Birth Announcement

Mr. and Mrs. Bamboo Needle of Knitsburgh are pleased to announce the birth of their newest creation, Left Front II, born April 5th, 2007 in the Living Room, being 35 stitches in length.

Obituary

Oringinal Left Front passed away on April 4, 2007 due to a shortage of stitches since birth(otherwise known as cast-on). Original Left Front was involved in the Wee One Cardigan Project for the majority of his working life. Original Left Front is survived by his only living relative, Original Back. You may pay your respects here on this blog. A service was held yesterday including a ceremonial frogging with simultaneous ball roll over the playing of bagpipes. Original Left Front, we will miss you and honor your contributions to the Wee One Cardigan Project, which will carry on in your memory. R.I.P.

Blogo-rythm

I'm trying to get back into the rhythm. I really am.

My mood has improved a bit since my last posting but of course, my physical health has declined. It started Friday. Chills, fever, body aches and sore throat. The body ache seemed to stay right on my tailbone and emenated outwards over my trunk to the joints connecting my extremities; I referred to this over the weekend to my guy as the Spinal Tap. It bloomed and blossomed over the weekend and my guy also got some, me being a sharing, giving creature and all. Today I had the Rudolph Nose and had my teeth cleaned. The hygenist put on her magnifying goggles and shuddered when she peered down at my inflamed nasal area, exclaiming, "You DO look like you have a cold." (I had told her I had one, guess she did not believe me until she saw it full force through the goggles). She poked at my teeth and did not stop talking, although she asked me many questions and paused for me to answer whilst her fingers were in my mouth. Do they not get that you can't talk back to them when they are in your mouth like that? YEEESH! I just looked up at her helplessly, trying to nod or participate, knowing it was futile. You either spit on her or sound like a monster or end up with a scrapey-hook in your tonque. It's silence or nothin'.

Here is the wee one's cardi:





We're talkin' back and left front. Which leaves....right front, right sleeve and left sleeve, not necessarily in that order, either. So I'm playing Chicken with yarn: you knit and knit and knit and don't stop or swerve away, the goal being to get to the finish line before your ball or skein ends so you don't have to drive to the store in a sweat, hoping there is more of the yarn you need to finish the cardi you spent at least a month or so trying to knit...

I'm excited about some new things in my horizon of late. I've joined a group in my area and I'm enjoying meeting new peeps and branching out a bit. Here is a picture of some forsythia I brought inside to enjoy:


The bush may not actually be ours. One of the houses next door to us is empty and has been since we moved in and is now for sale. We think we know where the property line is but there is no official word...we need to get a survey. But we decided to spend our hard-earned dough on other things such as the GREATEST GRILL EVER INVENTED FOR A VEGAN AND CARNIVORE COUPLE. It has two seperate grilling areas--one side for meat (YUCK) and one for lovely, nuturing and delicious vegan culinary masterpieces. No more freaking out about possible live meat juice contamination, no sir. Just complete blissfully happy dinners cooked out of doors.

Go look at the gorgeous full moon tonight, it's truly magikal!! Oh, and HAPPY OPENING DAY, PITTSBURGH PIRATES (game is tied right now, they are in Houston).

Unstable Air

Things just don't feel right lately. Things at home, at work, while shopping. I need some change I think. Problem is I haven't figured out what that change should be or how to make it happen. Today it's been storming, with claps of thunder and streaks of lightning. Maybe it's partly the spring season and inevitable unstable and electrical air making me feel this way. I'm still slowly working on the sweater for the wee one. Only the back is done, I am now on the left front (yes, a cardigan). The longer I take between picking it up, the less I remember the cable pattern so my puttering around is making it take even longer.

These are the "not right" things (maybe if I can list them all it will somehow help):
1. My job (don't even get me started)
2. Sister with some stressful stuff goin' on
3. Mom still on oxygen
4. Aunt who had falling out with mom when I was 14 now wants to contact me and my sisters but not my mom (long story here)
5. Still not feeling stable enough to think about conceiving a child
6. Got a note from the sheriff's dept. to call them about delivery of a legal document yesterday(?!?--Whatever it is, can't be good)
7. Have cramps
8. Insomnia
9. Very frizzy hair due to humidity
10. My guy may be stickin' it to the man at work and walking (I told him to march into my work if he does, pick me up like in "An Officer and a Gentleman" and walk us out the door)


I'm going to stop now because I'm feeling it may not be helping much at all. I'm going to do a tarot spread and try to see some possible solutions here. I will post pics of the "sweater parts" later in the week but just don't have it in me today. If you've read this, I hope I didn't bring you down too much. I just can't vent to Kay or sister or guy right now cause they're all down and need me to listen to their shit and this is the best sounding board I can find. If you have any advice, even about hair or cramps, feel free to share. Oh, I still didn't hear of any local peeps having attended the Yarn Tasting at Knit One on Murray in Sq. Hill-- if you are one such person, can you let me know what you thought?

The Little Things

First, thanks Teresa and Laura for helping me out with the botany stuff. Looks like Mr. Cyclamen be in da house!

There is a GREEN BELT coming my way. This is serious, major news people. I worked hard for this belt and my head nearly exploded last night while dealing with the Belt Dilemma.

I bought a dress at my fave store, Anthropologie. Of course it was on sale because I can't afford anything in there at regular price, but I stalk their sale racks like no one's business. I captured a lovely dress in a my favorite color (green) in one of my favorite fabrics (corduroy). It fit and was soft and 100% cotton so it fit all of The Rules for Clothing Wishing to Live in My Closet.

When I went to buy it I was told it was supposed to come with a belt. The sales clerk looked hi and lo but could not find it. I decided to buy it anyway, thinking I could probably call Customer Service and get me a belt.

Last night, I called and talked to three people and no one would help with the Belt Dilemma. I heard such things as "we don't sell our dresses in parts" to "we have 2 in your size in stock but they may not really be there(?)." There were some amazingly contradictory statements too like "if we had 60 dresses left we could give you a belt" to "we could never give you a belt because that would always leave one dress beltless." Well guess what? I HAVE A BELTLESS DRESS AND IF I DON'T GET A BELT AND RETURN THIS DRESS, YOU WILL STILL BE LEFT WITH A BELTLESS DRESS, WON'T YOU?

The whole ordeal ended with a manager claiming I could speak to no one further, and denying my request to contact the person above her by hanging up on me. I could only do one other thing: record my experience in an email and send it out into the universe and wait and hope.

Today I got an email back, apologizing for the miscommunication and stating a belt will be sent to me ASAP if I provide my address. I'm so excited and happy about this one piece of news I could burst. Silly, sure but it's the little things. So I will continue to stalk the sale racks at Anthropologie and you should too, just know to email their Customer Service Dept. should you encounter any problems, they rock!

I would also like to give a shout out to a friend who gave me the most kitty-licious fun pack today. I would also like for her to know my guy said this when I showed him the food:
"That should cover a day or so." (The babies eat a LOT). Thought you might laugh at that one!

One more ?-anyone local going to the Yarn Tasting at Knit One? Anyone gone to one before and feel like giving some feedback? THANX!

Where are you Spring?

So St. Patrick's was a bit o'chilly this year. We had a hard time staying out for long and due to the cold, every pub was packed with 100 people waiting to get inside. We saw some of the parade (highlights as always were the Carrick Pipe and Drum band, plastic green horns you yell at people to blow and this year, saw the Oscar Meyer Weiner-Mobile and petted a llama) and in the Grant Street Pub, heard some songs on the bagpipes (eyes going misty to Amazing Grace). We skipped Market Square, just passing through cause it was too damn crazy. Station Square is where we ended up and spent the most time here but decided to head home when a). you had to wait about 45 minutes to get into the restroom and b.) you couldn't keep drinking beer because of the cold so your buzz wore off and you were just standing around a lot of loud and drunk people who kept bumping into you and you really hated people in that moment. We headed back home and drank fireside instead, much better!

So when is spring gonna get here already? Here is a narcissus I forced in our kitchen window--it sure thinks it's spring:



I think it smells good but my guy thinks it resembles the scent of our babies' litter boxes. It's weird how different our noses can be sometimes!

Oh, and I need some help indentifying this plant:


Quandary Bartholemieux tried to help but his knowledge of plants is fairly limited, he being an indoor-only kitty. Once when he was young (we fostered him at 6 mos from the animal shelter where I worked as an adoption counselor, the Denver Dumb Friends League, then adopted him because we fell madly in love-I digress...) I took him outside on a harness and leash and he peed all over me when I got him out on the stoop, he was so scared, poor baby! He really hasn't been outside since.
The plant gifted to me today but I don't know what it is and more importantly, how to take care of it. Anyone have any ideas? Muchos gracias!!

One more pic: my guy with Isabella Maria and Madison Penelope vying for his affections- they love him so!

Recycling

So I like to recycle. Makes me feel less wasteful and a contributor to the good of the earth. I like doing well by the earth.

This week, we had no blue plastic bag with which to wrap our glass and aluminum bottles in. For some crazy reason here in the 'burgh, you wrap your recycling in plastic rather than placing it in a reusable bin. What happens to the plastic bag? Is it also recycled? Anyway, the bag is supposed to be blue and ours was brown.

We placed it on the curb next to the garbage can, feeling secure the recycle peeps would surely recognize it as glass and aluminum spilling forth and recycle it too.

Cut to me leaving for work. I see the big recycle truck drive by my house as I come down the stairs to the sidewalk. It does not stop for the recycling in the brown plastic bag sitting by our driveway. It moves right on by. It stops a bit down the block, brakes squeaking a bit to emphasize the stoppage.

I spring into action. I throw my stuff (planner, knitting bag, lunch) in the car, then grab the brown plastic bag with bottles and cans. I pick up a beer bottle that was oozing out the top and run down the street towards the truck, bottles and cans clinking within the bag. A man is eating (no lie here), walking and eating some Puff-N-Corn from a bag while tossing the recycling other people bagged in blue into the truck. I run up to him and explain the bag I have, it is recycling. He takes it from me and I apologize that it was not in a blue bag. He says that's ok. I turn and walk back to my car. The sun is warm and things feel better.

Question: If you were my neighbor, would you think I was a little off? I never think of things like this until it's far too late to act with some restraint. At least I should have asked if the plastic bags are recycled. Maybe next week...

GUESS WHAT? THE PENGUINS ARE STAYING!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!