Friday, February 29, 2008

Running Away From Home:

Yay! I'm leaving for a quick (not-planned) weekend at the Coast, to hang with my bestest girl Sheila.

Thanks to ravelry, I'm already hooked up for a knitting class at the yarn shop in SLO (Yarns at the Adobe) Saturday morning, and then it's a whole lotta NUTHIN planned for the rest of the trip.

I'm sure I'll post some pics while I'm still over there, and definately when I get back!

KnittingSuzanne, I will get you bogiebogie's picture no later than tomorrow, I swear!

Dulcedosa, your ravelry swag will now include the smell of sea and sand before you finally get it, LOL! Sheila wants to check out all the stuff from Stitches West.

Jollyewe, I'm glad your stuff is selling like hotcakes due to your 'going-out-of-business' sale, but that means Suzanne and I ended up ass-out for getting any! YES - you should most definately have shown up last night for the Visalia knitting group!

Everyone else, see y'all later, gators!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Just a Wee Tiny Taste:

I've been home from Stitches West for a few hours now and have been presently enjoying some serious *down time*. All that stimulation and acquisition and socialization is a bit overwhelming for this homebody.

If my butt weren't so whupped, you'd be reading about and viewing some absolutely DEE-EFF'N-LICIOUS yarn pr0n that was recently acquired. There would be pictures too! Some with a yarny focus and others with a scenery focus.

Not tonight.

Tonight, I have* flat feet and heavy lids.

Lemme just tell you though. What a kick-in-the-pants fun time KnittingSuzanne, and SisterDi and I had at this event.

I'm off to bed.

*Snoopy Dance! These are the flat feet I gushed about several posts ago. Flat feets? I HAS THEMS! Squee.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Kinneared & Consumered:

KnittingSuzanne and I are finally bunked down in the room - her knitting with her new Noro Sock Yarn, and me uploading the day's pictures to flickr.

They aren't labelled at the moment, (you can find them all here)but in there you will find the great big ravatar poster, the swag shot, a 'kinneared' photo of my passport while standing in the Blue Moon line to get it stamped, some serious stash enhancement done by the both of us, our room, our room service lunch, the Saturday ravelry meetup, and the off-site yarn store we visited AND bought more yarn from!!! Yes. We have a sickness.

I apologize there isn't an actual picture of Casey or Jess in the bunch, but we saw them several times - at the ravelry booth and the meetup.

Y'all don't even KNOW (unless you were in attendance) how neat/cool/awesome it was to just sit and hang with the both of them at the coffee shop this evening. They relayed interesting things about the behind-the-scenes and how it all came into being, and we got the opportunity to tell them how much we love this place and how for some of us it's helped us find each other. They were looking pretty tired by 8pm, but still went to the yarn shop next door!








We're having a BLAST! A proper blog will follow soon, with a real recap and titles and details of the major stash enhancement that is taking place.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Snootful:

Night all -

Between now and the next time we talk, I will have been completely saturated with all things Stitches West. That is, all things excepting the classes.

SO.

EXCITED!

My ass is getting up at 4:30am in order to hit the road at 5am to get to Bakersfield by 6am so that KnittingSuzanne and I can get on the road and to the event as close to 10am as possible.

Talk with you soon!

AJ OUT!

Sung in the Key of Me:

As in a *meme*. I never do these but this one has a great concept. Taken from Nathania Apple's website.


1. Go to www.photobucket.com (don't sign in)
2. For each question below, type your answer in the "search" box and hit ENTER
3. Use only the first page of hits that come up and select a picture. If no matches are found to your search query you can revise your answer.
4. Copy the html for the photo you select and paste it in your post.

What's your first name?



What's your favorite food?



Where did you go to school?



What's your relationship status?



What's your favorite color?



Who's your celebrity crush?

drrooooooolllll

Who are you listening to right now?



Favorite movie?



Favorite book?



Favorite Disney Princess?

I don't like Disney and I don't like cartoons, so this one doesn't get a picture

Favorite drink?



Where's your dream vacation?




What's your favorite dessert?



What do you want to be when you grow up?



What do you love most in life?



One word to describe yourself?



Now it's your turn!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Get a Fork:

Here's what I came home to this evening.

Freshly laundered clothing.

Clothes I didn't wash OR dry OR fold myself.




Another view of the same basket. Please note that great care was taken to wash the handmade men's socks that the man of the house NEVER WEARS.

Impressed?

He went to the laundromat today because I said I was going to tonight, in order to Get My Own Shit Handled.

One load. The one I handpicked myself last night. Any towels or sheets or throw rugs? Please tell me you didn't hold your breath.

Think I'm a mean-assed bitch that doesn't appreciate the Man of the house?

This token effort was cute the first oh . . . four months of his unemployment.

We are staring down the barrel of 7+ months and zero unemployment left on the books.




Yummmmmmm. Dinner when I walked in the door.




This dinner was brought to you courtesy of calling the female of the house at her work . . . more than once, to ask (again) how to cook this meat. This dinner almost went up in smoke, if the female of the house, upon arriving home from work and sniffing the kitchen air, didn't ask for clarification of the (poundage) mulitiplied by ( length of cook time per pound) on the package.

Thank the Homeowner Insurance Gods that I came home on time. Another 15+ minutes and that picture would've included black char and smoke.

I may not know how to write out the equation of Pork divided by Pounds multiplied by Cook Time per Pound, but I certainly know how to smell it if necessary! My Home Ec class 25 years ago didn't teach me higher math, apparently, but Thanks Be that it taught me "something ain't right in the kitchen" skills!

Please to be explaining why I should still be married?

Y'all don't even fucking know how bad it is. This is just a drop in the bucket of all that is wrong 'round these parts.

FYI:

Tomorrow's post will be about Sunshine and Rainbows and Lollipops.

Okay, fine. You got me. Truth be told, tomorrow's post is going to be about Stitches West.

STITCHES EFFING WEST, PEOPLE!

The two things nailing my sanity to the ground right now are #1 Knitting. Always with the knitting. I don't knit fast, and I don't really knit pretty, but I just love everything knitting. That love takes us to #2. Stitches West. This weekend can't happen slow enough.

Until then, I leave you with the song that keeps playing in my head:

Johnny Mathis's duet with Deniece Williams

Day 52 - Nightscape


Day 52 - Nightscape, originally uploaded by ajdury.

I'm testing to see if the 'notes' on this picture transfer through to the Blog part.

Testing testing *taps microphone* Is this thing on?



*Edited to Add*

Okay - the 'notes' part does not transfer over, but if you click on the picture here, it will take you back to my original flickr picture and the notes that accompany it.

*this concludes our regularly scheduled testing*

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

If I Were To Blog:

There is so fucking much going on right now, in KBC's world. So much.

If I were to really sit down and let it all pour out, y'all would drown.

All-consuming #1 issue: I do not want The Mike to be my husband anymore. I don't mind being married, and I don't mind sharing my life and I definately don't mind carrying my fair share of the load. I have a real fucking issue doing all this with someone that can't be bothered to do ANYTHING productive at home during the 8 hours I am away and providing.

Anything. Anything at all. Not one GoodGawdDamn thing. He not only didn't wash one dish or vacuum one swath of carpet. He also 1) broke the dryer worse and 2) needed me to accompany him to the grocery store after my work day to buy . . . get this . . .

brace yourself . . .




it's a doozy . . .













BREAD.

Plain 'ol everlovin bread.

"So", you guys say to yourselves, "okay fine". Y'all are probably thinking "So what? It's just a quick trip to the grocery store!"

Not so fast peoples.

A quick trip to the grocery store entails me answering every 4 y.o.'s questions you can think of. "What are we here for again?" "Do we need to go down this aisle?" "You need mushrooms for that, right?" "What *meat* are you going to cook with that? You know I need alot of *meat*" "Do we have paper plates at home?" "Which bellpeppers should I pick?"

I DON'T EVEN FUCKING EAT BELLPEPPERS!


AND THAT PARTICULAR QUESTION WAS PREFACED WITH:


"I know you don't like bell peppers but could you add them to my salad?"

Yes. Yes I can. If you know which f@&!^ng BELLPEPPERS *you* want, since I don't consume them and you've proved that you know that.

Grrrrrr.

After all that marital bliss at the grocery store following *my* work day today, I came home to a house in the throes of neglect. Whys come I have to unload the groceries, put them away, make a semblance of dinner, clean up whilst I do this and cook future pureed soups.

This after I slayed the dragon today while The Mike napped in his chair for the most part.

Trust you me.

You really don't want me to blog right now.

Instead, we'll just look at pretty pictures of homemade soup, some store bought bread and the sky.






You can visit me at my happy place if you'd like.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Day 49 - Shake'n It


Day 49 - Shake'n It, originally uploaded by ajdury.

This picture represents a few things:

My first WALK.

WALK people! Not hobbling or limping or wimpering along.

I walked as excitedly as 'Scilly here!

Not so excitedly that I sniffed every hydrant or peed on every corner pole though. Unlike her, I care about what the neighbors whisper behind their hands.

Okay. You got me. I give a fuck what they say. I really care about them parking on their lawns and parking their semi's on our residential streets. That's just me.

Those two butts though? Crack my ass UP.

Is it just me or do you also hear the "Left. Left. Left , (wag to the) Right, Left" cadence in your head.

No? Okay fine then.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Day 48


Day 48 - Self Portrait w/Camera, originally uploaded by ajdury.

I was on the lake today, taking photos of all the No Fish Catch'n clubmembers when I saw myself in one of the Army Corp of Engineer's sunglasses.

I yelled "Don't move" and zoomed in on her lens.

Not one damn bass fish was caught!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Insert Title Here:

Before I forget . . . OHMYGAWD people. I have four subscribers (okay, three not counting myself) through bloglines.com. At some point, two other people (not named Jollyewe) added me to their bloglines rollcount and I didn't even know! Thank You to you both, whomever you are (and Thank You too Jollyewe, for turning me on to bloglines in the first place).

Back on track . . . The Spring '08 IK just hit my doorstep and there is a definate 'different-ness' about it. It's hard to describe, but I'll try. When Ms. Jang took the helm, there was a real change to the look and feel (and a good change fersher) almost right away. This issue is even MORE different, and still in a good way.

It feels *so* much more modern now. I'm not talking the actual pattern content. I'm just talking about the articles and the advertisements and the content of the regular 'departments'. It grew up 10 years in six months and lemme just say . . . AWESOME . . . and about frigg'n time.

Kudos to all the staff (and obviously Eunny Jang's vision) for taking an already great magazine to the next level.

Even before the changes at IK, Vogue Knitting was left in the dust. A lot of their issue selections leave me scratching my head. I know they're all *vogue* and shit, but really? How can they put themselves on a pedestal when their patterns are often printed wrong in the magazine?? You're not all that when you can't manage the little things.

JUST MY OPINION.

In my opinion though? VK has also made some good changes lately but they have to solve global warming, at this point, to be near the same status as IK in my eyes. Hmm. Too bad VK didn't scoop up Eunny Jang before IK did. Now THAT would've been a shot in the arm for Vogue.

In other news . . .

Today I took a boatload of pictures of a mystery train trestle in my town. I've driven past this thing . . . oh, easily 50 times. I ain't never seen this before though!









I never did look closely under the trestle while I was there today. Who the hell wants to have to call 911 to report another dead body in the fields around Tent City next to the Porterville Fairgrounds.

Click here to see the originals and the tweaked ones from the series.

(please know that when I use *ain't* and *forpetesfuck* etc . . . I'm making a conscious decision to use non-proper English vernacular. I know the difference and that language isn't how I talk in public. I know better than that, forpetesfuck!)

Friday, February 15, 2008

Are you HIGH??

I've spent some pretty pennies on yarn in the past (Tilli Thomas just to name one) but this about knocked me over . . .


Classic Elite's "Embrace". Yes, I understand it *is* cashmere. I own some cashmere myself, actually.

But Two Hundred Eighty Five Dollars for 625 yards?

That's freak'n insane! That yardage would get an average sized shawl but not even a decent sized sweater.

I guess I'm a "yarn snob" only up to a point. Even if money were no option, I seriously doubt I would spend that kind of cash for that kind of yardage. On the other hand though, I haven't touched this stuff so my tune could possibly change if I ever got the opportunity to manhandle it in real life, lol. 'Course, at that price I think I'd be too scared to touch it with my mere mortal mitts!

This came to my attention only because I am really locking in on that Classic Elite sweater I blogged about the other day and have been doing some research.

Did y'all know that designers (and websites that sell designer's patterns) now have the ability to link their pattern directly to where it is on ravelry? "HUH?" you respond.

Lookie - I'll show you:

Classic Elite's pattern page - see the second one down? That's the Dream Sweater. Cast your eyes onto the linkage right next to it that says *Ravel it*. When you click on that link, you are PRESTO CHANGE-O sent to the pattern page at ravelry. How freak'n cool is THAT I ask you!

From there (in theory) you can check out other FOs and WIPs, see what yarns people have substituted, read blog posts and ravelry discussion comments, yadayadayada.

In this particular instance, I say 'in theory' because this pattern is so stink'n new there ARE no WIPs and FOs or even any yarn substitute data, which is really what I was shooting for.

The yarn called for in this pattern runs about $9 a ball. For this thing to not completely strangle the Sweater Puppies, I'm thinking I probably need at least 10 balls, and should buy 12 (or 13) just to be safe. *GULP*. That's a whole lotta clam to shell out for my very first 'thing' that I've never done before. I know, I know . . . that's a very normal price-range for creating a sweater, so rest assured I do have one foot in Realityville. Unfortunately, I have a wallet residing there too!

First, I need to buy the pattern. Once that part is done, then I'll work out the particulars. There is yarn daydreaming to experience and then there is some swatch necessity to take care of.

WIP update - I'm pretty much done with my two-tone blue entrelac thing. I have to find the damn instruction sheet that tells me how to make the last row of triangles in order to bind off. I memorized the pattern part but the beginning & ending happen so infrequently, I need my cheatsheet to finish.

A "que" update - Looking over my *to-dos* on ravelry, tonight, I am really feeling like a knitting slacker. There is no real reason that I shouldn't have a handful of FOs by now. Socks. Not a freak'n ONE, let alone a pair. Socks are, so far, the only knitted item I actually wear with regularity. I LOVE knitting them and wearing them. And the sock yarn? I have in spades! In fact, I have a beautiful sock yarn from Jollyewe. (Oh, and if anyone ever buys her
"Oceano" colorway? I will stab them with all the needles I own . . . and I own a lot of needles. Just say'n. Jollyewe may want to save mankind from my evil plans by setting that one skein to the side so as not to be purchased by anyone but the person who actually moved from Oceano to the ghettoness that is P'ville. Seriously. Just say'n :grin: ) Even if there weren't socks to get to, there are a good 10 Christmas gifts I could be working on. Don't even get me talking about the 6 or so WIPs lounging around my house. There is no good reason that I haven't
picked this back up.

Life in General update -

Freckles has been back home for a few days. I think Freckles' new dietary requirements are easier to deal with than The Mike's constant worrying over her dietary requirements. Seriously. He's a wreck over her. She flat-out re-fucking-fuses to eat a decent amount of her diet food. My belief is that there is no way she's gonna let herself die of starvation, so eventually the girl's gotta eat. In the interim? I'm okay with waiting for her to figure it out, whereas I think Mike wants to chew it up for her and feed her like a baby bird. Hence the reason she's as big as a house. He thinks food = happy so he's passing that on to his favorites.

That, plus trying to coordinate one cat's dietary restrictions with 5 other cats' free-range grazing, plus two cats who don't like one particular cat, and one cat that would rather pee on anything owned by The Mike? It's a zoo around here.

Somewhere in all that nuttiness I still am not smoking. My drinking on the other hand . . .

I KID!

Tonight we had our regular 'Friday Night Dinner with the Other Fish'n People and their Spouses' but this time it was at one of our houses. It was as fun as usual, but there reached a point where I separated from the wives/girlfriends and knitted with the guys while we watched some Tivo'd fishing tournaments. One woman in particular just got to me. She went ON AND ON AND ON about (another) new baby in her family. First off, she's only the Aunt on this one (it's her younger brother's son's newborn). Second off, this baby? Comes from an EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD (for a whopping whole month so the baby was conceived when the *father* was all of 17 years old ferpetesfuck), and is still in high school! I ain't even making this up. That's not even the kicker though. The parents of these babies having babies made them get married . . . unbelievable. Now I'm not saying that people that created human life shouldn't NOT get married. My issue is that there was never *any* other option. At all. Five minutes of unprotected sex has now become a legal contract and a lifetime commitment.

The "grandpa" of this new baby just happens to be the guy that my husband was very close to, growing up. Of course, I just had to be me, and made a point to mention that Mike not only isn't a GRANDFATHER at the ripe old age of 38, why, he's not even a father-father.

Unbelievable.

I had such a more relaxing time tonight hanging out with the guys, knitting and listening to the fish talk. They don't bat an eyelash when I whip out the fiber and needles - even at the restaurants (and you know that I do that).

Why can't most women be easier to hang with? 'Cuz most of them are high on the BabyCrazy.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Road Trip!

Sunday (February 10, 2008) The Mike and I went on a driving excursion so I could play with my camera.

Get this though! Not just my Point & Shoot Kodak V570 digital camera that I always take pictures with, but also with two Minolta 35mm cameras that KnittingSuzanne ( over at ravelry ) has loaned me to 'practice' with.

The 35mm photos aren't available to be seen yet, but I had such a fun time playing with all of them!

Thank you Suzanne, for entrusting me with your gear. I'm tickled pink to be given the opportunity to learn this fancyschmancypict'rtak'n stuff!

Speaking of Suzanne, we had our second-ever Bakersfield ravelry meetup Saturday and I am (even more) inspired in my knitting love. To be meeting people that knit circles around me makes me want to be better at the craft.

And to end my Suzanne part of the post: Stitches West!! I am so excited, and looking forward to hanging out with her there. It's gonna be so fun.

Foot update: Still fractured, but less so than 7 weeks ago. The good Doctor said I'm on track and just to do what doesn't hurt or make it worse. And I paid HOW MUCH for that pearl of wisdom? I kid. Kinda. The foot *is* getting better, to be sure, although some evenings it really hurts and pretty much every night while laying in bed it seizes up/spasms. I'm sticking with positive vibes though.

Smoking update: In 7+ weeks I have had three cigarettes. Yes. I smoked them. Reasons, excuses, whatever you want to call them, I have them. The last one was after the big blowout with The Mike and the State of our Union address. The cigarette tasted terrible. The cravings really havent abated 100% (more like 75% but that other 25%? Annoying as fuck).

I've just decided that I don't want to be a smoker. Period. It literally stinks.

Freckles: She's been at the Vet since last week. Her bladder/urinary problem was worse and needed to be stabilized. On top of that, the Vet finally told Mike like it is and said Frecks Is. Too. Damn. Fat. Frecks tops the scales at 13+ lbs and a *normal* cat should weigh in around 8 lbs. So, while being under observation for her bladder, they've tried to introduce her to the idea of 'diet'. From what we hear, she's protesting the concept. Vehemently and stubbornly. Takes after The Mike.

I'll save the rest of the topics for another day. Y'all really don't want to hear about crappy marriages now do you?

(to see the entire group of pictures from the road trip, clickyclackity here )

Monday, February 11, 2008

Room for Sweater Puppies?

I plan on blogging REAL stuff real soon - brokenass foot updates, marriage updates, lack of a job (not me) updates, road trip and fabulous picture taking updates, knitting friends updates and Life in General updates.

But before all that happens, I just HAVE to show you this:




I've promised myself that knitting a sweater is in my future (damn, that April '08 starting mark keeps getting closer!) but I aim small and kinda have a baby/toddler/kidlet sweater in mind.

That was until I perused the latest Patternworks catalogue and laid my eyes on this beauty from Classic Elite Yarns! I KNOW! Me. That. Knitting. Goal. SCARY!

It's funny, but I don't even like the Feather & Fan motif in general. This sweater though? Love it.

Here's my concern. My "girls", aka "boobs" are not of average or even slight stature. They are what they are and they are C+. I'm all for the tank/undershirt like the model sports, so don't think I plan on parading around bareskinned except for the sweater!

What I wonder is, are they gonna look even bigger in that sweater? THAT I don't need.

Man I love that sweater though.

What say you guys? Does that sweater have the proper shape for those with sweater puppies?

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Salmon and Roe


Salmon and Roe, originally uploaded by ajdury.

One of the project365 themes this week had to do with taking a picture of a meal/food.

This week's 'Friday Night Group of Fisherpersons and Their Significant Others Go To Dinner Together' is on hiatus due to an out-of-town fishing tournament this weekend.

We really enjoy those rare non-planned dinners because we get to do our own thing and not worry about what 10 other people think.

So sushi it was, and we LOVED it, like usual.*

I'm all about the sashimi, and The Mike is all about the tempura anything meat.

Tonight he enjoyed several items of non-fried tastiness. I KNOW!

My Spicy Tuna roll? He loved. One word - Spicy. The Together roll has flayed shrimp and he loves shrimp in every form.

Before he met me, he'd never ever once EVER tasted Japanese or Thai or Indian food.

Evah.

I KNOW!

Yes . . . I married him anyway. He's better for it, don't you think? LOL

(* last week's theme had to do with getting permission to take a pic. I never felt comfortable *asking* so I didn't particpate in that one. Tonight, I brought out the camera when we got our Miso soup and The Mike didn't bat an eyelash. He's learning that I love LOVE love taking pictures of pretty much anything. After several pictures of our dinner, he still didn't say one everlov'n word. Really - he knows now. It was when I started snapping pics of the entire restaurant and many of their patrons that Mike looked at me as if I'd sprouted snakes from my scalp and said "I'll be in the car". No really. He said that and sat in the car LOL!)

Thursday, February 7, 2008

My Ball. Has You Seenz It?


My Ball. Has You Seenz It?, originally uploaded by ajdury.

There has been some turmoil at KBC lately.

People have been told they need to get a J.O.B. or they need to get the eff out.

In a loving way, of course.

People have chosen to start looking for a J.O.B.

People have needed to stick up for their sanity and their place in society while choosing to honor their vows.

People are figuring it out and getting it together.

While people do that . . .

Life goes on.

Hunter is gone and we still think of him every single day.

We miss him even though we know he's not suffering anymore.

We still miss him anyway.

Priscilla (that ChowHound in the pic) misses him too. It's different for her now, and she's gotten more clingy to us and to her things . . . okay, her ball. She loves it more than ever.

All the inside kids are great except for Freckles. She's back at the vet (evening of day 2) without a diagnosis. Peeing - blood - medicine taken - no change. Fingers crossed we can figure it out.

Fingers crossed.

Saturday is the (BIG PIMP'N) 2nd Bakersfield ravelry group meet up!

Comment me if you want to know what I speak of.

I really need to blog more - this post must seem all over the damn place!!

Note to self: BLOG MORE!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

January 2008 Project 365


January 2008 Project 365, originally uploaded by ajdury.

My January 2008 in pictures. Sadly, there are only two that represent the knitt'n going on 'round here!

Right now I'm knitting wire with little seed beads strung on it, on size 4 needles.

Pretty fun!!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Day 33 - Shadow


Day 33 - Shadow, originally uploaded by ajdury.

I cheated on this one, kind of. The theme for today is "Shadow" in honor of Groundhog Day.

Meet *my* "Shadow", lol !!

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.


This flickr + Blogger thing is kick ass.

I told y'all I'm a dumbass learning the intronets, lol!

Nut Crackers:

Tomorrow is going to be such a fun day!

It's been a longassed time since I've played with beads and wire and small hand-held tools, but thanks to proper planning on my end, that's all my Saturday is going to be about.

The Mike is in a fishing tournament tomorrow (can't remember if it's
W.O.N. Bass or some other thing he's a part of) but he's outta here at Dark:Thirty a.m. Saturday and I won't see him again until Dark:Thirty p.m. later that day.

Score!

Other things going on 'round these parts:

There will be the checking up on my favorite blogs and definately the updating/listening to my 715 'new to me' knitting podcasts. Y'all know there will be some picture tak'n for my ravelry photog group, and mindless background noise, courtesy of Netflix.


For now . . . Bye bye Sweetie Pies, Nut Crackers, and Nut Pies!