Monday, February 28, 2005

Thanks

Ya, I mean you. Thanks for checking everyday to see if I am up and running. My Kodak Easyshare doesn't want to cooperate though so, alas, no pictures. I have been busy knitting though. I did a couple of these (thanks for the encouragement Mary Beth) and just have to block this beautiful scarf for my fil. Next on my list are these slippers. When I have all my ducks in a row, I will post some pictures, til then, Knit On!

PS Whether you love or hate Debbie Stoller's Stitch'N Bitch franchise, you simply must read this forum (wow, some people have some really passionate opinions about her!)

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Jobs/Employment

Large family looking for in-house IT Specialist. Must be able to conquer all viruses as a direct result of children constantly surfing net and 5 hour msn messenger marathons. Being tall, dark and handsome, definitely an asset. Apply within.

Therein lies the problem folks. Hijacked homepage, firewall issues, you get the picture. Til I'm back to full power, I will leave you with this reason to fear acrylic and all of its derivatives.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Who is on your "Sleep With" List?

My husband and I have a "If you ever had a chance to sleep with list." You know the kind that the celebrities all have, if you had the opportunity to sleep with someone famous who would it be, no questions asked? Here are mine in very particular order:

  1. Yummmm
  2. Yessssssss
  3. Oh Baby! (it must be the name that draws me)

Well, there you have it. If you need me I'll be in the cold shower...

PS Thanks, Jussi, for the help!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005


This is why you won't hear from me for a wee bit. Anyone else's calendar look like this? I just know I'm going to forget that "Ortho" thing at 2:45. Wrote it on my hand just in case. Keep Knitting! Posted by Hello

Friday, February 04, 2005


Look at that Beautiful Cast On!!! Posted by Hello
Okay wool first, water later. I love this cast on (is it possible to develop emotional attachments to knitting techniques?), it really cranks my chain. It is neat and clean looking not too tight and matches better with the cast off edge, what do you think? The British magazine "Knitting" had a great article teaching you all these different cast on techniques and I am loving this one. (If anyone can teach me how to link to sites by just showing magazine, on blogger that would be great cuz for the life of me I cannot figure it out). I have also learned in the last couple of weeks how to properly pick up stitches AND the 3 needle bind off which I think is frickin amazing cuz sewing up sucks big time and anything that eliminates the most shitty side to knitting, I want to be a part of.

I am very happy with the scarf. It is the Men's Cashmere Scarf from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" and although I am not using the recommended cashmere, it is coming out simply stunning. The texture created by the alpaca silk and the simplistic pattern is very appealing and the two work harmoniously together.

WATER UPDATE

Things are semi normal here. The water main was capped Wednesday afternoon at 1:00. My councillor told me that if I hadn't been bothering him on an almost hourly basis, and he in turn bothering the Works Commissioner, it probably would not have been repaired as quickly as it was. Go figure. There was no water damage from that here or at my neighbours (that I know of) so some of you must have been praying *hug*.

Still waiting to hear back from my contractor on the estimate for repairing the ceiling/fixture/floor etc. Haven't heard from him since Tuesday (imagine that, not hearing from a contractor/tradesman when you expect to, weird eh?).

And to top matters off so well this week yesterday, as I am preparing for DN3 seventh birthday I started feeling so tired. Went to the grocery store and it exhausted me. Got home, put the groceries away and laid down with a cup of tea. I could not get warm. Got up an hour later and every bone in my body was aching. It was downhill after that. Hubby handled the grandparents for coffee and cake while I learned more reasons to avoid public bathrooms on CSI (gotta love that Spike! Network). So I am wrapped up in flannel pajamas, undershirt, wool socks, wool cardigan, chenille housecoat, duvet and wool rug and I still have goosebumps and teeth are still chattering. Check my temperature and it is 101.6. Now this is really something for me cause I haven't had a temperature since I was pregnant with DN2 and had Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (13 years ago). So took acetaminophen, did the sweat/chill cycle all night and woke up and the fever had broken. I seem semi normal now, just a bit achy. Maybe it's a 24 hour thing? I don't know, just getting sick of being sick (especially if you're so sick you can't knit).

That's it. Thanks again for your happy thoughts.

Knit On

Added Later:

If you are interested in the Last Minute pattern please make sure you check the errata page at:
http://store.purlsoho.com/purl/book_corrections

Again, added much later:

Thank you Claudia, to alerting me of my utter stupidity. I didn't even tell you what cast on method I used for shit sake (thank you Norma, for the lessons on my ever expanding vocabulary). The cast on was the "cable cast on" and it can be found on video clip here.
http://www.knittinghelp.com/

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Water

Water. It gives us life. Cleans us, refreshes us. It feeds us longer than any food can. It baptizes us and washes away impurities. It warms us from our aches and and if you are devout enough, it can even cure diseases. But what if water became your enemy? How you ask? Well let's give you a purely hypothetical situation. We'll say about two years ago, you get up in the morning, get the kids ready for school, hustle hubby off to work and you leave the house say around 8:45. You do what you have to do (work, shop, what have you) and come back at 12:00. You open the door to the house and as you do this, you can hear your smoke alarm going off. What is this you ask yourself? When you open the door, you see your cat, soaking wet and the dog also dripping and doing that very nervous "circle" thing. You proceed through your kitchen and realize you are wading through about 2 to 3 inches of water. Your heart beats faster and your stomach lurches. You look above at the ceiling and see water flowing from the light fixture. It is coming through at such a torrent that the fruit bowl directly below the light is overflowing like a fountain, almost staged looking. You fly upstairs at the speed of light searching for that cloth that must have gotten stuck in a sink by a careless child. No cloth. Both bathrooms seem clear but wait, your bathroom is flooded, How? The faucet. It has broken at the hot water handle and is spewing water faster than the Trevi fountain. You quickly call for back up and 4 months and a $70,000 insurance claim later, you move back into your newly (again) renovated home and say "Thank God" we're back to normal and had our "major" flood/claim/disaster for a lifetime right?
Wrong.
Let's go back to last week. One morning you're lying in bed waiting for DN2 to come in and cozy up before the alarm goes off. As she cuddles up to you she says "the bottoms of my pajamas are a little wet and I don't know why?" and you figure because hubby was snow shoveling outside that she must have walked by the back door and gotten her cuffs wet. You are still kind of dozy and haven't really computed the facts in your semi-conscience brain. You get up and begin making the lunches. As you're reaching for the smoked turkey, you feel something dripping on your head. Your gaze slowly drifts upwards and chaos reigns in the Btchwstix household once again. In the main bathroom a slow leak has sprung from the pipe leading up to the faucet. It has been going on for quite a while as the carpet in there is soaked (we all wear slippers so I guess we didn't feel the wet). The ceiling in the kitchen is ruined. The bulkhead running through the kitchen to the livingroom is also damaged. Insurance was not called as our deductible is now $2000 and we figure why bother. So this has to be it right?
Wrong.
Yesterday morning, I go to flush the toilet in our ensuite bathroom (the site of the first catastrophe) and the water in the bowl is, how do I phrase this delicately...shit brown. Great, that means somewhere close by there is a water main break. Run the water for a few minutes to clear the pipes, hop in the shower and get on with other tasks. Leave the house about 20 minutes later and as I drive out of the driveway there is a river of water flowing by my house from the neighbour's lawn two doors away. The water gods have struck again. As of now, 10:30 am the break has NOT been capped. Apparently there is 33 water main breaks in Etobicoke alone and we do not seem to be a priority. You would think after almost 26 hours of wasted water we would be but there still isn't anyone out there.
In conclusion, I would like all my readers to pray to the water gods for me. Mine have gone unanswered, also, those that practice the "evil eye", if you would be so good as to do a "counteraction" spell that would also be appreciated, in the meantime please send water wings.