May I please present to you.....

Crablouie!

I received this wonderful square in the mail to day from my afghan swap buddy, Angela - Isn't he just the coolest? I am going to frame him and hang him in my office so that when the assbeagles (thanks Rabbitch) get on my last nerve, I can look at him and feel better. I especially love his eyes - so understanding. I love this square.

Yarnerd - Your questions are coming tmrw - blogger has not let me post all day - I am hoping I can sneak this in through photobucket.

Interview and such

In a moment of insanity I asked itgirl to interview me (I know, I have issues) You should know how this works by now, but if not here are the rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying “interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions here. They will be different questions than the ones below.
3. You will update YOUR blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

And here are my questions:

1. A question in three parts:
a. Wendy, the Good Little Witch, or Sabrina, the Teenage Witch?
Neither - I prefer Endora
b. Why did Wendy wear Red? Was she really a prostitute? Was she channelling Little Red Riding Hood?
What's wrong with red? You got a problem with red?
Actually she was warding off the evil eye - probably that Sabrina chick - she's such a jealous chit!
c. Were Wendy and Casper having a secret fling on the side?
Why? What have you heard?! They're just friends - good friends, thats all. Really

2. Would you recommend Swedish, deep tissue, both, or neither to someone suffering from respiratory ailments for over a year? I stopped seeing my massage therapist a year ago when I started having my lung problems, and I know sometimes the lymph nodes can be tricky with deep tissue.

I would suggest an Asian style massage focusing on unblocking your channels and harmonizing your qi. This is a lighter style of massage - not deep tissue - that works along the same channels as acupuncture. If you know of a good acupuncture, they should be able to refer you to a MT with expertise in this type of massage. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can also be helpful for treating lung conditions. There are also western medical massage techniques that are used to clear phlegm from the lungs and clear breathing passages. I can't really tell you too much without seeing you and getting your med history, but I would encourage you to find a good LMT in your area.

3. So I occasionally have a yen to crochet, and then I find myself holding the yarn in my left hand in odd and weird angles, and then my left pinky is crooked up as if I were at high tea with Her Majesty. What's up with that? Why have I been able to knit since I was 7 years old but while I have the ability to crochet, I seemingly lack the grace to do so?
Your pinky isn't supposed to be in the air!!!????!!!
You are asking the wrong girl here - grace is something I have always been lacking. I look like I am holding a knife instead of a crochet hook.

4. How did you manage to lose your Siouxsie shirt? What would you do to get it back?
I think my friend Stephen took it when he was helping me pack - he always coveted it & come to think of it - I haven't seen him in a while, I think he moved back to LA - I could hunt him down - I am planning on going to CA later this year. Hmmmm have to think about that one.

5. How can I learn to start knitting things for myself and not for other people all the time? It's not that I am against knitting for others (mind you, I am really taking my time with knitting the cashmere scarf for Trixie, who, by the way, has a blog of her very own now, everyone go see and say hi to her! Tell her how much you appreciate her letting me stay in her house in DC so I can blog away to my heart's content while I steal her neighbors' bandwidth!), it's just that I have exactly five items I have knit for myself, and one item I have crocheted for myself. What's your secret to equilibrium?

Selfishness.

So if anyone wants to be interviewed - leave me a note.

There's nothing wrong w/me - this is how I'm supposed ta be

I couldn't post yesterday, blogger/my computer wouldn't let me. I am hoping this will go through now. Last night I had lots of goodies waiting for me. First, a RAOK from Deb :
I see another shawl in my future.

I was part of the February Flower Exchange , but never received my flower, so Dyann (who also never received a flower) and I agreed to swap. I received this: Can I tell you how much I love this! I pinned it on to my new spring coat and now I can't wait to wear it out and show it off!

In knitting news - here is my progress on A Good Bias: I am actually working on the back portion of the first sleeve - I should have it finished by this weekend - I would like to cast on for the second sleeve this weekend too.

Oooh Baby!

Isn't she purty?

I need more coffee

I am just out of it this morning - I don't know why - the sun is shining - it is warm - the phones have been quite - I am just not quite awake today.

I finally got to the Park Slope SnB last night - it was great, only 4 of us but it was a pleasure sitting around with other knitters for a change. Now that the weather is finally changing, I am going to try to make more Mondays. I need something to look forward to on a Monday.

I haven't taken any pictures, but I received my order of baby cashmere from Elann (the mulled grape color) - wow this stuff is so soft and wonderful against the skin- I bought it to make this

Monday, not my fun day!

Another wet damp day here in the big city - bleh! Not how I would have liked the first few days of Spring to turn out. Oh well.

Did very little knitting or crochet this weekend - just finished some flowers to send out. I bought this amazing orangey yarn from Wendy - it is DK wt and variegated - I love the color! I also picked up a bright yellow skein of Plymouth Encore DK to go with it - I made these big yellow and orange flowers - really looked like Summer. I wanted to do somemore work on my shrug, I am loving the Saucy Cotton - I thought it would be stiff but it is not, but I was just really lazy.

I have been very busy at work - since the reps I work for found out that I took the new position, everyone wants to make sure I finish their stuff before the end of the month. I also found out today that I will be in Albany the first week of April for sure - I think I will take Amtrak up so I can relax and knit on the train. I want to take my car in for an oil change and get a complete diagnostic - I have a history of bad road trips that I don't want to repeat - unfortunately I won't be able to take it in till next weekend and, if it needs any work, I won't be able to drive it to Albany.

Later...........

We Have a Winner!

AprilBrokenA has won the yarn. Congratulations!

Hope everyone has a great weekend - I have lots to do today so more postage later.

Friday update and RAOK

The wonderful RAOK I received today from Allena at Starknits - 2 stitch markers, CHOCOLATE!!! this wonderful hand cream - it smells really clean and it's not greasy - plus a lovely card. This really made my Friday!

Quick reminder - today is the last day to enter my yarn give-a-way contest. I will be picking the winner tomorrow. The prize is one ~400 yard ball + what I had left over of the yarn I used for the Flower Basket Shawl. There is plenty to make another shawl or a larger pattern. It is a hand dyed lace wt wool blend I picked up from Red Barn Farms.

March is a GOOD month

This is the color of my A Good Bias - pretty!

I got the job - they called this afternoon to offer me the position - of course I accepted - so I will be working in New Hyde Park now I/o Maspeth (and I will have an office and a new desk and a laptop and oh lots of stuff) I am excited. Of course I won't have much knitting/crochet time - I have to go through some training and will be spending some time in our Albany office - but it is great and I am very happy!

Wednesday Update

Thanks to everyone for the kind words on my FBS. So far 14 people have left me patterns and entered my contest. I will have one of the boys pick a name out of a hat on Saturday and the lucky winner will get the yarn. If you crochet you can leave me a comment with your favorite shawl pattern.

I had a great weekend with Marilyn on Sunday, we had a lovely Italian meal and spent the afternoon talking and laughing! We stopped at Michaels because she needed pinking shears and wanted to pick up some flowers to make a door spray. I picked up some more beads to make a few more summer necklaces - I will post pics when they are available. I also made a lovely purple door spray while at her house. See: Here is a pic of me in my FBS:

Unfortunately, when I left I felt a headache coming on and by the time I got home it was a full blown migraine. I was sick all night and have had residual headache since.

I added a few inches and started the increases on Mariah - I really like the way the cable looks - I just hate thinking about a winter sweater while longing for warmer weather and sunshine, so I cast on A Good Bias from IK in Reynold's Saucy in this color (the light green at the top left).
I really like this pattern and the Saucy was right on gauge and reasonably priced and the color looks like spring!

More later........