The new color....
And another smiling one for Jessica:
So Jody mentioned that she was going to dye her hair last week. This is something I've wanted to do for a while. In my early 20s, I changed my hair color all the time but I was young and didn't mind paying for it back then. These days, my cash is more important than my hair. But color is good. And with the Other Jody inspiring me, I colored my hair with L'Oreal Feria, color Chocolate Cherry, on Saturday. This was good. I was pleased.
Then, however, Jody had to post a picture of her hair and I was in complete and total love. Not to mention the fact that we had separately chosen the same all over color and this seemed like fate telling me that the highlights should be mine, too. {Love that woman and I haven't met her!} She had done her own highlights and they looked fabulous. Tuesday, with more than a bit of trepidation, I got the highlighting stuff and got to it. The results are above.
I'm starting to feel really vain about posting all these pics of myself. Perhaps I should tell you about more knitting soon...
Phone conversation with Mom this morning -
And I did. That's right, people. My mother picked out my shirt for me this morning because I was too befuddled to do it myself. Sad, huh? It's a cute shirt, though. See?
And I've been knitting, too. On Spring Shawl. Bunches. In fact, I've only been knitting Spring Shawl. No flitting from project to project here. All Spring Shawl, all the time!
I told Nancy that I would post pictures for her a super duper long time ago but the weekend I planned to do it, I got significantly sick. While I was only sick for a few days, I was so distracted from the plan that I never able to refocus on my mission of acquiring pictures. Now, I'm almost finished with the border and it doesn't seem right to post pictures until the border is finished. Only 25 more rows to go! Of the border. Then there's the entire edging to knit. That's going to take a long time. An ungodly long time. But it will be worth it. So. totally. worth. it.
In other news, I got to see the the Yarn Harlot last weekend. She was fabulous. I may write another post soon (soon = later this week) about that.
Though, as I was typing that last bit about soon, I realized that the National Poetry Slam is starting Tuesday evening and I'll be going to lots and lots of that and may not have an opportunity for blogging. I might blog about the NPS. We'll see. You never know what you'll get here.
Or if you'll get anything. Do you?
Gotta keep you guessing!
Spring Shawl, how I love thee. Your garter stitch lace pattern on each row for constant interest, except on the border, that's every other row for a bit of a rest. Your vivacious violet color that brightens my day. Your tiny, woolly thread-like yarn that brings me pleasure each time I have a moment to fondle it. The excitement of the charts yet to be discovered. I savor our time together. If only you photographed better, I could share you more fully with others....
I tried to capture Spring Shawl for you but things didn't go well. I'm hoping some natural light will combat the shadow issues I was having tonight. Perhaps I'll make it home one evening this week before the sun goes down and I can get some better pics. This is the best I could do and it's really crappy:
I did manage to get a cute pup picture out of the deal, though:
But enough about the knitting.....
So, last Wednesday, Jennie and Cheri came over to the apartment and Jennie wielded some feng shui brilliance, improving the feel of the place fantastically.
This is what you see when you enter the apartment (before on the left, after on the right):
And another view:
I'd like to show you the kitchen to complete the apartment tour but it's not fit for display at this time. And please don't mock me for the hideous love seat. It's bad. I know. I'm aware. Painfully. What I'm trying to show you is how much things have changed. I never considered moving the bed out of its nook and was seriously disturbed by the suggestion (and that was the first thing Jennie said: Let's move the bed). I now love it in its new location.
The weekend was quite nice. I didn't do a damn thing on Friday other that watch movies and I loved every damn minute of it. Too tired to knit, I just sat there and absorbed the rays of the tube. Saturday was a fabulous day at Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe (got the new Interweave Knits - some things to knit in there for sure) and an evening of live music with Cheri (which was a freaking blast even if Sunday was a bit difficult because of it!!!). And it was topped off by a late lunch with the family for Mother's Day at the Salt Lick - killer barbecue for those of you out of towners.
And I feel it is my obligation to let you know that I still haven't obtained light bulbs. But I haven't been to the store, either, so it's not like I've forgotten, I simply haven't had the opportunity.
There will be little knitting related information in today's post. Just wanted to let you know up front. Get it out in the open and all that.
Knitting Content: The yarn made an amazing arrival on Saturday. It left the United Kingdom on Tuesday and arrived in Austin on Saturday. I was incredibly excited. I felt rather dumb not checking my mail until after I got home at 10:00pm. I spent the entire afternoon at home working on Print o' the Wave and could have been spending time with Spring Shawl instead. The travesty. All because I wasn't expecting any good mail. Sheesh.
This is where a good blogger would show you pictures of knitting. But I don't have any. Because I'm tired and lace pictures take effort and I'm not exerting any more effort other than to write this post tonight. Perhaps tomorrow. If you're lucky.
I was supposed to spend the weekend cleaning. That didn't really happen. I was completely unmotivated on Saturday and spent most of the day knitting. Saturday evening I went to dinner with my mother and sister and then had coffee with the sister - Katy - who loves it immensely when I mention her on the blog. So here she is modeling a hat and mittens I made for her:
That's right, we were having fun that night. Other Saturday news: the question about the guy from the previous post remains unanswered thanks to Mother Nature and her need to pour large amounts of water from the sky at inopportune times. Drat.
Sunday was a little better on the cleaning front. Sure, I spent the majority of the day with Spring Shawl and then spent the afternoon with a friend, squeezing in an illicit yarn drop along the way (Amy needed her Merino Lace fix real bad), and then on to dinner with another friend. But, there was cleaning when I got home. Some. The big accomplishment was hanging the curtain for my closet. I've lived in my apartment for two and a half years with an exposed closet. It's been an eye-sore, to say the least. But it looks much better now, and this picture gives you an interesting view of my apartment and some of the more cluttery areas that need attention:
But tonight was all about the cleaning. I went to the laundromat after work and washed my sheets and duvet cover and clothes. When I got home, I had to wash the pup because she was super dirty and since she sleeps with me and curls up on my pillows, cleaner is definitely better. Before on the left, after - the other three:
I also vacuumed and mopped the floor and washed dishes and took a bunch of stuff downstairs to the garage that didn't need to be in the apartment. There's more to be done, for sure, but it's a very good start and I feel good about having Jennie and Cheri over on Wednesday. I'm really excited about that!
And some kitty pictures because I've been told that people like the kitties:
That's about it. I really need to remember to buy some light bulbs. I've needed them for a few weeks now and still haven't managed to acquire any. Perhaps if I tell the world this tidbit of information, it will somehow stick with me and when I go to the store next, I will return with needed light bulbs.
Also, please note the return of all pictures on all posts. Woo Hoo! This is a very good thing. I had to edit every single post and update the url for every picture, but since I shouldn't have to do it again, I figure it was worth it. Yeah!
This is the last thing I saw before I went to bed on Tuesday (or actually it would have been early Wednesday morning) and had I paid attention, it would have been the same last night as well:
... which is to say there's been a notable lack of sleep the past two nights. In the not so distant past, this would have been an indication of something bad, something keeping me awake, preventing me from resting easily, plaguing my troubled mind, inspiring tossing and turning all freaking night long. But, luckily, the lack of sleep for the past two nights can be attributed to much more pleasurable pursuits than noisome insomnia.
Tuesday found me at Ruta Maya until 11:00pm. I've spent the last two Tuesdays at the coffee house with a new friend, chatting the evening away with him and watching a large array of characters mill about. It was also storming this week and we had a nice view of the lightning and rain from the patio. Brian's very interesting - he's an artist and dresses as a woman - a unique combination, but not all that strange in Austin. This Tuesday, he painted my portrait, which turned out very cool. I'm knitting in the painting, but there's no way you could identify the green blob as knitting so I thought that was rather amusing (the painting has other abstract qualities - my face is pink and purple - so it's not all that odd to have a green, blobby, not-all-that-identifiable thing in the corner).
So I was knitting a swatch at the coffee house and it was the only thing I had to work on because I'd used all the yarn I had with me for Shaped Triangle and it turned into Super Swatch, totaling 100 rows of garter stitch, because, well, it was the only thing I had to work on and it was in the portrait and all. I was enjoying the yarn - Merino Lace from Heirloom Knitting - as well, don't get me wrong, so it wasn't a bad thing by any means. The swatch is for the Big Project. And since I only bought some sample yarn to see if I liked it, I needed to finish my swatch, get the sucker blocked, and decide if it was The Yarn for the Big Project. This all needed to happen before I could go to bed or at least that's how I felt about it. Sleep or swatch - there was really no competition.
That is not the color I will but using for the Spring Shawl (I'll surprise you with that when it arrives), but I'm going to go for the yarn. The pattern recommends using Jamieson and Smith Cobweb (of which I have rather a lot), but the Merino Lace is SO much softer than the Cobweb that there's really no competition. The Cobweb is much more delicate and fragile than the Merino Lace, so that's another Merino Lace benefit. The swatch did shrink a bit as it's sat, which I've read Merino has a tendency to do, but the shawl is huge and I don't think a somewhat smaller final product would be a bad thing. I'm going to swatch some of the lace patterns while I wait for the real yarn to arrive from England just to confirm this is a good yarn choice. Gotta do something while I wait, after all, because I'm starting the edging of Shaped Triangle tonight. Perhaps there will be some blocking this weekend?
Last night was also spent at Ruta Maya (I'm not sure I feel comfortable confessing how many times I've been to the coffee house in the past few weeks, let's just say it's leaning toward the excessive side of the spectrum in my opinion). I went to see the Asylum Street Spankers with my brother. I'm so in love with this band, especially this guy. Sure, he has a mohawk in the picture but he had regular hair last night and a kickin' hat, and while I don't understand having a name like Sick (surely his momma didn't give him that name), he is an incredible performer and, in all honesty, sang a song that completely and totally turned me on. Is it even possible to resist lusting after a musician who does that? And if it is possible, why would you want to? Alas, the Spankers are going on tour and their website doesn't list them in Austin much at all, so they may be spending the rest of the year away which is a very sad thing since I just found them. They didn't finish playing until midnight, clearly cutting into my shut eye time, so that made for night two of less sleep than should have been had.
I may not have been the sharpest needle in the haystack today, but I've really enjoyed not sleeping the past few days.
Proof that I have been knitting:
That is Shaped Triangle from Gathering of Lace in the yummy, luscious, kick ass Jade Sapphire 2-ply cashmere and silk. It's going very quickly. I "only" have 11 more rows of the body to go (which means that I'm further along now than I was when I took these pictures). After that... it's on to the edging. I've done an edging before and it was an incredibly tedious experience. But that was on a square shawl, so this shouldn't be quite as bad. My edging plan of action will be to knit as much as I possibly can until the thing is finished. Though there's fun stuff happening this week, so "knitting as much as I possibly can" may not be that intense or impressive.
Fun happenings include: open mike poetry tomorrow at the coffee shop (always a good time), Wednesday - Asylum Street Spankers are playing at the coffee shop and I may go see them with my brother (though that isn't a definite), Thursday - probably knitting after copious amounts of vacuuming that I didn't get to tonight, Friday - Guy Forsyth show at Antone's. See, lots of distractions. But there's always lunch time knitting and what not.
I got a new bag for my knitting accessories that I absolutely love:
And, as promised, pictures of me! These were taken at Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe, where I spent a heck of a lot of time on both Friday and Saturday. Poses were taken in front of the fantastic wall o' Cascade by Cheri, who I may get to take all pictures of me for the blog from this point forward because I think I look fantastic and I attribute that entirely to her photography skills. Not to mention, it's ever so much easier to hand someone a camera and show them what button to push than it is to do all the crap I was doing to take self portraits.
And just in case you missed the change, here is a comparison of me now and me in August:
Ok. Now that we have that out of the way, we'll return to our regular program. Thank you very much.
