Make Me

Bail A Sista Out?

I got a ticket in January.  The policeman told me I would get a notice about a court appearance in about 4 weeks.  Nothing came.  I called the court.  They said the ticket hadn't been turned in and the officer had a year to do so.  I needed to check every couple of weeks to see if it had been turned in. 

Nada.

Yesterday I received a warrant for my freakin' arrest! 

Although the address was right on the ticket, the one printed on the warrant is incorrect and it bounced around a bit before getting to me.  Arrgh!  Anyway, I call the traffic court again, and there's no ticket yet.  This time they say I should come to the court house to get a stamp that says I've been trying to check.

Now, on my last day off before the end of May, I'm waiting for my friend Cathy to come and chauffeur me around town to various establishments so I don't have to worry about being stopped on the road, handcuffed and taken downtown to the pokey.  If you don't hear from me for a while, please send yarn c/o the county jail.

I'm scared....

It's Owned My Life

I joined a fitness program at work and our first day got us pedometers. We're supposed to get 10K steps a day.  Twice a week a woman with negative body fat comes in to torture us with medieval exercises like squats and lunges.  This pedometer owns me.  Tonight is the first night I haven't hit my goal steps - I'm exhausted! Add to this the guilt factor of being in competition with another team of co-workers for a prize.  I don't know if I've lost any weight, but I do know I'm too weak to get the brownie to my mouth.

Work has been busy.  Apparently everything hits the fan in Winter quarter.  I'm just feeling like I'm starting to get a handle on things.  There's a lot of plates in the air again and that always makes me uncomfortable.

Also got the new Sims 2 expansion pack - Free Time.  I was all excited because now they have hobbies like sewing and sports and gaming - heard scoop that knitting was one of the activities.  Alas, I don't believe it is so. Or at least I haven't discovered it in my 30 minutes of play.

Somewhere along the line I managed to finish a pair of socks.

     

Kew  in Plymouth Happy Feet Yarn.  Easy pattern and a fun little knit.  There's a huge mistake on one of the legs, but I can't find it.  I dropped about six stitches and swore I picked them up correctly, but a few rows later and the pattern looked .... odd.  Oh well.  Still like em.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the farmer's market. Check out the fresh produce I got there:

Why didn't anyone tell me I could get YARN at the Farmer's Market!  I'd have been there years ago!  I love this silk sari yarn.  I bought some on eBay a couple of years ago and every time you touch it it falls apart.  This stuff is hardier stock.  It was on sale for 8 bucks.  I think I got a deal. 

I love the purple-y pinks in here.  At the booth where I bought this they had a really cute bucket hat knit up with it.  I think that's what this will be - my funky bucket hat.  Or a slouchy beret.  Or a ....

Kew Coup

Great weekend!  I got a new (to me) television (still analog, but free) and my DVD player is running finally after 6 months without.  So tonight I finished my the foot of my Kew sock while watching 40 Year Old Virgin and the toe while watching Harry Potter. 

This sock features my first short row heel.  A little tricky to navigate at first but I do like the way it looks.  In theory at least.  Mine seems a little short for my actual heel length.  I also did a a "wide toe" from Folk Socks.  So far, this toe seems to fit my foot the best.  I'm going to try all the versions in the book before I make the final call.  I like the book a lot simply for all the heel and toe variations.

I seemed to use a lot less yarn too.  Is that because of the heel?

I'm using Happy Feet sock yarn by Plymouth.  I like it fine, but it feels synthetic-y to me. Maybe it's the 10% nylon, but I've used yarn with more nylon that didn't feel like this - sort of stiff and squeaky.  Hopefully that will go away with washing and wearing.  it's not a bad feeling, just an unusual one. 

Also went to a new grocery store called Fresh & Easy.  It's an interesting grocery planted in the middle of a shopping center.  A friend and I went to dinner tonight and couldn't figure out if it was a restaurant or a store.  As it happened, we ended up meeting there after dinner.

They have a nice set-up - it's a small store with the essentials.  Not much organic produce and I didn't check out the meats at all.  I wanted D'Anjou pears and they had two different kinds: "green pears" and "brown pears" which was kind of odd.  But, from their website, they seem to be really into keep overhead costs down, so maybe it helps not to have to label a zillion different types of fruit.

There was a fair selection of wine - many more reds than whites. Lots of individually packed meals and desserts that looked fresh enough.  I don't want to bore you with my grocery list, but I did score some interesting products: mango pudding, ginger limeade, dried cherries, fresh hummus and some apple smoked cheddar which is yum. Prices were really pretty good to average.  It's no farmer's market, but I'd shop there again.

Etsy (Eight?!)

I'm stealing this month's Esty "8" from a treasury I fell in love with.

You can see this listing on Etsy until Monday morning.  After that, you'll have to click on the photo here to get the sellers name or item name and do a search. 

If you're not familiar with Etsy, the Treasury is a user driven showcase.  If you're patient and get a treasury, you fill the blanks with items for sale on a theme you choose.  You are not supposed to use the treasury to promote your own items agressively - you may put one of your items in, but it's not supposed to be all about you.  Treasuries usually last 1-3 days.

On the first page of Etsy there are 12 photos showcasing Etsy sellers' items. These front pages are chosen from the treasury.  I finally got a front page a couple of weeks ago and I missed it! :/

And just so everyone get their props, this treasury was created by tobyhanna who has a pretty nifty shop herself.

Good Enough

Another quickie post since it is already past my new bedtime.

Here are my Kew socks so far. I just discovered that I didn't save the part where I'd dropped about four rows of stitches.  Thought I had fixed it after much examination. 

One of my knitting co-workers asked me about a sock she was making and how to negotiate the heel turn or something.  It dawned on me that I was not the correct person to ask as she is a perfectionist knitter and I am a "good enough" knitter. 

But then I really like things that are a little imperfect.  Maybe I mess up on purpose.  I find little imperfections endearing - like a special knot on a wood frame, an unmatching drawer pull in an antique dresser or a slip of a pattern in a lace shawl.

When I was still in school I read somewhere that native American rug weavers who can make a perfect rug intentionally weave in an error so as not to anger the Divine with their perfection.  I must have liked that because ever since then I've embraced mistakes. 

Or maybe I'm just too freakin lazy....

Me n Etsy

I've been really working on my Etsy site the last couple of weeks.  Maybe it paid off - I had a sale this weekend!  Yay!

Listing stuff is a lot of hard work! And then there's the buying!  I bought some really luscious handmade soap the other day from Karen's Soaps.   I got one that smells just like tea. 

I also bought an African Black Soap just out of curiosity.  It's strong smelling but nice.  My favorite is the Sweet Grass and Orange scented soap.  And it smells heavenly!

I could spend all day shopping on Etsy.  That's probably not a good thing in the long run.

Also created a nifty treasury that expires on Thursday at 930 pm.

Is anyone out there reading me on Etsy as well? Lemme know and I'll add you to my humongo list of favorites. 

In knitting news....I got nothing.  Started the Kew socks but haven't worked on them since Friday.  I've got to remember to put a short row heel on these. 

Anyway, I got a new 10:30 bedtime and its 10:28 now.  G'nite!