Quote from a non-knitter regarding yarn

On knots in a skein: "You paid for one long piece of string, not two pieces of string with a knot in it."

¡Los Monos Locos! and the Spanish Google

Last night I spent a lot of time fretting about the house. It's been in general disarray since I hosted Sandi's shower. Having decided to put the house on the market has made me realize that the hubs and I have a lot of stuff to do before we can put the house on the market. Everything has come to a head this week - painters, window repair peeps, wood refinishers. The big deal was that the painters were arriving this morning (to paint a few vital rooms) and we were not ready for them in the slightest. So I kicked it in to high gear moving, tidying and wishing I never owned things. ANY thing. After the whirlwind I decided to stay up just a bit longer to finish my socks, since they have been on the needles way too long and I only had a few more rows to go. I'm very glad I did because I'm really ready for a new project.

These photos were taken this morning sometime around 1:30am-ish, I think. I shouldn't have been handling a camera. I was waaaay too exhausted. Now that the painters have left and the panic of work has subsided I realized I'm still exhausted. I can feel the pieces of luggage that are dangling beneath my eyeballs without actually touching them. Yes, they've upgraded from bags to luggage (a matching set, even). My legs ache. I can't complete a sentence without a blank stare. I'm beat.

MARCHING MONKEY MADNESS
Started: March 11, 2008
Completed: April 29, 2008
Pattern: ¡Los Monos Locos! by Jennifer O'Sullivan
Yarn: Perhaps Today Is A Good Day To Dye
Color: no colourway named but they are ORANGE
Skeins: 1
Needles: 2.5mm/US 1.5 Knitpicks Options
Notes: increased 4 extra stitches in the heel (64 instead of 60 stitches)

The good news is that they are beautiful and the colour is amazing. Unfortunately they're still a little snug when I try and get them over the heels (I added an extra 4 stitch increases - going from 60 to 64). The yarn has zero elasticity so I wonder if that woulda/coulda made a difference. But once on, they fit like a glove... for the feet. Kinda like pants for the head. Which I think most people call a hat. I say it's open to interrpretation.

Ravlery deets here , if you're interested. I hope to post better detail shots of the socks after I get some sleep.

Oh, and the thing about the Spanish Google? It was weird. Somehow my language preference in google got changed to español and every time I'd do a search I'd get most of the page in english but some of the links (like for "maps or "preferences" or the extra stuff at top) would all be in spanish. It was very bizarre and just upsetting enough that it drove me pretty bonkers. Especially since my spanish isn't so good any more. And I think it drove Paul pretty crazy too since I called him like 80 times about it. Well... not really 80. More like five. But each call was the same. "Hey babe, its me. Just wanted to let you know google is still in spanish and I don't know how to fix it." Well, I kinda fixed it. But not really. It seems others on the world wide internets have run into the same problem and that it may take google engineers to help me. Sigh!

BTW - Did you know you can set your language prefs to "Bork! Bork! Bork!," "Hacker" or "Klignon" in google?

Sandi's baby shower!

I have to admit I had an ulterior motive for starting the crochet class two Thursdays ago. The reason I wanted to learn crochet was because of this:

Today I hosted a baby shower for the mother-to-be, Sandi. And I surprised her with the above community blanket "from the knitters." I gave folks a deadline to knit (or crochet) a 5x5 square. Peggy and Jennifer were crazy machines helping me crochet the squares together into strips and crocheting the strips into the big ol' rectangle. Jennifer is a crochet goddess and she flexed her hooking muscle even more by helping me speed learn the craft - she picked a simple border pattern and taught me how to do it (plus the corners!) and then let me loose. Thanks to their help I had this puppy blocked by Tuesday!

Thanks to all the knitters/crocheters who answered the call! Now if you could do me a favour. If you created a square please go here (or click on the photo of the blanket above) and add a note with your name over the square you made. I've done mine, so just follow my example.

It was a great party. The House of Sammon was filled with good food and great peeps. Sandi was definitely feeling the love! Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the actual event but I know Michelle filled her memory card on her camera. I'm guessing she'll probably post a photo or two after she's had a chance to review them.

Besides the blanket, I did find time to do a little gift knitting. Although I was cutting it pretty tight, with all the other things that needed to be coordinated for the party, but I had a few hours to spare before guests arrived so I took my chance.

I really felt like my gift was a tad hodgepodge. Of course, I HAD to do the angora baby booties from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I'm happy to say that's my signature baby gift! The thing on the right is weird, I know. I initially wanted to knit a monkey. A knit monkey to go with the cute little cheeky monkey tee. Too bad for me that the pattern I used was giving me fits. So I ripped it out. I've been lurking over at Mochimochi Land and decided that I needed to knit something from there. Evolving Punk jumped out at me and the rest is history. Isn't he crazy??! (Especially his eyeballs, I really need to get my eyeball skills to a higher level. But I'm digressing.)

I want to give a BIG shout out to the ladies at the Purple Purl. Miko totally saved my tushie with her own personal party store! And the punch and the punch bowls were HUGE winners. Everyone liked the punch. I LOVED the punch and I think it may be my new spring/summer treat. Also the ladies talked me off the ledge when I was having a less than stellar party planning moment. Thanks for being there, Jennifer and Miko, I owe you big time! I guess I better remember that for next weekend at the Frolic, right?

Thanks to all the guests who filled my house with love for Sandi! I know it was tight and chairs were at a premium but I couldn't imagine spending that much time in such a small space with any one else.

And, last but definitely not least, thanks to Sandi for letting me throw the little shindig in her honour. You are totally worthy.

Dropping the figurative bomb

Ok, so I have to make this news public eventually and now is as good of time as any.

*deep breath*

I'm moving back to San Francisco.

There I said it. Although, it doesn't feel real. But it is. The Hubs is going back to his old job (with new peeps and projects) and his first day is June 2nd. I dunno when I'll be leaving the amazing city of Toronto but my guess is anytime between late-June to early-August.

I'm still in a bit of shock. Of course, I'm not disappointed that I'm moving back. I just didn't think it would ever happen. And it's not like I've been scheming and hoping ever since I arrived here almost 3 years ago. However an opportunity fell in our lap and we couldn't help but see if it was possible and where it would take us.

What I am incredibly sad about is the community I will be leaving behind. The knitting and all it's wonderful souls. The urban exploration peeps. I've never experienced anything like this. I wish I could pack them up and take them with me. But I know I can't. So for now, I hope to enjoy all your company as much as I can until I depart.

And if you're mad, I totally understand. But if it will make you feel any better there will always be a couch with your name on it.

Hey, I'm a hooker!

Thanks to Jennifer at The Purple Purl I can now say I walk the streets totally hooked.

I totally kill myself with the funnies. Hooooo-by!

Anyway, she helped me do the impossible. As you can imagine, I've tried to teach myself but didn't give it enough time and failed miserably. The square above is FILLED with mistakes but at least it looks like a square. Hurrah!!

Sunday's Class @ In The Loop

Michelle and I had the honour to teach at In The Loop Café a beginner photography class for bloggers and Ravelers on April 6th. This class was aimed at helping total photography newbies get familiar with their point-n-shoot cameras while providing some tips and tricks to take nice shots of their craft projects. Sandi, Aleta, Emily and Cristina were the best students we could have asked to join for our inaugural class. Sandi even brought us apples (Pink Ladies - my favourite)! I brought my point-n-shoot for demo purposes and I took some shots of our cozy group during the exercises and during some punchy moments.

Thanks ladies, for being receptive to our class material and hope that you walked away with some helpful stuff!

If you're sad that you missed it, we'll hopefully be teaching again in June. More info to come soon!

This is only a test...

Things are a little crazy right now, so while I collect my thoughts and try to compose a post or two why don't you take this little awareness test?

It won't take long. And you'll be glad that you did.

Say it loud! Say it proud!

The Yarn Harlot declared that April 1st should be the day that knitters behave... well... inexplicable. And by that, she meant for knitters to partake in a photo scavenger hunt to commemorate the launch of her new book. And let me tell you, it was good.

Miss Hell and I (along with Joyce and Zoe) tramped through the cold, windy (with sometimes sunny) streets of Hogtown and had a blast doing it. Here is a sampling of the photos I took. These are my favourite. I won't submit you to all my photos. Unless you ask, of course. (You want to see them? I'm flattered! Please click here. I'll be honest. It's not ALL of them. Some weren't really worth uploading. Although it's questionable as to whether some that I did upload are.)

A neighborhood sign... mixed in with a little ass-kissing! Not really but we thought it was a perfect find.

We were a ballsy group, let me tell you. When we couldn't find a cop on the street so we walked into the 52nd Division police station and asked if one of the officers would like to help us with a photo scavenger hunt. The three that were there kind of blinked back at us but this guy volunteered and was such a sweetie. Big thanks to the 52nd Division!

We decided to go into City Hall to find an employee to photograph. When the woman at the info desk declined, Michelle asked if (Mayor) David Miller was in because "he's worth big points." She pointed us to the stairs and said that he was located on the 2nd floor.

Up the stairs we went. I did say we were ballsy, right?

There was a group of journalists outside his office. Since we weren't sure what the deal was Michelle decided to go into the reception area and ask to see if he was available. Not surprisingly, he wasn't. But his Secretary/Admin/Reception person made it sound like he would have done it if he "wasn't jammed with meetings." Being a good sport, he posed with our socks. He was truly the nicest person, gushing about each sock and telling us a story about a pair of socks someone he knew received from Germany.

At the ROM's Crystal... the T-Rex is through the window but you can't see it in my picture (but you could in real life). I didn't give myself the 3 points since it couldn't be seen but I love this photos because you can see Michelle and I.

Here's more of my favorites:

1. with street meat, 2. with the nicest TTC driver, 3. at Canadian Tire, 4. at Honest Ed's

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

After our feet couldn't handle the strain of walking we hobbled over to the Isabel Bader Theatre for the main event. The evening started with a small set from Skydiggers and then ended with Stephanie doing what she does best - bringing knitters together and making them laugh!

As an extra bonus, there were prizes for the scavenger hunt! Michelle and I were sure that there was going to be some rabid Harlot fan who took the whole entire day to go to every location. What surprised us was that we were the rabid ones. Not only are we ballsy but we're clearly competitive too. Michelle and I were tied for points out of all the knitters with 70+. I only came in second because my sock was shorter than Michelle's (really). For my efforts I got a beautiful book called "Kristin Knits" by Kristin Nicholas. I can't stop thinking about the Navajo inspired afghan! First prize was a $100 gift certificate to Lettuce Knit. Go, Michelle! First prize couldn't have gone to a nicer person. No, seriously. I mean that.

I mean, watch yer back, Miss Hell. Bwahahahahahaha!

Just kidding! She created the most awesome map that I think was the key to our success. She and I are heading over to LK this afternoon to do a little retail therapy. Let's hope there is some STR left!

If you are totally blown away by the photo sampling above you can check out the whole set here. While you're at it you should check out Michelle's set and her blog post. And if you're really crazy than you can check out the flickr pool that Rachel H set up to house ALL the sock photos taken by hundreds of knitters.

Many thanks to Stephanie, Rachel H, Jayme (the Wonder Publicist), Skydiggers and the staff at the Isable Bader Theatre. It was a great book launch!!