Scout Said I Could:

'Member? You 'member, that Kick Ass knitting book I was telling y'all about the other day?

From that blogger I don't really *get*?

You 'member!

Scout (of the most beautiful pictures evah) said anyone could steal her picture collage of the book, so long as we noted that we got it from her.

Pssst. I just got this collage from Scout!



Whilst I don't eat bowls of anything as I'm perched cross-legged and underwear-clad on my kitchen counters . . . I may consider it, given the beauty of Wendy's knits. Maybe that's how she gets her inspiration, and Lord Knows I could use some knitting inspiration, lol!

Out and About, Coast Style:

Today I went to the Ebb Tide Park in Shell Beach and took WAY too many pictures!

Then, I wandered on down to the Pelican Point restaurant (at the Shore Cliff Lodge) and took WAY too many pictures of pelicans.

Finally, I ended up in Pismo, and took just a few pictures there (my camera battery was sucking fumes at that point).

Before I did all that though, I stopped over at the San Luis Obispo Octagon Barn and snapped a few.

All in all, a good relaxing day. I was home relatively early, but spent the afternoon downloading, cleaning up/culling and then uploading all these suckers and the next thing I knew The Mike was calling at 5pm to say he was heading home.

CRAP. I whipped up another batch of guacamole dip (from avocados and not any mix - which I just have to clarify because my guac ROCKS even though my gravy SUX) and then made a dinner of beef tacos. YUM.

Tomorrow a.m. I'm going to finally hit the craft room and get it into shape. There has to be some mental reason I've been procrastinating on this final project. Tomorrow p.m. we're going to the SLO Farmer's Market and Sheila is meeting up with us after a while. I did some emergency knitting surgery on her just-made camera sock and it's ready for her to get so that's the meet up.

Lastly, I've been giving a lot of thought about this here blog and how things have changed over time . . . and that I don't want the change . . . and how I'ma go back to my 'pre-change' way.

I'll tell y'all about it soon. Probably not tomorrow though. Kinda busy.

8 Hours, All Mine:

Today, I will be *away from home* finally.

My plan was to be *away from home* Monday, but that didn't work out. See, I'd found out there is another knitting group that meets Monday mornings near Avila Beach. I'd even scoped the place out on our way to Farmer's Market last Friday (and told Mike about it, which is an important fact later).

Sunday night, Mike tells his brother to "stop by the house any time on Monday, April will be home" and Mike tells me some repair dude would also be stopping by on Monday "any time" to put a cover on our stove vent thingamajigger. His brother stopped by but the repair dude was a no-show.

:eyeroll:

I didn't make it to the Monday meetup. Grrrr.

Yesterday (Tuesday) my day consisted of going to BedBath&Beyond (hello 20% coupon in the mail!), Borders (hello Borders Rewards!), Trader Joe's (hello Trader Joe's. You ROCK!) and the regular 'ol grocery story (although it blows the P'ville *nice* grocery store out of the water with it's cleanliness and selection!)

We invited Mike's good friend Scott over for dinner as a Thank You for all his help during the move. Pot Roast and vegetables with gravy, YUM. The homemade gravy thing - I'm not so good at, but at least it was edible, lol. Fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies afterwards. Honestly, we really owe Scott like a week's worth of homecooked meals for all his help.

That brings us to today. I'm up extra early (well, I've been up for an hour and 7:20 certainly is on the early side for me), have perused all my daily internet haunts, and am off to shower. Today I'm hitting the road with my knitting, my camera and my clapotis and I won't be home until I feel like coming home . . .

. . . which is no later than 5pm so I can be here when The Mike gets home, LOL.

Pictures forthcoming.

Y'all have a good day!

This One's For My Friends:

For Danni:



It's just right down the road from my house and a very good reason for you to come visit "the Coast"!

For CJ:



Thanks for the tutorial on these babies! I love them.

For Suzanne:




You are a huge knitting inspiration and I think that if I didn't know you, these might never have gotten made (by me at least, lol)

For Ellen, SisterDi and ZubieJen:




Y'all have an open invitation to visit.

Sheila doesn't read my blog, so I'm not wasting time talking to her :grin:

I'm off to get my day started - some cleaning, some knitting, and definately some frying up of my green tomatoes!

Hello Photo:

Here's the promised update, via pictures:

Movie Night at Dolphin Cove

Friday's Avila Beach Farmer's Market

Kick'n around in Avila yesterday

Hang'n out in Pismo Beach last night

Cats in the backyard this afternoon

Yesterday, around the house

Ravelympic knitting progress

The "OH MY GAWD THOSE ARE THE BEST COOKIES I'VE EVER EATEN" recipe

I added more pictures to my "Daily View" set - my view out the dining room window/front door

And just because she's so damn cute . . . a set of pictures dedicated to Blue, our cartoon kitty

In no particular order, these are some of my recent favorites:

Mmmmkay. Sorry:

I completely forgot we were going over to my brother-in-law's to BBQ tonight.

And by BBQ I mean "start the fire around 9pm" because *cue my aria* This Is What We Do Because This Is What We Always Do.

It's a McLaughlin thing and I totally Do Not Get It.

Dinner should be way over by 9pm and not just starting, but whatever.

The dude lives in Pismo and cooks a mean tri-tip. Who cares that we get to grubb'n around 11:00 at night?

Tomorrow I'ma have to hunt down Misti's "Knock Your Handknit Socks Off" peanut butter cookie recipe.

Y'all never did taste peanut butter in a cookie form like this before, I'm guessing.

Tomorrow is the *catch up* portion of this blog, and sorry for that.

State of the Union Address:

The Mike and I have been bumming around today, and generally doing nothing.

I know. It's a tough life but somebody's got to live it :grin:

All the gas stations I've seen in SLO today (a Shell, a Flyers and another one I don't remember the name of) have been UNDER four dollars a gallon. You bet'cha I filled up. Tomorrow it could be $5.62 for all I know - the prices rise and fall that fast it seems like.

In a few we're heading out to Avila Beach to hit the town's weekly Farmer's Market.

I'll try and post some pictures later of my ravelympic WIPs to-date. I can hardly believe it myself, but I took out the temporary stitching holding my place for the sleeves on the pinwheel sweater and actually started knitting one of those puppies up. Yes, I did!

Also, I'll show some shots from Wednesday's "night at the movies" at Dolphin Cove. It was pretty cool to be watching a movie and to hear the ocean waves crashing and to glance up every so often to view the stars shining above us.

Toodles for now and catch you gators later.

Hate to Love:

Is it weird that I love this person's designs but hate this person's blog?

Her designs are (to me, and trust you me I'm certainly no expert. Hell, I don't even play one on t.v.) fashion forward. Both slick and clean. LOVE her knitting stuff.

Her blog though? I find it hard to slog through. She (again, just to me and I'm less than a sub-par expert in such things) writes as if she holds a grudge against something/someone. She doesn't read like she's satisfied in any way with anything around her. Everyone but her and hers sucks on ice and it's all she can do to grit her teeth through every interaction with other humans.

Her designs must come from something. Wherever she's getting her inspiration? It's working for her. 99.9% of her stuff is home run material (again, with the *to me* caveat).

I have to figure out how to reconcile myself with the fact that I am more in love with her fresh, chic, clean patterns than I am in hate with her below-the-surface, making-fun-of-the-little-people drivel that eminates from her blog.

That woman can rock a knitting pattern.

The Cherry On Top Part:

Last we talked, I was telling you about my excellent weekend and my equally perfect Monday . . .

Here's the cherry part!

Sheila called me and said she had an hour to kill in SLO and did I want to meet up with her? Well hells ya. Since I was already out and about and done with Laguna Lake park, she suggested we get together at the SLO Goodwill. Funny, I had driven by it earlier and thought to myself "self, we totally need to stop there on the way home and check out what might be available in the knitting-related catagory."

We met up and wandered in. After about 20 minutes, the only thing I'd picked up for purchase was a good-sized binder to store printed patterns in. There's an 'upper deck' kind of area that I thought had only clothes so I didn't plan on wandering up there . . . but Sheila went and I trailed behind. At the back is the book section and I NEVER pass up on books. Grabbed me one and kept moseying around. Sheila found an area that had sewing-related stuff and I spied a lone bag of yarn but after looking through it decided to pass.

There were all sorts of nooks and crannies and drawers that I would have never looked in or around but Sheila is totally the opposite. THANK GAWD! She opened a drawer of something and we found a bunch of paired knitting needles. Out of that bunch she scored a pretty wood set of size 6s or so. Everything else in the drawer was nothing special. The next drawer down? We hit the freak'n motherlode of fiber tools!!!



I KNOW!!

How much does a bag like that go for at the San Luis Goodwill? You ain't even gonna believe it.



I KNOW!!

Seven entire dollars and one quarter. That's it. People, I about passed out from glee.

We bought our booty and made a mad dash to our cars (crossing Lower Higuera is risky!) Immediately, we broke open the bag and started organizing.



(Yeah, I need to clean my car - tell me something I don't know)



My half above, and Sheila's half below:



Because I already own a very healthy supply of straight needles, Sheila got first dibs on anything she wanted in that arena. She gave me all the crochet hooks because she's got tons from her late grandmother's stash. She only wanted one of the circs, which left me owning the other 4 pair. She kept the sizing template (I already own two different ones) and she gave me all the *things* that we don't even know WHAT they are, lol.

*Things* like this thing:



What the hell IS that?

Outside of the elation of getting everything for such a cheap price, we really loved seeing all the different and neat things we scored. Stuff like this:







There are tons more pictures of everything here of course.

Truthfully - I'm still so jazzed over yesterday's find!

Despite that high there have been other activities going on around Casa De Crazy.

Baking:



My first batch of cookies at the new place.

Knitting:



Still just the first one of my Ravelympic Socks for the Sock Put event. A few more rows and it's Kitchener time. Since I'll be in Kitchener mode, I'm going to finish my first sock from that delicious HazelKnits yarn I've been working on forever (seriously - forever people! It was half-way done at the WWKIP event and how long ago was that?)

Needless to say, no Kitchenering will be done if I spend even more time hanging out on the intronets so I gotta get to getting!

Ohhhh - and don't forget - tonight is the showing of Hitch at the Dolphin Bay in Shell Beach. Wahhhoooo :grin:

Perfection With a Cherry On Top:

We survived the build-up to the party, the party itself and then the post-party decompensing.

What a blast!

The place was clean and looked fabu:







'Scilly was SO well-behaved and we were very proud of her:



Callie . . . not so much. It wasn't that she "misbehaved" but Lawdy that cat can be a nuisance!



When she wasn't glued on people's laps or draped around their necks, she would perch on Becca's knitting bag (more about Becca in a sec). That cat loves her some perching!

People actually showed up . . .



. . . and had themselves a good time.





(Sheila and two of her friends came over also, but I didn't get my camera out until after they had left)

The lady knitting is 'Becca on Ravelry. She took me up on my invite the other day and brought her man Bruce. They are such nice people and totally fun and funny. They fit right in and I'm so glad they made it down.

I doubt I'll ever get tired of hanging out with other knitters. They just 'get it', ya know?



Our Ravelympic sock entries



Her handknit shawl

Oh, and 'Becca? I took that page out of your book and had some of your cake for breakfast on Sunday, lol. It was gooooood! Thanks for making it and bringing it.

Sunday was filled with a whole lotta noth'n. Mike slept in VERY late and we both napped that afternoon. It was perfect.

Yesterday (Monday) I lollygagged around and then went to the post office in the afternoon. My big trip out of the house in several days, actually. I picked the post office on Madonna Road because it's right next to Laguna Lake and I wanted to take some pictures.

Hmm. I just found that link and look at their picture on there . . .



Looks an awful lot like the picture I snapped yesterday . . .



It was so peaceful there and the weather couldn't have been more perfect!









Lookie these people. They have a lake for a back yard. How cool is THAT?






Even the Fed Ex drivers 'round these parts have a great life:



Just as I was wrapping up my exhausting day of sitting and picture taking and enjoying the great outdoors . . .



. . . Sheila called and that's when the cherry plopped right on top of my already perfect time.

I'll tell y'all about it later. It's freak'n awesome.