A super duper vacation

Well, I'm doing it right. No email. No blogging. Just rest and relaxation with a bunch of shopping thrown in. Not even too much knitting going on. I hope remedy that in the next few days. So ... happy new year to everyone!

Looks like I'm going to make it

I got all of my presents wrapped last night with the exception of the hat I have yet to finish. But I'll get the last ear flap started at noon knitting today and I might even be able to finish it there, if not then a few minutes at home should do it. And I realized this morning that I forgot to wrap the basket weave scarf and head band I made for a friend, so I've got to weave in those ends tonight and wrap that one as well. But still, it's not much to do and I'm sure I can get it done while I'm doing bits of laundry and packing. I have to come into work tomorrow but I'll be leaving for the airport from here so I have to have everything ready to go in the morning.

Oh it is going to be SO nice to have two whole weeks off! And I told everyone at the lunch yesterday that I am definitely NOT going to even open my work email for those whole two weeks. If anyone wants me they're going to have to track me down and trick me into opening the door. Blogging is also going to be a bit sparse. I am not taking my laptop to California with me so it'll have to be blogging by phone and we all know how ugly that is. I haven't even thought about knitting to take with me ..... I guess I'll take the socks I'm working on and the Liesel scarf which is not really mindless knitting since it's lace, but it's easy lace. I have hours and hours left to go on the socks so they can be my mindless knitting.

The band is booked for Valentine's Day and the leader is bugging me to get my picture up on the web site and make a few changes. I have got to quit telling people what I do.

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

My friend Kirby sent this to me and it's too good not to put here for everyone to enjoy! Really cute!

A fun Christmas Tree Toy

Getting down to the line

The weekend was busy and I got nearly everything done. While at the mall getting my nails done I stopped into the newest DSW [a shoe lovers paradise!] and bought some pretty black satin sandals with a rhinestone accent for my outfit that night. I did manage some awesome multitasking after that and got the first ear flap nearly done while I was going over some music. I have a little ritual I perform and I have always done it, time allowing. And that's the pre-gig nap. It's easier to do when it's winter time since it's dark at 5. I got a good, restful nap on Saturday and changed into black pants and a red top and headed out to the club. It was not as full as last time but I am sure that's because that Saturday was the prime Christmas party evening. It went fine. It wasn't like it was empty, just not packed to the rafters like last time. I lllllove our new keyboard player. He also plays trumpet and flugelhorn. And he's funny.

Of course I got home late late late and all I wanted to do was sleep Sunday but chores beckoned so I hauled myself up at 10, which was TOO early. I didn't even have time for much knitting - just odd this and that and an open house. I crashed at the open house - it was a new recording studio and while I normally would be all over that, I was just exhausted. So I took another nice nap (two in one weekend!) and got up refreshed and did laundry and cooked a nice dinner and worked on my socks.

Last night would have been an ideal time to finish up the hat but I had some other errands to run and by the time I finished the paper it was nearly 7, so I decided to take the night off and just watch some TV and that's what I did! I have a friend who is turning 50 in January and wanted a live band at his party. I told him I wasn't going to be able to pull it off, but then a friend called last night to say he is in fact going to be in town for the party so I had to start getting the logistics of that handled. It'll be a huge surprise for Steve. He knows he's getting a band but ... he doesn't know who is going to be in it. That's the surprise.

Maybe tonight I can finish up that hat or if not tonight, then knitting at lunchtime tomorrow for sure. And that's going to be it. I still have to tuck in the ends of the basket weave scarf and headband I made. Plus I've got to get everything wrapped and get packed all by Thursday evening. It's pretty darned difficult to get actual work done when I has so many other things I would like to get done. But ... that's the way it goes.

Knit night

I really buckled down and just knit my fingers to the bone again last night. I nearly got to the decrease portion of the ear flap hat. I am hoping to be able to get some good work done on it again tonight as well. I've got deadlines!! I guess I should be making list(s). I have gifts to finish, to make, to buy, to wrap .... cards to buy and write and send ... errands to run Saturday and a gig Saturday night, which is going to eat up a lot of time on Saturday since I need time to nap and get in the zone. I think I'm going to have to shop on Sunday, which I imagine is going to be a busy day at the mall. Since I'm going to California I'm going to finish up shopping down there but I need to get everything for my sister up here because we'll be shopping together. Well ... lists, that's the key. And not starting any more big projects. Maybe a bath mitt ... but I think the hat should be the end of any real knitting, if I want to stay anywhere near sane.

Next week shouldn't be so bad since there will be no rehearsing. I miss having a tree though. That's the only bad thing about going away for Christmas. It's difficult to get in the spirit when there's no tree around!

BIG yawn

Oh my goodness ... I could NOT get out of bed this morning!! I must have hit the snooze button 6 or 7 times. I finally dragged myself out of bed, make a quick dash through the shower and got to work before 8:30. Pretty good. I'm speedy. My kitchen is a disaster ... there are clothes all over the bedroom, but I got out the door.

I stayed up late knitting is what happened. My rehearsal got canceled so I just did a big knit night and finished up those fingerless mitts I was working on and also started an ear flap hat. The mitts are just simple tubes but I loved working with the Artful Yarns Heavenly. It's soft and flashy. I think my friend's little girl will really love them. Here's hoping anyway.

I don't feel too frantic about my Christmas knitting -- not yet anyway. I think I'll start feeling the panic next week. Right?

Back to winter

Well, I was very very VERY glad to get home Friday morning. The plane was spot on time, thank goodness. Thursday in Hawaii was tough. Again the weather was bad and chilly even and I was homeless, having checked out of my room at noon. I took the little bus into town and made the most of it, getting lots of Christmas shopping handled. My boss and his wife took me to dinner on the way to the airport and it was a gorgeous meal in a wonderful setting. They had tried to go there a few nights earlier but it happened to be the night of the tropical storm and since the restaurant opens right onto the beach ... they were closed.

Friday I mostly spent sleeping. In the afternoon I got my hair done and did some grocery shopping and that was about it. Saturday Tinkie got a new hairdo and I finished up my sister's Sunflower Tam (no, I didn't take pictures!! - what a dope) and it started snowing in the afternoon. Not hard, thankfully. But it is really cold here!! The BF was doing sound for a play at a little church so I went to see that. Sunday I went to the Seahawks game! Ooooowee!! First of all it was freezing cold! Thank goodness for long underwear. Second of all - they won! Yay! So it was a good football weekend.

I was supposed to go back to work Monday but my boss, bless his heart, had suggested that I might want to take a day for myself and sure enough, when 6:30 am rolled around Monday morning and I was cozy under my duvet and comforter ... I sorta wanted to stay in bed. So I did. I had a rehearsal last night and had songs to practice so the day went by rather quickly. Got my sister's b'day presents sent off and that's about it. Oh ... I worked a bit more on the lace scarf, Liesel. My Scoop de Jour is taunting me from the back of the couch where I refuse to move it until I finish putting it together!! This should be WIP week.

Uh huh .... that didn't last long

Sure, I said it was sunny Tuesday. And I went upstairs, put on my bathing suit and laid out by the pool. But the clouds came up and suddenly it wasn't nice any more. We have been having weather - serious weather. Tuesday night was the banquet and it was held outside but under cover, so it wasn't too bad. But oh yesterday we had a real true tropic storm. Thunder and lightening and high wind. It was freaked out. Obviously after I had one little walk in the morning it was in for the rest of the day and evening. The TV went out. Lots of people were hunkered down in the lobby. The main bar was closed because it sits right on the ocean so they set up a bar further in and that's where it was happening last night. I came down to order some dinner and ended up sitting and chatting (and drinking) until my meal was cold. But it was fun.

I did get some good knitting done yesterday. I got the heels turned and the gussets picked up for both of the socks. No problems. Now it's just finish up the heel decreases and knit the foot. Must say I'm very proud of myself for pulling that off.

I took the bus into town and even though the weather was nasty I just kept on, got a bit wet, but ended up doing almost all of my Christmas shopping. I'm happy about that. And now I think I'll get cleaned up. John and Judy are taking me for dinner and then to the airport. I think I'm going to be quite happy to be home, even though it's cold.

Sunshine!!!

Hooray! It's sunny today and just a little breezy. I see clouds out over the ocean but they are WAY far away and so hopefully they will stay out there. It rained all day yesterday. I stayed in my room, worked and did a little knitting. I went out for one little walk, but it wouldn't stop raining. I was really kicking myself for not bringing workout gear because at least I could have gone into the workout room and run on the treadmill. Ah well ...

I got almost finished with the heel flaps on my socks yesterday. But I don't anticipate much knitting today unless the weather changes. I am going to go lay by the pool! Maybe work up the nerve to go snorkeling. It's kind of a drag being here alone. I mean I know lots of people here but they are with their spouses or science buddies so I don't have anyone to just hang out with. Going to the beach is always better with someone.

Lots of pictures

It's raining. Hard. Today we have a half day and I was planning on snorkeling but it's pouring rain! The forecast is calling for showers all day and the wind is not blowing so these clouds may just sit here for a while. This is supposed to be the dry side of the island!! Here's a picture of the pond I'm sitting next to. This was taken about an hour ago. It's raining even harder now. And a picture from my balcony looking out to the sea. Oh well. What can you do? At least I brought three projects to work on. I've got WIP pictures of all three. I should be able to get some work done on them this afternoon, if this keeps up.

First the socks. Two at once. Once on the airplane and again yesterday evening I knit the two together and had to tink back a couple rows to get the lines untangled!! I thought I was being careful but ....not careful enough! This is where they are now. I have finished up the leg and next I'll be doing the heel flaps. I did try two at once before and when it came time to pick up the gusset stitches it just didn't work and I had to rip them back and start over, one at a time. Last socks I did I got ahead of myself and tried to pick up the gusset stitches before I had turned the heel. Thinking back, that MAY have been the problem that first time. I was so anxious to actually get the gusset stitches picked up, I remember. It's all speculation at this point, of course but ... could have been the problem.

Okay, next on the WIP list is the Sunflower Tam. I'm getting pretty close to switching to DPNs. I'm using Cascade 220 for this project. The color is just what I wanted. This is the second one of these I've made. I love the Right and Left Turn stitch. It's from the same book as the Ogee Tunic which his languishing in its basket.

And finally I'm making a pair of mitts for a friend's little girl. I found this beautiful mohair blend. It's too gaudy for a whole sweater but perfect for a pair of mitts and she'll love them. I am using Artful Yarns Heavenly.

Okay that's all for now. Fingers crossed for some sun!!

Sunday's view

This was taken a few hours ago. Now it is looking like rain.

I haven't yet taken any pictures with my regular camera. Hopefully tomorrow when we have a free afternoon. I have been working. I arrived Thursday night, worked all day Friday and Saturday and so far ... today. But I'm going to stop for little while. Things are running okay for now.

I will have some good WIP pictures tomorrow. I got tons done on my socks on the airplane and I good start to my sister's Sunflower Tam last night while I was listening to the football game. I say listening because for some odd reason there was no picture, just sound. All the other channels had pictures but the biggest football game in Hawaiian history? Sound only. The Huskies played well and were ahead but ... ultimately lost and now Hawaii is undefeated.

I don't know what's up with the underlining ... can't get rid of it. Ah well. I feel like things are possessed here today. The lights have been flickering and computers going crazy and the wind and maybe rain. Very strange.

What a view

From my room

On my way to Hawaii

Lunchtime.

Countdown to Hawaii

Oh wow ... I have been SO busy! Trying to avert disasters, and tie up loose ends - and I'm not talking about knitting. Since the hotel has only dial up access, which I am not going to want to use, I am working frantically to get ahead and head off anything I might have to address while there. Just working the meeting it going to be time consuming enough. I was so hoping to have some time on the beach but it's not going to be much time. Monday night I biked home in pouring, freezing rain, arriving home soaked to the bone. It is cold here! In fact, it might even snow Saturday. So it's just going to be glorious to be in the tropics no matter what I'm doing!

I finished up the basket weave scarf and I'm working on a headband (rather than a whole hat) to go with it. I'm only about 8 rows away from finishing that. I'm going to take my socks and yarn to make a hat for my sister and some fingerless mitts for a friend's little girl. I think that should do it for knitting projects. Oh ... but maybe I'll bring that bamboo along just to futz with as well.

I got the dog washed last night and the package put together for my Secret Pal and put it in the mail this morning on the way to work. It's heavy!! What the heck did I put in there? Heavy stuff I guess.

Well, I'll send pictures from my phone when I can - at least tomorrow from the airport when I'm having my pre-boarding cocktail. I'm taking my camera too and if the wireless connection in the hotel lobby is good I can post some pics while I'm there.

Aloha!

Secret Pal Revealed!!

Saturday I got my final Secret Pal package from Sara at Handy-Crafts. She has the most adorable baby! I don't know how she found the time to be such a super spoiler as well!!! She sent me some absolutely gorgeous Mango Moon yard, also some bamboo which I have been dying to try out, a cute little book and some note cards as well as a very handy tote bag. Thanks SO MUCH!!! I love everything! I can't wait to try out that bamboo too ... but it's going to have to wait until a few more holiday gifties are finished up. Although .... gosh it would be a perfect yarn to take to Hawaii ... hmmmm ... can't hurt to have it with me at least, eh?

Thanksgiving was great! And I had a nice long rest. The dinner came off without a hitch. Tink was perfectly mellow and a good dog. I ate soooo much ... I couldn't move after dinner. We sat and watched not one but two movies. I felt like a beached whale. Good though -- it was good!!

Despite my best intentions I did not get out into the yard. I did get some good knitting work done. Recognize this? Yup ... Isabella. I got one of the side seams sewn up. Holy cow ... what a HUGE hassle this is!! I know I sound a little whiny here but jee-eepers! Why oh why didn't I think about sewing this up before I got knitting on it. It's ridiculous! It would be SO easy to do this in the round. Why would anyone choose to have this much fiddly finishing work to do? Maybe I can get another side sewn up tonight. I hope so. It would be perfect for Hawaii but I'm not taking it along if it's not finished. Now that would be silly.

I did get that basket weave scarf finished and started a matching head band yesterday while watching the Seahawks beat the Rams. Yay!! Good game.

I also was going to get my last secret pal box sent off but again - ran out of time. I've got all the goodies so it's just a matter of putting them in the box and sending it off. Must do it by Wednesday.

It's still got the hold on me

Okay ... another evening spent with the Kureyon. It's just so purty ... all those colors.

I need to have a knitting friend close by to strong arm me into sewing up projects or something. Don't you think that Isabella would enjoy a trip to Hawaii? Hmmm? All I need to do is sew her up!! Well yeah and knit a bit of trim, but I could do it in a weekend day. You know, I think I have rationalized away sewing it up in mattress stitch. Size 3 needles ... no way! So I give myself permission to just whip stitch that baby together! I want to be able to take that with me. Oh if I could only just put the scarf down .....

It is clear and very chilly here in Seattle. The grass was all frosty this morning and people were scraping off their windshields. I even had my glove liners in my biking gloves this morning and my hands were numb by the time I got to work. C-c-c-cold! The bridge was frosty and scary but the puddles weren't frozen so it must have been just above freezing. A little out of the ordinary for us. But I heard that the sunshine is supposed to stay for the weekend, which would be lovely. I could get some yard work done as well as knitting.

I got a little tiny heart tug this morning on my way in .... usually I go to Paris for Thanksgiving and I am missing my friends a lot. This is one of my favorite weeks to be in Paris. In the neighborhood I used to live, the Marais, the Christmas decorations are put up the last weekend of November and it's one of my super favorite things in the whole world, watching them go up. Okay well Thanksgiving is early this year so if I was there I would be missing that anyway. I won't be going in January this year either. Ah well .... life goes on.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all [yes, a day early I know]. I am cooking this year but only for 8. It'll be a piece of cake. The hard part is going to be cooking in a "strange" kitchen. I am cooking at my boyfriend's house. (Well ... it's been 3 months now so I guess I can say it without jinxing the whole thing. No, really. Considering my outrageous and ridiculous dry spell and the considerable bad luck I had been having. After 3 months this one seems to be sticking.) It'll be a traditional feast. I never get tired of turkey dinner. Mmmmmmmmm! Plus he's got a high def plasma screen TV in the kitchen so I can watch the football while I'm cooking. Oh baby does it get much better than that? Oh yeah, just add champagne - a nice little bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte already chilling in the fridge just waiting for the cook. I'll just have a little easy knitting sitting around - perhaps the socks. I can smell the turkey already!

Spicy?

I love spicy food. Love it. So yesterday evening I went to the grocery store to pick a couple fire logs because it was so cold and I thought it would be nice to have a cozy fire downstairs, and while I was there I saw Spicy Tuna Rolls in the sushi case. Since I really had nothing very exciting at home for dinner I decided to treat myself to some sushi. However, these spicy tuna rolls were something special. I ate one or two and ... whooo .... my mouth was hot hot hot! I figured maybe I had put too much wasabi into the soy sauce so I diluted it and tried another piece. Ouch! H-h-hot! I had some beer but that didn't cool me off so I waited for a few minutes, got a soda, waited until the burning subsided and tried one more time. Maybe I had gotten just an extra-hot piece. I could see the red pepper flakes in the tuna but it seemed like it was more than that. Perhaps they had put hot oil in with it? I don't know but frankly, I had to give up. It was THAT hot. That's not spicy. That's freakin' spicy. Who can eat that and taste it?? Plus which -- my tummy this morning is burning. I'm off spicy sushi for a while.

Knitted on the basket weave scarf again. I can't help myself!! It's the Noro --- what color will come out next and will I like it and will it look good next to this color? It's a sickness. Tomorrow I'm bringing my socks to Noon Knitting. I've got to break the hold that scarf has on me.

What a fabulous weekend!

I mean it! BOTH my football teams won -- and both beat Bears! How crazy is that? The Seahawks game was so incredibly exciting! I had a bazillion chores to do yesterday so I had set it to record and then started watching it about an hour in, so that way I could skip the commercials. Just a great great game!

I have another whole great huge rant about musicians and I was going to just rant away, from the top. But you know what? It's hardly worth it. I'll just give a quick sketch and skip the in depth rant. Suffice it to say (reiterate is more like it) that in general, musicians are jerks. Here it is in a few words - despite rehearsing Sunday the 11th AND Friday night before the gig, the offending members managed to mess up every single one of my songs. At one point one of the guys had me singing the song into his ear right before it was counted off because he couldn't remember it!!! The leader was absolutely LIVID, and came to me at the beginning of the 3rd set on his knees and apologized and said that it was the last time and we were going to fix it (in other words somebody is getting fired for sure!) before the next job. I mean ..... it was just so infuriating! What a colossal waste of time. Why rehearse if you're not going to take the time to learn the freaking song?? Well ... see, I didn't want to get going on a rant. It's going to be fixed. In fact, we have a new guitar player all lined up and he's an old friend of mine and he's totally awesome so it's now just a matter of taking the time to rehearse. The good thing about him is that I know he'll take the tapes and learn the songs BEFORE rehearsal and he won't forget them either. Other than that -- it was such a fun night Saturday. The bar was packed, and lots of my friends came to see me "come out of retirement" and the mistakes weren't that obvious if you didn't know what to listen for. I got to wear a killer outfit ... it was just too much fun! The leader and the other singer and I sat around afterwards, having our post gig drink, and chatting and then we were hungry ... well, I didn't get to bed until 4 am, just like the good old days. But I was much younger then. It was pretty hard to get started yesterday.

So - knitting now. Last Wednesday I needed some easy therapy knitting. Do you ever come home and say "I need to knit"!"? That's what I did Wednesday. I had had a trying day and I just felt like I needed to sit and have the wool and needles in my hands and I didn't relax until I did. But I didn't want to work on the complicated lace scarf so I pulled out some Kureyon and started the basketweave scarf. Kureyon is so hypnotic. I just keep going, waiting for the next color. I'm using size 8 needles so it's slow going but it's going to be a super warm scarf. I was thinking about making a hat to match but it' s going to depend on how long the scarf gets at the end of two skeins. I have 4 skeins - two of each colorway. Maybe at the end of the two skeins if it's not long enough I can make the matching hat and then use the rest of the yarn for the scarf. Well, I don't have to decide now. Hopefully tonight I can resist picking it up and instead sew my Scoop de Jour together. Bets?

Yes, it was Wednesday

and YES I remembered my knitting! I got some good work done on my two socks at lunchtime knitting. That yarn ... the colors are SOOOOO beautiful! I'm just anxious to get down the leg and get to the heels so I can do it just this once and (hopefully) be forever converted to 2 at once socks. After getting that down - say two or three times - then I'm going to try toe-up 2 at once. Well, a girl must have goals, right?

I skipped the run yesterday. I swear I'm fighting a cold again!! And running when you have upper respiratory symptoms is no picnic. I run for FUN .... oh well yeah and a little pain ... but mostly FUN! Wheezing and gasping are not part of the fun.

Yesterday afternoon one of the ladies that works right down the hall from me came scooting up to my door and knocked. I let her in and she was all jumpy. Seems a mouse had run into her office! We are in what is known as The Annex, which is a converted construction trailer. All of "us" are displaced persons while the building we used to inhabit is being renovated. This building is a mess and, oh yes just happens to have a rodent problem to boot. So poor lady, she was on the phone trying to get someone to come set some traps or something. Lucky for her she had keys to one of the vacant offices nearby her own so set up shop there. I can still see those nasty sticky little traps outside her office door. Yuk.

Last night I worked some more on the cashmere lace scarf. Finished ball 1 and got going on ball 2. It's not going to be very long but, as I said, I'm going to block the dickens out of it so it'll be a nice, deluxe neck piece that somebody will be sure to love ... even if that somebody is me!

Work is still so busy busy busy. I've gotten almost everything done for the meeting coming up and have begun work on what is turning out to be a HUGE project that I was truly hoping to be done with by the end of this month. Well it's only the ... erm ....15th so if work hard I just may get there.

I also need to finish gathering goodies for my last Secret Pal package. I've got a couple good books, some yarn, but I need girlie goodies. Oh! and get this ... for her first package I sent the book Knitting Circles Around Socks and I wanted to be a good secret pal and include the two size 2 circulars with it and the sock yarn. Knit Picks has quite nice Addi knock-offs so I ordered two of them but, of course they were out of stock so her package went without them. Finally they got the stock, informed me the needles were now in stock did I want to order them? Suuuurre! I got the package yesterday -- ONE needles. Not 2, one. *sigh* So my current plan is to enclose the single needle with her last package and then order another one from Knit Picks and have it sent directly to her. Well, my heart was in the right place, right??