Monday, August 27, 2007

Austin Part 2 and other musings

Better late than never.

So, as part of “Austin Part 2,” here are some of the things that I got in my former cit-tay. Fabric and yarn. Are you surprised? I also got a shirt from Parts and Labor, but I forgot to take a picture.



The fabric and the Amy Butler Weekender Bag pattern are from Craft-o-rama. Craft-o-rama is south of South Congress, down by St. Ed’s. It is a cute store with a small selection of fabric. All of it is good though. They have classes and sewing machines set up that you can rent to use in house by the hour. The flowery fabric is Amy Butler. The other one is by the guy who rips off Amy Butler, but I can’t remember his name. They are produced by the same company.

We also went to Hill County Weavers. I was completely overwhelmed, and not just because it is the first time that I have been in a decent yarn shop in a while. The prices have gone up a ton in the past two years. My friends were saying that it really has been in the last few months. Really frustrating. Anyway, between confusion and principal, I only came out with three skeins of yarn. One for me, one to make my mom something with since she always gets gypped on the knitting end, and one to make baby things for my neighbor who is due in October.

Speaking of Austin, while I was there I missed the one year birthday party of my coworker/friend Kevin’s daughter Maddie. So, being the retard that I am, I decided to make her a present.




Pattern: Dinosaur by Jennifer Thurston
Yarn: Leftover Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere from the Pea Pod sweater (yay!)
Needles: Size 5 circular, but it is knitted flat and seamed
Time: Started 8/25 finished 8/26
Thoughts: LOVED this pattern. It is so cute that I want to make one for myself. TO make it a dinosaur for a girl, I added a skirt from scraps of cotton yarn I had. The skirt took longer than the dino. I, of course, was thrilled this morning to give this to Kevin. He, of course, was gracious but didn’t seem so thrilled. CRAP.

Speaking of Jurassic, we also tackled the weeds in the yard this weekend. That took FOREVER, but things are looking up. Also bought a couple of ponytail palms for some pots in the front of the house. Things are shaping up. Now all we need is for our new window to finally come in. Drats.

In other knitting news, I have made some cute things for the baby shower that is taking place this weekend. I will have to wait to share until Sunday night. I also am thinking of going to the local Stitch and Bitch tomorrow. A couple of weeks ago Steve and I (well, more me dragging Steve with) went to the local café where they meet to scope them out first. Bad, I know, but I wanted to make sure that the people at least looked normal before I started investing time and guilt into another group. Everything checked out, but we were at a distance.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Austin Part 1

My trip to Austin this weekend was awesome and way too short. Everything has changed but still is the same.

Friday night I met all of the Weston people for Happy Hour. Michell was nice enough to organize the whole thing. I can't believe how many people came. Pretty much everyone I worked with, including bosses. My friend Marita couldn't make it becasue she was in chicago. Another guy, who shall remain nameless but who's name rhymes with nipple, didn't come because he says that I hate him. Honestly, I used to, but now I don't care. People say he is ok now. Who am I to judge? Although, that really doesn't stop me. Maybe I should still hate him to keep balance in the universe.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend I spent with Sarah, her husband Andy, and Buddy the cat. We had an excellent time. Lots of yarn, fabric, food, baby things (Sarah is pregnant with a Kraut), talking, talking, talking. I'll share my wares later, but here are some pictures. I forgot to bring my camera into happy hour, so very unfortunately, I have no pictures from there. I do however have a picture of Sarah and Andy's awesome living room. Their house is so incredibly comfortable and interesting.



Buddy being non co-operative for his photo shoot. He likes to lick the hair off of his hindquarters, but I love him anywy.



Breakfast with the ladies. There were only three of us, so we had to take turns with the pictures. I love Sarah and Dana, but I hate how skinny they are. I always look like a fat lard next to them. Sarah is PREGNANT and she still weighs less than me. Anyway, Sarah and Dana.



Me and Sarah.



Me and Dana.



TTFN.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Ants in my Plants

Well, the assholes are back. Two nights ago we went out to walk Rey and saw this along our front doorway. Those are all ants. Eating our pyracanthus.





We have this cedar pellet stuff that is supposed to be a natural bug repellant. Steve dumped somehwere between a ton and a shitload of the cedar stuff on the ant hole. They hated it. Then they made new holes on the outside of the cedar pellets. Sneaky bastards. This isn't over yet.

At least I will get a reprieve this weekend because I am going to Austin. I am a little nervous. I think that I will hate Tucson even more when I get back. At least it is a dry heat here. That is sarcasim, for those of you who can't recognize it. Anyway, I will get to see my friends and will finally get to give Sarah the baby present I made. Sarah, if you want to be suprised 12 hours from now, don't look.





Pattern: Pea Pod Baby Sweater fom Interweave Knits. It is in one of the magazines, but it is also online in the free patterns section.
Yarn: Debbis Bliss Cotton Cashmere - 4 balls
Needles: #6 Addi Turbo circulars and #6 Clover Bamboo DPNs
Date Started: July 27, 2007 ?
Date Finished: August 7, 2007
Comments: Great pattern. Very cute. I can see making many more of these. I lucked out, too, because I got the yarn called for in the patern on sale at WEBS. I didn't swatch because I was using the yarn called for, and seriously, it is for a baby.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Loads and Loads

I have been crazy busy with work and with knitting. I have been working on baby things for friends, so i will have to only show bits and pieces until i give them their gifts. I have really enjoyed knitting again. I think it is because baby stuff goes quickly, so you get almost instant gratification. It has also made me want to make some things for myself again. I'll just have to work on affording the yarn first.

Before I get to all that this week, I need to catch up a bit. First off, our trip home. I had a good time with my family. Steve goes to his parent's house, and me to mine, so I don't really get to see him much when we are home, even though we are only about 15 minutes away from each other. Weird, I know. Anyway, while I was home, me, dad, Lorie, and Katie went downtown to try to find a brick that my dad bought for our family at the new police memorial. We looked and looked for over an hour. Couldn't find it.



When we got home, dad looked at the letter, and apparently his brick was in Phase II. Ugh. At least it was nice to be downtown, even if it meant having to see Soldier Field up close. So. Ugly. You deserve to be taking off the historical register, you ugly-ass building, you!





In between reading Harry Potter (which was awesome by the way), I was also able to hang out with my nephew, Jake. He has to be the absolute cutest kid in the world. He is very excited to finally be potty trained. So excited, in fact, that he ripped off his pants as soon as he got in the house. Here are the only pictures I can show that don't involve Elmo undies.





And here in Tucson the monsoon is finally in full swing. Headaches and flooding abound. Even our backyard isn't safe. I understand the whole the-streets-are-the-wash-and-drain-to-the-rivers thing, but come on. We can't have storm drains to do that? This is why engineers are lame. If you let a geologist design the city, it would be much better.