Lorenzo Knits A Tomato

Get Fuzzy
      by Darby Conley
    

P.S.  I had to shrink it down, to make it fit.  Sorry.

Bucky Kat (yes, that's how he spells it) is giving Rob the "I've got my eyes on you, pal." look.

You wait too long.  Stuff goes by.  Thoughts flit in and out.

That's the result of not posting for almost 2 weeks.

Wesley The Impaler enjoy some quiet time in his Mom's sack. (You can laugh.  But it's really great for those nasty, cold days.  And you get to look like a purple Oompah Loompah!)

What?  You can't make out his facial expression?  OK.  Check this one out.  He's enjoying my zipper.

Nice fangs, huh?

Last week was a knitting meetup.  5 lovely ladies showed up (I'll include myself in that tally though I'm not as lovely as most.)  We had a great time with the knitting and talking and eating - ya gotta love having meetings at Panera!

The discussion got around to Tom's Drunken Argyle Vest.  I'm having a H-E-double-hockey-sticks of a time with the back.  Size 2 needles and black yarn.  NOT going to be on my "What I Want For Christmas" list. But I'm determined to make this vest.

A few of the suggestions, to ease my pain, were:

• Tell Tom that you left it at Panera and when you went back to get it, it was gone.
• Burn it.
• Tell him it will make him look fat and you don't want to do that to him.
• Burn it at someone elses house.
• Do it in the round so the black knitting is offset by the intarsia. (I later realized that you can't really do intarsia in the round...can you?)  HOWEVER, if you mess up one side of the vest, you'd have to rip ALL of it out to fix.
• Rip it out and donate the yarn...or burn it.  It's just got Bad Juju.

I appreciated all of the help.  And ponder which of these ladies are going to get the black yarn as a Holiday Swap gift.  Can't wait for the Holiday Meetup!

I'm about 3" into the 2nd Central Air sock.  The first sock is patiently waiting for its mate.

Yesterday was a wonderful, quiet, busy day.  Tom and I hit the floor running...down to the kitchen.  Put a chocolate cake in the crockpot (I don't recommend it).  Seasoned the turkey breast and stuffed it back into the fridge.  Made some pizzelles (YUM!) Made a new corn, side dish. Scrapped plans to fry some turkey tenders.  Sat for a bit and then put turkey into oven.  Finally ate dinner.

We thought we were going to sit and relax most of the day.  Ended up being in the kitchen for most of it.  But it was FUN.  We hardly g et to spend that kind of time together, lately. 

And we got to laugh about how it took most of the day to make the dinner and only 20 minutes to eat.

As a reward for being too lazy to clear up the outdoor potted plants and wildflowers, I found that some flowers just refuse to give in to the cold weather.

This pot was planted with ONLY black pansies.  The yellows came up towards the end of the summer with no black pansies at all.  And now they're mixing it up.  Amazing.

I just let these babies keep reseeding.   Never planted them in the first place (2 years ago) and don't want to cramp their style.

Remember...

HAPPINESS IS A WARM MAMA SACK.

Today I'm feeling FIBULAS!

And you can, too.  These beauties came from Chris . (I can't put in a link to her Etsy shop. Etsy is upgrading.  When it's back on track you can get there directly.).  Hustle on over and pick some up for your winter knits.

Something else that helps the Monday blues - CHOCOLATE.

It's not that I was hungry when I hit Wegman's.  I had just left the dentist office and felt like I deserved some kind of treat.  What with all of the holiday candy lining the aisles, I was in dark chocolate heaven.

Moose in a bar!  How could that be bad?

This looked so wild I just had to try one.

Monday and everyone is happy.

Title suggestion rejected by Kazuo Ishiguro -

REMAINS OF THE BREAKFAST

Chris and I went to Cracker Barrel on Friday.  No, she didn't sneak out of school - she had the day off. (This revelation prompted a strange, 1-finger high five from Amy. ;-O)  While Chris cleaned her plate, I stopped before I had to open the snap on my jeans. 

CRACKER BARREL GOOOOOOOD!

We also tried to get to The Yarn Gallery, in Reading, but the traffic was more than I could handle - what with the joys of PMS and such, so we hung a "U" and headed back to Barnes & Noble.

Today was Knitting Meetup Day!  Whoo Hoo!  Here's a shot of everyone. 

Let me say that no one was looking AT me because I was standing on the fireplace hearth(?) with a sock (Chris's I-Fell-Down-The-Stairs socks) on my head, while I took the picture. 

Maybe they didn't want to admit knowing me?  I just don't know.  It's not like other knitters don't put strange knitted stuff on THEIR heads.  Oh, come on, you KNOW you do it too!

I was working on my Central Air socks.  1 round took me about an hour because I couldn't remember what round I was on...out of FOUR rounds.  And 2 of those are just knit and purl.  But I had a headache, too.  Yeah, that was it.  A Headache slowed me down.

Coffee and Feathers?

Stick with me.  Somehow, this week, they went together.

I went to Starbucks and while I was waiting for my drink, Mike the Barista came in and said, "Anyone want a parrot?".

I, like any normal person, said, "Huh?".

"They're in a tree in back of the store.  Red and green parrots."

This kind of thing knocks the breath out of me.  I feel for animals like most people feel for babies.  It's how my maternal instincts surface.

Thoughts running thru my head -

"It's freaking cold. They're gonna die out there."

"I can't have a bird.  Wes would think it tastes like chicken."

"Gosh, I really miss Perry (the parrot I gave up just before I got married)."

I walked around back and, sure as sh*t, there were 3 parrots sitting in a tree. 

Now, this is a Wal-Mart, SAM's Club shopping center.  Lots of stores, not so many houses.  Where the frick did these birds come from???

2 of the girls from Starbucks walked over with me.  I didn't want to scare the birds and we approached slowly.

SON OF A BITCH!  2 males and a female eclectus parrot!!!  I knew what they were because Tom and I had thought about buying one, about 10 years ago.

I had the number for the local Animal Hospital, on my cell.  I called them and asked "Who do I call about parrots in a tree?".  While I'm talking to the woman, a man gets out of an 18-wheeler that was parked nearby.  He walks up to the tree, sticks out his finger and takes one of the birds down.

"Are they yours?", I asked.

"Yup." Doh!

Me, to animal hospital woman, "I have to hang up now.  I have to hit this man." (Because I'm kind of aggressive in my talk.  All 5'2" of me.)

So.  The lost birds were no longer lost.  And I got to "hold" one of them and let her chew on my fingers - ouch! just a bit of blood was drawn. 

The trucker thought that they could use some fresh air and "tree" time.  Don't worry, their wings were clipped.  But these birds knew who paid their food bills and weren't about to go anywhere.  He thinks that the female is pregnant because she had just pulled her tail feathers (he said there's only one time that they do that.  I'm guessing it meant just after they've bred) and she was trying to build a nest in the tree.

Here are the pictures I took with my cell phone.  The female is the red one (hence, the male is the green).  Yes!  Finally a bird that has a prettier female!

Funny how the trucker had a yellow/green shirt on.  I don't want to tell you what else was all over his shirt.  But that's bird love for ya!

This little bit of bird time MADE MY DAY!!!!

Anything happen to you, recently, that's brightened your mood?

What's da passwoid?

I would have posted yesterday, but I was feeling pretty crappy.  Not sure if it was the long day on Saturday or the latest form of PMS torture.

Moving on...

Drove down to Stitches with Amy and her daughter, A, on Saturday.  The weather was beautiful and the drive wasn't complicated.  Well, not for me.  Amy did all of the driving and I really thank her for that!

Chris was supposed to go with, but she got sick and had to stay home and isolate her germs.  WE would have taken lots of pictures (on Amy's cell phone) and sent them to Chris, but they kept making announcements FORBIDDING any photography.  Kill-joys.

We got there just after the doors opened and after wandering around the convention center (really, guys, could you have sprung for a few signs that said "Marketplace on 4th Level"?) for about 10 minutes, we were IN.

After doing the first thing anyone would do after a Grande Latte and a 3.5 hour drive (oh, you KNOW what I'm talking about), we did the 2nd thing.  Looked for food.

Then I did the 3rd thing.  Popped off a temporary veneer with the aid of a soft pretzel.

Oh?  You mean everyone didn't do that?  Guess it was just me.

We did the usual wandering around.  Touching, oohing, feeling, drooling.  We covered the whole marketplace in 4 hours, including a lunch meeting with Jeanne, Helen and Linda (sorry, don't know if they have blogs!) from our Knitting Meetup group.  They had done some serious damage, even though they had only covered 2 aisles.

Another gripe - HELLO convention center.  You've got about a gazillion women on their way.  Do you think you could have better food than school hamburgers, rubber chicken sandwiches and fries?  Something fresh besides a few pieces of cut up fruit?  I'm just sayin'.

A. was a doll.  She was in charge of hauling my rolling bag, which became much more fun once she realized that it opened up and ROLLED.  So she carried whatever we bought.  I KNEW I should have had kids!  You won't see Wesley making himself that useful.

I guess she thinks being this cute isn't work!

Wanna see what I got?

Some beautiful, purple, cashmere from Belisa Cashmere, along with a pattern for a neat looking scarf.  The owners were so cute.  They didn't know what change to give me so the husband reached into his pocket, held out a handful of change and said "You pick". 

This pattern, from Interlacements.  I've wanted it since the Knit/Crochet Show, in Valley Forge, this summer.  I asked one of the workers if they had the pattern and she said "No.  You have to order it."  Good thing someone else was working there or I'd have walked away, AGAIN, without the pattern.  Get people that want to help you make sales.  It's a no brainer!

I was going to get the new Victorian Lace book, but got this one, instead.  It's got some beautiful patterns for shawls AND Seaman scarfs.  I think those scarves are so cool.  Also has wonderful reference material in there.

And, finally, I got Cascade 220.  I have the pattern for a Noni purse and, though I could have bought the yarn in a number of LYS...hell, I was at Stitches and had hardly bought anything!

I bought 2 of each but I could only wrangle Wes when I had 2 on the desk. Barely.  1 of them kept running out of the room.

I managed to make my way to the Malabrigo, at the WEBS booth.  I. WANT. THIS. YARN.  It's soft and the colors are luxurious.  I couldn't decide between Olive, Burgundy or Paris Night.  But I didn't want to wait on the line to pay for it.  My patience wasn't up to it.  And I don't think I could have found enough skeins for a sweater.  So watch out, WEBS!  I'll be stalking your site, soon!

So that was my Stitches East experience.  Fun, walking, talking, not-so-much eating and yarn hugging. 

Maybe next year Amy, Chris and I will all go, and stay over.  Now I know the Sheraton has a walkway to the Convention Center.  A very good thing.

I would have liked to stay over but I'm a planner and couldn't just do that "on the fly".  There's always stuff you want to buy AFTER you wake up the next day.

One more important thing, about Stitches.  You have to bring your "A" game or you'll just be disappointed.  I didn't "bring it" and suffered for it (in a not-buying-much-and-having-a-bad-back-from-carrying-it-away way).  I blame the feeling crappy...and the tooth.  I should have been doing cheers and scoping out all of the booths ahead of time.  Maybe it was the lack of those yarn songs that Chris spoke of.

The Drunken Argyle had a bad weekend.  I had gotten this much done (5 1/2") and then realized I had started the pattern at the wrong spot for his size.  So I ripped it to the ribbing. SOB!

I should have the back done in another 25 years.

I started a new pair of socks using STR in Peaceblossom (one of the Club colors).  The pattern was a Club pattern but I saw them selling it, at Stitches.  It's called "Central Air" and is a nice, not too lacy, pattern.

And as much as I loved getting a package of yarn every few months, I don't think I'm going to re-up for the Sock Club.  I only got to make 1 full pair of socks and half of the colorways weren't ones I would have bought for myself.  So I'm going to let Tom buy me $200 worth of sock yarn, in colors I like.  Sounds like a good deal, right?