Hi Diane....

It was pointed out to me (and rightly so) that I haven't posted much since July 4th, so to make up for it we will have a SECOND post this month (I'm still not sure where this month has gone) and we'll have pictures too.



This is some non-stash yarn (remember yarn purchased out of town doesn't count as stash!) that I bought on the guild bus trip in May (OK so I'm a bit slow on pictures sometimes!)



We have some Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in the front right, a skein of Regia bamboo yarn to it's left (I already had one skein from the guild Christmas party). In the back we have more Regia sock yarn in some totally obnoxious bright colors (they are basically flouresent!), Lily Chin yarn picked up from the sale bin that is designated for charity knitting and some Karabella lace mohair (can you tell I like BRIGHT colors???)

This is actually some alpaca blend that I picked up in NYC in April...believe it or not all of this cost me less than $11.00 (no not per ball - total!). Plus there is not tax on yarn in NYC! This was in the sale bin and I really liked the color so it got to come home with me. I think I might make myself a nice scarf out of this one.

Everyone have a great Labor Day (I am going to a cookout at my cousin's new house before I head off to the Donny Osmond concert!)

Once a scout always a scout

OK not only do I still know where my original girl scout sash is (and hauled it out to show the troop I taught to knit earlier this year) I've discovered a way to be a Knitting Scout.


Wander over to Cast On and you too can be a knitting scout.

These are my badges (so far)



The “I Can Be an Asshole When It Comes To Knitting” Badge - In which the recipient is so passionate, opinionated and entirely convinced of his/her own superior knowledge about all things knitting, that he/she may appear pompous, rude, or self-righteous.

Ummm I don't think I'm like this all the time but I may have looked at someone recently like they had an extra head when they asked me why they needed to check gauge.



The “Knitting Whilst Under the Influence” Badge - This applies to both actual knitting under the influence, as well as achieving moments of stunning intellectual clarity about ones knitting under the influence. Presumes talking about knitting whilst under the influence a given.

OK I spent a few hours (or days take your pick) knitting fish in a hotel bar last year.... 'nough said!



The “MacGyver” Badge (Level One) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a non-knitting tool in a knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used paper clips as stitch markers, or successfully whittled and then utilized bamboo skewers as dpns.

I have used paper clips as stitch markers, made my own knitting needles out of dowel rods and an unfolded paper clip will also act as a great stitch holder.




The “MacGyver” Badge (Level Two) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a knitting tool in a non-knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used a strand of Regia Bamboo to slice cheese, or repaired a small appliance with a metal knitting needle.

Did you know that a DPN will help shove your coupons into the coupon slot at the U-scan at the grocery store?? I do......




The “Proselytize Knitting” Badge - A requirement for all Knitting Scouts, the recipient must do his or her bit to present knitting in a positive light, whilst at the same time avoiding all references to “hipness”, grandmothers, and yoga.

I've taught several people how to knit (including the above referenced girl scout troop) and some of them have even completed their projects!



The “I’ve Knit Items With No Conceivable Practical Application” Badge - Recipients are those “special” campers who have knit items which somehow missed the mark of their intended application. There are probably more who are deserving of this badge than one would expect.

Well I don't know if they really have NO practical application but I have spent a lot of time making "tribbles" to sew on flip flop straps.

How I spent the Fourth of July

Well I spent the Fourth of July starting the second summer of DIY/This Old House - Cleveland edition.

My railing on the porch has been in bad shape for some time now and I finally decided to do something about it. The first order of business was to try and salvage the mailbox. It has sentimental value since it has my dad's name on the top of it in metal letters. Well I fought with that thing for over an hour trying to get it off the railing. Ummm considering it was attached to the railing for at least 40 + years it was not budging. I finally got the top of the mailbox off the rest of the mailbox and had to be satisfied with that.

I forgot to take any pictures pre-demo so we only have after pictures today.

The railing was really easy to get off (helps that it was rusted out where the rails met the steps) and I had no trouble getting it to the curb. Happily it did not actually leave with the garbage men on garbage day. Someone came by with a truck the night before and loaded it up to take to the scrap yard. Of course once I had the railing off I decided the carpeting that was on the stairs also needed to go. It was pretty much falling off the bottom step and was very torn on the second step.




Of course once I got everything off the steps it dawned on me.... I no longer have anywhere for the mailman to leave my junk mail (trust me - that is most of my mail). So it was off to the Home Depot to look for new railing and a mailbox. The railing they had (which I had looked at last week) turns out to be a bit longer than the railing that was removed so I am waiting for that until I do some more measuring.

I did get a mail box and a post. There was much swearing involved while installing the post (it's still a bit wobbly) since the screws (provided) don't fit well into the screw holes (predrilled).



I was thinking about painting a sheep on the side of the mailbox to go along with my knitting obsession. Which is why I have a black mailbox on a white post (plus it was the only not REALLY REALLY expensive post they had at the depot).

Wrapping Up the Sock

Remember the sock that kept meeting people at book signings? Well the pair has been finished since the beginning of May when I went on my guild bus trip.

The sock did get one more brush with glory though... we had lunch at Tony Packo's
(Klinger's favorite restaurant on M*A*S*H) in Toledo. They are known for having celebrities sign a hot dog bun which is then displayed on the walls of the restaurant. As a side note - I am now hopelessly addicted to their pickles and peppers....YUMMY!!! Also I really recommend their stuffed cabbage platter if you're even in Toledo (mine came with parika dumplings and a sausage). Oh and the fried pickles are also awesome (darn it now I'm hungry!)






I was delighted to find Scott Hamilton's signed bun (geesh that doesn't sound very good does it??)

And since Scott himself wasn't available for sock holding I did the next best thing -



Of course maybe someday I'll get Scott to hold another sock since he does an annual benefit for the Cleveland Clinic cancer center, but until then this will have to do.

Scattergories

Well after a total kick ass workout tonight at the Y, we will once again be swiping something from another blog for today's post.

It’s SCATTERGORIES, and it’s really fun (of course it helps that this is one of my favorite board games)! Thanks again to JenLa.....

Here are the rules:
~Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.
~They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up!
~If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
~Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial.
~You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Have fun!

Your Name: Mary

1. Famous Singer/Band: Meatloaf/Michael Stanley Band (trust me they are/were huge in Cleveland)

2. 4 letter word: More

3. Street Name: Mullholland Drive

4. Color: Mauve

5. Gifts/Presents: Money

6. Vehicle: Mustang

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Mousepad

8. Boy Name: Michael

9. Girl Name: Maude

10. Movie Title: The Money Pit

11. Drink: Mojito

12. Occupation: Medical Assistant

13. Celebrity: Morgan Freeman

14. Magazine: Ms.


15. U.S. City: Modesto, CA

16. Pro Sports Teams: Marlins

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Morning traffic

19. Something You Throw Away: Melon rinds

20. Things You Shout: Moron

21. Cartoon Character: Mary Worth

Okay. Your turn!

(I've double checked both JenLa and the blog they got it from and for some reason there is no 17 - in case anyone was wondering)

All Audiences Approved

Found this over on Stephannie's page and decided to have the blog "rated." I guess if this place was a movie I would be more Disney/Pixar than Miramax.

Mingle²

WOW

Two posts in one day... can you stand the excitement???

No one ever tags me for the blog memes I just wander around the blogs I read and do the ones I think look fun. Anyway this one comes from JenLa.

Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post three events, two births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday.


May 30

3 Events

1431 - Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.

1536 - King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.

1958 - Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

2 Births

1908 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d.1989)

1943 - Gale Sayers, American football player

and just to go along with my theory the there is never anyone good listed when they do the "born on this day things" in the paper for MY birthday....

1968 - Zacarias Moussaoui, French citizen found guilty relating to September 11, 2001 attacks

1 Holiday

United States – Memorial Day (originally)

and since they decided we need a three day weekend in the US and moved the holiday that was on my birthday....

Peru – National Potato Day

Who knew.....

it would be so hard to find a bike when you're short! I've decided I want a bike (yes I still have the 10 speed I got for my thirteenth birthday but let's face it .... I really don't see me riding that one anymore).

I stopped at Walmart (which has bikes in the price range I'm willing to spend on a bike) and tried two. Maybe I just need to get used to just having my toes touching the ground when I'm standing but both bkies felt too big for me.

Plus who in the world designs bike seats these days????? Man oh man they were not very comfortable. If I get one I see a seat cover in my future!! Hmmmm I wonder if I can knit one (JUST KIDDING!!!)

geesh

Oh for heaven's sake I finally post and the darn computer ate it.....

Trying again here!! Not sure where the past month has gone but I guess they do say that time flies when you're having fun (although I've also found that to be true at times when you're NOT having fun....)

I have pictures in the camera of non-stash stash but that won't help this post since the camera and I aren't anywhere we can post the picutres.

I've also added to non-stash stash with a skein of corn fiber yarn (it can't be stash it's a science experiment I mean it's CORN!!!) and some new sock yarn from Cider Moon in the peas and carrots colorway. I've been good so far and haven't abandoned any of the other socks in progess to start these yet.

Happy Birthday

.... to ME!!!

Nothing else just a shameless plug for myself and my birthday....

Busy Weekend

Not much knitting related to report this weekend. It was supposed to be a three day weekend for me but I ended up working on Saturday. Saturday evening was my 25 year grade school class reunion. When it first came up I really wasn't sure about going, but I decided to go and I was really glad that I did. We only had about 20 of us there but we all had a BLAST! We decided we definitely don't want to wait another 25 years before we all get together again.



Sunday was a christening for my friend's little boy. Today was the first day it didn't rain almost all week so it was time to cut the grass. Tomorrow is back to work and hopefully I'll get some pictures of the non-stash stash enhancement to post later this week.

My Knitlist

Once again "borrowing" a topic from Stephannie

Hopefully this will tide us over until I can get my act together and post pictures of my non-stash stash from last week's guild bus trip.

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.


Afghan/Blanket (baby)
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up (I did take a class in this at Stitches East but haven't made a pair this way yet)
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn (sure why not ... I like trying different fibers!)
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing (some people in my guild have orders to hit me if they ever see me knitting Barbie clothes!)
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments (I want to design a purse but that doesn't count as a garment)
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting (I actually did a presentation on this topic for my guild once)
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (my nephew would love for me to knit his dog a sweater using her fur but I think not)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Ground Zero

This is the last of the NYC pictures (at least for now!)



I made a visit to Ground Zero which was very emotional. This is a picture from the side of the site. I was on my way to the walkway to get behind Ground Zero since the street behind it is closed for construction. Even though it was Sunday there were quite a few people working at the site.

Still More NYC

Well since it' been over a month since I've been home I think we are just about done with the NYC pictures.


But there are still a couple before we wrap up this trip.

First we have Times Square. I spent a while walking around there and looking at all the little tourist trap shops (I had to kill some time before m&m world opened at 9!) didn't buy anything though.














The Empire State building... the observation deck
was open the day I went sight seeing but I didn't
go up because the wait was 60-75 minutes and
I had a bunch of other things to cram into the day.
I did buy a hot dog and a pretzel from a cart in
front of it though for lunch.
















These are the steps at Dylan's Candy Bar at 1011 Third Ave in NYC. The steps have candy embedded in them (gummy fish, wax bottles, candy necklaces and other fun stuff). I thought they were so neat that I had to get a picture of them.


The store has some really neat things in it (as well as some great candy - the chocolate/banana flavored candy bar was pretty darn good!) Even if you don't like candy the store is also a visual treat.

More NYC

One stop I made on my trip was to Rockefeller Center on Sunday morning. The Today show had just started but no one from the show was outside at that point. Lester and Campbell were both off that particular day and I didn't stay for the entire show.

I did make sure I got a picture of the crowd though (and where the anchors would have been if they were outside while I was there!)

Imagine

Back to New York.... One place on my list of must visit was Starwberry Fields, the portion of Central Park dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. I've been a Beatles fan since about the age of nine (my sister sent me to into my nephew's room to get the stereo turned down and eventually had to come in herself since we both had headphones on at that point - I think the album was either Abbey Road or Let It Be).

It was nice to just sit on one of the benches around the Imagine and knit and people watch. Imagine is also my favorite John Lennon song - when I was in high school I had to give a speach on the meaning of a song or peom and that was the one that I chose.

Several walking tours came by and listened to the presentation of Gary, the "mayor" of Strawberry Fields explaining how the area came to be.

After I left the park I stopped by the actual Dakota. If you look closely they now have signs stating that only authorized people are allowed beyond the gate.

We interrupt ...

the business trip photos for another sock "adventure."

The sock and I went to a book signing at one of the local library branches yesterday.
Laura Lippman was promoting her latest book What the Dead Know. I have read all of her other works (the Tess Monaghan series and the "stand alone" books) and have enjoyed all of them. I haven't read the latest book yet, just picked up my copy at the signing yesterday so I don't have an opinion on it yet.

I will say that Laura was a very engaging speaker and very nice as well. She oh so kindly posed with the sock after signing my book.




The scary thing is that so far (granted I've only asked two people) no one thinks that posing with a half knit sock is the strangest thing they've been asked to do while on their book tour. Makes me wonder what in the world OTHER people ask them!

Central Park Part 2

(blogger didn't want to show the picture when this was part of the other post so we'll try it by itself)

I didn't realize that there was a carousel in Central Park so this was a great find. I really like finding different carousels when I travel and seeing the different styles of horses. According to my friend Judy (who is a REALLY big carousel buff) this one is a Stein and Goldstein. They were known for carving large, ornate horses and the only other complete Stein and Goldstein carousel she knows of is at Knoebel's Grove in Elysberg, PA.

Central Park Part 1

One of the first places I went to in NYC was Central Park. I actually went there twice (Saturday and Sunday). These pictures are from Saturday.

This is the mall which was pretty gorgous even without leaves on the trees - I imagine that in a few weeks when spring finally gets here it will be even more spectacular.

This just seemed like such a quintessential NYC picture. You have the trees from the park and then the skyscrapers behind them. If you look in the bottom right corener of the picture you can see the skating rink.

Culinary Adventures

Well it wouldn't be my blog if there wasn't at least one picture of my dinner every once in a while. This time we get TWO dinner pictures (can you stand the excitement???).

While I was in NYC I managed to have some really good meals and one VERY VERY expensive hamburger. We'll start with the burger - after my first full day in NYC I was too tired to go back out and find somewere to have dinner. The hotel restaurant wasn't open for dinner that night so I got room service. What we have here is the most expensive burger I've ever had. By the time they added all of the room service charges on, my bill was almost $42.00!!!



It was a good burger but I must say I wouldn't consider it $42.00 worth of good.

On my last night in the city I went to this little sushi place that I could see whenever I looked out my hotel room window.

I had the sushi box dinner and it was AWESOME!!!



It came with sushi, tempura, sashimi and teriyaki chicken. I got to sit at the sushi bar so I got to watch the sushi chefs making all of the sushi. If I had known how great the food there was I would have dragged myself over there for dinner after sight seeing instead of getting the room service burger.

I also had a phenomenal meal at Dawat restaurant. It's an Indian restaurant owned by Madhur Jaffrey (she's ther person that Martha Stewart has on her show when she wants to talk about Indian food). I had the Rogan Josh which is normally made with lamb, but at dawat they make it with goat. It was a really good meal and I even had dessert - gulab jamun..... YUMMY!!! No pictures of this one though.