So proud of myself.

I completely forgot!

I am quite proud of myself. Much more beyond my amazing zen like patience on that tangled mess of yarn.. But for the fact that I taught myself how to do Magic Loop!

Now, for those of you who have done Magic Loop before, this is no big deal, and you scoff in amusement at my country bumpkin ways..

But to be honest, Magic Loop scared me. Why? Because i hadn't actually seen any photos of how it was done.

So I pulled out my "How to Knit Socks: 3 methods made easy" and flipped over to the Magic Loop section.

Now I was not working on socks, I was instead working on The Great Batsby. Whom I might say, is mostly finished. I just need to do his wings.






Batsby before I shaped his ears.


My yardage meter. One of the rubber band bracelets is Cancer Awareness, and the other is Katrina Relief. Both of the bracelets are thanks to mother of mine, as mine are hidden away somewhere upstairs.

But isn't it pretty? I made it meself.

Best laid plans..

Alright, so Mother of Mine and I had a plan. Friday was supposed to be a double header of our local AAA baseball team. Saturday was supposed to be opening day of Faire.

Well turns out there was a snafu with the tickets for baseball (basically someone got the wrong info. Not only was the game on Saturday, not Friday, but the tickets were also completely sold out, but there was the possibility of two tickets for us.)

We had decided that we could miss opening day of Faire.. as frankly.. it's no big deal to me anymore. I don't know about Mother of Mine, but I'm not rushing out to faire.

So Friday, we spent chilling at home waiting to find out if we'd have tickets for the game on Saturday.
Late that evening we found out that there were not any tickets.

No biggie.

Friday (I think... I can't recall.. the weekend has blurred) I spent the day washing and rewinding my tragic Bamboo. Yes, this is that bamboo yarn from months ago that arrived damaged. Figured I should get it washed since I was going to have dye arriving soon.

Oh, Friday I also stopped at Home Depot and picked up the final supplies for my Yardage Meter, and a PVC Niddy Noddy.

Got it washed. Got it skeined into two very large skeins.

Saturday, I decided I was going to deskein it into mini skeins. And when I say mini.. I mean 450 yards as opposed to 2 skeins consisting of 1800 yards.

Well, everything is an experience, and one learns from those experiences.. Lets just say, I have learned a lot.

I made the mistake of thinking I corral the yarn, having it draped on my wooden staff, while I slowly pull the yarn, run it through the meter, and put it onto my swift.

Simple plan right?

BIG mistake.

Thankfully, it was the smaller skein of the two that I had been working with..
But yes, the half entire mess slid off the staff at one point and now is a pool of tangled bamboo yarn.
I spent all of Saturday night, including staying up past midnight working on untangling bits.

I also spent most of Sunday doing the same.

What do I have to show for over 10 hours of untangling? Oh.. about 300yards. Thats about it. And that poor skein has so many joins in it. Thank goodness I wasn't planning on selling it.

Finally after giving up about 3:30 in the afternoon (seriously, after having worked on it since 8 am) I felt like I could fall asleep right then and there. I was so exhausted. I forgot to mention my back, neck and knees throughout this entire process were on fire. After dinner (about 4:30) I finally decided that I couldnt' just give up for the night entirely. I had put away the tangled mess so that we weren't tripping on it, but I took down the much larger skein. The one that I was originally afraid of tangling lol.
I put it on my swift.
I then slowly ran off 450 yards worth through my meter and onto my ball winder.

Took me about 15 minutes. And the reason it took that long, was because the skein was so big on the swift, I couldn't just pull the yarn and make it move. I had to pull a section off slowly, and then run it through and cake it (put it on the winder). Then repeat the process.

I'm just going to cake up the entire amount, and then after that I'll use my niddy noddy to skein it for dyeing.

And then.. then and only then will I go back to working on the other skein of tangled mess.

I have to admit.. Other than my back hurting to the point of tears... I am quite proud of myself when it comes to this fiasco.. I didn't get frustrated, I didn't scream and yell.. I just sat there with a zen like concentration untangling the mess and watching movies.
By the by.. on to movies.

The Unit season 3- very good season.. Sad that it was cut short due to the writers strike. But loved it.

Battlestar Galactica season 3- also a good season. I admit I was very confused by the first episode. But then everything started making sense.

Doom- Yup. Finally watched it. I needed a Karl Urban fix. It was a fun movie. Brought back memories, as I remember playing Doom when I was kid. It was the only video game that was at our friend Grace and David's house.. so guess what I played? yup. I sucked at the game. But the movie was amusing.

Mulberry- a British show from.. well I have no idea when it was done. The music for the opening credits and the closing credits are HORRIBLE. But otherwise the show was amusing. It was about a mysterious man who was sent to deal wtih a horrible cranky old lady. turns out, he's a grim reaper sent by death. The show was cute.

Primeval - I really liked this show. Not much to say about it other than I'd really love to have my own little Rex.

Umm.. I think thats it for now...

I'm flipping exhausted by the by.

Oh and I'm reading Dead and Gone the newest Sookie Stackhouse book. I am once again slightly sad that I do not have HBO as the new season of True Blood is starting. Well.. haven't seen season 1 yet fully so it's not a big deal but everyone loves to chat about it online. Sigh.

Okay, I guess it's back to work for me. I'm less freaked out now by work than I was on Friday.

Bugs and Hisses

It happened.

My life is about get 100% worse.

No, I'm not being melodramatic.

As of July 31st, my desk is gone.

The irony of this.. is that tomorrow marks my 2 year anniversary on this desk.

They offered me a position on the Department of Education desk. Which is a nightmare for me. But I would have been stupid not to accept it.

If I didn't accept it, I wouldn't have gotten unemployment. So, you can see why I needed to accept it.

But this is going to be life altering, because for over 9 months now, I've worked through my lunches and left early on Fridays.
This started due my unfortunate almost like clockwork, migraine showing up on Thursday. I would work through my lunches, so that if I had to leave early on Thursday, I wouldn't miss any pay, and also wouldn't then have to work nearly a 12 hour day on Friday.

I do not know if they will let me do this on the new desk.
The new desk scares me.
They fire people over there.
And they have mandatory down time during the summer. Meaning, your still employed, but not working. This, is not quite as scary for me, as when I'll be moving over there, is past the Down Time period, and as I am moving at the beginning of the summer next year, I don't think I'll end up being affected by the MDT.

But also I shall have the stress of a brand new desk. To me, it's a brand new job. It's just at the same building.
Also, I will be a regular agent again. That means inbound calls, and no control over what I get.

That means, my stress level is going to go through the roof.

I honestly want to cry.

Really cool peeps.

I did it.
I just sent the email to order my first set of Dyes.
only 4 colors, which is perfect for the starting point I need.

This morning while I was brushing my teeth I decided on another colorway I want to add to my eventual list.

But mostly I started this post to talk about the amazing people.

Reni, a friend on Ravelry sent me a little something something. It wasn't anything special in her words, but when she saw it, she thought of me.
Now, she has no idea just what she did.
It was a bookmark of The Wicked Witch of the West and it was green and sparkly and awesome (there shall be photos soon.. ) and it says .. ack I'm not awake enough to remember it word for word. But it basically says "You say Wicked like it's a bad thing"
Now, this basic sentence is what got me my nickname of Wicked all those years ago.
I was having a discussion with my friend Katie (Katie not Katte), and she looked up at me after I said that I didn't think Wicked was a negative word, and she said "Thats your name" and without missing a beat I said "your right." then we continued the rest of the discussion.
So it was just a little thing that Reni did, but it had a big impact as she didn't know anything about that little story. She knew I had a nickname of Wicked (as my ravelry ID is BewitchedWicked) but she had no idea where it came from.

Now also a buddy on Ravelry.. Spud's bud to be exact, sent me a package of herbs from his garden. that was freaking awesome.
Last night we had NY Strip Steaks (hey, they were on sale) with fresh Thyme on it. YUM.
Tonight, shall be salmon cakes with some of the fresh Dill.

I have also found, what shall be my UKBFF. Yes, i did in fact utter the word BFF. But, Jo (another Ravelry person) and I have been just chattin' up a storm, and have discovered that we pretty much love all the same things. Her passions? Knitting and Reading. Hmmm... considering my life goals... I'm alright with these hobbies lol. She and I plan on wearing Dead Fish hats (alright, her's is technically not a Dead Fish.. and mine won't be a dead fish, but instead a Blow Fish...) to the Tower of London. We also have Nights of Drunken Dyeing planned. Followed by Days of Sober Dyeing... tee hee.. methinks the drunken nights will instead just end up being Movie Appreciation nights.
Jo is one awesome lady. She's helping me out so much with my whole Dyeing plan.. I honestly... wouldn't have as much confidence if it weren't for her. She has done some dyeing. She also is an avid knitter. And most importantly, she'll tell me what looks good and what doesn't. This is important. For the past week now I've been bouncing ideas off of her. She has also graciously allowed me to someday steal a colorway that she created. It's freaking awesome, and of course she shall always get credit for it both in acclaim, and monetary format. It's only right. Also according to her, I think outside the yarn box. Which is a good thing, as most dyers find one thing, and stick to it.

I'm babbling because I'm not awake.

Seriously, I need to stop dreaming about yarn. lol.

Alright. I guess back to work for me.

Excited again, and The Great Batsby

So I've been meaning to blog for a little while now.
I've even had things to blog about. But, I just never seemed to have the chance or the brain power to do so.

I am excited.

Oh, lets get through the other stuff first. ;-)
Work = dull right now. Thats alright though.

Saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. It was quite fun. When I was younger I loved the Air and Space museum, so seeing it in a different light was quite enjoyable. Ben Stiller didn't even annoy me that much. No, the only person in the movie that annoyed me was the "I'm only famous because I'm fat and am slightly a comedian" actor Jonah Hill. I'm sorry, John Candy used up all the "I'm fat and stupid, so that makes me funny" quota. No one has ever come close to being him. Oh, and sadly the Jonas Brothers were in the movie as flying Cherubs. They were annoying.
And yes, it rained on us, so we really did see the movie.

Now on to some more exciting stuff.
Sunday I had a bit of a break through in the writing.
No, I did not add to the chapter I was working on, but I actively got a Chapter Outline started, and it actually helped me get past the place I was stuck. So I am quite excited about that. I allayed my concerns that I had about certain pre-existing correlations, but in the end.. Hey.. those authors had the same process on human friendship as I did. So I'm not going to fret.
Guy was quite helpful in figuring out some of the military stuff, and yes, I have a lot of play in what I actually end up working with, but now I at least have a base to start from.

On to other exciting stuff..
Tomorrow, I am going to purchase my first set of dyes. Yes, yes I will.
I can't recall if I've mentioned it before, but I have just found a supplier of non acid dyes, that work just like Acid dyes.
What does that mean?
Well, all the readily avail dyes out there for the non animal based yarns... suck. The process is "Cold" and so takes FOREVER. And you don't get good vibrant colors either.
Well, the dyes I just found are "Hot" like the regular animal based dyes. The process is the same, the only thing I won't have to worry about is the pH level of the bath. WOOHOO.
I already know exactly which colorway I'm gonna do first. I can't wait. I'm excited. It's odd, because the colors are not something I would normally do for myself. But, this is an experiment, and also it was the only colorway I could do in only 3-4 dyes.

Also, any day now I should have a Rolotape meter arriving, so that I can accurately count off my yardage. Hey, I'm for real on wanting to start a business.. I need to know exactly how many yards are in my skeins.

Also, any day I should be getting Santa Olivia from Amazon.com (i was buying the rolotape, so I figured I could justify the cost of finally getting Santa Olivia)

The reason I am buying Santa Olivia is because June 25th, Jacqueline Carey will be IN Denver for a book signing. Woohoo!
Her new book Naamah's Kiss comes out the DAY before her visit, so I will pick that one up in person instead of running the risk of it not arriving on time for her to sign it.


Saturday mom and I are going to a baseball game.
It is opening day of faire, but mom got the tickets thinking the game was on Friday. No worries. I'm alright with not going to Faire opening day.
I might go closing day.. but who knows.. I'll go if and when I feel like it.

An awesome person on Ravelry gave me a free copy of one of her new patterns, as it was something I had slightly requested her to make. (I asked her to make a gargoyle pattern, and this she made first.. so it's close) The condition of getting the pattern free is that I have to make a SteamPunked Bat. Woohoo I think I can do that.

So I cannot wait to start playing with The Great Batsby




He actually clips on things. Tee hee.

Alright, I guess I'm just trying to kill time.

oh, and I'm bummed because Since JC is coming to town, it means I cannot go to REPO the Genetic Opera in Denver the night after. I just can't justify driving to Denver two nights in a row for no other reasont than to just see a movie and get a book signed. lol

An odd morning for certain.

This morning after I came into work, and did my "first thing in the morning responsibilities", I steeled my reserve, straightened my spine, and walked in to my bosses office.

I didn't immediately shut the door, so for once he didn't get that "Uh Oh." deer in headlights expression. (The reason for not shutting the door was simply because there were only 3 other people in the entire office and they were all at least over 30 feet away. Privacy wasn't really going to be an issue.

I let him know where I was mentally with the state of the desk.
After all, moral kind of took a nose dive after we laid off 3 people, and shifted 2 people away(By all rights, we technically also got at least 2 people back, so we really didn't reduce our numbers.)

I let him know that I was absolutely terrified of being shuffled over to the other main desk we have here. They fire people instead of laying them off, they also have entire weeks (during the summer especially) where they don't lay you off or fire you, they just don't let you work. (Or they only let you work a few hours).
He understood my fear of that desk, and also of the other desk we have- which is not nearly as scary as the first one I mentioned, but it's still scary enough because they also fire, not lay off.

I let him know that I did the math, and by all technical accounts, I can afford to be laid off. (Not fired)
Now before you freak out, he understood that I wasn't lining myself up to be let go in the next round (if we have one). No, he knew I was letting him know, that if it came down to it, and the desk went away... What the best options for me were. Also, karmically, if me being laid off means someone else who desperately needs to be working can keep a job, then I'm okay with that.
The bottom line is, I'm moving. July 2010 come hell or high water, I'm moving. I have nearly half, of my over all "move money goal". Right now, I can move my cat. Or I can move my belongings. Not both.
But, if it comes down to it. The cat can stay a few months longer. The belongings can be put into storage until I can afford for it to be shipped.

I will be one of the last people who ever get let go when it comes down to it. I am one of the very few people who bring revenue into our desk.

The summer is always a slow time for us. It always has been.
Fall through till after Christmas is our really busy time. Then we get slow again till around graduation. Then the cycle repeats.

So I'm not actually worried about loosing my job any time soon. That doesn't mean I'll relax though, because I'll still do the best work that I can do, and continue to make myself indispensable.

I feel better now that I've had the talk with the boss, as in the end, he is the one who decides where I go and what happens to me.
I've always been lucky in the fact that I can openly talk to him.
It so far has never come back to bite me in the bum which is good. He knows where I'm at. I know where the desk is at. I know where I am at with him. And for now, I'm one of the safest people here.

Alright, moving along before I keep rambling.
This morning was an odd morning.
Well, technically it started yesterday.
I came home to Mother of Mine asking how to reboot the internet.
I started walking her through all the steps, that way if it happens when I'm not home, she can do it.
During that process, we discovered that the modem wasn't powering back on. I hadn't looked before I told her to unplug it, if there had been any lights.
I tried turning on the computer that was plugged into the same power strip- no go.
Huh, looks like the power strip finally died. I mean, I'm not surprised.. that one was prolly at least 10 years old, if not more.
Plugged the modem into a different power strip, everything booted up fine, we had the net again.
I didn't think much of it, thinking it was just that power strip.

This morning, I wake up. I go to walk downstairs.
The light above the stairs doesn't come on. huh. interesting... "damnit" I thought, we burned out another bulb. That means it'll be 6 months at least before it gets fixed, because we can't do it. We have to have the leasing company do it.
I make my way downstairs (normally it's not a big deal, but today it was raining so that meant no natural light coming in the house)

I turn on the kitchen light. - nothing.
I look at the stove, the clock is correct. I look at the microwave, the clock is correct.
My bathroom light had turned on when I was upstairs, and my alarm clock had gone off. Thus, it was not power failure.
I turn on the dining room light (which is on the same set of switches as the kitchen light) - nothing.

It's weird, because it's only 2 sets of switches in the entire house that aren't working like they should. And I don't think they are on the same fuse.
Mom is going to check the fuses when there is natural light (the fuse box is outside- i know... BRILLIANT!)

So that's how my morning started.
It's now an hour into my work day. Though I've been up for 2 and a half hours.. and I am only just now being able to eat my brekkie. (Yum, a peanut butter and jelly sammich... sigh.. I must really buy milk so I can have my normal cereal.)

Also.. it is the 3rd of June, and it has rained every day. Or at least been drizzly.
Methinks this shall be an odd summer.

I guess thats all the rambling I'll do for now. Must go make myself indispensable.

Hush, Hush, Off the Record, and on the QT.

Alright. So I'm not going to go into details, because I don't want someone swooping in and doing it before me. Mainly, someone who can afford to play right now.

So, those who already know what I'm talking about.. Keep yer traps shut? mmmkay?

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "So why is she blogging about it, if she doesn't want to talk about it, and doesn't want others to talk about it?"
Well, my dear readers.. the answer to that is:

I'M SO EXCITED!

I just can't hide it. And you know, you know.. I think I like it.

No in all seriousness, I am just practically foaming at the mouth right now with excitement.

If what I'm planning actually works, it will revolutionize a certain little world of mine. And will just be so awesome.
I honestly don't care if no one else is as excited as I am. Because I'm selfish, and I'll just do it for myself lol.

I am thinking, next pay day... I'm going to at least splurge a little, and get a few of the things I need to accomplish this goal. I know.. I know I'm crazy.. but I need to see if it will work before I even try.

Alright, I'm done babbling in my elusive way.


Just.. Squee.


Oh, and on a completely different note.

holy frak. It's June. Officially 13 months to go. Or.. 12.99 depending on how you look at it. ;-)