I've moved!

Not literally. But yeah.

Misery

I've been in really high spirits lately and can't wait for the summer to get into full swing. Come June, I will be super busy and I cannot wait. I'll be in Philly a couple weekends, will be seeing Jason Mraz in concert 2 times and am trying to score tickets to see Rain, a Beatles tribute band. I'm hoping to hit up Cape Cod with some friends too. Of course, my housework will suffer do to all my weekend trips but I'll do what I have to do.

Speaking of housework, I should be doing it now but I needed to take a break from folding clothes and just vent.

It's no secret that I really dislike my roommate's girlfriend. I'm very vocal about it and he knows how I feel. I'm cordial to her, for Matthew's sake, but wish she never spoke or even came over. Matt must have spoken to her about using an "inside voice" when in the apartment and it's wonderful to be able to sleep and not we woken up by her horrible, wretched voice. What is not wonderful is realizing that she goes through my medicine cabinet. I've noticed it before but just figured I was in a rush that morning and didn't put everything back the way I like it. (As an aside, I'm VERY particular with the way things are in my medicine cabinet and am this way to make getting ready in the morning as easy a task as possible--this includes having my various bottles of expensive body products facing certain directions, in a precise order, and just far enough from the other products that I don't knock shit over when reaching for 1 item.) Yesterday things were moved so completely that there was no denying she was touching my stuff.

Quickly, to go back a month or so...I use Tom's of Maine products for oral care. I like it and it isn't the cheapest stuff around. The mouthwash I use is on the up side of 5 bucks depending on where I buy it. So I bought a bottle a couple months ago and used it a handful of times until one day, when knitting in my hovel, I hear her voice talking about she's having an issue with a tooth of hers and "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go mouthwash." Umm, yeah. Mine is the only mouthwash in the house. Now, she could have brought her own but I can't bring myself to give her the benefit of the doubt as much as I have tried so I stopped using poor Tom since that day. Currently, my mouthwash bottle is half empty. Yup. She's been using it. Matt doesn't use any of my stuff--he thinks I'm a huge weirdo for using all natural products and would rather just stick to his sugary Crest. Gross. Whatever, she can have my mouthwash. I honestly never use mouthwash that often but I like to rinse sometimes before running out of the house just to refresh up, you know? I can no longer do that. She has robbed me. It gets worse...

Back to yesterday. I got up, took a shower, got ready for work and she came over in the morning. She and Matt went into The City for the day and she was in the way. I can't deal with her in the morning so I just ignored her and ran around the house to get all my stuff together and get out the door. After work, I came home and went into the bathroom and nothing was out of place. I'm such a frustrated detective that I really do notice if something of mine was moved a mere centimeter. I did not, however have a need to open my beloved, orderly, medicine cabinet. My friend, Scott, picked me up and we went out to dinner and watched a movie. Fast forward to around 1 in the morning when I sauntered into my house, go to the bathroom and WOAH! What the fuck!? My makeup had been moved around. Brushes and all. I push it back to where it all should have been and open the cabinet to grab my toothbrush and be hygienically sound. The disarray I saw actually pained me. I don't use cheap products by any means. My makeup is Bare Escentuals and we all know how expensive they are. I use jojoba oil and for a small little bottle, I spend around 8 bucks. Tea tree oil solution, 12. Organic face toner, 15. Everything was moved--facing wrong directions, labels facing forward, not equidistant between each other. The works. I was fuming at this point. Who does that? You are taught by 5 years of age that you do not touch what is not yours. How hard is that? It's one thing if she and I were friends but I can't stand the bitch. And even friends ask before they use stuff. I would NEVER go into Noddie's house, and she's the closest girl friend I have, and start using her face stuff. Even when I need to wash my face I ask her what I can use. So I vented to Scott via text, he calmed me down and I went to bed.

Good morning! Go to the bathroom, things are still out of order and it still bothers me. I leave it. I will yell at Matt about it later...I go back to my room and just lounge for a couple hours. She and Matt get up, make breakfast and whatever else they do...They left about an hour ago. I just walked back into my bathroom since I'm getting ready to clean it and BLAMO! My makeup is moved AGAIN! Not only was it moved, my eyelash curler is in a different spot and there is makeup powder on my containers and in the caps of the containers when I opened them. I always wipe away any makeup that gets on the outside of my makeup and I NEVER leave powder in the caps. She used my fuckin' makeup! What do you say to that? To me, that's like going through someone's underwear drawer. I really don't want to have to tell Matt that she isn't welcome here since he does pay half of all the bills for the place but if she can't keep her grubby, sloppy, two-timing hands to herself, she is not welcome here. If he doesn't like it, he will need to move. The blush she used is a limited edition color that came in a kit and I cannot buy again! The mineral veil was on my top shelf and it's now on the bottom shelf, powder everywhere. There was also an eyeshadow that appears to be used.

Here is a tally of the stuff I know she has used:
Blush--$18
Mineral Veil--$19
Eyeshadow (also limited edition color)--$13
Flawless Application Brush--$22
Tom's of Maine Mouthwash--$6.19
Kiss My Face Organics Balancing Act Toner--$15.40
Tea Tree Oil Solution (not positive she used it but I'm 98% sure)--$12.45
fx Curl Booster (the only non-natural stuff I use--not sure she used it but it's among the shit that was moved)--$7.39

Anyone doing the math here? It doesn't seem she used my foundation but perhaps because she is so fuckin' white, she thought the mineral veil would suit her instead. I'm debating to add the foundation onto the list. Am I wrong to ask her to replace my makeup and brush? Thank goodness the rest of my makeup was in my bedroom. Does she use my washcloth too when she showers here? My bar of soap? My 8 fuckin' dollar conditioner? Can you tell that I'm pissed?

I don't know what to do...I invite any and all comments.

Let me start by saying thank you to everyone for their kind words regarding my search for a new job. Your tweets, e-mails and IMs meant a lot to me. I'll figure it all out soon, I'm sure. There's always the option of taking a week of from work to farm somewhere in the US as a way to get started and see if it's something I will eventually want to commit to.

I wish I had pictures for this post but I don't since I'm at work and my camera is still MIA. Wait, I have the most important one already on Flickr!

Knitting has been a little slow lately but I'm trucking along nicely on the Garter Stitch Swingy Sweater. I'll be able to bind the body off soon and get started on the sleeves. The sleeve situation is scaring me a little but it'll just have to be done 1 stitch at a time and with confidence. I will love this sweater no matter what and if the sleeves end up being wonky because of the picked up stitches and decreases, it'll be worn around the house in all it's angora/wool glory.

What do you think so far? Gale said that it looks cute the way the sleeves are currently and I have to agree. Sorry for the color in the photo, it's obviously taken with Igor 2.0 (my new iPhone) and the lighting in my bedroom is terrible. I'm hoping to remedy that in the near future. The sweater is definitely a mossy-er green and the tank top I was wearing is an eggplant-ish purple. Webs is having a tent sale on the 16th and 17th and I'm hoping to score a nice cotton/bamboo blend to make another cardigan with. Good idea?

There is a Harry Potter KAL going on in the Harry Potter Crafters group on Ravelry and I joined blind. This means that I did not bother to see what pattern they decided on for the month of May. They are knitting socks (Flickr pic of someone's FO). Uhhh....crap? There is an alternate sock pattern that is MUCH simpler than the Fawkes pattern chosen as the main KAL but I don't have house colors so jumping in, head first, is what will happen. I could have started on the 1st, but this weekend was a little crazy and I didn't get a chance to do any knitting. How hard can it really be to knit socks? I've knit lace patterns in the round before and Knucks were my first DPN project, if I recall correctly. I'll try my hardest to finish in May but if now, at least I'll have started...I hope. No swatch has been done and I don't even think I have the right size DPNs. There might be a size 3 or 4 in my stash which should work since I'm a tight knitter... Anyone have DPNs I can borrow? :D

Along with scoring some new yarn for another cardigan, I was thinking of getting some yarn for this Mirabilis pattern I've been coveting. It's a knit baby blanket and after working on the Pinwheel blanket for Freddy's niece I realized how much I like knitting baby items. Any suggestions on what yarn to get? Something washable, and easy on the wallet, please.

Another project I want to tackle is my Piece of Scrap blanket. I want to work through my stash and crochet a blanket for the house out of the scraps I have. It will be hideous and I will love it. I was thinking of making it just a regular granny square blanket but Karen suggested a ripple. I haven't made a ripple blanket and I think that's the route to go. It might actually turn out pretty neat, you know? I have a lot of Woolease that I would like to use so the blanket will be mostly made out of that but there are also random scraps of various Cascade yarns that I love.

Oh boy, there seems to be a lot on my fibery plate right now. I better go knit (oh how I wish I wasn't at work).

It's time for a change.

If you've been following my blog at all, or know me IRL (haha I never use that acronym), you know that I've slowly been "going green," as they say. This green path has led me to using hand towels instead of paper towels or napkins, making my own powdered laundry detergent and a really amazing body scrub. I'm also recycling more and bringing reusable bags to the grocery store or just say that no bag is needed because there is usually a large purse on my shoulder. Once I figure out what's the closest farmer's market to me, I will be hitting that up on weekends to get my produce and other locally sourced items. I don't use any harsh chemicals to clean my house either and just deal with Matthew John thinking I'm crazy. It is strange that I feel better about myself now that I've such a positive change in my life? I walked aimlessly around my town the weekend before last with a friend. I've never done that before in my life--there has always been a destination in mind. And while I kind of pushed for a destination, we never REALLY had one except when we went to scope out the local Thrift Store. It was nice.

In keeping with the positive theme going on in my life right now, I need to start thinking about a real life change. A new career, of sorts. Tonight at SnB Karen, Gale, Mike (Irish Ann's husband who does not knit but hangs out with us--WE MISS YOU, ANN!!!!) and I were discussing how I need a career change. I sit in a cubicle for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's a boring job and one that a monkey with swine flu could do with his eyes closed while eating a banana. No lie. Yes, there are tough days where I want to pull my hair out but it's mostly because of the people I work with. I read blogs all day, for the most part. Last week, I read the blue blog starting from January 2009 and was caught up in no time. How bad is that? I've done that with a couple famous blogs. When I'm not reading blogs, I'm catching up on the CTRG board with practice, merch and PR info. I probably work a solid 3-4 hours a day. I know, I know....some of you are thinking, "You should be grateful you have a job!" I am. Believe me, I am. But being grateful I have a job does not mean I have to like it. ::sigh::

Among the ideas for jobs were: Lead in a Broadway musical (my absolute dream job provided I would sing in public), some sort of transcriber (transcriptionist?), a sheep shearer--Gale, send me that info, and an organic farmer. What else is there? The only thing in life I really get joy out of doing in reading and crafting. Frankly, I can't make a living out of either. The organic farming is something I have seriously considered before. The love of a huge chunk of my life, Ahron, has WWOOFed before and I was beyond jealous and wanted to do it as well. The reason I didn't do it: money. While the lovely Ahron has his parents to fall back on for financial support, I'm not as fortunate. I would love to take a month or two off from the "real world" but what do I when I get back? I have bills that need to be paid and I will basically working for my food during the WWOOFing time. There are WWOOFing opportunities all over the globe and traveling is something that I want very much to do. I feel like I'm at a crossroads and need to make a serious decision for once in my life...

A Plethera of Projects

...and yes, there will be pictures in this post!

I don't even know what I want to start with...maybe the beret for the swap in my Stitch n Kvetch group? Yes, I think so.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to knit for Sara and being my first swap, I was really nervous that she would hate whatever it was that I chose and tell all of Ravelry of my failure. I read her posts within the group as to what she was looking for and then stalked her a bit more by reading the posts she wrote in other groups that she was swapping in. Sara likes hats but said she feels like she can't pull them off because she has "chipmunk cheeks." I kid you not, she said that. Of course I had to knit hat that would work for her big cheeks and what's better than a beret? I've only recently become a fan of berets, after making one for myself, but I truly feel it's a look that anyone can pull off. The one I knit for Sara had very little slouch and a rolled brim. A ribbed brim would be too tight fitting and only accentuate the cheeks and a picture of her shows that she has short hair...it might be longer at this point but I used what I could as points of reference. Raspberry Beret pattern was the clear winning in the search for beret patterns and it was knit in some Cascade 220 Heather that Emily had given me before she moved back to NY. It's a really nice purple color--Sara likes purple.

What a speedy knit, too. I did most of it during a snow storm and since it's a simple pinwheel, it was easy to memorize and be able to read my knitting to know where to yarn over. There's a 4 row section of lace right before the rolled brim. I actually want to make this same hat for myself. :) Sara says she likes it and thinks that she can pull of the look. I have every bit of confidence in her.

Recently, I've been reading more and more knit blogs and I stumbled upon Glampyre Knits and her Reclamation Scarf. I posted about the scarf previously but here's a better picture:

This next project threatened to give me serious carpal tunnel. Fred mentioned that his brother was having a daughter and something in me decided that I needed to knit for this new baby (Jessica) and start queueing up a whole slew of baby items. Oy. I knit the blanket in about a week (again, only counting days that I actually knit the thing). I had some Ella Rae Madison in orange from two years ago when I first found out that my sister was pregnant and I didn't know if she was having a boy or girl. It's been sitting in my stash since then. I only had two skeins and quickly finished them and needed to find more. I didn't particularly care if the dye lot was different so I got three more skeins a week or so after I started the blanket and knit for a day straight to finish it in time for Fred to fly to California by way of Texas, New Mexico, and who knows where else.

Finally, soap sweaters. I've attempted this one other time and it didn't go as well as one would hope. I still have the wool top that Emily gave me and I just ordered two pounds of handmade soap off of etsy (yep, 2 lbs..I know I'm crazy but I love soap). The first one I made tonight did not come out that great and I might actually cut the soap out and try again. I realized after I did the first one that I need to pull the wool apart a little and make it wispy like I've seen Heidi (and others) do when spinning. So, after watching some youtube videos and reading some online tutorials, I tried my hand at it again. I burned myself numerous times, as I forgot to buy gloves when I was at the supermarket today, but it worked! I think I need to felt the wool a little more but I'll keep it the way it is for now and let it felt itself with use. YAY! Obviously, the soap on the left is my first go at soap felting...pitiful.

And now I've working on the Garter Stitch Swingy Sweater. I did swatch but I did not block my swatch and I've having a bit of anxiety over whether the yarn will stretch a lot. I'm using Classic Elite Lush--anyone use it before? I'm not that far along with the cardigan yet so I could always soak what I have and see how it stretches, right? Or should I just do a separate swatch and soak that? I want to be able to wear the first sweater I make and love it more than anything in the world. Garter stitch doesn't stretch as much as stockinette, right...? Anyone? I'm worried.

ETA: Sorry for the ginormous pictures. I'll use the small ones from flickr for subsequent posts. :D

Why is knitting sexy?

If you've been reading my blog at all, you know I did my first "swap" ever this past month. I was spoiled very well by the moderator of the Stitch and Kvetch group but I will have another post regarding the swap (with pictures) at a later date. I just wanted to talk a little about a mini article of sorts in the first issue of knit 1 magazine that Mindy sent to me.

The article was written by Ian Kerner, Ph.D. He's a sex therapist and an author--as if there was any other combination of the two. Sex therapists always seem to be authors. But that's not the point. His article is titled (entitled?) "Why knitting is sexy" and in it he says,

"In an age of extreme makeovers, cosmetic surgery and Hollywood romance, the sight of a woman knitting is simultaneously reassuring and alluring. The "Knitting Woman" is a potent reminder of all the sexiness of everyday life. She's real and complex, at once sexual, caring, creative and intelligent. Her mittens, scarves and sweaters are palpable reminders of the sensuality and eroticism that's interwoven into the fabric of life. Each click of her needles is elusive and fleeting, a tiny poem, an ephemeral moment that leaves a man longing."

I find that so interesting. I'm not sure if I find knitting to be sexy or any of those things Ian describes. Does a scarf truly remind you of all the eroticism there is in the world? It doesn't for me. The only time I think of knitting as being sexy is when I see patterns for bikinis, pasties, thongs and other overtly sexual items, like the knit penis. I think his name is Mr. Peen or something like that.

He has such an interesting perspective on the female knitting community that he does say is in part to being present at his mother's knitting group at their house where her friends would undress to try their wares on with him there. They were mostly single mothers, like his own, and he had the hots for one of them big time.

Is it that people see knitting as an age old craft and think back to when sexual things were repressed and not spoken about? Maybe it's the form-fitting sweaters of the 50's that people associate with knitting? They were, and still are, awfully sexy for covering so much skin.

It also seems that Ian thinks a woman who knits is not into the "Hollywood scene" of plastic surgery and botox. Almost like you cannot be one and the other at the same time, as if a non-knitting woman isn't sentimental and romantic, but extremely vain and ready to "hit it and quit it." Am I the only one getting that vibe?

I think I really keep going back to the idea that Ian puts it out there as knitters to be neurotic, repressed housewives that just need to get some, but he doesn't say it in a negative way. It's kind of like how people think the stereotypical librarian is sexy in her pencil skirt, hair pulled back in a bun, with her glasses on, nose stuck in a book.

Don't get me wrong, I liked reading his article and thought it was neat that some people see knitting as being sexy and as a way to show your sexual side without being in your face, but I just don't get it. Maybe knitters give off additional pheromones when "in the act" and he's the only one to pick up on it? Case study, anyone?

What do you think?

Reclamation

Here's a pretty crappy iPhone pic of my Reclamations scarf. It's just barely blocking on the top of my fridge. I say just barely because the scarf is a little too long for the fridge so I didn't get to stretch it like I would have liked.

I used Artyarns Ultramerino 8 and size 10 needles. Two hanks of the yarn was bought a couple years ago and I made my first Foliage hat with it and have just been saving the other hank for something pretty. I can't wait to weave in my two ends and wear this beauty. It was so simple and quick and now that I think about it, I should have just used the leftover yarn from the other hank to make it bigger, but that's okay. Maybe that extra yarn will be worked into a blanket of some kind in the future.

There is still one lone skein of silk that I got on sale two superbowl sales ago. Maybe another scarf is in order...?

Blogged from my iPhone--sorry for any typos. :)

eta: The rest of my post that got lost during transit. WTF?