Friday, December 28, 2007

Pretty Snow... Stupid Snow...

It is snowing here... and snowing and snowing and snowing... So here's a difference of opinions, Sis has gotten used to California and now sees the "beauty of the snow"...

Where as I, got into an accident today because someone pulled in front of me and I couldn't stop in the stupid icy slushy icky stuff! No one was hurt at all, it was more of an annoyance to the day. Although I am kind of proud that my little car is fine and the SUV who misbehaved has a broken axle.


Lots of random pictures here.

Boyfriend got his Christmas hat but he won't let me take a picture of him so here it is on my teddy bear.





















Son loved the knucks, here he put them on and he did not take them off until dinner time when Grumpy (grandpa) told him they had to be removed for eating. You can also see him wearing them later as he studies the Klutz "Encyclopedia of Immaturity". That book was quite the winner too! (Note, that's the concert sweater he's wearing too!)



















Sis and kitties, striped one is my Tiger, other one is his brother Tubble who lives with our parents. She last saw them at 7-8 weeks over Labor Day and can't believe how big they got.












Tubble loves the snow. Oddball cat.













Went to bead shop the other day with Sis to get her supplies for beading knitted bags (book and supplies were present from me to her). While there I picked up a quick Mill Hill kit to make a beaded dragonfly.

Happy Knitting - DFly

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas

It was a crafty Christmas. I received a swift and ball winder that I had asked for. Those KnitPicks skeins were starting to get to me when balling by hand! The new 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders book. A gift certificate for Patternworks from my son (helped by Grandma). In fact I already ordered Panda Cotton in Sable, Crystalline Lattice sock pattern (a printed version was free with order), dpns and the Magic Loop pamphlet just to have it. Origami Deluxe set that has a just gorgeous, drawer system. Better picture on Barnes & Noble so using them for the link. Also little origami "paper dolls" that Sis and I both got. Just because they were cute and mom decided we needed them. I had a gorgeous little box from Sis and inside was a note that said "Have to wait til Clementine's" so I've got more goodness to look forward to!

My mother loved the little duck, it made her giggle, as it was meant to.
AJ loved his Pokemon Ash knucks and has been wearing them basically non-stop!


I'll have more pictures from Christmas when I'm back at home at my own place. (Plus there are still more gifts that can't be posted yet)
Looking forward to visiting Melly and Cami at Clementine's in a couple days! Until then, happy knitting to all and to all a good night!
-DFly

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Ah, the good drugs....

Went to the doctor and it turns out I've got a sinus infection that traveled to lungs and set off asthma. The average head cold I got just sent me into a nose dive. Doctor figures when I was sick in Oct/Nov with same thing we didn't actually get it all and it's just been waiting. Got loads of things now including antibiotics and prednisone. not 100% yet but significantly better. And not really contagious to anyone else. Still need more rest but will be plenty good for visiting Cami and Melly!! Silly Cami said she hoped Mojave Sis and I won't mind spending one of the days in the yarn shop. I laughed... and then choked because I'm not that healthy yet... but we are totally looking forward to the shop!!

The only sad thing is I haven't actually rested, been working from home and by the time I have free time, I'm too tired to knit. So no pictures at the moment.

Now for really good news! In just a few more hours, Mojave Sis will be here!! She should be taking off within a few minutes of this post and I'll be picking her up about midnight. (I live 10 minutes from airport).

Have a good evening all and if I'm not around, I hope everyone has happy holidays!

-DFly

P.S. Go visit Chelsea's blog for today and then tell her congratulations!!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Sick and tired...

No, really. I've been sick for a few days and unfortunately I keep getting worse each day instead of better. That must mean I'm due for an upswing, right? I hope so anyway. I've been forbidden to show up at work because no one else wants to be sick. Which is fine with me actually, I hate when sick people show up and make everyone else ill.

Tonight was son's concert. I took video but have no clue how to turn that into still pictures but he did wear his sweater. It shed a little too much, his black pants have a rosey hue now.

Starting a beautiful lace scarf for a friend. Since my last (and only) trip into the lace world didn't go so well, just cross your fingers for me! I'll post pictures when it's far enough along to see some pattern.

Below is a picture of my nurse kitties, they normally don't sit that close but they both wanted to be near me so the older one tolerated the "up-start" for the day.
Good evening, I'm due for more cold meds.

-Dfly

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I finished the sweater in time for him to wear it to his orchestra concert... and then it was cancelled yesterday because of weather. Luckily today I found out that they will have it next week, but I keep thinking I could have gotten some more sleep over the weekend (haven't caught up yet).

doing a quick knit for a friend. The one-row yarn harlot scarf. After the sweater, I want something that will go fast. It's looking really good but I don't want to post it here. I'll post in ravelry eventually

Just received yarn from Lotus, I love it!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Busy Day!!

Look, I finished a sweater!! It's a little big by design, I'm hoping he can wear it for a couple of years (he wears sweaters so rarely)



















Also today I put in notice at the current job and accepted the new one. I start the new one in January so we're still planning to visit Cami in December if she'll still have us. (and meeting the wonderful Miss Melly too I hope)

I'm a wildly excited and totally terrified about the new job! Making contact today makes everything real and no longer just hypothetical.

Ok, been staying up too late to work on sweater and the past couple days so I'm going to bed now... (happy knitting!)

-DFly

Thursday, December 6, 2007

I got it!

I got offered the job I really wanted!!! they had sort of a mini-quiz for me, which I passed without problems. I am waiting to learn more about benefits (esp health care) but I'm definitely leaning toward accepting. It's more money and it's something that just has me jazzed. Working with a technology I like and I get to run the brand-new dept. (yes, I said brand-new) Including hiring! Ok, so also freaking because ... OMG, my own dept to run... totally running through the whole gammot of possible new job freaking out!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

No pics, just random news...

the sweater progressed a bit today, it's got two inches of yoke complete. Trying to figure out something with the pattern though. my gauge was initially a tad different so I've had to planfully adjust along the way and if I knit the yoke as "high" as they state before starting the neck, I think the neck will choke my son... if I knit it lower, I'm worried my raglan decreases won't be quite right. But I'm a smart woman, I'll figure it out... another day... when I don't have a wicked headache!

Today I had two interviews at the same company. They seemed to go well, my gut says it would be surprising if I didn't eventually get an offer from them, but I'm not sure it's the right place for me. It's a good company, I just didn't get that "Wow, I'm excited!" feel. (case in point, before thanksgiving I had an interview and I was so excited when I left that I called three people to tell them about it.... this time, I sent an email)

Tomorrow I have a meeting at current job about my career and a final interview for the position I'm excited about. I'm going between being really hopeful and scared to death (scared they don't want me when I'm this jazzed.... scared they do want me and I'll have to choose to leave the job & people I currently know) It will be a busy and stressful day.... going to head to bed in the hopes of some sleep... although I expect I'll toss a bit...

In other people's news... totally excited about Lotus's mention in Yarn Harlot!! How thrilling is it?! Should be good for business! Very proud of Chelsea's recent award! Congratulate her for me!

Plus I just realized that it's only 15 days until Mojave Sis gets here!!

I've off to bed, wish me luck tomorrow!

-DFly

Sunday, December 2, 2007

So I'll get the next concert...

Ok, the sweater is not going to make it for my son's music concert tomorrow night, but he's got an orchestra concert next week and I know I can make that one. Definitely making progress, got distracted today by mundane things like dishes and laundry and then more interesting things like shopping for an interview outfit. (I now have exactly two!)

But here's how far I am now. Next step is to take all three pieces and start knitting them together in one big round. I'm a little concerned that my biggest circular is not big enough and I don't have a size 13 tip for Knit Picks Options yet (didn't come in the starter set).


It's going to be a busy week, concert, Christmas parties, interviews... not to mention the knitting... - DFly

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Round and round....

First off, I am knitting, just slow. Unfortunately I wanted it done for son's winter concerts and the first one is Monday evening! But in the meantime, here's a progress pic.

I also finished another Christmas present that of course can't be posted. Although anyone that is in Ravelry can find it there.
In the career front, I've been interviewing and have some promising leads. I should know more in the next few weeks. I dont' want to jinx too much but keep your fingers crossed for me!
Sorry this is short!
-DFly

Thursday, November 8, 2007

just an update...

trying to knit but messing up. Had a stupid circular mistake where I twisted the stitches and realized after several rows that I was knitting a Mobius strip and not the actual article I wanted to be knitting. Plus I just feel exhausted lately and knitting (or anything just hasn't been happening)

Dating life is still going well except for not being able to see each other often. This weekend is no better because I think I'm going to my parents to work on my car. That's if my car parts come which is hard to say because according to UPS, they've been "out for delivery" in San Marco, CA since Tuesday morning. But the expected delivery date is still tomorrow. *sigh*

Career is... interesting. Started looking at jobs external to my company. Had an interview today that went really well. I'm not sure if I want the job but I'm feeling pretty good about myself and my opportunities. Have a few other things in the works so we'll see how it goes. But at the same time, it's part of the general exhaustion. Even good things can be tiring.

Oh, and the hamster died today. I would love to say that son & I were serious and sad, but it was more of "ewww, you touch him" "no you" "it's your hamster" "you're the mom" "yeah so, he's still your hamster" "he's really gross and kind of flat and he stinks" "dumpster?" "dumpster!". So we are not in mourning, even if we should be. We didn't expect him to live even this long, he had something weird going on with him.

I'll try to write more often!!

-DFly

Saturday, October 20, 2007

FO Throw!! (and dumb mistake)

Finished the throw and I'm very happy with it!

Now for the dumb mistake... I was going to say how glad I am that I cut the fringes ahead of time and how proud I am that I thought of it because there is no way the throw was going to make it to 74" long, mine made it to 67". Yep, no way it was going to make it to the 74" long that I swear the pattern said the first several times I looked at it.... but just now I looked again and realized the pattern only said 54". I haven't the foggiest notion where I got 74" from. I would blame the fact that I've been sick and not thinking straight with all the medications... but I've been thinking it was 74" for a couple weeks now! But it's 67" plus fringe and it's staying that way!!





















And just for Suna, here's a close-up of the stitches where you can see the combined color strands.


Tomorrow it's back to the concert sweater! Happy Crafting - Dragonfly

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Throw Grow


The throw is growing, it's now 48in long. (and 34in wide although it's hanging narrow in the picture). What's annoying me is that you combine 4 colors, one of the colors you double. So I have red, green, purple and two grey strands.... the pattern said to buy 3 skeins of the single-strand colors and 5 skeins of the two-strand color. Ok... I've used up 2 each of the single-skein colors and 4 of the double skein color and I need to keep going.... but oops, I either need another skein of the grey, or I need to split the skein. If I split the skein, it will not be long enough. So I'm off to Michaels at some point to buy another one. Luckily Lion Brand Jiffy isn't exactly fancy dyelot so I can probably pick up another one and not have it noticible. Especially since it's all blended together anyway. Just annoyed by it.

And the obligatory cute kitten picture...




Sunday, October 14, 2007

Throw started


As a mindless addition to knitting, I decided to start knitting this throw for a friend for Christmas. It's a really easy pattern from Lion Brand called Fast Finish Throw. I totally switched out the colors but it's working. It's about 13" long right now. The pattern says it can knit up in 6 hours, not quite sure that's right but then I rarely knit in one sitting. Knit most of this while snuggled on the couch with my guy. (it was our first venture into me actually knitting near him and he didn't run screaming... and he brought the swift so I could hand-wind the concert sweater more easily).

Had to take kitty pictures today too. My older cat has not been playing much lately with the new kitty but today I got her some new toys and she was very happy. Later the little one was totally fascinated by the dvd player's screensaver.











Friday, October 12, 2007

Sweater start

I want to put a clever title to this blog but I have nothing in mind.

First, I have knit 5 inches of son's concert sweater. Being bulky it's going pretty quickly. Had to include Tiger because he's cute.

Part of my instructions don't make sense to me but I'm hoping that they will when I get there or I can get help at that point. Also, totally worried that I'm going to run short of yarn (it's Knit Picks Decadence in Winter Berry and they are not carrying this anymore). I actually emailed someone at Ravelry that has this yarn in a different dye lot. I don't know if that's rude or not but I pleaded my case.

Notice on the left I have added "Blogging Without Obligation". Suna mentioned this and I love the idea of not feeling guilty when there's not time to blog. Click on the button and you'll see the original idea.

In other news... work kind of sucks but next week I get to move back to the corporate office to sit near friends and the all-day coffee bar so I guess it balances. Or at least I can tell myself that *laugh*

Dating is going very well. I think he's crazy for hanging out with son and I and enjoying himself but it's a good crazy and works in my favor *grin* (and to my amazement, he knows about ball winders and umbrella swifts... he calls them the "ball maker spinny thing" and the "big loop holder spinny thing" but he knows what they are!)

I'm loving Ravelry and so glad Melly invited me!

Ok, off to roll another ball of yarn for the sweater, by hand since I don't have a ball maker spinny thing....

Happy Knitting! - DFly

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Ravelry!

Thanks to Melly, I've now got a Ravelry account! I got my profile updated and added a couple friends but I haven't added projects or stash info since I'm not at home to do a thorough job of it. I'm pretty excited about it though! I feel like I'm in this super clique.

Haven't started knitting the sweater yet, a little chicken, I have to admit. Partially because of the sweater and partially because I'll be using really yummy alpaca which is better than what I usually use.

Mom gave me a knitting machine this weekend, have to try that out too if I can find room away from my thumbkins kitty, Tiger. (who is doing very well)

Tiger came with us to visit his brother kitty this weekend at my parents' house. At first they were hesitant about each other but then they've been playing hard. (and crashing anywhere like Cami's Eli)

Monday, October 1, 2007

FO: Diamond Shawl


Look, I finished! I made it smaller than the pattern because my grandmother is a tiny person. Son is the model and he's really close to her size. I figured if I made it bigger she'd be using it as a blanket!


Onto the next things on the list... I want to start a sweater for son, socks with the stripey yarn and a throw for a friend... so many things, so little time. Sweater has the first "due date" though so I better go for that first!


Have a good evening! - Dragonfly

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Sorry, I'm a poor blogger!

I haven't been blogging and now I'm posting without pictures. I apologize. Life seems to just hit fast. Nothing bad just busy!

The diamond shawl is progressing slowly, I'm halfway through the 9th repeat. 10 repeats will be what I need to complete it so it's close. I'm planning a small throw for a friend of mine for Christmas, big needles (Speed Stix!) so it should go fast but be appreciated. Different colors than the pattern but the ones my son picked are rich and remind me of autumn.

I need to get brave and start a sweater for my son. I'd like him to be able to wear it for Christmas school concerts but that means I need to start. Having never done a sweater I'm nervous about the idea. Especially since gauge is not my friend.

OH, and I found self-striping sock yarn in acrylic, Moda Dea Sassy Stripes. I'm so excited about that because most what I see is always wool. I'm now excited about trying socks again. Plus I bought that new Ann Budd book "Getting Started with Socks".

Kitten is doing very well, although older cat is still not entirely pleased about his existence.

Ok, and I just have to say, I've been dating and very happily that is eating up some of my time. But you will hear no complaints from me on that subject!!

Happy Crafting! - DFly

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Knucks are finished! (but only kitty photos here)

I don't want to post a picture of the completed knucks here since I suspect my son looks at the blog now and then. However, I'll send a picture of them to most of the regulars that I have addresses for (Melly, I don't have yours).

Also showing picture of paw of our polydactyl kitty (extra toes). He has a full 7 toes on each front foot, including a pad under the toes, making it appear almost like another paw from the bottom.

This is as close as I've seen Tiger (kitten) and Beezy (older cat) get. And right before this, I was in between them so I'm not sure they realized they were this close.

Now it's time to concentrate on the shawl again. I've been ignoring it for a bit. (been really busy and knitting time has been more limited).

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Yes, I'm alive and well

First... here's part of the reason for my lack of blogging lately (along with just being plain busy)


Knucks are almost complete. finished one about two weeks ago but never posted it. the other one was at a total standstill, but i took advantage of son's friend being over to work on it in hiding this past weekend. I'm on the thumb gussett of that one.

Also the shawl is slowly coming along. I worked on that over Labor Day but I must have been extra worn out and tired because I kept screwing it up. (note on how tired I was... I totally forgot that part of that weekend was to celebrate son's birthday, almost forgot to plan and make a cake).

Work is moving along, I know where I'm going now and I'm back to Systems Analyst. I keep the raise I earned when I moved to erpbeepa so that's ok. Not thrilled with what I'll be doing for the next 4-6 months, but I do love the people I'll be doing it with so it balances out.

I'll try to post more knitting in the next day or so!

-The Still Breathing, DFly

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Shawl update

Short post, I'm just past the 6th repeat so it's now 19" high and about 32" wide. guessing a bit on that, now that it's bigger than the circular needle I can't stretch it out to measure.

Week ended better than it was going. Found several people at work that would be willing to have me work with them. So I have options (apparently I leave a decent impression, so glad!) Then Mojave Sis found out after a lot of stress and worry that bringing Tiger with her Thursday shouldnt' be a problem. Yay!! Then yesterday evening, went to a small party for work while son was staying overnight at a friend's. Then went out with a good friend for mini-golf and a movie. Aside from his flat tire (which I think is due to him associating with me in my weird luck streak) we had a good time. the evening was exactly what I needed too after the stressful week.

Today I used hours while son was still with friend, I knitted the knucks. Got fingers complete and part of the had, up to adding the thumb. And this time they seem to be the right size!! I've taken pictures along the way, so I'll email them to people that want to see when I get a glove complete. I'll have a couple hours Monday and Wednesday to make some more progress on them.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Rough week continues... and shawl update

The car issues continue. Monday (was that only yesterday?) the car would start but would not go. Had to have it towed to another mechanic that specializes in imports. Yesterday they could not work on it. Today they looked at it and it turns out that my ignition coil and whatever module it's attached to has been damaged. It needs those replaced and the plugs & wires. $800 later and that part is repaired enough that my car can run, so that tomorrow they can figure out why my battery has been dying. not really having $800 lying around, I have a very good friend to thank for a loan. If you are reading this, you know who you are, and I am forever grateful!!!

New job issues appeared on Friday. The project I was on has been postponed. It is believed it is a good project but needs to be delayed while other things are concentrated on. This means that those of us on the project have to find positions within the company. Everyone will have a job and there will be no salary changes so that part is good, but it's a little weird being in flux for the moment. However this means that in a few weeks, I may no longer be an erpbeepa which makes me a bit sad.

Knucks.... well, I would love to say that they at least were going well. However after having the first one almost complete I noticed it didn't look quite right. Turns out that I never checked my gauge and it was too small. So I ripped it out and I haven't had a chance to restart it. (they are done in secret and I've been missing my secret time).

Shawl, finally good news! It's progressing nicely, I'm on the 5th repeat. I believe I will need 10 repeats so in a sense, I'm halfway. It's about 15" high and about 26" wide at the top.


Oh, and the shawl is on the couch and you can get a much better visual of the couch color. It really is tan! I need to find a better background for the shawl though, you can't see the diamonds very well.

Happy knitting, hope your days are smoother than mine! -Dfly

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Rough day

I wanted to post today in detail about the knucks, the shawl and our new buildable couch. Instead, today kind of sucked. Some parts were good but it started with waking to a leg cramp, continued with my cup holder breaking and dumping entire latte all over the car and ending with my car dying and needing to call a tow truck for rescue. Plus we dropped off car at mechanic and walked home. (not bad, about 15 minutes). Tired, crabby, sweaty and generally in a bad mood at the moment. And the walk home made the leg hurt again.

So briefly.... first knuck (fingerless glove) is going really well for working on it in secret. I think it will be done in another 4 hours or so. Second one should be lots faster because I won't be fighting to figure out what a few of the directions mean. (not bad at all, just hard looking up questions on a blackberry in the parking lot of the strip mall).

Shawl is going pretty well, I'm on the 4th repeat of the pattern. (total of 10 repeats, every other row increases). Mostly been working on the gloves when I have time to knit because I need to do them in secret while I still have opportunities.

we got a really neat buildable couch from Home Reserve. Attaching two pictures. You get the wood pieces, build them together, kind of like a puzzle. Then you get the cushions and fabric. We got the pet fabric because it was the most durable. Picture looks blue but it's really a very tan couch. I blame the lighting at 11pm. (we built into the night on Monday)

Hoping Cami's first day went great! Looking forward to future offerings from Lotus which may include cotton (crossing my fingers, so excited!). Hoping Kelly had an awesome day, she knows why ;-)
Generally hoping everyone else's day went lots better than mine!! - Dfly

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Small post

When knitting the knucks, you knit each finger individually first. As I finished the last one, I realized to my dismay that after knitting the thumb, I proceeded to knit the fingers all one size smaller than they were supposed to be. I was so mad at myself! I was having a frustrated day anyway so I took it harder than normal. A good friend though reminded me that knitting angry would put bad vibes in son's Christmas present and I needed to calm down. So after realizing that the thumb was ok, one of the fingers was actually the right side to be a pinky... I had to re-knit three of them. That's what I have done now. (trying to knit in secret in little apartment, is not easy!!)

Eventually, I'll email pictures. I don't want to post the knucks because I'm worried that son will see and figure it out. He won't read the blog, but pictures catch his attention.

In other news, Tiger is having trouble getting home which makes me sad. Mojave Sis is working every angle she has but there are some issues with getting to the airport from her home. Apparently Greyhound, inappropriately named for a dog, does not allow animals on board and Greyhound was vital to the whole plan. We aren't sure what this means to our new addition yet, but it's not looking too good.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

I said I wouldn't do it....

I've said before that I like to knit one project at a time and I can't see a time when I'll be knitting more than one item at a time. Well, the day has come and some people can say "I told you so" (*cough*Cami*cough*).

Ok, you know about the purple shawl seen below. 34 rows done on that (out of more than I want to think about, esp since they increase every other).

Anyway, son asked me to make him some fingerless gloves just like Ash on Pokemon. I'm using the knucks pattern from Knitty to make them for Christmas. Since I don't want him to see them, I have to knit in secret. So he sees the shawl, but not the gloves. I can't post pictures here because while he won't read the blog, if he sees pictures, he's going to ask questions! Anyway, I've got 4 fingers done in secret so far. And now that we are home, back to the shawl.

Happy Knitting - Dfly

Sunday, August 5, 2007

It's NOT a bikini!


Kelly pointed out that until she read the post below she thought the picture was of a knitted bikini. Figured I had better post picture of what I'm making. I worked some more on it today for a bit and got another 9 rows done. Part of me is saying to do one more row because 10 is a completed pattern set... but I've promised to turn off and read with son.
Also, finished HP7 earlier today so I'm ok with hearing opinions and comments now!
Happy Knitting - DFly

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Knitting again....

Haven't done much knitting lately because it's been 90+ degrees and too hot to think about shawls or gloves or anything like that. Today though I did start knitting a shawl. for my grandmother for Christmas. (Mom, if you are reading, don't let her know!)

It's a pattern from Lion Brand. Homespun Diamond Knit Shawl in Barrington. The color in my picture is more accurate than the Barrington picture on Lion Brand site. Purple with random yellow and turquoise running through. It's about 6" tall right now (just to give an idea of size)



In other news, we have updated pictures of Tiger the Kitten from Mojave Sis. We think he's a boy. Doesn't he have a pretty face? The kitties are still generally living under Sis' bed so that's the reason for the odd angle on the second one. She's got more pictures of the other kitties and Tiger playing, I'm guessing eventually she'll post.
















Happy Knitting!

-Dfly

P.S. Working on HP7, on page 691 so getting close. Actually I'm so close that I almost don't want to finish because then it will be done. :-(

P.S.2 I keep meaning to post this link that Kelly passed on to me. Girl knits Ferrari... http://www.geekologie.com/2007/07/girl_knit_herself_a_ferrari.php

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Google!

Kelly told me this interesting fact today. If you search for ERP BPA in Google, about half way down, you find my blog profile! I'm greatly amused by this! Go search for it! (I want to see if we can make my results higher on the list *grin*)

Now, since the reason she found this out is because she was trying to figure out what in the world I do... I've decided to add a quick explanation.

ERP = enterprise resource planning. Wikipedia explains better than I could.
BPA = business process architect. Basically working to map out and improve processes within my company. I am one of many erpbeepas in the company.

knitting note: my mom got me sweater yarn in a different dye lot so I'll be starting it over. I wasn't very far anyway since we did no knitting during vacation. (well, a tiny bit on plane to Vegas but that was it) originally I only had 10 skeins of yarn and I figure I need at least 14 and there was no way to get the extra 4 in the same lot, so she ordered a whole batch so now I have what I need in a single lot. She also got me yarn for a christmas present for son.

and promised picture of geodes, the one on the left is half of the fractured one. The other half went to my mom from my son. The story is that it cracked during compression, mineral waters got into it and then it finished compressing. The other two halves go together, they have white "phantoms". The one has a pencil cross-hairs because the woman was explaining how to polish them and she said when you've removed the pencil, you know you got all the quadrants.


Friday, July 27, 2007

Future member of the family...

These are pictures of "Tiger", the future member of our family. We spent the day making the apartment more kitty-safe. I wish we could get a face picture, gorgeous face!!


Thursday, July 26, 2007

2000 miles on a rental Mazda....

Disclaimer: This is a very long post and aside from pretty stitch markers, there is no knitting in this post. Also if font is too large, I apologize, with so much text, the tiny text was hard for me to read and I knew what it said.

Thursday, July 19th
Morning was spent in a relaxing manner, did some final clean-up and laundry so it wouldn't be waiting when we got back. Flight was in the early evening and everything was very smooth. No issues at all, they didn't even take my knitting away. We rented a digeplayer and watched Firehouse Dog. Not a movie I would watch normally but it was a pleasant way to pass the time with son. I have to say though, the Vegas airport is interesting. The
post by Yarn Harlot about the slots in the airport had not prepared me to actually see them everywhere. There is no doubt you are in Vegas! Took a shuttle to the car rental and once we were on our way, it was about two hours to Mojave Sis. Greeted her and finally got to see those cute kittens! Went out to dinner and vaguely wondered where my keys went.

Friday, July 20th
Not in a hurry to leave, we hung around Sis' apartment for a bit (kitties are quite the distraction). Sis gave me my birthday present, three sets of stitch markers that she made especially for me. Aren't they beautiful?? Detailed pictures at the bottom of post.

We scoured the apartment for my keys and realized they were nowhere in sight. This starts the beginning of panic. Now, on my key ring were car key (the only one I have) and two keys for apartment. apartment keys not too bad to lose as Sis has a set of those, but the car key... it's the only one and my car is in an airport parking garage!! So here's the thing... honestly I thought I had them when I got to the apartment but I have no true memory of them. the last time I positively know that I had them was going through airport security. But since I thought I had them along the way, we spend the first hour of the morning back-tracking to the rest stop that son and I had stopped at before reaching Sis. Luckily for me, the superintendent of the rest stop cleaning crew was there and she could check the office and lost & found for me. Unfortunately, no keys were there.

Well, we still have plans and I'll worry about the keys later. It's on to Sequoia and then to Fallon, Nevada. On the way into Sequoia we pulled over by this little river/creek thing (Lake Kaweah - Slick Rock Recreation in the Sequoia Foothills). Son had an absolute blast there. The water was the perfect temperature, not hot and not cold. The rocks warmed in the sun and kept the water wonderful. We all played a bit although son was soaked! Whatever else we did this vacation, he holds that this was the best part!





We went to Sequoia, we knew we couldn't spend all day there but we did stop and see the Sentinel, General Sherman and Big Trees Trail. While walking the trail, we saw a buck right in the middle, really close and totally unconcerned about the humans all standing around staring. Sis tried to get some pictures although it was hard because he was antler deep in vegetation. Haven't seen her pictures so not sure if any came out.




Now, we knew that going through Sequoia would add travel time to Fallon, Nevada. If we had taken a straight route, it should have been about a 9 hour trip with stops. By map distance, we judged it would take another 3-4 hours. Boy, this was not a good guesstimate. We never accounted for the fact that curvy roads (especially at night) are traveled at about 25mph. more like 15mph when it's 3am and there are deer jumping out at you on Sonora Pass. Now, I have to say, I bet Sonora Pass is beautiful in the daylight. That whole country is, however, at 3am, it's super dark, curvy, with rock faces coming at you when the headlights hit them.... basically, rather scary at that time.

We did not get to Fallon until 5:30am Saturday morning. Now we had spoken to the night desk representative (Holiday Inn Express in Fallon) a couple times, including when we were 15 minutes away to get directions. When we arrived we were totally exhausted. The person at the desk was wonderful. (I've since found out her name is Lori) She had everything ready to go, got us signed in super quickly, put a "do not disturb" on our room and sent us off to go get some sleep. We were incredibly grateful for this and we've told everyone along the way. After being home, one of the first things I did was send an email to the hotel manager saying how much we appreciated this.


Saturday, July 21st
Ok, now only a couple people know the purpose of this trip. I was meeting members of my biological family for the first time in ~30 years, this included my biological father. There was a family reunion at bio-aunt's house and that's where we were headed. I wouldn't even state this except that Saturday makes little sense if you don't know that. About 8am, I woke up in a severe panic attack, heart pounding and my whole body was shaking and I felt ready to throw up any instant. I tried to get some more sleep. Later with every intention of going to reunion, I got ready and realized we had no directions to the house. Also, I didn't have a single cell phone number. Between this and the panic, I chickened out. I did not go to that reunion. Instead, Sis, son and I went to Reno. No gambling (Sis and I just aren't into it, neither of us have money to spare). We walked around and eventually hung out at Truckee Creek. It runs through the middle of town and on a hot day, everyone was playing in it. Of course again, son got soaking wet but was thrilled. During this time, I made numerous phone calls to the airports and airline trying to find my keys. No luck at all. Getting in quite the panic about them! I mean, when we fly back, we land at midnight... I don't know anyone that likes me that much to ask them to do a pick-up at that hour.

Saturday night, a meeting with one cousin. She called my room worried about me and I felt that I did need to let people know I was safe. Regardless of how I scared I am/was, they cared and deserved to know I was ok. Now, there were a few people I really did want to meet and she convinced me to have breakfast with those few. Ok... breakfast is less intimidating than an all-day reunion and it is my one shot. My son, god love him, gave me a hug when she left and asked "are you ok mom?" He's a sweetheart who really cares and he's going to be a wonderful adult someday. (I try to remember this on the days he makes me want to rip out my hair *grin*)

Sunday, July 22nd
Woke up to a letter under the door from bio-father and wife. Having finally gotten some sleep, I feel a little better and decide I should meet them too. Cousin invites them to breakfast. Breakfast now includes 9 bio-family members. Without going into details it went better than I had anticipated or worried about. and being breakfast, it was short, I got to meet people, see photo albums and about the time it was overwhelming, it was time to leave. Of course they have a million pictures amongst them from this breakfast and I have none at the moment.

Time to leave and we are taking the shorter way back to Sis' place. We plan to go into Yosemite on the way but we never quite go that far. On Hwy 120 there are plenty of scenic places to stop without going all the way into Yosemite. Primarily, Inyo National Park and Ellery Lake (maybe the lake is in the forest, I'm not sure at the moment). We walked a short but pretty trail, we stopped to take pictures, we saw some creatures (maybe beavers) by the Ellery Lake dam. It was a nice stop. However, I must admit that again, we misgauged travel time a bit. This time due to the "loss" of 100 miles when Sis was doing some mental calculating on the map. So we didn't get to her place until midnight-ish.


















Monday, July 23rd
Plan is to go to Knott's Berry Farm and then have dinner with a family friend. (she's been a friend of the family FOREVER and I've been wanting her to meet son). Due to all the late nights, and the very cute kittens, we get a late start but it's ok with us, we aren't really in a hurry. We spent most of the afternoon at Knott's and had a good time. No pictures though. Son got some cool geodes though. He actually ended up with two because the first one had a fracture and they gave it to him free. We thought it looked cool anyway. Will post picture later, he's chosen to give one to his grandmother and although she knows it's coming, I don't want to post until she gets hers. Throughout the day, a good friend of mine helped me find possible numbers to rental cars or a shuttle to go home and let me know that if all else failed, he would come and pick us up. Figure if I can get home, rent a car, maybe I can go to the dealer and get a new car key made. I am very grateful for his help and offer. Unfortunately, I am unable to really book anything from Knott's and by the time we got home, it was too late. Figure I'll be asking him to make the drive to the airport (although as he says, I didn't ask, he offered)

Dinner went very well, son was well-behaved and loved getting toppled by friend's dogs who followed him around. Got back to Sis' well after midnight.


Tuesday, July 24th
Packing up from scratch. hoping that if I empty everything completely, we'll find the keys in some pocket even though I've looked in all the pockets about a zillion times. In between, playing with kittens. We've picked out the one we want. An absolutely beautiful one with stripes and the most gorgeous little face. We're calling it Tiger. Son says that since I always call him "tiger", he likes that one. It has extra toes, in fact, all of them seem to have extra toes. Polydactyl cats, a whole clan of them with 6-7 toes on each front paw. Anyway, I can't wait for Tiger to come home to us Labor Day weekend. So as everyone is getting settled, Sis decides to strip and make her bed(s). She recently acquired two twin beds from a friend and she has them pushed together as a king. And guess what?!?!?! The keys are in between the two mattresses!!! I was right that I had them with me. And the cats are all living under the bed... so when we got there Thursday night, I had been lying on the bed to see them and taken them out of my pocket and they fell between. I am so happy that she chose that moment to change them or I would have left without them!

After getting to Vegas through pouring rain. Yes, rain. Guy on the radio said in the 9 years he lived there this was the second time he had seen real rain. (people not used to rain, don't drive fast in it either... it's like newbies and the first snow fall) Traveling home once we were at the airport went pretty much without a hitch. (although I'm annoyed at the people going through security that can't read signs that say no liquids or lighters allowed! They find one thing on you and they have to stop the whole line to totally search bags, I agree it's a dumb rule, but it's still a well-posted rule) Anyway, flight home was smooth, we rented another digeplayer and this time watched TMNT. We get off plane, luggage is found right away and we go to the car.

and the car.... won't start!!! Ok, note to everyone, and you might be smarter than I was, but if you have a car charger plugged into your car, even if it's not charging anything, it's sucking power. We have one for son's DS player. Everything else in the car was off but that was plugged into a non-moving car for 5 days and killed the battery power. Luckily the airport garage is used to this and got us jumped and on our way.... until I killed it right as we were going to pay our parking fee. (I drove an automatic rental all weekend and when I got back to my car, I forgot to put in the clutch when I braked, what do you want? I was tired) and the car, now dead, wouldn't start. I called the garage dispatch again and they sent someone to jump the car again. But by this time I had lost it. I was tired, it was late, it had been an exhausting trip and I started crying right there. Called my mother (yes, it was 12:45am but she was up) and cried. Now this time, there were two guys, one jumped the car, the other one put cones around me, said it would be ok and to just sit there for awhile until the car got a chance to fully charge and he would check on me. and he did, he came back a couple times to make sure I was ok and he got the number of a 24-hour towing company, just in case something happened on the way around the block. (I live on the exact opposite side of the airport, it was frustrating to be 10 minutes from home and not able to get there). The car stayed running, apparently it just needed a long charge and we got home about 1:30am.

Wednesday.... I slept and slept and slept some more!!! (did you notice that we didn't "land" anywhere until after midnight every night?) Whew, I think that's enough! thank goodness I'm not going back to work until Monday because I need a vacation from the vacation.

Here's detailed pictures of those stitch markers from Mojave Sis. (I had to keep you reading, didn't I?) Happy Knitting!


-Dfly



P.S. while HP7 arrived with mail on Wednesday (I had hold on mail), I've barely started it. No time today and yesterday every time I started to read, I crashed out. So please, no spoilers, I'm begging! I feel like the last interested person who hasn't finished it!!

Updated Feb 29, 2024, only font colors changed.