Random Pictures Wednesday:

Here's the felted vase I made out of Lisa Souza's discontinued yarn

Now with needle felting!

Sorry - the camera has a problem capturing the true purple color

Last night's sunset.

It was so beautiful!

My camera's 'panoramic' setting in use (from r to l)

I elected to angle up on the left end,

to not have the 'fish eye' shot which is typical of

panoramic shots with this camera

Seriously. I thought there was a fire

in the neighborhood to the west of us . . .

until I smelled orange blossoms in bloom instead of smoke.

Yesterday's sunset was stunning.

Final shot of yesterday's sunset - I swear!

Lake Kaweah this last Sunday.

The water is SO high now.

That boat far in the right side background?

It's about where the club launched just a few months ago.

Unfrigg'nbelievable!

From the passenger's side of the car,

motoring back on home after the team tournament.

Sunday's sunset.

The sky was the color of sherbert.

My camera couldn't quite capture the brightness of the colors.

Hey, hey!

Lookie at my Pinwheel Baby Sweater WIP!

This was taken Sunday evening and

I'm way past that, if'n you can believe it.

(as an aside - I'm using my vintage Boye circular needle set, circa 1970)

Do you see that minty green yarn in the middle of the blue there, in front?

That's where a sleeve is going . . .

so the pattern tells me.

I'll let'cha know when I get to that part.

Porterville is crazy on patriotism

(and I know there's a reason, but I need to locate the source of the info.

more on that when I can find it. Jen, if you know the particulars, let me know.)

Near the corner of Main St. and Olive (or Hockett and Olive)

the local grocery store has a HUGE flag always flying on the flag pole.

Huge-Huge.

I've only once ever seen a flag this big before. I'll tell you about it one day.

It made me cry and still chokes me up when I think about it.

This was Friday's sunset,

driving west on 190 from Rustler's.

I was trying to get a shot of the color of the sky.

The color is there, but the tree jumped outta nowhere, I tell ya!

Another tree shot.

I love the surreal aspect.

The Mike and I went to dinner Wednesday.

I told him he's looking over the camera . . .

He then got caught staring at my chest.

BUSTED!

When I enjoy sushi, it's all about the raw and natural.

It's a freak'n SUSHI joint!

Mike though?

He'd eat fried dog food, so long as he had the hot sauce for it.

In the forefront of that picture is sushi.

FRIED FUCKING SUSHI.

What the heck is wrong with this guy?

(full disclosure: oh my lawdy lawdy that sushi was scrumdeeleeicious. That other stuff? No Thank You.)

Random picture.

It's hard (for me) to get a shot of a flag completely unfurled and in full glory.

That's a nice flag anyway though.

The rose from my "Professional's Day" day

The lantern above our head at dinner.

"Anticipation"

Mike added the beans at the top right.

He thought it would artistically (sp?) add to the shot.

I agree.

(two things I don't want to forget:

KnittingSuzanne - I even read the Harlot's post and STILL wrote "Los Angeles". I are dumb.

Jen: I'm going to look into that irs.gov stuff. I did realize after I posted that I didn't mean to imply the rebate has to be declared as 'income'. I meant that the rebate has to be deducted from a potential 2008 tax refund. I would be very surprised if the government is handing out $600 per person that doesn't have to be accounted for somehow somewhere on our 2008 Form 1040 - but I'll check it out further.)

Catching Up:

Whew. What headway I've made so far today, lemmetellya.

6 loads of laundry at this moment - with another 72 (conservative approximation) left. I should be able to bang out another 6 by bedtime tonight, thus leaving us buried under a small hill of unwashed clothing, compared to the very large hill I started out with.

Federal taxes. Done! Yippiee! In the spirit of truthfulness, I'd actually roughed them out several weeks ago, just to confirm we were on the 'refund' side and not the 'owing' side. Mike's unemployment was the only thing I was worried about, but we did fine - refund just like I planned. I made $4500 more in income from 2006 and Mike made $5400 less than 2006 (and this inludes his unemployment amount).

See why I can't get ahead?

Lest you all think I've lost my marbles, please rest assured that I am aware the filing deadline is April 15th. What y'all may not realize is that represents the day the government wants their money from you. When a person files 'an extension', it's just an extension of time TO FILE - not an extension of time TO PAY. When a person doesn't owe any money, or is getting a big fat refund, the government could care less if you ever file your taxes! For the last few years, the government automatically grants an extension to anyone that hasn't filed yet (and doesn't owe).

Here's another little fun fact: In order to be eligible for the 'economic stimulus' rebate*, you have to file your 2007 Federal taxes. Now do you see why I'm finally motivated to get that sucker off to them?

(*that money that 'ol Dubya is handing out starting today? It ain't free money. You will have to claim it as income on your 2008 tax return. It's your own money that you'd be getting in next year's refund 'scept he's giving it to you several months early. Keep that in mind as you prepare for 2008's tax preparation.)

Anywho - back to the tax preparation. Overall, it STINKS not having a professional program at my disposal to do my taxes. I could tweak a number on one form, and the rest of the forms would recalculate accordingly. Not so much when it's pencil to paper. That's the reason I'd rough-drafted it earlier. I hand prepared the 1040, Schedule A (itemized deductions) Schedule C (business activity) Depreciation and Loss from Theft (whatever that form is called - from Mike's truck and quad being stolen). That's what years of experience gets ya. The ability to do it 'old school' lol.

So, while I was knocking out the tax return, Mike was cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom. People, WE HAVE A COUNTER UNDER ALL THAT CRAP! I vaguely remember seeing one about fall of '07, but had plumb forgotten it since. He even pulled all the stove burner thingiees off and lifted the top of the stove and scrubbed everywhere and everything! Score.

It cracks me up, but he believes I had the tougher of the two jobs. I might have helped with that belief - given all the deep sighs and loud paper shufflings I was doing. See, he won't appreciate all my work if I let him know what a breeze tax prep is for me. Lord knows we don't want HIM to do it, just like we know we don't want ME doing any plumbing or kitchen cleaning. It ain't my thing.

Right now I'm taking a break while the clothes spin around and the tea brews - a little knitting break of an hour or two or three or . . . ? He got his chores done and he's off to the lake to 'look for fish beds' with a buddy, in anticipation of next weekend's tournament. My dumb ass thought alls you'd need to 'look' for something would be at least one working eyeball. His 'looking' requires a full tackle bag and FOUR fishing poles. FOUR! To 'look' for beds. :eyeroll: Guess my 'break' needs to include 1 pattern, size 9 circs and 5 balls of yarn. Just say'n.

Left to do: Finalize the month-end bookkeeping for my one 'on the side' client. This includes the 1st quarter payroll tax reports.

Unfortunately, you all know that my impending sighs aren't anything to feel sorry about. Shhsshh. Don't tell The Mike. I could get the toilets scrubbed on this one, lol.

I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can:

Hey all!

What can I say? Knitting my first "sweater" had overtaken my every waking moment.

I'm past the part where I use waste yarn to mark the sleeves - that I even know what that sentence means is HUGE. THANK YOU ravelry posts and groups and forums for that!

I've let a bazillion things fall to the wayside due to this first sweater.

1) KnittingSuzanne gave me the heads-up for Yarn Harlot's L.A. visit this next Saturday. BOOOOOOO that Yarn Harlot's people waited until the last damn minute to announce it! Some of us devotees have jobs and families and . . . eh . . . LIVES.

2) Something I'd wished I could've planned better to attend was Dani's birthday party yesterday (she's Laurenswool on ravelry if'n you didn't know that). I picked the wrong week to procrastinate on stuff! If I had been all caught up on regular stuff, then I'da been there. Damn it.

3) If I wasn't knitting my guts out, there would be a much more interesting blog post.

Sorry! I'm too busy knitting. Y'all know what that's like.

Is it grossly egregious that I'm taking a mental health (without pay) day tomorrow to catch up on laundry, cleaning, taxes and breathing?

Damn this first sweater.

I love it so.

Everyone that has sent me a note about anything lately? I hope that by tomorrow night I've caught up and can respond.

But Wait! There's More:

Completely unrelated to knitting, but I still wanted to relay this:

Today (a regular work day) was a GREAT day!

It's National Professional Assistant's Day or some such shit (the old non-politically correct Secretary's Day).

At my old job, the secretary got flowers/balloons from the owner, and the rest of us would buy her lunch or do something nice. Myself, I'm not a secretary so I give instead of receive.

This job? It's so male dominated that every one of us 'Corporate Office' employees are considered secretaries. It cracks me up that they don't know the white-collar difference between the *actual* secretary, the Human Resources/Accounts Payable person, the Accounts Receivables person and me - the person that does all the high-end accounting/financial stuff.

Normally, I get my hackles up when someone refers to me as 'the secretary'. I worked long and hard to move up the corporate ladder and it's been 20 years since my secretary days.

Today though, I sat back and enjoyed the spoils!

When I got in this morning, there was a box of chocolates and a card on my desk - from one of the General Managers. He thanked me (and the other three in their cards too) for doing a great job and (more importantly) for putting up with all of them.

A few hours later, the BIG BOSS (read Owner) informed us that A) he was leaving at noon and wouldn't return until Monday and B) to go to his restaurant for lunch on him.

As the four of us sashayed on out of there for lunch, he handed us the keys to one of the work vehicles and told us our 'chariot' awaited. He'd had it detailed!

We drove on up to the restaurant, and sat down to a plate of shrimp appetizers (that he had pre-planned). After we had ordered, and were chatting along, he (the BIG BOSS HIMSELF) showed up and *hand to heart* delivered our plates to our table himself.

That? That shit just never happens.

All of us have eaten up there plenty of times and when the owner is there (which is often), he is being served - not serving others.

I like to have fell outta my chair.

Us gals noshed and gabbed and had a relaxing time and enjoyed the special moment.

Then the boss came back and handed all four of us individual gift certificates. He said that although sales are down, he is very happy with the office staff. He should be, and my most satisfied moment of the entire day was hearing him say that.

He left to go where he was going and we wandered on back to work.

The day could've ended then and I'd be happy - but it didn't end there.

In the early afternoon, one of our store's salemen came avisiting and put a single rose in a vase on each of our desks. We wondered "what the heck?". Come to find out these roses were from the saleman. His 'thank you' to us.

Until there is a National Bookkeepers Day, I'ma soak up the love shown on Secretary's Day. It's nice to be appreciated - even for a day.

Decision 2008:

When I listen to knitting podcasts, I'm very much a 'one podcaster at a time' kind of gal. When I found Lime & Violet's, I ate them up entirely until I had depleted my stock. I did that with the KnitPicks one and David Reidy's as well.

Of course, it helps that I didn't get on the podcast bandwagon until (in some cases) years after they'd started their shows - thus giving me a slew of material to gobble up from start to finish.

David Reidy's was the latest I'd devoured and was the one I thought I would have the least interest in. I dunno - him being a dude, and foreign . . . and a dude. I just didn't think I was going to find him interesting.

Holy cats was I dead wrong on that one. He is probably my favorite of all so far (and I've listened to a fair bit of the podcasters out there). To start off with, his voice is very nice to have nestled in my ear (I wear headphones so as not to be annoyed with tv noises). He loves the process and structure of knitting and he communicates very well his thoughts and ideas and interests. The last few of his podcasts, he's lamented the lack of knitting items 'for blokes' in the knitting magazines.

Which brings me to my title. I never thought of the compilation of a knitting magazine from any other viewpoint than 'oh, lets see what they have that I'm never going to knit but just love the pretty pictures' angle, 'cuz . . . that's the angle I view them.

Sometimes I notice some baby-related item and breeze on by because I don't (yet) knit stuff for kids. Sometimes I notice there is a pattern for a men's vest or (gasp) tie, but again, I don't knit for dudes either, so I keep on truck'n. The Mike would rather stick a spinnerbait hook in his eye than be caught dead in some vest-like garment so why would I even pay attention?

Everything else is geared towards the ladies, and I love looking at it all. I don't plan on wearing any of it myself, but I do love the idea of knitting pretty things and pretty things are CHICK things - not dude and kid things.

So there I was last night, trying to find the right childs/kids sweater garment. All of a sudden I realized . . . there aren't too many kid things to knit in the Vogue or IK magazines!!! When I thought there was such a plethora (because I wasn't interested at the time) it now feels like quite a drought (desperately looking for something decent!).

I pulled out the two remotely possible pattern books I have (Something Something Knitting Something for the Pampered Baby Something and Knitting Something Year Round Something - [aren't you impressed with my mad memorization skills? Me either, LOL]). Absolutely zero appealed to me. I ravelled my little fingers off and still . . . nothing.

Today though, I hit paydirt.



Elann's Pinwheel Jacket by Shelley Mackie

Cute ain't it? Knit in the round and no seams. Hell, I could knit that in my sleep! I've made probably 15 felted purses just like that. The armhole part will be new to me, and thus enough of a challenge that I'm not cheating in any way (yeah, I know I'd only be *cheating* myself, but it matters to me).

So that's the news on the sweater front (but not the front of the sweater! HA! I slay me.)

Totally off topic: Ever since I went to Stitches West with KnittingSuzanne, I don't like Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

Sorry. I know some people just gasped out loud right there, but that's how I feel. It's not their yarn, or anything important. I was seriously NON-impressed with the way they ran their booth, and the icy attitude I felt when there. That's all. Because of that, even though I have gotten to touch Real. Live. Socks That Rock yarn and it's nice . . . I ain't interested. Let me rephrase. I *wasn't* interested. Until I just saw their latest colorway in honor of Stephanie Pearl-McFee's Doctor's without Borders charity cause.

It's called Knitters without Borders and I think I swooned slightly when I caught sight of it on Lime & Violet's Daily Chum today.



Get me a spoon because I want to eat this UP!

OH NO!:

Holy crap people!

Tomorrow is my 3 year knitting anniversary and the day I start my first sweater.

I gotta get to swatching, stat.

KnittingSuzanne shared her logic of making a child's sweater since I don't have enough of any stash to make an adult one at the moment. She is very smart!

Karabelle 8, in pastels. I have 5 or 6 balls of that.

Coincidentally, today's Classic Elite newsletter has a childs sweater featured. We'll see though - 1/2 the fun is searching on ravelry!

In other news, I'm lively again, but a bit sore. Seems throwing a line into the water again and again and AGAIN and againandagain (lather, rinse, repeat six bajillion more times) made me a tad sore in the right arm muscles. It's a sad state of affairs when the only 'sexy' going on at our house at the moment includes IcyHot rubdowns and naps together, lol.

Thursday is the 1 year anniversary of the Visalia group meeting up at Borders. KnittingSuzanne and I will be in attendance. I don't remember if Jollyewe is making this one or not, but I hope so. ZubieJen and SisterDi will be missed this time.

Gotta go swatch! Catch you cats later.

So Freak'n Tired:

Well, Good Morning!

More accurately - Good Evening!

First shot of the lake -

It's so dark, my camera doesn't have any light to use.

YAY!

Sun finally but it is NOT warm.

Note to self: make some 1/2 fingered gloves for us.

The competition.

Technically, Mike was my competition too -

it's an individual tournament.

My least favorite part of the entire event.

I HATE flying across the lake, with the boat's nose up in the air.

It scares the heck outta me!

My view for most of the trips back and forth.

Head firmly between knees so I don't pass out from fright.

This is a fishfinder/depth thingamabobber.

It shows that the water temp is 67 degrees, the boat is travelling 5.6 mph, the depth below the boat is 55 feet and it also shows the bottom with lots of fish hanging out.

This screen shows the water temp at 65 degrees, speed at 2.9 mph, depth of 9 feet,

and the water below the boat just FILTHY with fish!

It also shows the *structure* under water.

That there is *structure*

Things that the fish can hang out around.

Stuff like piers, trees, brush, docks, tires, dead bodies.

You know.

That's a brushhog.

With no fish on it.

We saw a LOT of that.

The tournament is over and we're heading back to the loading dock.

NOTHING, PEOPLE!

Oh, wait, actually Mike caught one fish that was 10 1/2 inches long.

They have to be 13 inches to qualify as a keeper.

I got two solid bites, but didn't hook either one.

The entire tournament had 23 fishermen (all of us)

and of those 23, only 7 fish were caught -

by 6 people.

That means about 3/4 of us didn't catch Jack Crap

and 1/23rd of us managed to hook two keepers for the day.

The biggest fish hooked weighed in at 8.22 (approx) lbs,

and the smallest keeper snagged was 0.84 lbs

I can honestly say that I find fishing fun

but catching fish is a damn hassle!!

Not once did I break out the knitting

and I talked Mike into fishing until the 2pm end.

He wanted to quit at 1pm in defeat.

WIMP.

We've been home since about 6pm and Mike's already had a nap, LOL.

I'm so freak'n tired that I think if I have a glass of wine right now,

I'd probably sleep until Tuesday afternoon.

*off to get myself a snoot of the vino*

See you Tuesday!

Wish Me Luck:

It's about 9:30 tonight, and I have to go to bed pretty dang early . . . but more about that later.

Today CJ (Jollyewe) picked me up, and then we picked up Jen (ZubieJen) and motored on down to Bakersfield to attend the monthly ravelry group meetup.

The three of us laughed alot on the ride down and back! Those two are some funny chicks, lemmetellya. In case y'all don't know this, the smell of Canned Ass is tolerable only when the item exuding said Canned Ass smell is 'cute'. Y'all know that already, right? And we're not talking babies, lol.

The meetup was as relaxing and easy-going as usual, although it did have the lowest attendence I think ever so far. I don't have my ravelry page open at the moment so I'm going off the top of my head: Ariliss (sp?), RedPixiSticks, YarnYady, Grandy, Strickker (I know who she is but I don't think I'm writing the ravelry name right), a lady who came with her, ZubieJen, Jollyewe and of course me.

Not a one of the Visalia people (who last Thursday said they would come). Booooo in them.

Too bad for them though - a good time was had by all. You'll have to ask Jollyewe to tell you about some of the ravelry groups she's happened upon. We all about died laughing.

Noticably absent was KnittingSuzanne but several of us already knew she wouldn't be there. That lucky duck has been hanging out with the likes of Cookie A, the Yarn Harlot and Cat Bordhi among others, at the annual Sock Camp. Yayyyy on her!

While I remembered to bring my promised ballwinder and swift, and the second sock from my delicious Lisa Souza project to knit on, alas I forgot my camera. Boooo on me. Both Jen and CJ had theirs, luckily, so I will make sure something is posted somewhere so I can be a woman of my word to SisterDi (I promised her I'd blog or post pictures since she has a work commitment that makes it nigh on impossible to make these Saturday meetings).

CJ delivered me to my doorstep about 5pm and got to meet The Mike and see his (our?) boat. He's so wrapped up in tomorrow he completely lost all grasp of his social skills. Sorry he was kind of a jerk CJ(although I SWEAR he's rarely a jerk to people other than his wife and lots of people think he's actually a nice person - unlike when people meet me for the first time, lol!).

Which brings me to tomorrow, people!

FISHING. TOURNAMENT. COLD. DARK:THIRTY. ME. TOMORROW!

After CJ left, I've been in go-go-go mode. Helped clean the boat, put it away, covered it up, started laundry, got a fishing license, bought the fix'ns for breakfast & lunch, got home and simultaneously (sp?) made three meals - breakfast burritos and sammiches for tomorrow and dinner for tonight, cleaned up the kitchen, and now I'm blogging AND helping Mike string poles while the laundry finishes up.

Whew. I'm exhausted physically but I still need my *down time*. About 10-ish, I should be able to just sit and read for a bit to wind down.

Oh, and y'all KNOW I have knitting ready for tomorrow too, right? In a ziplock baggy in case we capsize. If for any reason I have to actually enter the lake, there are only three things left to do at that point.

1) Save the knitting. Lisa Souza 100% merino in a discontinued yarn. Y'all know.

2) Scream my head off and flail like a maniac, thus sabotaging any attempt of rescue.

3) Kill Mike.

I love love LOVE water but I hate hate HATE actually being *in* it. Scares the Holy Bejeezus out of me. All that *stuff* under me that I can't see. Yuck. I'm not worried about drowning. The tourney requires all boaters to use life-jackets and I really can swim well. My stark fear is something brushing my foot or leg and me completely losing my ever-lov'n mind in panic. If y'all hear a bloodcurdling scream between 5am and 2pm . . . send up a prayer . . . for Mike. I'ma kill him for dunking me in the drink before I succumb to my fright.

Wish me luck (and alot of you guys have already told me you're looking forward to me SMOK'N these guys tomorrow). I have as good a chance as everyone else and I'm feeling good about it.

If it blows monkey chunks though? I've got the knitting and the camera to entertain myself, lol.

FISH ON.

The Weekend of Firsts:

A short one right now, but I just had to post something!

Saturday, I went fishing for the first time (that I know of), and have to say . . . it's actually kind of fun. It wasn't the tournament - just practice fishing.

Being around water is always relaxing to me so even though I never did catch anything I still enjoyed spending the time throwing lures into the water. One of my lures was a 'wacky rig'. Nothing in the water was interested in wacky ANYTHING, lol.

We went to Costa's Twin Lakes, off Globe Drive. Just down the road from your patch of land ZubieJen! If you've never gone, GO! Pack up the kidlets, the Hub and some poles. It's so neat. There are tons of places to hang out and fish around the bodies of water. You can bring your own food/drink and it's all of $7.00 a person for as many hours as you want.

I have loads of pictures (surprised?) and The Mike even took a few of me fishing. Wait until you see the difference in our picture-taking skills. His of me are aweful and I don't mean in that 'oh, I hate having my picture taken' self-conscious way. More in the vein of 'don't bother focusing or making sure your subject is entirely in the shot' kind of way.

Early on Saturday, I helped with the City's annual "Kid Fishing Derby" day at Murry Park. The Success Bass Club (pretends) to help out. OOOOOHH MAAAAN do I have a rant for another day. I'll just let y'all know I had a melt-down of epic proportions and demanded we leave before the event was even over. It wasn't the kids that sent me over the edge in any way.

My other first? KITCHENER people. The dreaded yet awed kitchener stitch!

After I posted about knitting this sock in de-damn-licious Lisa Souza pure (feltable) merino and how only other fiber enthusiasts would really understand the care needed for all that hard work, you guys chimed in and really got me thinking.

When I first started it, my mindset was 'it's for me so *good enough* is good enough'. Once I started imagining actually giving it away, all of a sudden I took pride in it's potential perfection. Yes. I know that we all know that us knitters/crocheters/etc. don't demand perfection of others like we do of ourselves. If I k2tog in the wrong spot somewhere, none of y'all would throw this back at me or laugh at me or not still enjoy it.

Doesn't matter. When I look at something like KnittingSuzanne's green cabled sweater, all I see is perfection. She might possibly see the one (if there is one, I'm presuming) mis-stitch and think that is all others see also. I thought about this alot while I knit this sock. Gotta say though. This sock actually is almost 'perfect' lol. I really paid attention.

Then I started thinking about the concept of *my* knitting not being worthy as a gift to someone who is a much more talented knitter/crafter. Again, I *know* that's not true. You all wrote that you'd LOVE something hand-knit from a person because of what you know it truly represents.

So, my perfect sock was finally at the end of it's completion and I kept mulling over the gift idea.

Then I faced my fears head-on and pulled out the Vogue Knitting Dictionary (whatever that gigantic Vogue book is called) and looked up "kitchener stitch" in the index. It ain't there y'all. Luckily, in my panic-ridden flipping through, I found the "grafting" section (duh) and set to work.

I had 13 stitches each on two needles. It took three starts, and alot of sighing, but it's done. About the last 7 stitches (on each needle) it finally felt like I was doing it right.

So. My first kitchener ain't pretty, but it's alllllll mine. In the end I decided I want to keep this pair as a reminder of my knitting beginnings. This is the first pair with no discernable laddering. YAY! The first pair as close to having been done from a pattern as I'm mentally capable. The first pair I continued the k1,slip1 pattern through the heel turn and along the entire bottom (thanks to KnittingSuzanne showing me that idea on her sock she took on Thursday to Visalia) and the first sock that I did the kitchener stitch all by my onesies! The mate will be better just by practice alone.

Up next? Catching a damn fish and mastering the Kitchener.

KnittingSuzanne - have a GREAT week! I'm so excited for you!
Jollyewe - See you Saturday!
ZubieJen - Are you going on Saturday?
EllenBloom - I look forward to reading more of your activities! You're invited this Saturday too, in case you don't already have something more fabulous than a Bakersfield meetup to go to, lol.

(pictures to follow later - gotta make myself go to bed so I can get through tomorrow's slog of a day)

A Sponge-Worthy Update, sans pictures:

Aren't those the worst updates ever?

I totally agree.

When you knit your own stuff, for your own enjoyment and edification, pictures aren't necessary.

Pictures really kick butt when you either 1) want to see what someone else is doing or 2) want show what you've accomplished.

Here's the deal.

I've taken WIP pictures of both projects I finally finished tonight. Surprisingly, each one turned out different than I'd anticipated.

First up: This kookie crazy mohair scarf that I'd had as a WIP for quite a while. It is beautiful in its rainbow halo glow. The colors are so true and the long hairs of the yarn give it an ethereal glow. I figured it would felt down to a subtle rainbow collage and be even thicker than what I had knitted.

Second up: Lisa Souza's scrum-dee-licious merino hand-dyed from 2006 (discontinued and BOOO for that) knitted into a tube to become a wine bottle cozy.

The rainbow scarf? Didn't even BEGIN to felt. Not at all and not even kinda-sorta. My ass is lucky that it survived the two washings with a tennis ball and pair of The Mike's jean shorts intact. Weirdly, it not only survived . . . but is still beautiful in it's rainbow halo glow.

The wine cozy? Felted it's ASS OFF. In the back of my mind I doubted that I 1) had the right yarn label, 2) Everyone else with the yarn had the right label, 3) Would ever felt at all.

It felted beautifully.

So, both those WIPS are off the needles and done. No pictures (yet, and I suck for that).

Here's why though. I immediately threw Lisa's yarn back onto size 3 dpns to make socks for ME. No time for pictures, people! There is sock knitting to be done.

The ME that knits and appreciates tactile . . . uhm . . . satisfaction. And by "tacticle satisfaction" y'all know what I really mean. YUMMMM.

Who else (don't raise your hands KnittingSuzanne and Jollyewe and EllenBloom and HollyB and ZubieJen) could I knit 100% merino feltable wool socks for, that would take the care needed to appreciate them?

Lisa Souza' yarn? Dare I say it?

Only for the "sponge-worthy"

Public Service Announcement 2:

Did you know, in the state of California, that the Controller's office holds any unclaimed money you may have coming?

Stuff like, oh, lets say you had insurance with Auto Insurance Company. At some point you terminate your account because you're moving to another town and want something more local to your new residence. Unbeknownst to you though, AIC might have made an adjustment to your account and you ended up being due a refund of $(enter amount here). AIC mailed you a check, but since you moved, it doesn't end up in your mailbox and instead got returned back to AIC.

That's the kind of money that our Controller's office is holding for you!

It's very common for people to move and forget they have a bank account hanging out there with a small balance left. If you don't officially 'close' the account, then the bank really doesn't know anything except that you aren't using it day-to-day. The money just sits there until 3 or 4 or 15 years later, when the bank cleans up their stuff and shoots you a check to close your account. Only they're sending it to the last known address from 3 or 4 or 15 years ago.

Your money? Ayup. It's at the Controller's office!

Here's something else you may not be aware of: There are companies out there whose sole business activity is to keep an eye on the State's unclaimed property website and to notify anyone they can locate themselves. They let the person know there is money out there with their name on it, and this nice company will help them get their own money back . . . for a fee.

Some of these companies are legitimate, some are fly-by-night. Depending on your circumstances though, this service (and fee) could possibly be unnecessary.


The State Controller's Main Information Page.

The Unclaimed Property Search page.

The most straight-forward scenario for the easiest results is: Company ABC owes you less than $1000, and it is listed in your correct name with information that is easy to substantiate (mailing addy, etc.) Fill out the on-line form, provide the required documents and bingbangboom (plus several weeks) you get a check from the state. No fees deducted.

If you are claiming property on a decedent, then it's a bit more tricky, but still do-able.

If your claim is over $1000 then a notary is required, but again, still do-able.

So. What are you waiting for? Get the hell over there and start searching for your own money!!

Here are some search tips I suggest:

Try different spelling variations on your last name
Try searching for just the few first letters of your last name
If your name is common, use middle initial
If you ran a business (even sole proprietors) look under that name.
Bookmark the search page and search once a month!!
Search on behalf of family and close friends (the ones that wouldn't consider it snooping if you hit something and were to tell them to go look themselves)
Don't assume you're not on there.

I do this for my work, and every month there's another new claim listed. I search by the owner's last name only, his last name plus first name initial, the business name, the first few letters of the name, the OTHER business' name . . . you name it. So far I've found him $2199.08 between his personal name and the two different business' names.

I've found The Mike $78+ from his old mortgage company. His parents about $300 and one of his brothers a few hundred. My adoptive parents have a few hundred with The Farm Bureau and my real mother has a few bucks coming from a bank and from the phone company. If they don't follow up it's on them, but they know now.

If any of you reside in another state (HI HOLLY B!), go to your state's Controller website and see if you can search too.

Why the hell not? It's like free money, and who among us wouldn't love some free money?

Update Quickie:

I'm about to go to bed, but I wanted to give y'all the results from the gar(b)age sale, since several of you were so nice in your well wishes on it.

We got $283 total. YIPPIEE!!!!

Then ran around doing errands:

Groceries for the week - $168
Gas in my car (barely over 1/2 a tank, grrr) - $45
Rent on my little knitting booth space - $45
Responding with 'no thank you' when The Mike's dad stopped by during the sale to ask us if we needed to borrow some money - PRICELESS

Seriously, this gas thing in our country is out of fucking control. It's affecting everything. $168 to buy one roast, one package of chicken and one package of hamburger, as well as some fresh vegetables and staples to cook those three meals this week. No soda, no knitting magazines, no chips, no alcohol, not one dessert product or snacky thing. Oh, there was a frozen pizza in there too. Pretty much it was all necessities and zero impulse/junk. $168 to prepare 4 meals. That's crazy, people.

I am very lucky (and know it) that my work commute is a whopping 4 miles round trip each day. A half a tank of gas is plenty. It really only affects my 'for the sole purposes of picture taking' excursions, and I can live with that.

Oh, and I forgot to tell y'all - about two weeks ago The Mike interviewed with the city for a job in Public Works. He just got a letter stating (paraphrased) that he "passed the oral examination and has the kind of experience needed for this position". Then, in the next paragraph it said they "will keep his name on a list for the next year". HUH?

We did just hear too that another position with them has opened (as of Friday) so he's going tomorrow to apply for that one too.

Fingers (and toes and legs and eyes) crossed.

No Picture Friday=Aprilness:

Sorry guys. No pictures today. Just the 'talky talky' stuff.

1) We're having a gar(b)age sale again tomorrow. Our second ever.

This sale is for the purpose of being able to afford groceries and gas in the car this coming week.

If you think I'm kidding?

So. Not. Kidding.

2) Don't feel sorry for us.

Feel sorry for ME. I go to work each and every day. Broken-assed foot? Went to work. Beautiful sunny day outside? Went to work. Back out of whack? Went to frigg'n work. Each and every single day you will find my nose pressed firmly to the grindstone.

3) At some point in the last two weeks, my vocal chords separated from my brain waves and I uttered the sentence "I'ma fish the next tournament." Out loud and everything! What the hell is wrong with me? a) I don't know how to fish. I don't think there has ever been a time where I've held a rod, let alone put the stringy end into a body of water. b) Fish creep me right the fuck out. I have a rule that everything I ingest cannot have a face, skin, fins, bones or crustaceous (sp?) parts still attached to it. c) This is seriously going to cut into my knitting and picture taking time. d) I'm smart and when I put my mind to something I have a pretty good success rate. e) None of these other MoFos can catch fish in our tournaments lately so I figure . . . why the hell not fish it? I have as good a chance as all these other no-fish-catchin-yahoos, don'tcha think?

4) knitting. Yep. Still do it. You 'member, 'member? How I'm knitting that *wine cozy* thing from my 2006 Lisa Souza yarn purchase? Holy crap that yarn is deeee eff'n licous. I'm knitting in the round and I don't think I want to stop. The color is a beautiful mix of green/teal/purple and the feel is just buttah under my fingers. When I started knitting with this yarn, I had picked up the smaller cake of it (it's some gargantuan yardage and my ball winder couldn't hold it all in one cake so I had to break off after balling up about 80% of it and create a smaller cake with the rest of it. The smaller one is what I started knitting up at first.) While I was knitting on the smaller cake, I had the brainiac idea to use the larger cake to whip up a(nother) My So Called Scarf. That So Called Scarf is currently a WIP off the larger cake and the Wine Cozy is past the smaller cake and now onto the outer end of the larger cake. The more I knit on that Wine Cozy (in the round) the more I want to frog the So Called Scarf side and make some dee eff'n licious socks with whatever is left. Seriously. This yarn is something special and something this special needs to be for just ME ME ME.

5) I still plan on hitting my "Very First Ever Sweater Cast On" deadline this month. It's even marked on my work calendar (where I notate when I have to calculate payroll taxes or sales tax or finish the 2007 financial statements for submission to the owner/accountant/bank).

6) One day I'll tell y'all why I cannot travel and visit The Yarn Harlot, David Reidy, Alaska, Buckingham Palace or even Prague. It's a tragic tale and must be told.

7) Blog stuff: I have an account with Bloglines (the place where I can spot check all the blogs I want to keep an eye on, and thankyouverymuchtoJollyeweforcluingmeintothisawesomeness!) and I check it . . . oh . . . about 1 bazillionty times a day. Right now (*right now* being when I updated it two hours ago) my unread blog entries clock in at 7,078. Ain't kidding you and I have a picture to prove it, lol. Here's the thing though. The blogs I actually scroll down, to look for updates? In their order are: boogaj, Carrieoke, PerezHilton (I know, I know, I KNOW! Y'all know I know better), The Chicken of Antioch (we all know that's 1/2 of the The Lime & Violet duo), Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, Crazy Aunt Purl, Domain Dephal, Jen is Not Crafty, Jollyewe knitting blog, Knit with Snot (for your pleasure), Knitting Blue (content, not color!). HOLY CRAP! That's me!, knittyBlog, Lime & Violet's Daily Chum, Rabbitch (honestly people? I want to grow up and be her. I used to want to grow up and be Jessica Savitch, but she went and died and had some controversy. Rabbitch has controversy while she's still alive and kicking. Rabbitch is an awesome blogger and that's all I have to say about that), Ravelry : news, Scout's swag (if you don't enjoy her monthly calendars, then I don't even know you. Her picture tak'n awesomeness is only surpassed by her yarn dy'n awesomeness. She radiates awesomeness), SundayUndies, Turtlegirl's Bloggy Thing, Yarn Harlot. Those that I didn't list here are picked up on ravelry. Dulcedosa, Ellen Bloom, StudioD, laurenswool, kadiddly. Thank you guys so much for putting your stuff out there for perusal. Can I just speak my mind and say that Jollyewe and Jen is Not Crafty and laurenswool do NOT blog enough? Blog people! If I miss your updates then there are at least 10 others that are missing you too. Just say'n.

8) After all this "Poor talk", y'all may be wondering how it is that I'm on Teh Intronets talking to you. It's a simple story, really. Somebody in my ghetto neighborhood has an unsecured internet connection. Thank Ye for that, Ghetto Neighborhood Denizen.

9) I could go on and on. No, really. Swear to gawd I could. Consider y'all saved from my verbal onslaught. You're welcome :tongue in cheek:

10) See #1. My ass has to be up and perky at First Light O'Clock tomorrow. While I'd normally respond with "Fuck That", this time I have to scarf down a serving of Humble Pie alongside my first cup of coffee tomorrow a.m. Don't bother wishing *me* luck for this foray. Put your hands together for The Hub and whomever lands on our driveway looking for a bargain at 7 a.m.

Did I mention that I'm not exactly a "people person" ??? Hard to believe, I know . . . .

11) Jollyewe. I'm sorry to hear that your mom has progressed to this point. I'm sorry for you and what you are experiencing. Always being The Strong One has a toll. Just say the word, Hon.

Jen is Not Crafty. Whatever you need. When we went down to B'field and back? One of my favorite times.

Got a Feather?:

Remember when I blogged this picture the other day? It's a submission for the ravelry Project365 group I'm in . . . ?

Personally, I like it alot, but I certainly don't think it's exceptionally "WOW",

if you know what I mean.

As of today, that picture has been viewed 113 times

and 'favorited' a whopping 15 times.

I KNOW!

A few of my pictures have been favorited in the past, and I can see why the choice was made in those instances . . . yarn they liked, or it was a good shot for the particular theme.

This one though, just blows me away.

Here's a sampling of the people who 'favorited' that top picture,

and a taste of their own picture-tak'n skills.

peopea

carlosjm

sumul

Lastly, this guy KrisKros but all his photos are unlinkable.

Seriously.

You could knock me over with that feather now

'cuz I just don't believe it.

My little 'ole Kodak v570 'point & click' and no altering picture program (outside of Kodak's 'enhance' feature in its software) is getting such interest.

Shocking.

As Promised - Flashing the Stash:

Click here to see all the 'notes'

You can see all 64 pictures here!