, I'm most likely going to delete this and disappear. I lost a lot of readers anyway when I stopped knitting over the summer. LOL! Who can knit when it's 90 degrees and just as humid? In any event, I refuse to open yet another new account just to blog. If my current one I set this up with isn't good enough, then that's Bloggers problem, not mine. That is insane anyway-I'd like to know exactly what Google gets out of this to be forcing the use of their account to remian with blogger. I hardly ever use google anyway. My favourite search is clusty.com and my second favourite is ask.com. I never will understand why they have to go screw with something that donesn't need fixing in the first place.

Hope you guys had a good day. I wasted mine in front of this infernal machine instead of knitting like I had planned to do.

Currently playing in iTunes ~ Erotic City...Prince & Sheila E.

Desk Mess

2007-02-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

I was looking over some blogs and saw this over on Sam's blog and thought why not. This is the mess I call my desk. It's not always been this way but I think this shows how bad my mental state got. I've been wanting to organise it but since this is upstairs and nobody really sees it, it's not a high priority since I've been getting the downstairs straightened out. Man, this is embarrassing. I'm not this much of a slob.

I saw a really nice computer armoire at a furniture store last year that I'd love to get but not until I move into a nice home in a nice neighbourhood. I'm done spending in this house. It's kind of a sin to hide a Macintosh like that since they're just so cool to look at.

Right then-after seeing some of your blogs, it seems colour work is the in thing right now so I went and downloaded this Northern Lights Mitten pattern from Knit Picks. I just downloaded it and maybe I'll order the yarn next week. Its not really been mitten weather and I don't really wear mittens (fingerless mitts, yeah) but I'd like to get back into colour work since you have inspired me. I've done stranded work before (my Zebra Sweater) and it is not nearly as bad as intarsia. I only wish I had done an argyle sweater first as I highly doubt I will ever again do intarsia after doing a Kaffe Fassett pattern. Once was more than enough for me. There goes my classic argyle.

Do you suppose they'll discover scents are carcinogenic? LOL! Everything else seems to be. I say this only because scent has a very powerful impact on me. I use Nantucket Natural Oils a lot. I was simmering his Sweet Jasmine oil tonight while I was working on the start of the last sleeve of Patrick. There's other oils too. Not to mention I'll spray my room or sheets with stuff that takes me back to different times in my life. Often I'll squirt a spritz or two of a perfume my mom would wear into the room. I dunno, I just find scent a very comforting thing. I need to get some honeysuckle oil to simmer. My grandparetns had a lotof that in their yard and I don't think I've smelled that since I was a we lad-I only remember it attracted every bee in the tri-state area but boy did it smell nice.

I guess I'll quit here for tonight. I had been listening to 4 or 5 back to back episodes of Chub Creek today and had sort of planned to do an audio entry for a change but wasn't quite sure how to go about it and I felt kinda stupid sitting here talking to myself so I did a normal entry instead.

Currently playing in iTunes ~ Midnight Syndicate The 13th Hour

Happy Imbolc

2007-02-02T09:57:00.000-05:00

By am I behind schedule. Anyway, as the wheel slowly turns, I want to wish you a happy Imbolc.

have a lot of house work to do and managed to finish the first sleeve of the sweater. One more to go and it'll be Happy Snoopy Dance for this lil witch!

Half a sleeve, home stretch

2007-01-26T13:43:00.000-05:00

I've been knitting full steam ahead on this sweater. Got half a sleeve done in the past couple of days. It's funny, the memories that go along with these. This sweater will be forever reminding me of Lime & Violet and Chub Creek as that's what I mainly listened to while knitting it. A few episodes of OZ here and there but mainly podcasts kept me company. I still can't believe how fast the knitting went on this. I was convinced when I first started it that I'd be knitting this till doomsday but once you get a rhythm going, it really sort of flies along and it's just too interesting watching the cables move along.

I need to go buy some sock yarn. My doctor totally freaks when he sees the socks I wear. Mainly it's been the two pairs of Jaywalkers I've worn. The green ones and the multi-colour candy coloured ones. Since I have one more appointment in May for a complete physical, I'll need to get and make one more pair of Jaywalkers. I'm debating weather to knit them on a size larger needle as they are a royal pain in the ass to get on my foot-then again, I don't think they were meant for a man's foot but who cares LOL! They're cool socks! And so far, of the three or four pairs of socks I've knit, the Jaywalkers show off the yarn the best.

Went to the eye doctor yesterday, made out OK there for now. I am so damn tired of doctors now, it seems that's all I did January was go see doctors. Last one up is the friggin' dentist. They scare me most of all, financially and anxiety wise. That dentist office smell and those torture tools just really wig me out.

I spent 90 minutes getting a copper kettle polished up this morning. I had let it really get nasty...just hadn't been feeling all that great the past couple years...that old "FTW" attitude. Now that I'm feeling better, I decided to get it clean. I'm so happy I've got a shiny copper tea kettle on my stove again. I never thought that could be saved...lots of elbow grease and 90 minutes was all it took. I love copper, even if it is a royal PITA to keep shiny.

Back to my regularly scheduled life

2007-01-14T05:04:00.000-05:00

Wow, what to say, a lot has sort of gone on over the past week. I guess first & foremost is I finally got my butt to a doctor on Tuesday of last week. Awesome guy, someone you can actually talk to who doesn't have a God complex. Very down to earth and reasonable guy. We talked a bit, he did some blood work and put me on Xanax. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I feel like a totally new man and no longer at the mercy of my nerves. I haven't felt this normal in over 4 years and feel like I'm finally getting my life back on track. I have to go again this coming Tuesday for a follow up and then again 1 May for a complete physical.

Knitting-wise, I started a pair of Log Cabin socks with the cashmere. Ripped it out after one sock as it was too large and just generally too floppy-had no body and I knew I wasn't going to like it. It was sinfully soft but just not quite right for a pair of socks. I guess I'll just forge ahead on Patrick and get that done.

I'm all caught up with Lime & Violet...they are, without a doubt, one of the best teams out there-I love 'em! Now there's only Chub Creek (in my podcast links) to catch up on.

That's really all that's been going on-I've been trying to get some organising done since I've not done a whole lot since I had been feeling so volatile and just had a general "Who Cares" attitude.

Being that it's supposed to be dreary and rainy, I'm going to park in front of the devil box and knit all day :-)

Have a great Sunday!

The Spring Winter day

2007-01-07T08:04:00.000-05:00

Holy Crap...it was almost 70 degrees yesterday-this is January....it's not normal. While I'm not asking for snow, cold weather would be nice. I've not gotten to make any soup this year. I'm one of those weird people that won't make soup unless it's cold. There's a movie I've been wanting to watch too but it sorta requires some cold weather to really watch it properly. There's just some movies you watch over the winter that you don't watch over the summer and vice versa, you know?

I spent the all of yesterday winding that infernal jade sapphire yarn into balls. It took about 2 1/2 Twilight Zone episodes to wind each hank into a ball. I have never seen a hank so messed up....winding in and out of itself, it started to go one way then would double back on itself. WTF? I will be writing to them tomorrow. I now have 5 balls wound-two words NEVER AGAIN. I didn't want to use it for socks thinking it was too special but after that, they are SO getting make into Log Cabin socks....Besides, it's been so warm and not really scarf of mitten weather.

My amaryllis bloomed too the other day. My mom always had these around, I guess I got mine too late to bloom for Christmas. Anyway, it's pretty. I heard what I thought was my cat jumping off a table or something. It was the damn flower that tipped over. I'd always read they have a tendency to tip but never had one that actually did. Mine did. One flower is all cut up now but at least the stalk didn't break. There's another stalk that's a bit smaller ready to bloom. I'm glad I got pics before it tipped.

Have been getting some laughs listening to Lime & Violet. I'm caught up to episode 13. They're awesome! Also finally subscribed to Chub Creek after listening to Brenda Dayne talk about him so much. His show is cool.

Winding Woes

2006-12-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

Has anybody else experienced big time tangle issues when using a 'high end' yarn? I set out today to wind some super luxurious cashmere into balls to make another pair of Log Cabin Socks (Note to self-post pictures!) for myself. Today being the first day we've seen snow this year and being that I'm stuck inside waiting for fish eggs that were supposed to be in my original order I was supposed to get Thursday which came minus one jar of said caviar and I'm the putz waiting for a delivery that UPS does not deliver on Saturdays.

ANYWAY....my nerves have about had it and I'm about to set fire to this cashmere yarn. I won't mention any names, I think you can figure out what yarn I'm talking about as I raved about it a few posts back. The yarn is nice, HOWEVER the experience is more than the end product to me...it begins with the hank, proceeds to the ball winding, then to the knitting and finally the end product. This super luxurious cashmere yarn is nothing I'll be blowing money on again, it's crap as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather be handling Red Hart yarn...yes, I said RED HART. This particular brand of cashmere is EXTREMELY overpriced and unabashedly over-rated to the Nth power.

At first, when I made fingerless mitts with this, I had the same problem but thought perhaps it was just a hank or two that was bad....Now I see it's not just a hank or two, it's the whole damn lot.

I'm going to attempt to make heads and tails of this knotted, tangled mess they have the audacity to call a hank. I'll tell ya what I call it...cashmere or no cashmere, this is what you call a Hunk O' Junk! I may or may not end up with ashes, depending on how long I can stall my nerves.

Can I get my Valium now?

2.04 PM ~ My nerves did get the better of me. This is what's left after I cut it up to confetti with some nice, sharp cooking shears. These shears go through yarn even cleaner than they cut throgh chicken bones. Too bad I'm going to the doctor in a little over a week or I'd go take some Serax and get in bed and read the rest of the day. If he does blood work and finds Serax in my blood, there's no way he'll ever give me Valium so I gotta be a good boy and suffer a little longer. I fear I've got a brain chemistry imbalance :-(

Morpheus says:

2006-12-24T20:44:00.000-05:00

Knitting and podcasting and stuff

2006-12-23T09:47:00.000-05:00

Hmm, lesse...I want new stuff! I should be happy since I now have an almost complete set of the Brittany needles I've coveted since last year and I'm real happy knitting with them but I think I want to try a pair of Lantern Moon needles just because they look nice. Not quite as nice as the Brittanys but nice! I also think these square needles look intriguing and I want to try a pair. Not sure they'd be all that comfortable? Just something new to try.

I've been busily knitting away on Patrick. I think maybe this photo will show the detail a bit better, it's just so enormous at this stage that it's difficult to get the centre panel of diamonds to show up. While knitting, I found myself all caught up with my favourite podcast, Cast-On.

I discovered I need to keep a notebook by my side LOL! Brenda has such great content that I'm quickly filling up the chart for Patrick with notes on new podcasts, songs she plays, or other stuff she mentions. One such podcast is Sticks & String. It's done by a guy named David Reidy from Australia. I have a couple of episodes before I'm caught up with him and he'll not be doing another episode until the end of January. Check his cast out....it's really very good!

Another podcast I found, I think via Brenda Dayne, is the first video podcast on knitting I've ever seen Let's Knit2gether This is so cool! You have to check it out. It's nice where knitting is a visual thing and you can see what is going on.

Right then, that's about it on the knitting front. I was startled awake about 2.30 AM by the start of a panic attack so I jumped out of bed, got a handle on it before it got a handle on me and I think I'm going to settle on the sofa now and watch one of my favourite movies for a bit.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Yule or whatever it is you celebrate :-)

Finished!

2006-12-17T19:53:00.000-05:00

I got the back of Patrick done tonight, and what a feeling of accomplishment. I spent the day listening to Brenda Dayne while knitting. It feels like spending the afternoon with a good friend, she just has a very comforting way about her.

Anyway, this is the correct length...this yarn is supposed to shrink up considerably in length and you have to wash & dry it in a clothes dryer before sewing it together. Let's hope it does shrink up as it should else I'm gonna have to find me an 80's style girl who can pull it off with a pair of tights and a big, chunky belt.

I'm almost sorry I didn't make this in a wool instead of cotton. Perhaps one day I'll re-knit it in wool-I think it'd look wonderful in a heathered green.

Took nine and a quarter balls to make the back.

On another note, we went and had dinner with my cousin and her husband last evening. It was nice. I haven't seen them in 20 years and never really spent any time with them. It was great to spend time with them and talk. We need to do it more often. They live out in the middle of nowhere which was nice in a sense. You could see stars in the sky, they have deer that run around there, that's how rural it is. No street lights. Her husband took the four of us to see some Christmas lights which was nice. I haven't done that since I was a little boy with my grandparents.

The ride back home, though. OMG...I'm questioning moving now. Maybe it's too rural but it was pitch black, no street lights and we're driving having no clue where the hell we were going and I'm having to do deep breathing and think happy thoughts (roller coasters) to prevent myself from freaking out BIG TIME in the car. I told Chris maybe I can't do this....and that perhaps it may be that we're stuck in the city and I just find a doctor who just prescribes Valium without a problem. I really don't think I can handle that, as much as I want to get the hell out of here, I had a big problem last night. I dunno what the hell is wrong with me. I guess that dashes any romantic notions I had of finding a little cottage in the Scottish Highlands. :-(

ANYWAY....1 piece down, three more to go on Patrick. I wish the pattern showed up better in this photo. Maybe if I get one in the daylight rather than a flash. It's really striking when you see it in person.

Log Cabin Socks done

2006-12-14T19:56:00.000-05:00

I finished them Monday or Tuesday. I'd post a picture but have to wait until the spousal unit gets them for Christmas and tries them on before I get a picture.

I'm tossing around the idea of making a pair for myself in Jade Sapphire Cashmere but I'm not sure I want to use the yarn for socks. I don't know WHAT I want to use it for. I made a pair of fingerless mittens, I just am not sure if I want to use cashmere for socks. My very first pair of socks are kinda ruined...the toe area has felted and gotten very stiff. I guess maybe I wear them too much.

Have been busily knitting on Patrick tho I'm getting nervous it's going to be too large. My nerves are shot so I'm not even going to think of that at the moment.

Does it feel like Christmas? It doesn't to me...not sure if that's my nerves or the fact it's too goddamned tropical? I dunno.

Not having a good night but then, that's pretty usual for me ROTFLMAO! I can't stomach this time we live in has moved from drugs to this holistic crap....but what can I do? I'd rather drugs....I'm jus sayin' :-)

Now Playing in iTunes ~ Future Memory by Heth & Jed

Ghostly apparitions and other such things

2006-12-09T07:54:00.000-05:00

LOL! I've been playing with my camera and experimenting with double exposures again. It's been 5 years since I've really shot anything seriously so it's a huge learning curve again. I'm not totally pleased with these results but I'll get there again.

I've been wanting to try light up needles as they look interesting and fun but I'm not a fan of plastic to start with. Has anyone used them? I guess I'd do well to really get knitting again. This time last year I was knitting up a storm for Christmas. I had a mountain of hats and mittens and slippers and what not. Now I barely sit and knit. How do you mothers with kids do it? I just find by the time I get a grip on my stress, I just have no enthusiasm to knit even tho I want to. I can no longer sit on my sofa and knit in the evenings due to the noise level here. I just seem to get up, muddle through the day, and go to bed. If I can get through the day without smashing something, that's a good day.

Have started to look for a new place to live. I've decided I don't care what capital gains penalties I have to pay, it's not worth it to stay in this ghetto any longer. I spent a couple hours this morning on the Remax and Century 21 web sites looking at new homes and am not real encouraged :-( I'm hell bent on a Victorian and can't find any at all. But this stuff is like shopping at a vintage clothing store, you have to hit it on the right day so I've not totally given up hope.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to toast in the New Year. generally, tradition has it that I get a bottle of Dom Perignon for New Years but I've been unable to drink the past two months. The alcohol really wreaks hell on my nerves so I've not touched a drop. I'm hoping I'll still be able to drink the Dom.

Anyway, better days are coming.....When, I'm not exactly sure but I have to believe in that.

R.I.P.

2006-11-30T19:20:00.000-05:00

Well, at 8.30 tomorrow morning, I'll be at the vet putting my mom's cat to sleep. He is in end stage renal failure...he's gone way down the past week and the blood work came back today and the news is not good.

Aside from that, our oil company (that my dad has used since I was a teenager) has, as the Steve Miller song goes, taken the money and run. We are out a couple thousand dollars of oil money.

At this stage of the game, it appears I am never going to get the fucking relief that only Valium can give me. I have called a shrink today and I think I am going to start looking at the possibility of electroshock treatment. I want Valium but I think getting my brains scrambled will be more easily attainable. I'm not making light of it...this anxiety is BRUTAL and for some goddamned reason or other, the mere mention of the word Valium and cat claws come out and people go on the warpath. If one person could walk in my body for one week, they'd be singing a vastly different tune. But whatever...I'll be an interesting case of exactly what anxiety does to a person.

I suppose listening to Marillion is not the best idea at this time but hey-why not. I've got Clutching At Straws playing in iTunes.

Build a Bear (and knit for him too!)

2006-11-28T21:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, we went out for supper last night with friends. While they went to a Christmas store, I spotted a Build A Bear and decided to go in and look around. I ended up making a bear and I want to introduce you to Morpheus, named after the Greek God of Dreams.

This is his little Christmas pajama set. I got him a scrub suit and a Santa outfit. I was just looking at all the clothes for them on the build a bear web site and I can tell this is going to be a dangerous thing for me...too many cute things for them...

BUT, I decided it might be fun to knit him an Aran sweater. Wouldn't take very long at all, I don't think.

I'm off to bed but wanted to introduce you to Morpheus. These shots were from this morning, the first when he wa still in bed and then after I got him up for breakfast. It's WAY past his bedtime now...

Post-Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T21:36:00.000-05:00

{sigh} I don't know what to say anymore. Hmm..Thanksgiving was ok. I started out bad, I went nuclear earlier in the morning but I'm not going there again. Dinner was good, I anticipated it would be awful-we had issues with the turkey-well, the pan more specifically. But this is about knitting, isn't it...

Well...I'm knitting :-) I got one Log Cabin sock done. I'll post a picture as soon as I can get the spousal unit to model it. Kinda hard to get good pictures of it on my own leg. It's a real fun sock to do and it works up fast given that I'm so into Patrick and want to knit on that so much.

Oh yeah, I got a new camera. I got this beautiful Nikon camera on the 19th. I got tired of not having my own camera. Funny, usually I'm not keen on digital cameras, in fact, I am downright hostile towards them but I cannot praise this one enough. I absolutely love it. It takes gorgeous pictures and I feel more comfortable with it than that Minolta I had and ruined a few years ago (kicked over the tripod and it busted). This camera acts like any 35mm film SLR, I don't really feel like I'm using a digital camera. Since I've not shot pictures in almost 5 years, it's taking me a while to re-learn but I anticipate many happy years with this Nikon. And I always wanted a Nikon anyway. Now I just have to buy that infrared digital camera since Infrared is my real love in photography.

I shot this this evening with the new camera. I put the first Christmas decoration up after the Thanksgiving table was cleared. I love this, got it last year from the Bradford Exchange. I guess tomorrow I'll do more decorating. I was going to start tonight but I'm just too stuffed.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Playing in iTunes: No Ones Gonna Love You ~ SOS Band

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Brittany Needles!

2006-11-13T20:57:00.000-05:00

I spent the vast majority of the weekend knitting on Patrick and listening to knitting podcasts. It's been a long time since I listened to them, even tho I kept downloading them, so there was a lot to catch up on. It was good to "spend that time" with Marie Irshad and Brenda Dayne, I missed hearing them. I bought a new iPod on Saturday, my old one needed a battery and I just wanted a new one that had the colour screen. The battery is supposed to last 14 hours between charges and I just recharged it today so that was a lot of catching up and I'm still not done :-)

Today I got the last of my goodies in the post. My Brittany needles. I'm happy although it's absolutely obscene the money I've spend on each pair. My grandmother would never let me hear the end of it but how can you say no to something you covet so strongly? I totally blame Men Who Knit and their first issue of their 'zine. If not for that, I'd never have even known about Brittany needles, nor seen these beautiful Victorian topped, hand turned needles so it's all their fault. Now I have sizes 5-8 and wasted no time at all in putting Patrick on them.

Yes that's a ball of Jade Sapphire I bought. I'm trying to figure out what to knit with it-scarf or what. I was looking to see what type of gauge I got with it. I guess with 3 55-gram hanks for a scarf. I should go easy on the cables. The vase was something I got for my mom once but I just can't recall what the flower arrangement was for. It came with the raffia tied round it. I thought the sentiment of that vase was perfect for storing the needles.

On that note, I'm headed off to bed now. It's time to pull the shade on today and turn the page.

Jade Sapphire, Patrick & Wood

2006-11-10T20:04:00.000-05:00

I got some good stuff in the post today. It brightened my mood a bit. I got this Jade Sapphire cashmere - YAY! 2 hanks of Amethyst Haze and 4 hanks of Hydrangea. This is the 6 ply stuff, not the sock yarn. I figured I'd make fingerless gloves with the Amethyst given there's only 2 hanks of it. Trouble is, finding a nice pattern to suit the yarn. It has to be special for this beautiful yarn, no? Man does this feel nice!

I'll make a scarf with the Hydrenga, I loathe knitting scarves but I'll look through Barbara Walker's books to find a nice pattern to use. This stuff is going to be a big treat...THANK YOU KYRA!

If you look, you can see three wooden cable needles stuck in the yarn. I saw these in Knit Picks and had to order them. I'm a wood nut! I tried these on my current project but cotton yarn seems to stick to them, they'll be fine on cashmere and wool. Knit picks has some very cool stuff! I keep looking at their Bare yarn and dyes...I'm sort of getting tempted to try dying. Must finish my current project first.

This picture of my progress on Patrick is odd...I need to get it on two needles but didn't feel like knitting half a row. I should have an easier time as I also ordered 3 pairs of the Brittany needles I covet so much and those are a bit longer than normal needles. I have to really scrunch this up on my Clover bamboo needles when I'm done knitting for the day. Anyway, given this denim yarn is sport weight and I got my gauge on size 5 needles, I'm really surprised it's moving along as quickly as it is. Especially given the complexity of it. It really isn't bad at all once you get a rhythm going on it and I find I get lost in the knitting and hours pass before I realise I need to stop to eat or something LOL! I can't believe I'm knitting this...can't wait to wear it, but what a lot of weight it is for bamboo needles. Hope it doesn't break the Brittany's. I forgot how heavy cotton can get. It's been about 22 years since I last knit with cotton.

Do I need a title?

2006-11-08T04:41:00.000-05:00

I can't think of one. My friend Kyra told me about a new podcast, Lime & Violet so I put the link there on my sidebar. I only have listened to one episode but it seems kinda fun. I like it.

Some stuff going on but I'm tired of complaining. I'm destined to be certifiable before I can move from this skanky slum I live in. I don't sleep much, I'm at wits end but I chug on. Let's just say after life hands you lemons, it then hands you steaming piles of dog shit. You know how in the winter there's....well....no need to go there.

I'm hoping I can have a clear enough head to do some knitting today. Kyra told me about some Jade Sapphire on e bay so I bought the whole lot...I have 5 hanks of the stuff heading my way. I should be happy but I'm too numb.

Anybody know how safe or authentic those places are on the web that offer Valium without a prescription?

Chugging along

2006-11-06T07:10:00.000-05:00

I got to work on Patrick again yesterday, I've got about halfway through the second repeat of the chart. It surprises me, I got the gauge on size 5 needles but it is moving along much faster than I thought it would, despite the complexity of it. I have a bunch of shit to do this morning but plan to shut the world off by 11 and knit the rest of the day. I just can't deal with reality for long stretches anymore.

Speaking of, does anyone know if Purlsoho is having problems? I've been trying since yesterday to order some Jade Sapphire yarn. I created an account but it just sits there, trying to log me in and nothing happens. I don't even get a "connection timed out" box popping up. I could put my sorry ass on an Amtrak train and go get it myself faster than I could on the internet. Not a bad idea actually except my nerves cannot handle such a harried day

Patrick

2006-10-28T16:58:00.000-04:00

First I want to thank you for the well wishes on the death of my grandfather. It's been difficult in the sense that the family is now just about gone, I only have my dad left. Holidays haven't been the same since my mom had her stroke and died 4 years ago and now it's only a reminder than I'm one step away from being alone in the world. I haven't been the same man since my mom died and this year has been hell, the past month or so has been unbearable. No wonder I've been driving everyone around me absolutely mad with my constant cries for Valium. I don't know how else to describe what I feel other than it's a constant state of anguish that I just need the edge taken off but it won't happen without Valium. It's a band aide, I know that....but my idea is if I could get a goddamned doctor to give it to me for a short time to bridge the gap so I can get from the state of constant turmoil I'm now in to a sense of normalcy but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I'm well on my way to a stroke or heart attack myself if this keeps up, I cannot continue this way. It hit me in bed the other night why Valium is not given anymore and risk of addiction is NOT the reason.

ANYWAY.....enough of my inane rambling. THIS is what I've been working on, or trying to. It's a sweater from Rowan's now discontinued book, Denim. Let me say right now this is the most complex sweater I think I've ever attempted. There is so much movement with the cables that you can't let your guard down for a second. It's a great challenge. It took me a while to get going-it's a bitch to establish but it's really cool. I love the "ribbing", think that is just awesome. I'm hoping that once it's washed and assembled it'll tighten up a bit. This is one reason I don't like working with cotton yarn, your tension has to be spot on or every little variance shows-cotton, I find, is very unforgiving that way.

This is 38 rows, there's 60 to the repeat. I guess this means I won't get to make my black, cashmere turtleneck this winter. Oh well...there's always next year I guess...if I'm not in an asylum by then.

Mucking About

2006-10-21T06:19:00.000-04:00

My grandfather died on Monday so I've been relatively low-key. I AM Knitting, a very complex cable pattern for a Rowan sweater. When I make some progress I will post pictures. I think it may be the most involved sweater I've ever attempted. In meantime, I was over at Samantha's blog and saw this and thought I'd steal it (Sorry Sam, you dont mind?!)., It looked fun...

1. FIRST NAME? Jerry
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I'm aware of
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR JOB? Yeah, I'm a stay at home house husband :-) I love it!
4. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Friday.....the older I get the more I find I cry at the drop of a hat.
5. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I did before the damn computer became so much a part of life. I need to work on my handwriting again.
6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCHMEAT? I generally don't eat that stuff. I have tunafish or grilled cheese or Lean Cuisine Panini's (yes, I'm on a diet)
7. KIDS? does my cat count?
8. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I'm not sure, I can be a moody prat LOL!
9. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Besides this blog, I sometimes keep a journal, yes.
10. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Yes and it sometimes gets me in trouble if it's in e mail and the person can't tell for sure if I'm being serious or not.
11. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Once in 1989 was more than enough for me thanks...
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL? Oatmeal.
14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes.
15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? For me not to be in a rubber room by now, I think so but some Valium sure would help!
16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR? French Vanilla-OR Banana Boat (???) Dippin' Dots
17. SHOE SIZE? 9 1/2
18. RED OR PINK? Red
19. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I am WAY too high strung, stressed out and have a very short temper-it goes back to that valium thing again.
20. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My mom.
21. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I dunno-I just copied this from Samantha's blog :-)
22. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? blue surgical scrub pants and a white sweat shirt, I just got out of bed.
23. LAST THING YOU ATE? Sesame toast, a small wheel of mini Gouda cheese and a tangy salad pepper.
24. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothing at all, it's dead quiet.
25. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Purple
26. FAVOURITE SMELL? the smell after a rain storm
27. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? I think my cousin Paula.
28. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Eyes, I'm an eye man all the way.
29. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? You mean that I stole this from? LOL! Yes
30. FAVOURITE DRINK? (non-alcoholic) Tea (alcoholic) Absinthe
31. FAVOURITE SPORT? Baseball (NY Yankees) and Football (NY GIANTS) because it reminds me of my mom's-I'll ALWAYS be a New Yorker at heart
32. HAIR COLOUR? Blond with blue and purple streaks currently. Hey, I went to see Cirque du Soleil and I like to stand out-sue me LOL!
33. EYE COLOUR? Brown, Grey if I wear my contacts
34. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Only to change my eye colour right now but probably will need them soon.
35. FAVOURITE FOOD? Japanese or Thai
36. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? HORROR movies...I didn't like the "scary movie" revival-they weren't all that scary.
37. BOXERS or BRIEFS? Hmm, you're getting personal ;-) Briefs-I'm an old fashioned guy
38. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? White sweat shirt, you just asked me that, are you daft?
39. HUGS OR KISSES? both at the same time!!
40. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? The men in the white coats that are coming to take me away ha ha, he he, ho, ho LOL!
41. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
42. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco-the movie was infinitely better.
43. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? The Apple Logo...I'm an Apple Computer whore. There's Apple logos all over the place here.
44. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Probably Charmed while I ate supper.
46. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Stones-I like the Beatles too but the Stones.
47. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? Oh hell, someplace in Mexico where our ship docked before the return leg of our Cruise 6 years ago.
48. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Special talent? That I can be very annoying? Especially when I'm driving everyone nuts crying for some Valium...
49. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? March 1968 in Massachusetts

Aran Block

2006-10-05T06:55:00.000-04:00

Let's see if I can get this photo to upload today. Having unraveled my Aran cardigan I knit last fall, I used some of the wool to work on a pillow. I was unable to get one of the fronts undone without having to cut into it so I think all around I'll just get more wool and knit it fresh. Maybe I can muster a vest out of what's left.

ANY-WHO....This block from the Great American Aran Afghan has always been sorta special to me. I don't know why but it's the block that most strongly called to me. I love the idea of an Aran sweater in miniature sewn to a block.What a cool idea. On the reverse of the pillow, I'm knitting another of the blocks. I just can't seem to bring myself to knit a plain stocking stitch block. How {YAWN} dull.

There's some other stuff I've wanted to link to but will have to wait. I can't recall all of it off the top of my head so I'll save it for next post.

Miss the 80's

2006-10-04T15:39:00.000-04:00

Am I the only one who misses the awesome bohemian, glossy, slick, fashion-conscious, beautiful 80's? I get reflective every so often as I just haven't been happy since the 80's ended. I don't seem to fit in in these politically correct times and don't really want to. There hasn't been a decade yet that has matched the fun and freedom we had in the 80's. At least, that's true for me .

In any event, back to knitting. I'll be posting a pic of the back of the pillow block I'm working on. In meantime, here's a picture of Toyah Wilcox and the front of my pillow. Long live the 80's!

PS...apparently, the Aran block doesn't want to upload. I'll have to see what the problem is .

For Moon

2006-09-26T20:06:00.000-04:00

I dunno why, when I saw this guy, I thought of my friend Moon. Isn't he the best Moon? I have to admit, I'm glad the latex is painted green, if it were flesh coloured, it would be just too creepy. I'm used to him now but when I bought him, he was scary. His eye follow you when you walk and..well...he just awesome :-) Click on him to make him bigger to get a better idea of just how creepy he is. When you walk by him, you always get the feeling you're going to feel a bony hand reach out & grab your ankle. His hands are hidden under the leaves.

I'm knitting an Aran sweater pillow block :-) I'll post details a bit later.