I have CHOSEN!!!

My new name is.......IncogKnito! It has grown on me and I may keep the other names for use some other time some where. I hope Christmas treated all you guys well. I had a fabulous time in Vermont with my family. We may not be a large family, but with the size of the house we stayed in and the amount of people and pets, it was BIG. I would post pictures, but apparently I've misplaced my camera. Thanks again for everyone who participated in the voting (all three of you). I guess I'll have to make up a real poll and post the results as you vote so feel like you're voting in a "real" political poll.

Nicknames stick to people...

...and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive. ~Thomas C. Haliburton

Ta da! I knew you were all waiting breathless with anticipation for my new blog name. You can now get up off the sofa and put the empty ice cream containers in the trash. I suggest you take a shower now too because you're starting to smell. I came up with a few so maybe you guys can vote on them. If you want to share this with other people that might be cool because I think there are about two of you who actually read my blog on a some what regular basis. I tried to stay away from knitting related titles, but that's just who I am so I couldn't stay away from them.

1. IncogKnito (I'm not really incognito because if you ask me I'll tell you I'm a knitter. Of course, I like to tell people upfront right after meeting them so they have no doubts as to the reason for my weirdness).

2. CongeKnital Crafter (many other knitters claim they started knitting from a young age. Most of us feel that we were born with this "condition". I think I might have actually had knitting needles in my hands when I was born. It's much easier to hold them when you're a c-section baby.)

3. Knit for Tat (That's right! You think you're crafty and what you do is cool, but I don't think so. I say "Knit for Tat" when you want to show me up. See if you can trump my ace....or wool as the case might be.)

4. DefiKnitly Gettin' Knit (I don't know what the hell I'm gettin' but I'm definitely gettin' something to do with knit. Knitting speaks to me. Shh! Don't let anyone know I have additional voices talking to me.)

Okay, please cast (pun intended) your votes when you read this. I think I'll open up the polls for about a week and see what you say. I am still trying to change the look of my blog, so hopefully I'll come up with something cool by the time the votes are in. :)

What's My Name?

I DON'T KNOW! I've been racking my brain for the past few weeks and I have absolutely no idea what I should change my blog name to. I wanted it to be creative, but I couldn't think of anything. I wanted something all encompassing that fits me, but alas, I could not think of that either. Most people would describe me as crazy, weird, hyper, energetic, and a bit spastic. At least, those are the words used most often, so I don't know what to put in place of that "Obsessed" part of my title. I will think of something.

In the mean time, I will post some belated Thanksgiving pictures. Jake and I prepared a meager meal, but it was fun none the less. I also managed to burn my hand on the oven which is cool because I have evidence of our first Thanksgiving by ourselves.
Since we made our own rolls from scratch I suggest you look closely at the ones Jake is preparing because they look pretty "special". In fact, they just look retarded. For that reason alone you should pay attention to how he's rolling the dough.



I got free vases of flowers from my place of work and they really added to the holiday decor. Now, they're wilting and decaying in their vases and I haven't thrown them away. Maybe I never will. That's what makes this place home to me.

Just squint your eyes when you look at this one because it's a bit blurry. Or, if you have glasses, take them off and then it won't be my fault that it's blurry.

Incidentally, I LOVE my cranberry sauce from a can. I especially love that it can stay can-shaped when you take it out. There's a nice suction sound when it finally pops out of the can.

Mmmm.....food. Love it!

So that was the extent of our dinner. I promise there will be more pictures soon because we have a fun day planned tomorrow. I could eventually post some knitting stuff to taunt you, but I don't think you're ready for what I have to show you. It's much too powerful for one post. : )

What's in a name?

For anyone who actually follows my blog regularly, I am making a big change to it. I will be changing the title of my blog. SURPRISE! While I do love talking about knitting and letting others know that I knit and actually knitting, I do not feel that the "Obsessed" part of my title fits me. I read many other blogs regularly that would better fit that description and I just don't take enough pictures of my progress to warrant that title. So, I am coming up with alternatives and you might get to preview them in a few days. Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving there won't be a post tomorrow,but I hope you will be waiting, breathlessly, for my new name. It will be something more fitting, I promise. :)

Why Isn't Life a Musical?

I LOVE MUSICALS. I admit it freely. Ask me which one is my favorite and it might change depending on my mood. Musicals all mean something to me, mostly because I grew up with them. When I watch a musical, I think of my mom and I love that we share the same joy for this genre of movie. For you non-musical fans, they hold little to no interest to you and may even annoy you, but there is something about them that grabs my attention. They're very comforting to me. Some musicals, like some intense movies, can only be watched once in a while or once ever, period. If we could sing what we mean, wouldn't we be able to get our points across and arguements would be solved by using this method. I bet if I told you I hated you but was singing it, you wouldn't believe me and maybe I wouldn't really believe me either, and we would actually form a friendship. It's funny how that happens in musicals. The people that should be loathes, seem to be the people that the main character forms a friendship with. Seriously! Think about The Music Man, Singin' In The Rain, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, and Chicago. Those are just a few, but that's what I'm talking about.

Currently, I can't stop watching Bride and Prejudice. I am addicted to the music, the fact that it's set in India and directed by an English Indian woman and based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I LOVE IT.


Newsies has been a long time favorite of mine and this is the reason I knew who Christian Bale was. For those of you who are fans of his now, Newsies was here before he was big and I liked him first, so there. But it's still a good musical and based on a true story, I might add. The reason I love it so much is because the principal behind it is awesome. The working class challenges "The Man" and they get all the other working class people to challenge him as well. They win. There's one part, one line, of the entire movie that always gives me chills, no matter what. "When you got a 1000 voices singin'..." Something about that is powerful to me. I can't explain it, but it just grabs me and makes me smile.

I'm sorry, but this is just pure fun. It's a classic scene from a classic musical and you can't go wrong with it. Plus (even though this clip doesn't show him), I loveDonald O'Connar. If it weren't for him, I don't think this movie would be any good. I'm sure that I've seen him in other movies, but I can't remember their names. Regardless, he was a great comedian for his time.


If you didn't get to see this on the big screen, you missed out big time. "Cell Block Tango" is my favorite number in Chicago. The imagery of the crimes these women commit, is beautiful and very passionate. They all feel completely justified in their actions and it's really difficult not to feel the same way they do.

I could go on for quite awhile with this musical theme, but I will stop with those three. It's just that musicals can speak on higher level if you let them. Maybe not all of them, but some of them do. Something about music delivers a line like nothing else. Well, you be the judge. I suppose dancing and singing your emotions aren't for everybody, but it's a good time for me. These clips are just a few of the reasons why. If I haven't converted some of you, then this is only the first installment. I guess you'll have to leave a comment to convince me to only post once about musicals. ;0

I Will Not Follow The Road To Perdition

Maybe my chi was not centered today. Maybe the stars were not aligned properly. I woke up in good spirits and I left for work in good spirits. I got to work and I got screamed at by a man who was an asshole. Seriously, he defines the word. I always forget how people are during the holidays. I mean it. Every single year it's a huge surprise to me how jerky and rude and self-centered people are at this time of year. They become irate and bitchy for no reason and, apparently, retail is the place to bring that kind of attitude. Then, I locked the keys in the cash office at 9p.m. That's the time of night when I need to be closing the store down and for some reason it just wasn't working for me. Thankfully, another manager ending up answering her phone and she was able to come to the store and unlock the door. ARG!

I know I can trust you, my readers. I know that I can trust you will not be mean to anyone in ANY retail store, no matter the circumstances. Especially, don't yell at someone because you feel you are "entitled to something". THAT DOESN'T WORK. Nobody is entitled to anything. Ever. Be as nice as you can be and you will be surprised how much people will be willing to do for you. This is the beginning of my annual "Holiday Spirit" talk, so if you don't want to read from this point on, I understand.

This time of year is a reminder that we should be kinder to one another and give back to people. That doesn't mean you should do that selectively, but hold that feeling with you in all aspects of your life. If someone's having a hard time or being given a hard time, give them a break. Do something to help them or constructively educate them, not berate them. Please remember that even if you don't celebrate any particular religion or this time of year doesn't have a spiritual meaning to you, it doesn't mean you're exempt from polite behavior. Please remember that we are all on this planet together and no matter the circumstances we know each other or how well or little we know one another you've touched someone's life. Make it meaningful,but not painful. Please.




Now, I will move on from this because I've been holding it in all day. Now, I will show you some of my Halloween costume.

Okay, so it's a portion of my costume. I was supposed to be a butterfly and it didn't work out how I wanted it to. I found this tutorial to create some butterfly wings. It's a great tutorial and very easy to do. I promise. But.......I wanted to make these (after clicking the link I realized you see the homepage and not the wings I wanted, but I can't get it to work, so just imagine). I had my heart set on them and I messed them up. Currently, it's too late for me to show you the final outcome of my wings and my husband is sleeping so I can't exactly sneak into the bedroom to see if they're there. I will let you know that some people thought I was a fly or an insect of some sort. Someone even thought I was the Angel of Death. Yeah. But the best part was walking all over the store and people seeing my pinwheels spin as I walked. Wouldn't you know it, it was a very windy day that day. :)

Harry Potter......pumpkin?

This post is delayed by about a week, but I still feel the need to post it anyway. My husband and I attempted to carve a pumpkin this year. The experience was good times for us both, but we have to have separate pumpkins next year. Yup, "His and Hers" is the way to go. I asked him what design we should carve and he suggested Harry Potter. I was very excited about that becuase he's reading the books for the first time and it's something we can share with each other. I started searching online for Harry Potter templates and found one that wasn't too complicated, but complicated enough that it looked like Harry.

Let me chronicle the pumpkin massacre, so you can follow along his demise.


He's so happy that we've just butchered the top of the pumpkin's head.


I, clearly, love a good slimey pupmkin.


Maven is looking on with concern on her face and we've hardly begun carving.


I am still impressed with the amount of goo inside the pumpkin, but I'm thoroughly excited about having fresh pumpkin seeds to bake and put lots of salt on.


Okay, so it's not all bad. We chose the side of the pumpkin that had the largest surface and it happened to already have a pumpkin scar of it's own. The pattern also got a bit smushy, so the left half of his face is folding in on the right half. Very special. He's "Special Harry".

Better let him have his moment.

We didn't feel like we accomplished what we planned, so Jake carved a big lightning bolt in the side...in homage of our special skills. Maybe next year Harry won't have a mental look on his face.

Fiber Porn

*Disclaimer: The following may cause swooning, fits of "ooh's and ahh's", hysterics, nausea, faintingspells and the extreme need to pick up your own needles or crochet hooks. If you have an aversion to very "knit heavy" content, then this particular blog entry should be passed over and saved for a day when you can get your hands on some acid reflux medicine early on.

Now, for the juicy part......


This is my first crochet project in about 2 years and it also happens to be the first real project I've ever done (real meaning not square). Thanks to The Happy Hooker, I was able to pick up crochet again but this time, really understand it. After a few attempts, I was able to make this fabulous scarf using yarn that my friend Susan gave me. Actually, all the yarn for this scarf was given to me by her, at one time or another, and I love the color combination! Thanks, Susan!


Two days later I crocheted this. This too, is from the The Happy Hooker. It's the One-Skein Scarf and it's fabulous. Actually, I don't even think it used one skein because the skein I used was already partially used from a prior knitting project. It crocheted up really quickly, too. I highly recommend it.


Then I got an itch to start knitting again. No, I haven't started knitting Central Park again. As you might recall from the last time I had knit further, but since then I've become mad at it and haven't knit on it for the last severals weeks. Soooooo, I've distracted myself with smaller projects.

I do love Debbie Stoller and her books, but more importantly I love the patterns that are provided in them by different designers. I made a neckwarmer from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation.



This little neckwarmer is just me using up some Manos del Uraguay I had lying around and this fabulous yellow acryllic yarn I got as a gift. I'm hoping I can find something in my closet to wear it with and maybe I'll do some refashioning and have something cool to wear with it, but that's for another post.


Lastly, I'm working on these little gems. I received this wonderful sock weight llama yarn from my mother-in-law last Christmas and didn't want to "waste" it on anything terrible. So, I've been waiting for the perfect pattern to arise and I finally decided on theBroad Street Mittens to get me through this enormous amount of yarn. If I have enough left over, then I'm knitting socks. They'll be beautiful too. I've been wanting mittens like these ever since I saw my brother-in-laws girlfriend wearing some. They're cool.....and I can put a button on them.

(I must interject here. I had written this post many weeks ago, but at the time Blogger was having issues and I wasn't able to load my photos. I did continue to work on all those projects. Soooo.......this last project is kaput for now. I messed it up royally and am now pissed off at the mittens. Plus, my dad wants me to design some kind of penguinesque glove/mittens for him for Christmas and I have to because I told him for his birthday that he could have any knitted object he wanted. So he chose something obscure. Leave it to my dad. My mittens are on the back burner for now.) ;)

I feel that I have to use up all the other yarn that I have in my stash or I cannot successfully move on to any other projects. I have found that crochet is ideal for using up yarn as I can do it quickly and it's different than what I've been doing so I don't get bored with it. :)

Thank you for participating in this blog today. It has been a pleasure. :)

8 Meaningful Touches a Day

When I was in high school I atteneded youth groups associated with different Baptist and United Methodist churches close to where I lived. Although, I don't currently practice any particular religion, what I'm about to tell you isn't necessarily associated with any particular relgion, but rather something that I picked up at one of these gatherings. In fact, what I'm about to tell you affects ALL people at ALL stages of life.

For some reason "8 Meaningful Touches" has stuck with me through my life. In particular, I'm referring to hugs. Studies have shown that being hugged every day increases your life span and makes you happier. It prolongs your life like nothing else can. You have to reach out every single day and give someone a hug. I know some people cringe at the thought of "touching" someone and even more so if it's a stranger, but o ahead and try it. See how you feel afterwards. I guarantee you won't be let down by the effects. By reaching out to people we're showing that this country has nothing to fear by loving our fellow man.

In an article by Sarah Mahoney published on Despardes.com,"Doctors at the University of North Carolina have found that hugging may dramatically lower blood pressure and boost blood levels of oxytocin, a relaxing hormone that plays a key role in labor, breastfeeding and orgasms." Who doesn't want a bear hug after that? This particular articleoutlines the benefits of hugging. It's amazing the research done on this subject. I wouldn't normally wonder about this, but my life is not aplenty with hugs.

Honestly, this particular video is what really got me thinking how badly people need to be touched every day. Check it out. There's a bit of controversy attached to it, too. Can you imagine that people would really want to outlaw hugging?

Central Park is Beautiful!

This bear officially looks freaky. I had intended to give this to my cousin and his girlfriend for their new baby, but after I saw the baby, I realized that the bear was larger than she was! So, it's sitting a little unfinished. No eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. I'm supposed to cinch the neck so it's not so large, but I've yet to do that either. I'm not completely satisfied with the whole thing because it just looks akward. The pattern wasn't particularly difficult, but it just doesn't suit a small child.



So, this it the progress that I've made on my Central Park Cardigan. It's the back and the left front. I haven't blocked it yet, so it looks very small. I promise it will fit. If not then I'll just kick and scream. But don't worry, I'll capture that on camera too. I haven't decided if I want to have buttons or not. I can leave it open and not fasten it or I can make button holes and then have the task of decided on the perfect buttons.


Here's my funky angle for the left front. I've been watching movies while knitting and I tend get to drawn into the plot and forget how much I've been knitting. I had to rip it out quite a bit because I was very excited about knitting the cables. I won't make that mistake again!

Lull Me Rain

I could sit still for hours listening to a steady rain. Not the kind of rain that surges toward a person all at once, but the kind that falls gently and unvaried. It's the kind of rain that is just asking to be walked in and danced in and watched. Right now, peace is attainable because of this rain. I could sit on a porch looking out at the street and watching the occasional cars pass by just to be closer to the rhythm that the rain sets....and it is a rhythm. The rhythm is saying, "Don't move fast." This kind of rain, the kind that makes me smile, is trying to tempt me to stand still and listen to the peace that surrounds me. It's telling me that if I only reach out for a moment, one very brief moment, I could feel the wet drops upon me. And I am there. Right there. This rain is reminding me of days gone by. Good times spent with good people. The rain does not have a sad or sorrowful bone in it's body. It's the rain that refreshes and cleanses this world and gives it a new start. This kind of steady rain comes when I least expect it to. It comes when I don't really need it...or at least I didn't until it was already drumming lightly on my rooftop. Maybe it wasn't drumming. Maybe the rain just tapped on the shingles like an impatient person would with their fingernails. But this rain, isn't impatient. Just listen. Can you hear it?

Act YOUR age!

Is it truly possible that people don't realize how insulting it is to comment on someone's age? In a 6-hour shift tonight on my first day of working at a new place, I had three employees comment on how young I looked.

Conversation 1:
The person who was training me was going over some paperwork with me and the policy on selling alcohol to minors. You must ask for an I.D. of anyone that looks younger than 40.
Kristen: So this is just a form about our policy on selling alcohol. You have to be over 16 to handle alcohol. How old are you?
Me: 24
Kristen: Wow. Really? You look young.
Me: Yeah, I've never gotten that before.
Kristen: I bet you get that a lot.
Me: yup.

Conversation 2:
Katie: So you go to school around here?
Me: No, I'm done with school. I graduated a couple of years ago.
Katie: Oh, really? Wow, you look really young.
Me: yup.

Conversation 3:
This one takes the cake in insults.
Other Girl Whose Name I Can't Remember: So this is your first day?
Me: Yeah
Other Girl Whose Name I Can't Remember: Do you like it so far?
Me: It's pretty good. I've been bagging all day.
Other Girl Whose Name I Can't Remember: So do you go to high school here?
Me: No, actually. (holding back a rude comment)
Other Girl Whose Name I Can't Remember: Oh, well how old are you?
Me: 24
Other Girl Whose Name I Can't Remember: Wow, you don't look that old.
Me: Yeah, I know.

SO RUDE TO COMMENT ON SOMEONE' AGE! You know what? I thought you were in high school too and I didn't know you were a college SENIOR until I asked you. Oh, but I didn't insult your intelligence level by saying that you looked like a frickin' 16-year-old! I know that when people make comments like that it's completely unintentional, but it's still rude. This is a prime example of how people don't know their boundaries. You'd think that people would use a little common sense and refrain from saying something like that. I know. I know. I should be thanking my lucky stars that I don't look my age, but it's really just irritating to not have people think you can buy your own alcohol when you've been able to do so for a long time. ARG! It's like when a random customer comments on how young I look I really want to say "And you look like you're about 62!" JERK!
So what's the solution to this problem? I wore mascara today because I thought it would make me look a little older, but apparently, I shouldn't do that. Am I supposed to cut my hair? Not smile? Talk with a deeper voice? Get fat? Grow taller? Be snotty? I can't figure it out. I really just want people to use their brains when saying something like that. It's offensive and i don't comment on your nasty self, so don't comment on me!
Is my hair in pigtails? I DON"T THINK SO!
I'm wearing makeup in this picture. Do I still look like a high schooler?
I'm in a frickin' wedding dress. I'm married! I'm not that young!

Disclaimer: For those of you who were scarred by my frankness, I do apologize for the moment of bellowing. It won't happen again......very soon. Please keep in mind that I will continue knitting an hopefully posting other cool projects that are not knitting related, but are still fun and crafty.

An Actual Knit-related Posting!

This is the first time I'm knitting an article of clothing. Okay, I've knitted hats and scarves, but I mean an actual piece of clothing. This is the back of the Central Parksweater from the fall issue of KnitScene. It called for Tahki Yarns Donegal Tweed, but I substituted this beautifulKarabella Aurora 8 in Cantaloupe. I really think it's turning out beautifully and I can't wait to block it. I'm not able to set the yarn down for long because it's so soft. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish it in time for beautiful foliage season in New England. I'll match the land around me!

Swat Teams and Snipers

Apparently, the only pictures I had of my exciting Tuesday have been expunged from my camera. By what means, I have no clue. Aside from that, I must set a scene for you.

9:22a.m. Tuesday, August 29, 2006.

Police sirens were sounding very near our home. My husband and I had taken our time rising as we did not feel the need to rush on that morning. Curiousity got the better of us and we peaked out the window to find the cop cars surrounding the house across the street from ours. The police started streaming out of their cars. Some of them were running towards the back of the house with shotguns and rifles. The rest of them had handguns.

As my eyes got larger my husband and I (and our two dogs) were sitting on the floor in front of the open window watching the event unfold right in front of us. More cops showed up positioning themselves around the house. Some of them were in front of our house, using my husband's truck as a means of safeguard. Is that covered by insurance? An SUV was in the middle of the blockade and a U.S. marshall stepped out with a police shield strapped to one arm, held up in front of him. They evacuated the family inside. Two kids, two adults.

The woman who came out was in total shock and could only exclaim, "I had no idea! I didn't know this! I had no idea!" As we viewed this from out window, it occurred to me that this was a photo opportunity, no matter how in appropriate. Thankfully, my camera battery was dead, so my better judgement kicked in and I backed away from the window. I encouraged my husband to move away also, but he kept a boyish grin on his face and remained where he was. He was in perfect range for gunfire, in case any should incur. I started panicking.

I made the dogs go on the porch at the back of the house to protect them from stray bullets. After a few minutes of me pacing and my husband watching and saying things like, "That's a sniper gun. That's a rilfe. That's a blah, blah, blah,blah,blah." The dogs began barking. I raced to quiet them and there was a cop in our driveway telling us to evacuate. He said, "You need to evacuate. There's a murderer across the street."

We grabbed the dogs, I grabbed the cell phones and a wallet and we were out in a flash. As we squeezed behind fences with our new neighbors to the other end of the street, the surrealty of the situation struck me. I do not handle intense situations with an ere of calmness. But, thankfully, someone was watching over us beause our new neighbor's boyfriend is one of the funniest people I've ever met.

As we watched tv crews, more police, snipers, a swat team with an armored truck and another U.S.Marshall show up all we could do was speculate. A crowd had gathered on another portion of the street where a better view was to be had. We waited with them for two hours.

The suspected murderer came out with his hands up. It did not end in gunfire. We were blessed.

Day 3 in Portland was complete.
This is the view of 112 Dartmouth St. This is what we could see, except it wasn't raining. Sorry about the blurry image, but I took this picture through a screened window. Jake's gray truck is parked where it was on Tuesday. There was one policeman positioned at behind the tree/Jake's car. There was another one across the street behind that tree and one on the porch of the red house with a rifle. That little grassy area between the fence and the garage is where one sniper positioned himself. Pretty freaky. This was our escape route. We had to squeeze between the fence and the garage and then went behind more garages to the street perpendicular to ours. We waited on that side for awhile, until we realized there was a better view and more people further down Dartmouth.

Moving to Maine

Congratulations to me because I'm moving to Maine. I'm quite proud of the fact that D.H. and I are making the move without jobs. Well, scared is more like it. I'm hoping at least one of us will have a job when we move up there. I just keep hoping that it's all I thought it was. I don't want to be disappointed. I also want to at least be able to afford the apartment we'll be living in. I keep looking at the deposits for these apartments and it's just through the roof. I'm going to pack my life away and hopefully throw some stuff out (by throwing out I mean donating to charity) in the process. I have no idea how I accumulated so much crap. There is just too much stuff. I have high hopes of finally being able to take a yoga class, exercising regularly, cooking more regularly, but I know all that won't happen right away. I have to make that happen. So, I must go now to pack up all the knick knacks I don't need to hopefully move soon. I hope somebody else wants to help us move out because I can't lift anything. Won't that be interesting?

Knit vs. Crochet

I am a knitter. I will always be a knitter. When I picked up those needles for the first time the second time in my life (I learned when I was a kid, but it didn't stick with me), I was hooked. I am not, however, opposed to crochet. I used to crochet a lot, but I never learned how to read patterns or increase properly. I'm surprised to find out that there are people out there who don't like crocheters. I was reading an article http://www.crochetme.com/blog/tnna-the-midwest-new-york-a-triptych, and discovered that LYS will some times refuse to sell yarn to people who do crochet. That is a completely ludacris practice and a kind of odd. Let me compare this practice to something else. It kind of reminds me of the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches, "They only could play if their bellies had stars, and the Plain-bellied Sneetches had none upon thars." It's like saying, " You eat peanutbutter....um, I can't talk to you." WEIRD! What the hell are people thinking? I'm not sure I want to know. Is there some pre-conceived notion about crocheters that I'm missing? (Maybe they think all crocheters look like this lady and crochet things like what she's created)
Does age play a factor in this? Are the shop owners or clerks above a certain age? Are they senile????? That's a huge generalization, but it doesn't really make any sense. I'm going to continue to knit, but I will be expanding my crochet horizons. Check out the granny squares you can make! I love to craft with my hands so why limit what I can do, to just one craft? Several months ago, myself and a lot of the ladies I work with, formed a craft group of sorts. We try to meet once a week and we have a combination of crocheters and knitters. There's no animosity. We knit and crochet in harmony. We encourage growth in our crafts. If someone doesn't know how to do something we try to teach each other. We do other crafts when the mood strikes us so we don't limit ourselves to yarn, hooks, and needles. These mediums of expression are no longer for the weak-hearted. These crafts aren't limited to any one kind of people from any specific background.
We can all do it and do it together. I'm just saying keep your mind open to other kinds of people. I'm always floored to discover that there are all kinds of prejudices out there. I have some myself that I don't know exist until I come across that kind of person. It's stupid and ignorant. Let the crocheters into the club! It's okay!

So, as a side note....this is my first post in a long time. I'm going to try and make it more knitting/craft related. I do crafts often and I knit often. Or I at least try to do them often. My dogs tend to prevent that.
This is why I'm not able to sit on the couch, because they play on top of it.

Customer Service Is Key

As a people person I love going to stores or other public places where the people are just damn friendly. Currently the best place to go to get treated like you're awesome is Whole Foods. I love that the consumer world is realizing out important customer service is and trying to bring everybody back to basics. It's a much more difficult task that one might think. As someone who works in retail it's a constant struggle to maintain that happy, friendly atittude with people, especially when they come in with their game faces on. Today, however, was a lot of fun. I'm thinking it was a combination of good Karma and the fact that I probably never stopped smiling. It was all genuine too. It's hard to keep that facade up all the time, but when you do it often enough it really does become real. Smiling is infectious. Being nice is infectious. That phrase, "kill 'em with kindness" is completely true. When a customer comes into the bookstore and is rude or mean right off the bat, the easiest way to diffuse their fire is by being as nice as possible. I still don't understand peoples' need to come to a retail store to yell. What's the appeal in being mean to someone when you come in with no information about a book you're looking for? What's the point of getting angry when the book is not in stock and that person has waited until the day before to start looking for it? Books aren't necessities, they're luxuries, so saying you "need" it right then or that day is kind of perverse. Why not be congenial towards one another? It just makes you feel better when you smile. I know, people probably think I can be too upbeat, but there's no use in trying to think badly about everything. It's all going to work out. Basically be the customer you would want to serve. If you're going to be an asshole to someone whose job is to serve you, then expect them to help you as little as possible.

Uncontrollable laughter

Uncontrollable laughter, originally uploaded by knititinthebud.

Last night I got to be a photographer for a friend's wedding. It's always alot of pressure to do, but it felt like more pressure this time than usual. I just hope a lot of the pictures turned out alright. It was really damn cold and we didn't get to take pictures until dusk. The reception room was pretty dark too. It was beautiful, but dark for photography when you don't have the right equipment. I had a great night though. I wish I could have had my own D.D. so I could have partooken (not a real word, I realize) in the embibements more. But this picture is a demonstration of the fun myself and the other guests were having. Of course, all us C.R.A.P. buds were hanging out and having a great time. It's always fun to see everybody let loose. It's especially more fun to see a couple of bosses let loose.
So my photography skills need a brush up and a lot of work, but it was really good to have the camera back in my hands again. I felt really professional tonight, until I started to become a guest. I really need to take a photography course so I can take pictures the way I want to. Plus, I need to get an editing program that I can actually use. Apeture might be the way to go because I love my Mac so much and it could be more user friendly. That's just one more thing I'd have to save up for. Oh, well, I'll have to do it some day.

Quarter Moon Crazies

OH, my god! The "crazies" were definitely out tonight. Let me tell you that working in retail can be a trip. Twice I had to save one of my fellow employees from weird, stinky, crazy customers. First, there was "Weird Leprechaun Man." He's a regular at (since I can't name the retail location I work for, we'll call it Corporate Retail Aggrivation Place or C.R.A.P) C.R.A.P and he's just a creepy man. He has pointy ears, is of short stature, wears plaid pants, an old black leather jacket, has a hooked nose, red plastic glasses, and very straight red hair that peaks out from underneath a rimmed hat with those little teethy things all around it (kind of Australian looking. The hat, not the man). WEIRD! Once he starts going he just doesn't stop talking. So I saved my co-worker from him by paging her to another location in the store. Then five minutes to closing Crazy Viggo Lady came in. Now there's a talker! And a stinky, greasy talker. She is completely non-sensical and completely obsessed wtih Viggo Mortensen. She was on a stint for awhile where she would look for every single magazine that had Viggo Mortensen's picture in it and lined them all up and just looked at them. If he has a stalker, I really hope it's not this woman. Of course, there was also the woman on the phone tonight who was comparing the response time to Hurricane Katrina victims to the speed at which our product can be shipped directly to her. Uh....still confumbled about that whole conversation. Not sure how hurricane Katrina victims are related to books. And I'm sure that if a Katrina victim were to hear this bitch, then they too would wonder why she waited until 9 p.m. on a Thursday to inquire about placing an order that she needed by Sunday for a conference of which she knew about BEFORE TONIGHT! At least, when I come home, I know that my dog won't talk back to me. That's a very comforting thought. At least she isn't affected by the sliver of a moon. So all you retail harassers, we aren't sad we lost your business in the first place (I just said that with a smile)!

Sock-o-Rific!

These are my first pair of knitted socks ever! I think they're beautiful and turning the heel wasn't so bad after I figured it out with help from www.knittinghelp.com. My dog,Maven, likes them too.

Apparently my feet are more attractive when I have beautiful socks.

I knitted these with two Size 3, 24' circular needles (I'm not fond of double pointed). I used "Lorna's Hand-Dyed Yarns" in Gold Hill. Beautiful color and great feel to it. It's 100% superwash wool and it feels great on my tootsies. Who doesn't love those autumn colors. Now I can finally move onto my next project: felted computer bag from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. I had to have help with the stitch pattern on that one too. I like to figure things out for myself, but I tried it so many times without the correct results I resorted to posting my question on www.tkga.com. The people who respond on there are fantastic.

I know it's beginning to become spring because it's been raining the past three days. I absolutely love it when it rains. I wish I could sit outside on our tiny back porch and knit and listen to the rain. If only I didn't have to go to work because of rain. Other countries have siestas and the U.S. could start having "rain quiescence days". I like the sound of that. Let's do nothing because it's peaceful outside! Inner solace all around! Knitting to soothe the soul and rain to soothe the mind or vice versa.

Soon I wil post pictures of my progress on the laptop bag. I made a slipper http://www.geocities.com/blossomknitwear/threestrandslippers.html today too. I found an easy pattern for one online since I always have cold feet and I was surprised how quickly it knitted up. The other one I'm saving for tomorrow. Isn't that just special? Check it out and see if you like it. Simple, slightly unattractive, yet great for any acrylic yarn you might have and dont' actually want to use on something other than your feet. :)

Have an awesome rest of the night.