My sincere apologies

Wow. I cannot believe it is already the 16th of January.

And wow. I cannot believe that my last blog posting was LAST year.

I haven't forgotten you. Really, I've just been... busy yet not.

I finished one super sekret knit project. But I can't talk to you about it yet.

I gave up on one project, as it was kicking my ass and I've sent it to it's room. That was my Ishbel project. First Lace project. It could be that the yarn just didn't want to be that project. We'll see when I come back to it.

I started my Doomsday Cardigan. No photos as of yet, as I'm only like 8 rows into 117. (Link goes to Ravelry)

I am theoretically starting my first aqua aerobics at the gym on Monday. Which of course means I'll be having a gym membership for the first time in my life.

I have been writing every day. Which is a very good thing. And I have noticed it has helped. Only one day in the last week or so did I not write much, but instead did brain storming. I do not feel guilty for this, as brainstorming is a much needed piece of the machine. Especially since I was quite unsure where the story was going.

I have to admit it is odd working on two pieces at the same time.
But, the Blitz novella is almost done! I'm in the home stretch of the 1st rough draft.
Small aside on that. Today I started reading M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman. In it is an introduction explaining things a bit. On the subject of short stories: "In the beginning they were a great way to begin to learn my craft as a writer. The hardest thing to do as a young writer is to finish something, and that was what I was learning how to do."- Neil Gaiman.
This made me exceedingly happy to read. I often forget that the things I am going through, are things that the greats themselves have gone through.
When I had to stop writing a few months ago due to work, and I realized that I was giving up finishing the novella in time for the contest, I was quite... put out. Truth be told I was down right depressed. It had been a deadline that quite literally went wooshing past. Then the last few months, with no deadline... no work stopping me, I found excuses. "I've got company coming!" "It's the holidays!" Before I knew it, it was the end of the year.
Well, the time for excuses is over. I don't have a deadline. But I do have a commitment to writing every day. I've been finding myself writing more and more each day. Mind you, this is written long hand in a spiral bound at about 10:30 at night when I'm in bed.. But I'm getting more use out of the time I am writing.
(Generally I try to shut off my light by 11:30)

Last night I found myself in a very short span, writing 2 pages. This made me exceedingly happy. I could have written more, but I had reached a point that I needed to ponder on, and as it was the end of my writing time, I decided instead to call it a night.

Yes, I realize I'm rambling. Deal with it.



Today I did some dyeing.
I dyed 3 different colorways.
Nothing that I had planned, as I was simply working on technique.

I will photograph them hopefully tomorrow, and post photos.
2 of the skeins are already spoken for, but I'll have one skein up for grabs.

I received a wonderful gift from a friend of mine in Nova Scotia. You've heard me speak of her before, but Crystal is just absolutely fab.

The little bag of Cheshire Cat fabric was made by Pheelya.
The shawl is "Traveling Woman" based off of the character Angela Montenegro from Bones.

The yarn is amazingly soft, and I absolutely cannot stop petting it. I love it and I want more of it.



Other than that, there is not much new. The library is doing it's 8 books in 8 weeks program like it did last year. Not as many sponsors which is a bummer. But oh well.

My life right now gets divided up between "Write, Knit, or Read?"

I don't know if this should worry me or not lol.

I promise photos of new yarn soon!

Edit: Details of the shawl project can now be found on Halifax Mommy's blog: Knitted Things for Knitting Friends

Productive day

Yesterday I made a decision.

I was sick and tired of not having a writing space.

Laptop on the couch was just not cutting it. Specially since I cannot write with my mother doing her thing around the house. This is not her fault. I do not blame her at all. I certainly am not the only writer who needs a quiet space where they can shut the door and be away from the world and enter into their own world.

I had avoided having a computer in my room... well for the entire time that I have lived in this house. Over three years now?

Why? Well... possibly having had my computer less than 2 feet away from me at all times in my previous bedroom, and by that statement I don't mean I'd move it around, I mean that the room was just that small and crowded. Also the fact that I suffer from insomnia and having a computer in your bedroom is one of the factors that doesn't help. Also I know I'd end up getting up when my insomnia hit and turn on the computer. All of that are just some of the factors.

Now that it doesn't matter if I have insomnia or not (which, I haven't had a bout in a long while), I've decided the only way I'd get some writing space and not have to have it on my bed would be to setup a desk in my bedroom and put my mom's antiquated and slow laptop (which isn't a laptop even more so than the one I am typing on now. Mum's laptop has a display that is dying. So it really needs to be hooked up to a monitor (which I have all the tools for) at all times, or it's not usable. Don't even get me started on the battery or lack there of. Which this laptop also shares that little joy.).
So I spent the mid morning/day creating a tornado in the upstairs.

Had to move a small chest of drawers, small bookshelf (as opposed to the large bookshelf that also needs to be moved but I've decided to do it at another time), even smaller bookshelf, and a piano. Not to mention all the crap on the floor in front of all those objects.

Then, had to move a futon mattress out of my way as Mum and I haven't put it in it's proper place. Lets just say it was in my way most of the time. This went INTO my bedroom basically where all the crap I just moved came from. You will see the logic soon.

Then, had to uncover Mum's sewing desk. (We had discussed this prior to me doing it)
You'd think this would be easy. Not at all. Did I mention there was a shelf on top of the desk? And lots of sharp pointy things.

Now one thing I forgot to mention, was that the upstairs loft was in complete disarray to begin with, so really I had no place to put all this stuff.

Had to next take apart the sewing desk so that I could get it into my room. Thought that moving the desk into my room would be simple. Not so much, as of course it was too big to slide in the door.

I get the desk in the room. I slide the futon mattress out of the room back just in the walk way.

I put the desk back together.
I get the desk into place.

I have to now uncover my computer desk of all the sewing crap I had just buried it with.

Ah.. the dust. Considering I hadn't worked on that computer upstairs in over 6 months (power source failed.... ) there was many inches of dust on the desk and everything on it.

I spent at least an hour cleaning everything.

Mind you, the can of compressed air had run out, as Hunny2Be had used it all up (or nearly all... I had one squirt of air left) when he took the hard drives out of the two desktops from the desk (remember the failed power source? he ripped out the hard drives so that he can recover all the info off them back home since I don't have the tools for that.)

So I get most of the computer accessories cleaned and hooked up. I uncover a path to the stairs so that I can go find Mum's laptop, and the docking station for it. Oh my god. Since the docking station had been sitting in one spot basically since Mum moved in (under a chair out of the way) I kid you not, there was a coating of dust so thick on it I had to take it outside and blow the top layer of dust off before I could even think about taking a rag to it to get the rest off.

Got everything plugged into it. Started having issues. Mouse didn't want to work, neither did the keyboard.

Even outside the docking station the mouse didn't want to work, but the keyboard did. So it took me a long while to find another random mouse in the house. I swear it wasn't even the one I was looking for. How many mice do we have in this house!?!
Either way, it worked.

At this point in the saga, the laptop is hooked up to the monitor, the keyboard, and the mouse. But not any of this is running through the docking station. I feel rather cruddy and gross so I call it quits for the day. Hop in the shower.

The upstairs is still an absolute mess, but right now I don't care.

Tomorrow I'll see if I can get the laptop connected to the internet. (I'm not kidding when I say this laptop is old. Do you remember those giant red NIC ports that you had to plug into the computer? Yeah... it's got one of those. Not to mention if my router is locked for direct connection as well then I'm screwed, as the key for my router is in the hard drive that Hunny2Be had to take with him to recover. I can't remember what setting I had my router on. We shall see.) If I can't get it connected to the internet, it's no big deal as the plan is just to use it for writing. But it'll be a bit of a pain as occasionally I do have to go research something. I'll survive though.

Tomorrow Mum and I might tackle the sewing area. Though if it doesn't happen before she leaves for the next bout of House sitting, it's no biggie. I've got a path from the door to the stairs, and I have access to Pan's food. Also we don't have any houseguests coming to town, so honestly the only person who would be hassled by it would be me, and right now I really don't care. I'll just be happy to have a writing space.

Mum has cheesecake baking in the oven. Tonight is just gonna be leftovers. Remington Steele season 2 is on the telly.

I am frankly exhausted. So I'm done for the day.

Still had my headcold all day, and the dust hasn't helped, so unfortunately didn't get to go to Jes's party today. I wouldn't be very sociable right now though with how tired I am...

More knitting updates soon!

Too many things to list them all- Happy Halloween

I realize it's been a while since I last blogged. Or mayhaps it just feels that way.

Sadly I don't have much new to report. (Well, a few things)

Just been trying to get through the days at work.

Down to 35 weeks.

I have the best friend in Canada ever. Halifax, Nova Scotia to be more exact.
Here's the story.
I was part of a Vampire Halloween Swap.
It was supposed to be secret. Meaning, we victims didn't know who was "spoiling" us.
Well, right off the bat the secret got spoiled by my spoiler as she messaged me to make sure I was her partner. That took out a lot of the fun on my part right away.
Then the package finally arrived.
Lets just say I was less than enthused by the contents.
The colors were not colors I would choose at all, it was yarn I stated I was allergic to... and there was not a vampire related item in sight.
She reasoned that I didn't want to have to ship things.... *head desk* Thats fine, but she could have included something that was vampire related.
So, to be honest. I was disappointed. I was well within my right, as other people noticed how lackluster the package was.

What does this have to do with my friend in Nova Scotia?
Well, a package arrived to me from my friend Crystal that knocked my socks off. It was to make up for the lackluster package I had previously gotten.



The yarn alone had me drooling. It is Seacell and Silk. Meaning it is HEAVEN to smoosh.

Honestly, I was so blown away and touched by the kindness of the package.

Moving along, here are some things I've made over the past couple of weeks.




Hoot is a little hair clip designed by Ysolde Teague. Whos work I absolutely adore. Hoot knitted up in like 10 minutes, I've actually made 2 of them as I couldn't find the first one.

The stitch markers were little metal bobbles I found at Michaels craft store. I loved them so much that I went back to get more so I could make myself a set. These, and Hoot were going to my Halloween Vampire Swap partner, so they are no longer in the house.


I just made some new stitch markers for the Flirt and Flounce custom order that I have.



Yesterday I made myself exceedingly proud.
I made homemade bagels from scratch. Sure, a bread machine was involved, but that was just to save my hands from all the mixing and kneading. I do after all have early arthritis (or darn near close) in my hands, so I have no qualms about using my bread machine.
I made Cinnamon Raisin bagels.
And let me tell you,
No, they were not hockey pucks like I feared.
Yes, they were absolutely delicious.
No, they weren't beautiful store bought perfectly round bagels.
Yes, they had the perfect crust, and the perfect texture inside.
No, they weren't a pain in the ass to make.
Yes, it was amusing twirling the dough on my fingers.

I was absolutely shocked at how easy they were to make. The actual making of them... took far less time than I imagined.
The boiling in the pot was not as scary as I imagined it to be.
The only thing I might try differently shall be to use actual bread flour instead of regular flour. But pretty much.. thats the only change I'll do for next time.

Eventually, my goal is to also know how to make Pumpernickel, as Cinnamon Raisin and Pumpernickel are my two favorites.




Other than that, we had a very quiet Samhain/Halloween.
Mum made a pumpkin sauce with black pasta for dinner which was very good. You can read all about it over here. (Once she posts the blog that is. So if it's not up, just be patient.)

I guess really thats all I've got to say right now.

I guess I'll end it on the note that yes... I've had the weird realization that this time next year, I'll be in the UK and finishing up my wedding.

OOOHh! Just remembered one thing. Had an awesome dream last night. The kind of dream where in the middle of it, I was awake enough to go "Oooh this would make a great novel". Can't recall it at all, I mistakenly fell into the cocky writer mentality of "Oh, it's so vivid and I'm awake enough right now... I'll remember it in the morning." - Yeah. How silly was I.
I know it involved fast cars... A theme park... a roadway quite like the autobahn, a sinkhole that swallowed a pickup truck, and promptly repaved it's self (alright, someone repaved it.. but in the time it took me to glance away) with the truck and a body inside. A dying car crash victim, a lot of questionable money, the disappearance of the car crash victim and her body, and over all the entire sense of intrigue and "who can I trust" sensations. - Mind you, none of this is in the order it happened in the dream. It also no where near covers the depth of the dream and the complexity it had. By typing all this out for several times, I'm hoping to recall other details.. But no... no such luck.
I know, I know. I should have woken up and grabbed the dust covered notebook I have on the floor. But sadly I did not.

The only good thing that this is telling me, is that possibly the creative spark inside me that I feared was being killed by work possibly isn't fully dead. This gives me hope that next year when I can actually sit down and write, I won't just end up staring at my keyboard in vain.

Well, thats all I've got for now.
Ta everyone. Have a safe and happy start to the new year if you celebrate it.

Such a bad blogger...

Work has been killing me, hence the lack of updates.

So this one is gonna be quick.

I am sorry if the updates are sporadic for the next 5 weeks. I'm gonna be brain dead. This I already know.

Here is the yarn I dyed a few weekends ago...



I'm quite happy with it. I've already sold one skein of it, and I've got plans for the others. One skein I am keeping for myself. I'm actually in the process of knitting socks to go with the yarn. Yup, a pattern of my own creation. Woohoo. I unfortunately had to frog it last night, as part of it was supposed to zig zag, well.. there was zig.. but there was no zag. Back to the drawing board as it were.

Writing has been non existent right now because of work. I'm hoping that when mother of mine heads out of town this week, I'll be awake enough to write. I think I've only got a few thousand words to go. Then I'll hand it off to my editor and we'll see if I can get a rewrite done in time for the contest. If I make it, neat. If I don't.. I'm not going to freak.

I've been crazy recently, and organized an massive Pen Pal exchange. Seriously over 150 signed up for this. I wasn't expecting that at all. But now the signups are over and all the assignments handed out. This will be fun.

Also to note, I'm finally officially a Yarnie over on Ravelry. Yup, I've taken the plunge. Woohoo.

Well... I guess thats all the time I have right now to write.

Ta peeps! Bugs and Hisses.

All's Quiet on the Western front...

Alright, so my beloved readers, you may (or may not) have noticed it's been a little quiet over here in my little journal of impossible things.

Well, there is a reason for it. A reason I went into vague detail about in a blog I have not posted. I do not know if I will post the blog or not.

Lets just say, it involved drama. Not just roll your eyes type drama, but the Erin coming home from work in complete tears drama, including a massive dose of cyberstalking just because some people thought it was amusing.

My profile from Ravelry has not yet been deleted, but it will be shortly. (oy, i've got over 700 items in my queue, so I don't want to loose all that, and transferring them over to the new profile takes time.)

I've pretty much been hiding on the down low for the last week because I was sick of the stalking.

I may or may not have to change the name of my shop. (there was slander against me and my shop)

For now I am leaving it as it is. I did have make arrangements to have my group on ravelry shut down, because that's where the bulk of the stalking occurred. I do not yet know how it has affected my etsy store (thank goodness you can't leave comments on someones shop unless you've purchased something, and for the record, all my product is Excellent, and I do not cut corners on anything. The materials I use for my yarns are tried and tested materials and the company I buy my dyes from has been in business doing what they are doing for over 100 years.)

I will have my shop minion open a new Group for me on ravelry when I feel it is safe to do so.

All in all, the whole situation has sucked.

But it did show me just how many friends I do actually have.
Okay, thats all I'm gonna say about that for the moment.

Moving along,
Knitting: I've been bad on the Fangtasm sock. I haven't been working on it. Mostly because I have been working on creating original patterns.
I have the start of the pattern down for a certain Repo Man sock.
I have 1.5 parts of a pattern for Blind Mag down. She's complicated, and is requiring to basically defy laws of nature here. So she's going to take a while, but I'm getting closer with each try. Once I get this one little part down, then I've just got 1 more element to figure out, and then it's just writing up the pattern to work with the over all construction of the project. (The over all shape is gonna be easy, but it's just the pattern elements in the design that are taking a while.)

Writing:
Well, due to all the emotional crap going on, I was slacking when it came to writing.
But this weekend, I did manage to get nearly 2000 words done. Not the full goal, but nearly.
I've also done the math. If I actually do 1000 words a "day" (which is not impossible for me), it will take me 11 days to complete the minimum required word count. So I really do need to make this next week count. I will have the house to myself for the next week (or is it 2 weeks? I can't recall exactly when Mother of Mine comes home) I doubt I'll be able to get 1000 words every night with how exhausted from work I generally am, but I quite possibly can get a couple of hundred. If I can get 500 done on a work night, then I'll be getting really close. I'm also going to see if in the slow times at work, if I can get even a sentence or two added.

I'm at quite the juicy part if I do say so myself. My minion Jo is enjoying what I've got written, and once I get it all done I'm going to put a call out for readers/editors.

Work: Right now is being odd. We are getting more inbound phone calls then we have been recently. But we are no longer getting Backlog tickets (my job), basically we get a handful a day, and I pretty much twiddle my thumbs to be able to work them. (Most of them are in Hawaii so I can't call until a certain amount of my day has passed)
I am taking advantage of this down time for me, as well... for the last year (and yes, I say year because it was a year ago that the desk started downsizing and our volume started dropping off) I have been the busiest person here. I have always had something to do, and generally a minimum of 4 times as much work as everyone else. The only exception to that was my work minion Pat who did the same amount of work as me. (Though, but for one month, I always beat him out in the amount of tickets I did, and really the month he beat me out was my "Hmm the desk is going away, I don't care anymore" month. He beat me by 5 tickets lol.)
So since the next 48 weeks are gonna be hell once this one ends, I'm taking advantage of the quiet now.

Oh, in other news:
The whole drama that happened... was so bad that Mother of Mine and Hunny of Mine had to divulge a BIG secret just to cheer me up.
Guy is coming out to visit in December. I cannot even express how happy this makes me.
They were going to surprise me, but unfortunately thanks to the major unpleasantness that occurred, they decided to tell me to cheer me up.

Dyeing:
Is going well. Well,I mean for the fact that I haven't dyed in a while. Squibstitcher from Fresh from the Cauldron (whos yarn I love) gave me a few secrets, which was really awesome of her.
I am going to venture into wool dyeing, as 1) I have beautiful handspun that needs to be dyed, and 2)people still prefer wool. Personally, I think they are crazy, but thats just me. I have very good reasons for not liking to knit in wool. And I am very annoyed that I can't get the same weights of yarn in the non wool stuff.
But just because I don't like to knit in wool, doesn't mean I won't dye it. I only started with the non wool stuff because I happened to have it. And with the way I plan on running my shop, I strive to make sure I can recreate any colorway I make on both wool and and non wool. So people get a choice.

I am actually going to participate on a swap on Ravelry, which I'm hoping works out. Basically, it's for new "yarnies" (people like me who dye yarn), we will get paired with a Knitter (or Crocheter), and we will trade 1 skein of dyed yarn for a skein of Undyed yarn. So we won't be out anything other than our time/the cost of dye/the cost of shipping, but in return we will get the publicity of our yarns being out there and used in a project.

Random note #2:
Finally got to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
I must admit I highly enjoyed it. I enjoyed it much more than the last 3 films.
Yes, they changed things.
Yes, they left things out.
But in the end, everything they changed made it work without feeling forced. At no point did I sit there feeling disgusted at how they had changed the over all story. (*cough* POA *cough*)
There was really only 1 scene that they left something out of it that I was annoyed about.

Yes, there were other scenes they omitted that will make the next 2 films a bit harder to make work. (Okay, gonna spoil here. There was no Bill and Fluer. So, if there is no Bill and Fluer in this one, the whole "wedding" from the 7th story is going to feel completely out of left field. Which, I know the wedding is going to be in the movie. Oh well, I'm sure they will make it work somehow.)

I think that the kids they got to play Tom Riddle were absolutely BRILLIANT. Little Hero is actually Ralph Fiennes nephew, and then the older one... just... perfect. Seriously.

I'm gonna stop talking about HP because I really don't want to spoil it for those who have not yet seen it.

Alright, I guess I've killed enough time. Time to do a little work.

bugs and hisses.

My "Ah ha!" moment from last night.

Last night, I was actually writing.

Woohoo!

Then I hit a wall.
I was trying to describe clothing.

And then I told myself "I will need to research the clothing of the 1890's. Darnit. Can't write anymore tonight."

I started researching a bit. And then it hit me.

It doesn't matter.
I am not writing about London that was.
I am writing about London that never was. Thus, I can play with the clothing a bit. No drastic changes, but I am no longer held to the rules of "this is what they wore in that time period."

I then started zooming when it came to writing again.

So I have a feeling that when it comes to this particular novel, I will have to constantly remind myself "This is my world. Not theirs. My world, my rules."

Moving along. Yesterday Mother of Mine needed new sneakers.
So we hit the shoe stores.
I shouldn't have gone in. I should have just had my mom meet me at Whole Foods next door.

But I went in.

Now, shoe shopping for me has always been a PITA. I mean serious pain.

I've worn a size 7 and up since the 5th grade. I now wear a 10, and have worn a 10 for the last like... Oh well.. since high school.

Finding a pair of shoes that 1)fit, 2)I like, and 3) don't kill my knees is nigh on impossible.

Boots even more so.
I found a pair of sexy sexy black boots.
I made the mistake of trying them on.

I could actually zip them up over my massively large calves (thank you Track when I was a kid)
I didn't wobble. I could walk. they didn't pinch.

And they were 40% off. Sigh. I was suckered in as soon as I saw them.

Next pair of boots.
Not quite as sexy, not a color I would normally buy.

Again, knee high boots. Suede.. Cowboy style heel.
My mind went "Ren Faire?"

For years now, I generally have to leave mid day because the only boots I have, are not good Faire Boots, and my back generally is in too much pain to allow me to continue. Having a low heel is better for our rocky terrain.
These were more expensive.. but they were also 40%
So, for two pairs of boots, I spent 120$
Not bad... If the Ren Faire boots last me even 1 season, and make it possible for me to enjoy myself, then they will have been money well spent. (Not to mention, I can use them while mucking about the field in England.)
(Only in Black) And yes, I am SOoooo wearing those to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.



I guess thats all my rambling for now... My body and mind, really do not want to be here at work today.

Angels and Demons, Bones, and a moment of panic.

So, I cast on and started my special project.
Some how, I messed up, and either cut an extra bit, or I split a bit, and I have to figure out what I did.

Figuring out that I messed up was actually only found out after I finished my second row, and 3 parts came off. It left me with a WTF? moment.

So after giving up last night due to frustration and sleepyness, I have not picked it back up again. I don't know if I will pick it up tonight or not, as my back is hurting, and I do not want to transfer any of the back pain vibes into the knitting. Which happens. And as this is a gift... I have to make sure it doesn't happen.


Yesterday I nearly had a heartastroke as, well mom and I went to see Angels and Demons.
We went to Whole Foods to buy a bit of lunch, and I must say that I feel as if I am cheating on my Whole Foods every time I go to the WF over on that side of town. It is a smaller one, and not nearly as good on top of the whole "I'm cheating" feeling.
After eating lunch, mom and I went to Coldstone next to the theater and got some ice cream.

Then we went into the theater. Of course we were the first ones there.

I sat down, got up, went to the loo, got us napkins, sat down, chilled, got comfy. So on and so forth.

I reached for my chapstick in my right pocket, and realized there were only 2 items in my pocket. My chapstick and my Orajel (the tooth I had a root canal on, and has been damaged etc has been bugging me, so I started keeping numb stuff with me again... you'd think that after 3 years (or more) of sucking that stuff down I'd be immune to it... nope. still works.. well for the most part. The problem I have can't be fully numbed, but I'll do my darndest.).

What was missing from my pocket was my flash drive.
I had distinctly remembered putting it in my right pocket when I left work.
Que me panicking.
I search under my seat.
I trace my steps back to the loo.
I come up with nothing.
Mom said she remembered seeing it poking out of my pocket while we were in the car eating.
I did technically have time to go out and check the car, but there was a reason I didn't. The reason was this: If I simply clung to the hope that it was in the car, I'd be able to possibly enjoy the movie. If I went out to the car and it wasn't there. I'd cry, and thus not really enjoy the movie. So, the fear of not knowing helped me in this case.

Fast forward, yes. It was in the car. Thank gods.
Seriously, I'd rather loose my wallet then loose my flash drive.
Not because the stuff isn't replaceable (at most I'd loose a few reference images, that I had just added, because I'm a smart girl and saved a copy of everything on my computer.) but because that would mean a copy of both my unpublished novels, my resumes, documents on the whole "starting my own business" thing. (Including a list of all my colorways.)
a wallet would be, though expensive (just the fees of replacing my cards etc) would be less frightening to replace then the creative content that would then be floating into the world without my control.

Now, on to the movie.

Angels and Demons

I absolutely LOVED the movie.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
The music was fantastic.
The changes they made, for the most part were completely understandable, and did not affect the overall story too much.

The only gripe I had, was the "Illuminati Diamond"
I will not give spoilers as there are people who haven't seen it yet.

I have to say also, that it is amazing, how just 1 scene.. an innocent scene, can cause the entire audience to collectively gasp. And no, it's not a scene any of you prolly think it is.

I'll wait at least 2 weeks, then I'll chat about it.

One thing I can say without spoiling anything.. .because I doubt anyone other then myself would have noticed it...

But the writers created a paradox.
That, is amusing to me.

They created a paradox because, the story of Angels and Demons is supposed to be set prior to the events in The Da Vinci Code. This, was also established in the DaVinci Code, because of Robert Langdon saying "I've met the pope" or whatever the line actually was. It implied the story that we didn't see. The story of Angels and Demons.

Well, in Angels and Demons, they set those events AFTER the events of The DaVinci Code, and makes a point of setting it AFTER.

Which means they created a paradox. Considering the subject matter... the fact that they created a paradox just highly, highly amuses me.

After the movie, mother of mine and I went to Hobby Lobby, as she needed to pick up some more paint. Why is it, you can have over 50 bottles of paint in the house, but not have the exact color you need?? I swear it's a giant conspiracy.
I picked up two rubber stamps, as I couldn't not get them.

One is of a crooked witches hat, and the other says "Bugs and Hisses"

I had to.. I just absolutely had to.

Caught up with Moonlighting season 3, man that show was good. And oh my gods, Mark Harmon was a hottie in it. Yes, the show immediately started to jump the shark after the whole "hook up" moment, but I'll still continue to watch the seasons as they come out on dvd.

Right now, I'm starting Season 4 of Silk Stalkings. Again I love that show.

I finished reading Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs. The 2nd book of the Bones books.

I know I've commented on this already, but it was highly enjoyable, and I honestly can't wait to read the next one. Got to actually see more of Detective Ryan, which was enjoyable.. I very much am starting to imagine David Boreanaz when I see Detective Andrew Ryan.

Next book up, I'll be finally actually starting The Princess Bride, and I'll also quickly reread Dead Until Dark.

Today mother and I went out to Panera for breakfast to use our last free sammich certificate before it expires. After that we hit up Evilmart, and I bought myself a new pair of jeans. Mother of mine found a pair for me, that actually fit, and when we rung them up, 3$ oh yeah, nothing like finding a pair of jeans that fit and paying less than 5$ for them.
Wait, no that still bothers me. I hate shopping at Evilmart, but I just can't justify spending 40$ on a pair of jeans right now when ever penny is trying to be saved.
My last pair of Evilmart jeans lasted me nearly a year, and that was a year of tough wear, so these should at least last me till the move if I'm good at rotating all my jeans out.

Alright, I think I've rambled on enough. I gotta go check on my dinner.

Bugs and Hisses everyone.

Vote on a name, Startrek, and knitting.

The eye is twitchy.
The body didn't want to get out of bed.
The mind was having some odd NCIS/Top Gear cross over like dream. I do not recall the details, but lets just say it was odd.

I very much wanted to not acknowledge Monday's existance, but unfortunately the universe and my conscious "adult" mind had other plans.

I have a little project on the needles right now. And I must say I am really not liking the Caron Simply Soft Eco yarn anymore. I absolutely am just being annoyed with the texture of the yarn. I don't know how to describe it other than.. skuzzy. I will still finish the project I am working on though, as well... I want to be done with this yarn. And if I use it all up then I can just make sure I don't buy it again. Well... if I absolutely need yarn and the only option is that, then yes.. I'll buy it.. but I won't necessarily like it.
The project is not for me, and I haven't a clue how it'll turn out. Honestly I'm winging it. Which.. once the project is complete, you'll find that pun amusing.
This little project did though, teach me something quite useful which will allow me to go forth and do some other projects, so all in all it's a good thing.

The amazing Cathie, who is a buddy of mine over on Ravelry was totally awesome and sent me one of her spare copies of "Dead Until Dark" woohoo. Now I get to start the entire series all over again without having to wait for the library. Once I'm done, this one will go on the stack of books I need to send to Guy in the next care package. She also sent me a cute little bookmark she made. It was an attempt at some lace, and it is quite pretty! It's pink, but it happens to be the 1 shade of pink I like. All in all, I say this was a WIN. Cathie rocketh most verrily.

Oh.. So Friday Mother of Mine and I went to see StarTrek.
IT. Was. Freaking. Amazing.

Yes, yes it was. I highly enjoyed it. I want to see it again. (But I won't until it's on dvd, because I'm being "responsible")
I won't go into detail because I respect that not all my readers might have seen it yet. But just gotta say.. freaking.. awesome.
They cast the film brilliantly, and if they decide to keep the Star Trek saga alive with the younger cast.. I welcome it.
And Karl Urban was just perfect.. PERFECT as Bones.

Well alright, actually everyone was PERFECT. I would end up just listing the entire cast if I went that way, so I wont.

The rest of the weekend was spent pretty quietly.
I did laundry. Did a few other chores. Knitted.
Started watching:
NCIS season 3.
BattleStar Galactica 2.5
The State Within, Part 1 (well.. not part 1, but disc 1 of 2) - Which was really good. It's a political thriller by the BBC, set here in the US. Specifically in D.C. and it's all about a terrorist attack on the US by a British Muslim and how the British Ambassador in the US has to handle it. (played by Jason Issacs) It's very good. A heck of a cast, and I can't wait to see the second part.

Underworld - man I forgot how much I love that movie. Mom never saw it, and as Rise of the Lycans releases tomorrow on DVD (and netflix is sending it to me today), I gotta have her catch up.

Tonight we'll watch Underworld Evolution

Okay, on to the knitty gritty. I need ya'lls help.

Please vote on this name:
Mathais Davenport

poll can be found on the right hand side.
I will explain the name later, but for now.. just need to know if ya'll like it.

Buzz kill.

It's amazing how quickly a buzz kill can happen.

Today I was all excited. Riding high off a certain someone commenting on a previous blog. Riding high off finally making a decision that is scarey and new, and will completely make me rethink how I write my novel.

Now, I'm just so... Yeah... makes me almost say "why bother?"

Here.. as it is Star Wars day... (May the 4th be with you) I will just steal a line from it.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Dont want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I cant trace time


Come on, you all know you now have that song stuck in your head.

But, yes it rings true. I think I have finally given myself something serious to think about with the direction of my novel. It's something that a lot of authors end up doing. You get a really great story, but somethings not working.. so gotta change. For some, it means putting the idea on the back burner for 10 years (a la Jacqueline Carey, and her new Santa Olivia), for others it can just be as simple as changing the hair color of a character.

For me, it shall be a bit of a drastic change. But one I'm willing to embrace.
I think part of the reason I hadn't been able to write recently, was things were just feeling a bit off. My own fears about reality were creeping into my world too much.
Not to mention, one of the characters, just kept fading too much from my mind.
And yes, I consider the location a character as Denver, is quite the character unto it's self. Well, Denver and I have not been friends for a while. I have not hung out with Denver for about 4 years, other than the occasional drive through, or quick trip to say hello.
And in my novel, the backdrop of Colorado, and Denver specifically was kind of important.
Certainly it will adjust a future novel. (I mean come on... it makes total sense that there would be werewolves in Boulder.. right?)

But I think the change I'm making will be for the better. I was getting too bogged down trying to remember things. I've been meaning to take a trip to Denver, and it just hasn't happened, and all of this will only get worse after I move.

Then, here is the reality that kept trying to creep in.
If I were staying in the US, then as an author trying to pitch a story set in the city of Denver, wouldn't be a big deal. I can sell internationally even though it's a small US city (yes, Denver isn't that small, but compared to NY.. it is.. see my point?). Look at LKH, and KH, and even the tiny towns like SM, and CH proved.

I won't change my main character, she'll still be who she is. But just the backdrop will change, it opens up more possibilities, and actually tackles a few of the little problems I was having. (just little stuff I doubt any of you would have thought about.)

It'll be tough, because I won't be able to experience some things first hand until things in life settle down. But I think I can make it work. I am a woman who knows how to use her resources, and also who knows how to do her research.

For once, the fact that me being too brain dead to write has been a bonus.

So, I'm hoping that this will be a good change. I'm confident that it will be. And it will allow me to feel more stable in the world I'm creating.

Frogged and A Hot Fairy Tale

I do feel like such a slacker for not having written any of AHDB recently, but the stress of normal life, was making me unable to write as my cathartic release.
I've been knitting instead.

I started to teach myself how to do Cables, so that I could get a leg up on the Alexandra coat that I've been talking about for months.

I'm very, very glad that I decided to give it a go with normal yarn as opposed to my Lucien. (Which, I know has been dyed, but I have not received due to the "club" nature of it. I'll get my first two skeins of it in the next few weeks)

I was banging my head against the wall trying to do the cable chart, and then I finally said screw it, and cast on the entire project, as if I'm doing it entirely.

Well, I discovered my first problem. I was counting the chart as 26 stitches, instead of the 25 it actually was. That was just my mind merging a symbol that looked like another symbol, hence getting 26 instead of 25.

But, once I got past that, I discovered other problems. I didn't get 7 rows before I ran into this problem.
After frogging and putting it back on at least half a dozen times, I gave up and started poking about online.

Thats when I made a significant discovery. Everyone (minus one person) has had extreme problems with the pattern. There are many bugs in it, and entire parts missing from the instructions.

Woohoo. This means it's not me messing it up! It means that it's just a bad pattern.

Well, one of the girls I was chatting with, talked about picking up the project again and completely rewriting the pattern, but she hadn't thought about that in forever (really not since she had put down the pattern in the first place)

But, me chatting with her reminded her how much she loved the sweater and how it looks, and thus is inspired to possibly pick it up again. If she does, she'll send me the pattern. Which at this point, I'd trust her pattern over the original author any day. (The author put errata up on the pattern site, only after the girl I was chatting with pointed out the mistakes, and it doesn't count all the mistakes)

I'm about to start Marissa's project, as I picked up the last skein of yarn I needed today.

This, most definitely might count as the "neat thing" & holiday gift, as it is quite a well.. it's a good project. I hope she'll like it.

Everyone else is just getting a little small item.

I am also, starting a "Princess Bride Read-Knit-Along"
I've never read the Princess Bride.. I remember starting it in the 5th grade, but that was the day before school was ending, and I couldn't borrow the book from my friend. So I read a total of 1 page before I had to give it back, and somehow it has managed to not make it in my reading pile all these years. So I have till June 21st to finish reading the book and knit something related to The Princess Bride.

I now have a copy of the book, as I finally checked out "Hooked on Books" which is not far from my house. I like it much more than The Book Rack. But still not as impressed. I guess I'm just spoiled thanks to The Bookworm (Boulder).

The version I have is amusing. I think it was a cover that was directed towards the adults rather than kids. It's got artwork from like the 80's. But the back... the back is amusing..

“What Happens-
When the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince in the world and he turns out to be a son of a bitch?”






I also picked up:
Death Du Jour by Kathy Reitchs, it's the next in the Bones books.
Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris, first in the Shakespeare series
Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris, 4th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series - mmm Eric. love him.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, woohoo.. finally gonna get to read it.

I was able to justify buying the books, because I only spend 23$ for all the books, and they are all books I plan on sending to Guy to read during the summer break and books to get him through exam times etc.

We ended up going to the bead store, and I'm honestly surprised how much I got for as little as I spent. Mother of Mine had a 5$ gift certificate, so with buying a bead for her, I only ended up spending 3$ (and 1.60$ of that was the bead for her)

Oh, random knitting note (sorry, typing past my bed time.. what do you expect?)

Having figured out how to DO cables, I have now accomplished one of my two main goals for the year. The next is to tackle simple socks. Woohoo.

Mother of Mine and I hunted slightly for Easter dinner. Which I can't recall if I've spoken of or not.

Now as you all know, I do not celebrate the christian holidays as I am not christian. But as Mother of Mine is connecting with her church and stuff like that, I am supportive of her. So I was sitting there thinking what we might want for Easter dinner, because she'll want to have something nice.
And really, the only thing that came to my mind was "Hmmm.. Rabbit would be nice."

Yes, I am that twisted.

Rabbit on Easter. bwhahahahaha

Unfortunately, the rabbit is not meant to be (this year). We left of inquiring about it till today, and the only kind we would be able to get would be whole (ugh) and frozen.

Nope, won't work for this year.

Oh, random jump.. sorry again..
I finally found the damn buttons. Remember the quest for the buttons? I hadn't gone to JoAnn's. Honesty I just should have looked there first. Perfect purple buttons, and I'm slick enough that they are the perfect size. Again, they were 50% off. SWEEET.
They are even stitched on to the leg warmers. So, as soon as Mother of Mine finishes weaving in the ends (i did the buttons, but it was her knitting project) i'll get to wear them, and will also post photos.
The purple was a grand choice and goes well with the blue. Woohoo!

Random: watching Alias season two.. and it is just always weird to see a Russian Cowboy bar and Russian cowboy songs it is not new, but it still amuses me (First time I ever saw it was of course James Bond, Goldeneye. But that was still in english)

Work: It was a rough beginning of the week just because things were changed and other things were in the spotlight. Nothing was my fault as I wasn't there. But it was blown out of proportion due to it being something that really NEVER happens. It just happened to happen and it bit us. (Mostly, the only reason it happened at all, is because one of our agents screwed up in the first place. Then things just slipped)
So that lead to meetings, and more meetings, and more meetings. Which just made it an unbelievably tiresome and hectic week, and made me freak out about my job. I really do just need to remember to take a deep breath and remember that I am a good worker, and I do my job, and that I'm not one of the people they want to let go.
It didn't help my mindset either to find out that another one of my Ravelry buddies ended up being let go this week as well. It was completely out of the blue, which is another reason everything that happened made me so freaked.

I should stop rambling about it. As I am rambling as I am quite tired.

Later peoples...

Oh, one last note:
Doctor Who season 4... FREAKING AWESOME!
We just finished watching it. And OH MY GODS.

I still don't like Catherine Tate, but I do like Donna a bit more.

And everything else... just... wow.. wow wow wow wow.

Another random note:
I have an entire rant to post soon, but I'm too tired to try to rant about it now, and when I first went to rant about it, Blogger didn't want to work on my work computer. So, I've got it sitting waiting for ranting.

Boring Tuesday..

I must say...

I am annoyed with Blogger. Le sigh. Mostly i am annoyed with not being able to respond to comments the proper way.

Mayhaps I'll have to slowly change things over to Wordpress as it has that option.

But don't worry my dear readers, I shant do anything crazy yet.

I might just suffer through blogger for the next 15 months, and then when i move to the UK, and Guy and I have made our own server and websites, I'll have my blog just how I want it and won't have to rely on silly little programs such as this one.

yeah mayhaps that is just the way to go for now.

I feel slightly bad, as when i bought my Flying Monkeys and they arrived, I was highly disappointed. Instead of emailing the person to inform them that the description was wrong, and that I had wanted Lobster Clasps. I simply stated in the feedback I left that the description was incorrect for the objects. Now, I did not leave neutral or negative feedback. I clicked that Positive button, because they did arrive quickly, and the transaction was painless. I just commented in my post of "i love them but.. "
Well, she emailed me today apologizing. So now I feel bad. Gee I'm glad I didn't hit that negative button.
But when it comes down to it, she should have checked her descriptions, since ALL her items that are stitch markers say that. Oh well, I still plan on buying more, and I'll just leave a glowing feedback on the next one.



Still plunking through Bride of Casa Dracula.

Here is a prediction: she's about to introduce werewolves.

Lets see if I'm right.



I did not get anything done on my vest last night. I just had no motivation. I'm in that final stretch. Tonight after I shower and feel more awake, I'll put it on. Check the pinning, then stitch it up and be done with it. Woohoo.
I do want to do it again, but out of different yarn, and I've learned a few things while doing this one. I know I need to lengthen the base without adding to the width.


A Hard Day's Bite: Been mulling a few things, but haven't made any decisions. I don't want to lean towards falling into the same lines as Charlaine Harris or Kim Harrison, or LKH for that matter. If you don't know what I'm talking about its the "Oh my god. She wrote about this. She's copying them!" Charlaine recently wrote a blog about that circumstance. Someone made the comment of "Charlaine added motorcycle gangs into her story! She's copying LKH."
Well.... people get over it. It's kind of hard to not incorporate things that are actually quite common in real life. Such as motor cycle groups. I have friends that are part of different motorcycle groups here in Colorado. Am I going to ignore a good plot because *gasp* it might involve a motorcycle?Also, it makes sense in the fact that Vamps and Werewolves tend to be part of the subculture. And what do you find in the sub culture? Gangs, adrenaline, and danger. No. Now, mind you I have nothing penned in that regard, but I'm using it as an example. Same goes for politics. Which is really what the whining was about. Yes, Sookie's world has gotten very Vampire Political, just like Antia's world.
But if your going to whine about that... well... Anne Rice kinda got the ball rolling on that. Remember The Theater of Vamps? Well, that was basically the start of the vampire political structure. Armand was in charge.

I'm rambling. Lets move on.
Umm...
Ummmm....
Cold snap here in Colorado? It's been freaking cold the past two days. Thank goodness I hadn't removed my heating blanket yet. Cause I'd never get to sleep otherwise.

It's a boring Tuesday thus far. Just sayin' .

Wicked Verdigris

So, yesterday was spent just put-putting around the house.

I got up. Took a shower. Watched the second episode of Ashes To Ashes. Which, I shouldn't be watching since I haven't seen season 2 of Life on Mars. But, screw it, if I don't watch A2A now, I won't get to until after I move to the UK. And comcast has A2A on demand for free. Woohoo.

After that I hopped in my car, and drove to Whole Foods. I knew I needed to buy cereal, and I really didn't want to go to Walmart. So, I splurged at Whole Foods.
Got a few things, including a bag of Jade Pearl rice.

It's rice... that is infused with Bamboo. Ooooh Ahhhhhh. And it's also short grain, which I like. I can't wait to try it.

Then, I came home.. changed back in to my jammies, and just chilled watching telly and knitting.
And I have mastered the art of knitting and typing. Okay, not so much mastered, but I'm getting the hang of it.

I was working on a particularly boring section of knitting, so after each row I would type something.

84 rows of 11 stitches of Knit.

Not even Knit/Purl. Just straight Knit on both sides all rows for 84 rows. BORING!!!!!!

But, it was a necessary part of the vest.

I am officially done with section A. woohoo!
Now on to section B, which is... sadly exactly the same as section A.
I spent at least 3 hours untangling my skein of yarn. This cotton yarn I'm using, every time I go to wind it into a ball, it catches on it's self and then tangles in an ungodly way. Thank goodness I'll need only to go through that process on one more skein.

I did cast on Section B last night. I'll most likely finish all of B tomorrow. Who knows, it depends on how much I knit tonight.

I have decided to call the vest "Wicked Verdigris" as it is quite a green color. And that just seemd to fit for now. Don't know if I'll change it or not..

I watched Kung Fu Panda yesterday, which was cute.
I watched a horribly dubbed Jackie Chan movie, which.. sucked because Jackie didn't even do the american dub for himself, so it was really... weird.

Oh, Saturday I watched one of the most horrible Vampire movies. The Vampire Kiss or whatever it's called. The one with Nicolas Cage.
I think I could have liked the movie if it wasn't for Nicolas Cage. He had this weird accent, like he was trying to just be an ass, but it was coming out pompish, feminine and just... creepy. If I had been in the movie iwth him, I wouldn't have been able to get through a scene without laughing at how ridiculous he was speaking. it was pointless, it did not add anything to the character.

Watched most all of BallyKissAngel season 6, and I gotta say.. I could really care less about this season. Most of the people I like are gone, and the people I like that are still left don't have that much of story in this season. Boooo.


I have to admit I'm very glad that on Ravelry I don't participate in any of the "value / belief" oriented groups, as there is a huge bruhahha going on right now to the point where legal action is being taken and people are getting banned in the crossfire.

It's about Knitting people. Everything else is besides the point. Get over it.

And on the writing note..
Got my chapters back from James, which I'm very happy about as there was nothing that was added or needed to be subtracted really. That means I'm on the right track, and that makes me happy. Woohoo!

Okay, well I guess I've slacked off enough. Back to work I go.

An impossible amount of sneezing.. .

So this weekend there was a goal to stay home and knit.

Yeah... that didn't happen

Friday night I wrote... got a good amount. Not a GREAT amount, but I like what I did get.

Then I started getting headachey. Mostly I think it was the end of the week "been doing too much" type headache. Along with staring at a computer screen for too long.
So I stopped early and went to bed.. it was after 8, which wasn't bad considering I normally go to bed at 8.

Saturday I had planned to write more.. But then when I woke up, I had a headache even worse than the night before. On top of that, I was sneezing non stop all morning. It took much application of Benedryl and nasal decongestants to get me in a semi functioning state. But, that unfortunately meant I was in no state to write. Sigh.

Seriously, there was a time there, where I was sneezing non stop for at least 20 minutes, then i spent the next 40 minutes in a state that felt like I was going to sneeze at any second. Highly annoying.

So, I decided to start knitting. Which shockingly I was able to do even doped up.
Woohoo, I have a project on the needles.

I put my previous project down as it will take much more trial and error before it's just right. And frankly, I wanted a completed project right now as opposed to many bits of "trial" laying about.

The current project will be a vest type sweater. And it's my very first "garment" woohoo!



Right now, I'm doing it in a bright green Aryan weight yarn, which is heavier than called for in the pattern, but I'm using my stash as it were. And I made sure that I adjusted my needle size for the correct gauge.

This is the yarn I'm using:


When I'm done with it, I'm going to over dye it with I think a blue. That way it's toned down.

I'm already about 20% done with the project. Woohoo. I am loving it.

Okay.. I'm off to go knit some more since the cat is no longer laying on it.

Slippery Slopes and Torchwood Babiez

So other than posting the new colorway.. wait.. did I do that yesterday, or was it the day before???

Either way, yesterday was not a day for much of anything. As soon as I walked into work, I got hit with one of my migraines. Ugh. Joy.

Thankfully I was able to keep it mostly at bay, and then by the time I went home it was gone. I am glad I didn't let my boss convince me to go home.

I did not do a lick of knitting yesterday, nor writing, nor reading, nor much of anything.

Well thats not true.. yesterday while at work, I started typing up the "chatty" bit of a pattern I'm creating. Meaning the backstory of why it has come about.
And I read a few pages in Another Life (Torchwood) before going to sleep. But otherwise.. not much was done.

Finished watching Hamish MacBeth season 2, I like that show. This season bugged me a bit on a few things, but it ended well enough. and egads.. Robert Carlyle was so young!

Today was one of those days starting off...
wide awake when my alarm first went off. Then immediately realized that i could not wait 30 minutes before using the ladies. Sigh. Out of bed. Back in bed. Quite literally i started to be the most comfortable, the perfect temperature, and in "mmm sleeeeeeep" mode, literally minutes before my alarm was to go off again. Sigh. Thats just bloody not fair!
Getting ready for the day, I had an odd combination of Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody - the "nothing really matters" part) mixed with one of the Wicked songs. Now that I am typing this out, i cannot recall which song. But it was a very weird and perfect combination. lol.

I sit here at work, a touch of a headache starting. I think I've tweaked my neck which is causing this... but so far it's at bay.
And I've only got 4 hours left in my work day right now, with not much to do.

I've got one or two errands to run when I get off work but then I'll be home.. chilling, and hopefully knitting. I want to get the pattern worked out, so that I can have someone test it. I have to admit that I'm going to be very proud of myself if this works out, because it will be a pattern that I have fully created. I'm not going off of someones instructions, I'm not going off of anything I already know. I'm doing it myself, with only the occasional question to Mother of Mine on how to do a stitch that is necessary that I've never done.
That point might put me to a stopping point, due to needing "the perfect yarn" to actually do the project. Right now it's just being done in my "stitch practicing" yarn. I unfortunately doubt I'll find the perfect color in a non wool yarn, therefore I will either have to have someone dye it for me.. or I'll just have to dye it myself. I have a feeling I'll have to dye it myself to get it exactly the way i want it. Which means possibly tabling the project till I move to the UK, because as I've decided, I'm not going to learn how to dye or start a new hobby while here in the US. But, I don't know.. mayhaps a 1 time breaking of the rule?


No.. i prolly shouldn't do that. It's a slippery slope, because I'm already thinking about two projects I want to do in a solid color yarn that I will most likely have to dye myself. (that would be one batch of dye for 2 projects because I want them both in that color....)

See the slippery slope??

Now on to some fun stuff... I've been meaning to share it previously.. but kept forgetting..

Torchwood Babiez

And yes, i have decided that when I spawn.. and the spawn is still too young to be in anything more than a "bundle" type costume.. I shall have my spawn be a Ianto babiez. I think he's absolutely adorkable. I love it.

My other fave is of course the Doctor Babiez. the slipper.. the glasses.. the absolutely adorableness of it all... i could die from the cuteness.

Dreams of Knitting, and other randomness.. also 1.47 years left.

So today, I feel like I’ve been hit by a mack truck carrying a ton of bricks.
I did not want to get out of bed, and my body protested most loudly.
All morning long, I have been stiff and just achy. And unfortunately I’m most likely going to be this way until Saturday. Or at least last on Friday.
I’ve been in overdrive all week, doing 10 or 11 hour days, with no lunches.
My body doesn’t like working 8 hour days, so you can see how working an 11 hour day is practically suicidal for me.

One of my coworkers thankfully gave me some super strength Ibprophen. (sp?) and I’ve slowly started to be able to at least get some of my bones to “release” as my chiropractor used to call it.

Today has been very quiet at work, even more quiet than yesterday.

Like for the first nearly 3 hours, we didn’t get a single phone call. Honestly, I think we’ve gotten a total of 14 calls all day.
Now, that does not mean I’m here twiddling my thumbs. No, as my job is never done and is always busy.
We are thankfully able to breath and not just work at a break-neck pace.
I have already made over 30 phone calls today, and we are still kicking butt on our list of tickets to work.
This is good, because if it was hectic today, I would most likely have to go home. I’m just too broken to work quickly.

On other news, my backup, who is also the Backup team lead. So in one aspect he reports to me, and in the other aspect I report to him- it’s odd lets just say that… well he informed me of my “stats” today. And mostly he was telling me about my mistakes. Which other than a total of 2 tickets out of the entire month that I missed putting in 1 little snippet of useless information (which this was a FLUKE I tell you, cause I always add that info), my tickets are great, and all the feedbacks he gets on me are positive.

This is good. I haven’t gotten “she’s a bitch” at all so far in a good long while. Normally my boss pulls me into his office for those. But he hasn’t had to do that for a while. See I’m really working on it. Even with the stupid people I want to throttle. I’ve also got the highest amount of Kudos for the month, which rocks.

I know it’s silly, but hearing those things really do help. I’ve been busting my ass, and often afraid that I wasn’t “happy” enough, and I’m frankly over worked. But hearing that I am actually doing a good job, and I’m not about to get fired.. does make me feel better.

Actually, when it comes to layoffs, I will most likely now be the very last person they ever let go. This desk would quite literally fall apart without me. There is no one to replace me. Even if they replaced me with my backup, he still doesn’t match my pace.
So as long as the entire desk doesn’t go away, I’m the safest person here right now. And if the desk did go away, I’m going to be one of the few people that they shuffle over to another desk.
Okay, I’m going to shut up about that otherwise I’d keep rambling.

Today is the 19th. Which means once more an anniversary is upon us. 1.47 Years till I move to the UK. Or, 16.25 months in truth.

With really only a week left in the month, I think it’s safe to pull the number to the 16.25 instead of 16.5.

The months are passing quickly, but the days are passing slowly. Though January was just crazy.

Honestly, I do not hope that the rest of the year is as crazy as these few months have been.

I have done a lot in the last month and a half. Which is good. I’ve worked on my novel, I’ve learned a lot when it comes to knitting, I’ve actually hung out with friends. More than once! Lol. Okay so it was the same friend. But the sentiment is there.

I have also picked up an expensive habit this year. Sigh. Knitting shall not be good for my budget. As of course since I am allergic to wool, I can’t buy cheap yarn. Nooo I have to buy Bamboo, or boring cotton. Corn, Silk, Milk, or Soy. (the silk is the REALLLLY expensive stuff)
And generally the colors suck. Apparently, they think that if we want alternative yarns, we don’t have taste.
Sigh.
So, I have a person who hand dyes yarn. Gorgeously hand dyes yarn. And she’s willing to dye both cotton and bamboo for me. (haven’t even broached the others as I don’t know if I’d be able to find them undyed at this time)
But, for all her hard work, she is expensive. Not more expensive than others, just expensive. When I can go to hobby lobby and buy a skein of yarn for 3$ it makes the heart skip when the price tag is more like 35$. But that 3$ skein is 1) smaller, and 2) I’m most likely allergic to it. And 3) not in her super cool colorways.
I don’t mind spending the money on the good stuff, I mean you DO get what you paid for. But it just is not something I was planning on doing this year budget wise.
And man I’m a sucker for her colorways. It wouldn’t be a big deal but some of the colors I want are exclusives and therefore I have to get them now, or wait and wait and mayhaps never get them. See the problem? I do.

Then there is also the problem that I have lofty goals when it comes to my knitting. Such as wanting to do the “Alexandra” coat, (without the sleeves mind you) and make a super cool steampunked waistcoat. I found the perfect yarn. Or colorway I should say. But the problem is the coat will take a minimum of 8 skeins of yarn to make. 35$x8 = now your starting to get the picture.
(I’ll most likely only need 6 skeins, as I’m not doing the sleeves, but I can’t do the math yet to say “no only give me this much” and also I’m a tight knitter therefore I need to be prepared for the tight factor (which uses more yarn) and also, I’m a noob which means mistakes)

But it will be glorious when it is done.

Just imagine this coat:



Done in this yarn:


Glorious non?

Oh and for the record, the lovely Jen from Fresh from the Cauldron can be found here:
SquibStitcher's Shop (meaning the girl who is dying all the yarn for me)


Well I guess I’ve slacked off and dreamed about future knitting projects a bit too long now. So I guess I’ll go. Hopefully tomorrow I won’t be so brain dead as it is my sweeties birthday.

Seriously shocking

I am still in shock.

I just had a ... wait for it...

Pleasant experience calling Customer Service!

Brian at Overstock.com... whoever you are, you were a peach.
All it took was me giving my order number. Confirming my phone number and address. Giving him a brief run down of what the heck was going on with my Zen, and voila!
Within 24 hours, I will have my printable mailing label in my email box.
I already have my Zen and all the little bits of hardware that came with it (i'm missing just the silly little bag/pouch that came with it, and one of the software cd's. the tiny lanyard, I'm just gonna not worry about as it works very well attached to my mothers camera, and I doubt they will notice thats not in the box) back into it's box, and snugged inside a box fit for mailing. All I have to do, is tape the box up, slap the label on it and drop it in the mail.

The entire phone call took less than 10 minutes, honestly it took me longer to gather all the bits and pieces and do a half assed search for the software cd.

It sucks that my Zen died, but I'm glad that I had spent the 10$ for the 2 year warranty on it. Of course, that warranty will expire this up coming Nov, but I think I can renew it. I'll have to look into that. I just need my zen to last me 18 months. Yes, I say 18 months, because if it dies in 17 months, and I'm stuck on the plane to the UK (18 hour flight minimum) with no music, or having to deal with the old school of CD's. I'll most likely kill someone. So, in 18 months, after I've had a chance to settle into the UK, it can die. I'll get a new one. Because at that time, I should be able to afford the nice like... oh 40 gig one instead of the puny little 4 gig one I have now.

I don't care if they just fix mine, or replace it or give me credit for a new one. I honestly don't care, either way I'll have a new zen soon. If they just give me credit for a new one, I don't think they even have the 4gig ones on the website anymore, so I'd just spend a bit more and get one of the newer models. With more space on it.

But all in all, within the next 2 weeks, I'll have my music back. Woohoo.

I don't think there was any music on my music player that I can't replace.. I think I was smart and either have it all on cd or I've still got it zipped on my computer. It'll just require me to unzip the files again. I think I've even got my playlist for the "A Hard Day's Bite" Inspiration list.
Though, I don't think the version of the playlist I have on my laptop is up to date. Either way, thats no biggie.

Today I am home from work. Stupid Presidents day. Most likely there won't be any posts from me later this week, simply because I'll be working 10 hour days. Yup. Even friday. (Though, since I never do take lunch, I'll most likely still be able to leave after 8 hours instead of 10 hours on Friday...)

Reading update:
Just finished reading "Wolfsbane and Mistletoe" Which was a collection of werewolf novels, obviously set at Christmas. I only read it for the Charlaine Harris story of "Gift Wrap" (Sookie Stackhouse). None of the other stories grabbed my interest at all to even bother reading them, and I was more interested in getting back to my knitting. So eventually I'll own the book and go back and read all the other stories.

I also finished reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which I can't recall if I spoke about at all or not. I loved the book.

I also finished reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. Which I have to say, I enjoyed this one so much more than i've enjoyed any of the others in the series that are set in the "Americas". I am actually looking forward to the next one.

Couch book: How to Live on Mars by Robert Zubrin (haven't actually started it yet)
Bed book: Tale of Desperaux
Purse book: as always, it is still The Peshawar Lancers

Knitting update:
I am about halfway done with my project of Entrelac. It looks rather pretty.. I love it. Due to the colors, it is becoming a project for Guy, which I'm sure he will use. After all, the UK has been rather cold right now.

And on a completely random note... I just watched Labyrinth for the first time in a long time. Sigh. I love that movie. I giggle at all the goblins.

Valentines Day Vampires and insanity inducing knitting..

So, yesterday I finally did it!
I figured out how to do Entrelac. Which for you non knitters, it is a huge insanely cool looking thing, and for those who are knitters who haven't figured out how to do it, it is a huge daunting pain in the ass. For those knitters who have figured it out, it's a breeze.
But either way, I finally did it. An entire week of misery at work and misery coming home and beating my brain against the wall trying to figure it out. I finally did it.
I will of course post pictures, but not right now.

Moving along..

Today I finally got the house to myself for a while.
And this is why I think that I can actually be a writer when I put my mind to it.
I've had the house to myself for about 3 hours. An hour of that time was spent finishing up watching a movie, talking to Guy, finishing the baking that Mother of Mine was doing, and making myself some lunch, bathroom brakes etc.
The other 2 hours of time was spent writing.
And in those 2 hours, I wrote approximately 2,341 words, of fresh new and exciting plot and storyline. Woohoo. Now imagine what I could do with a full eight hours?
Page wise, it's not much. Story wise, it's a lot. One of the KEY bits has finally been written out, and another scene that I'm not fully sure about yet has also begun.
I shall be sending those chapters off to Minion for his review.
I am now officially up to Chapter Eight. Woohoo. I still need to go and add a little bit to Chapter 5, but meh, that's not going anywhere.
I am currently taking a break, as the next bit of writing has to be perfect, and that requires some time for it to simmer and stew.

Well, I am off to go eat a oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and call my Guy as since I have the house to myself, I can have a phone conversation without feeling the need to lock myself in my bedroom. And after all, it's Valentines day. I want to talk to my hunny.

Later people. The novel, is actually acting like a real novel. This is neat.