I need a nosewarmer?

Of course I do! And all of the group from the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group on Ravelry.

I'm going to take some pictures in a few minutes and update them here, but I wanted to post this pic of me.

First Sock on 2 Circs

I need to pat myself on the back. O man, I can hardly believe I'm all the way down to the grafting of the toe on my first 2 circ sock. I used "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles" by Cat Bordhi as my guide. The pictures and the directions are clear and were easy to read for a new sock knitter.The yarn is a skein of Lisa Souza sock yarn in the colorway "Lime n Violet" that I won in the "Beth's baby's Birthday Contest". I made it short on purpose because I wanted to get it finished fast and work on all the sections to make sure I understood the directions.

I had only made one pair of socks previously on dpns (update on 11/19: OK I previously made 2 pair. The hideous blue ones and the manicure socks that travelled with me to Arecibo in September. Those actually came out even. I just didn't have enough yarn to meake the toes.), so I wasn't particularly skilled. In fact, even though the first pair are obviously socks and can be worn, the two socks came out very differently and the only reason I didn't frog them is because "They are my first pair of socks, dammit!" I'm proud of this HIDEOUS creation!


I had two problems with the sock. The first was a hilarious "all turned around thingie" going on where the you pick up the stitches off the heel flap and the heel and start to decrease for the gusset. I had stitches everywhere! I used a couple of dpns to rearrange everything. If it happens on the second sock, I'll take pics. The second problem was with the grafting of the toe. The book is DISMAL in explaining the how-to of the grafting part. I'm sure I'll be struck down for saying that. Other than that, the book is AMAZING. A fairly new sockknitter like me can follow the directions and get all the way down to the toe!

I got the instructions for that part here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips
If you watch these videos and they're all choppy and starting and stoppng, just watch them a second time. They're seamless the second time around.

And for the best part, more sock yarn! Blue Moon wool/silk in 2 colors. I'd like suggestions for sock pairs 3 and 4!

Rebuild puppy???

Will LOLCATS/Dogs ever not be funny?

Feliz Dia de los Muertos

And Happy Birthday, Torii!

Autumn Arrives in Caguas.....

.....By way of the Netherlands. Today I received my first ever swap gift. I joined the Fall into Autumn dishcloth swap and Monique from the Netherlands was my super special pal. There's a beautiful woven cloth in autumn colors, a multicolored cloth that's made of soft cotton, a skein of delicate, multi blue colored Schachenmayr cotton, two beautiful candles, juniper soap and a cinnamon sachet. Everything is so pretty and special. I also had so much fun geting my secret pal's things together. I received a note from Pixie today that she received my package. Can't wiat 'til my next swap.

Flaming June is back

I had deleted her last month because some cowardly anonymous poster left a rambling post on my blog. I was so mad I couldn't even figure out how to delete their post, so I deleted the whole entry.

William and I visited the Museum of Art (El Museo de Arte) in Ponce last week for his birthday. Both of us had visited the museum separately in the past, but were so awed by the Rodin exhibit and of course, by Flaming June, we just walked around with our mouths wide open the whole afternoon.

YAY CAROL!!!!!

WHOOT! Our girl, Carol is no longer temporarily retired! You go, girl.

Go visit and congratulate her! And now, I'll bet she needs to have a litle SEX (Stash Enrichment Expedition) since she's been on a yarn diet.

It's 12:24 AM, so it's time for the Wednesday surprise!

Drum roll.....

This week's AH is Hugh Jackman who's preparing for his roll in the next upcoming X-Men Movie as Wolverine. Just amazing.

In knitting news, I've managed to screw up Clapotis #2 big time and didn't realize it until the very end. I worked the straight section until I got the length I wanted and then started the decreases. I was following the pattern that's written out as an MS Excel spreadsheet. What I have is about half of the decrease section(all on the left) that have no dropped stitches.

I'll take a picture and post it here after I get some sleep. Grrr.

Clappy as a sailboat!

It's so neat and pretty! I love clappy two as much as number one. They're both about the same amount done. While waiting for another skein to finish the first one, I decided to start the second. Also, I have next week's AH all ready. You guys are gonna flip!

I have no idea who this AH is... and a few days early to boot!

All I can say is "Ravelry leads you to the bestest places ever!" I was minding my own business looking at the bags,bags,bags group. The Betties all know what a fool I am for bags and purses. Someone posed a question about laptop bags and at the Golla site, here he was. Can.not.resist. I'm going to need a free pass... He can carry my laptop and my knitting in that bag!

Clappy visits the beach/Clappy visita a la playa

Undaunted by a cloudy, windy day, I took Clappy to the beach for some relaxation. Earlier in the day, I knew that I was coming to the end of the 1st skein of yarn and needed to find the 2nd one to continue. I had photographic evidence damnit that there were two skeins! My stash is one of the only organized things about me. Unable to find the hiding skein (here kitty,kitty don't you want to be a part of this extremely pretty Clapotis?), I set out on finding a replacement on the internet. How hard could it be to find Lana Grossa Mulitringel sock yarn in color 2213? I found every other color EXCEPT my color. A very sad e-mail to the betties explained my plight. Within minutes, Carol had come to the rescue! It was on one of my favorite, favorite sites: Kpixie! Whew!

After the beach, I had to celebrate! Clappy and I went to one of my favorite places on the beach! The Holiday Inn where the super bartender, Jose, whipped me up a couple of great cosmopolitans. No knitting while drinking cosmos! Clappy stayed safely in my backpack. I learned my lesson last month after drinking mojitos and trying to start another argosy scarf. Here's the evidence of that:

Buenos dias a todos!

LL Cool DAY (aka AH!, tuesday)

Thank you Torii for the suggestion for AH of the week. Want.that.bad. I'm going to put the poster up on my bedroom wall. And I don't want to hear any complaints about the lack of ass! This is scrumptious.

AH! It's Tuesday/ Es Martes!

Since I neglected all of you faithful AH watchers last week, I present double Red Sox goodness today. Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, two former 2003 World Series Winning Florida Marlins. Now stars on the Boston Red Sox, they are in the playoff hunt! My favorite teams have always been the Marlins and whoever is playing the Yankees, so Boston fits right in! Josh just won his 19th game of the season and is in the hunt for the Cy Young Award. Mike has been the super 3rd baseman for Boston and is eye candy extrodinaire. I'd pay some good money for a seat right on the third base line (and I'd have to in Boston!).

Since I neglected all of you faithful AH watchers last week, I'll be giving you double goodness today!

Happy Birthday to me/Feliz Cumpeanos a mi

I can't figure out how to get the keys on the computer that make the n with the line in Spanish for the cumpleanos. DOH.

Here's a pic of my birthday flowers.

Thanks to everyone who wished me birthday greetings!

Here's my first solo socks. I didn't have enough yarn to make a complete pair, so I made pedicure socks. They were declared "ridiculous" by Jose at the beach. KMA! Wish you all were here with me. It was a beautiful day.

My first swap ever!

It's the "Fall into Autumn Dishcloth Exchange"
Thanks,Mimi for the link!

http://dishclothexchange.blogspot.com/
Here's my answers to the questionnaire:
1. Do you knit or crochet? knit , knit and knit some more.
How long have you been doing it? IT? hmmm o, knitting? About 18 months.
2. Have you made dischloths before? It was my first project ever! I've made a bunch since then too.
Do you use them yourself, give them as gifts, or both? BOTH!

3. What's your favorite cotton to make cloths from? For gifts, I like Plymouth Yarn's Fantasy Naturale. The colors are vibrant and the quality of the yarn is very sturdy. I also have a few skeins of 100% cotton from the Sassy Skein that have gorgeous bright colors and very delicate for washcloths.
What cotton would you like to try that you haven't before ? Don't know!
4. If you knit, do you prefer circular or straight needles? I use both equally.For all, do you prefer wooden, metal, or plastic needles? I'm not particular, and in fact am a charter member of the crappy knitting needle club!
5. What are your favorite colors? blues, lavendars, any bright or strong colors.
Any colors you don't like much? browns, pale colors

6. What do you like best about Autumn? ha ha! I don't get autumn here in PR.
7. Pies: Pumpkin? Apple? Pecan? All of em? or No Thanks! All of em!
8. When you were a kid, were you the one who couldn't wait to get started with school , or the one who overslept on the 1st day? I was a school half -liker. Some years were terrifying because of mean nuns.
9. Do you celebrate Halloween? (The real key here guys is especially knowing if you have an aversion to the holiday or little goodies/decorations associated with it, given the timeframe of the swap) I celebrate Halloween. Some years more than others.
10. If you had to choose just 3 edible 'goodies' to eat for a full year, what 3 would you choose? Good Chocolate, gummy bears, and ???
11. Do you have any pets? I have three iguanas that live in my backyard and a little kitty that I share with the rest of my apartment complex. She stops by every day for a litle playing and petting. Kids? Three grown kids, 28,25 and 22.Husbands who seem like kids? What's a husband?
12. If you were to describe a particular yarn that shares traits of your personality, what would it be and why? I dunno!
13. Do you use your cloths mostly for dishcloths, or as facecloths? both
14. Favorite Fall Holiday: Halloween or Thanksgiving and why? (Feel free to share another fall memory if you do not celebrate either of these holidays) Thanksgiving because as many of my family members as possible are together.
15. Do you have any allergies or aversions your pal should know about? nope!

Cheryl and her daughter and her sock visit Arecibo

Am I limber or what? Arecibo is pretty cool. If you liked the movie Contact, this is the place where part of it was filmed. They're out here in the middle of nowhere looking for galaxies and hoping to get signals from other worlds. I hadn't tried knitting socks since December in San Diego when Brandi coached my sorry ass through it. I took out her directions again and had to laugh. There's specific instructions just for me! "Cheryl, at this step... " Brandi, you'll be happy to know that I got all the way through the hard part and it looks great. I am just doing the long boring round and round to make the foot. My daughter came from Ann Arbor for the weekend so we're busy running around and having fun. Tonight we'll take the sock to Old San Juan for dinner.

AH tuesday and Quotable Wednesday all rolled into one! HOT DOG!!

Here's a really funny (well to me, anyway) line from my friend. He called me the other afternooon and when I answered, he said "Hi Cheryl, this is Matthew
Mc Caunahay (sp, crap) . So, I reply as any woman would "WOO HOO, HOT DOG!! Come on over!" Knocked him right on his ass! What the heck did he expect? According to him, I'm one loca gringa.

So, are these guys putting us in their book like Becky and I want to do to them?


my AH for the week comes from Lord of the Rings. Viggo Morgenstern.
OMG! All scruffy and messy.
Which I was watching when I f-ed up my second try at the extremely easy fit n flare skirt from Knitting Lingerie Style.



The quote of the week is from Ann Landers:


"The real trick is to stay alive as long as you live."

Quotable Wednesday Plus one

Jeez, being short one computer really slows down the posting.

Here's the quote of the week.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Helen Keller

The Open Door (1957) This quotation is often contracted into: Security is mostly a superstition... Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. or paraphrased: Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

I'm thinking of changing my Latin name from Juanita to Minerva. Here's some cool info about Minerva:

Minerva was the daughter of Jupiter. She was considered to be the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, crafts, and the inventor of music. As Minerva Medica, she was the goddess of medicine and doctors.
Adapting Greek myths about Athena, Romans said that Minerva was not born in the usual way, but rather Jupiter had a horrible headache and Vulcan opened up his head and out came Minerva, fully grown, and dressed in armor, a long trailing robe, a helmet, a shield and a spear.

AH! I can't even think!

Lemme try and think.... nothing coming out yet. I'll type for a few minutes about other stuff and maybe it will come to me.
2. I'm here in an internet cafe in the tourist area looking for a laptop so I can do some job hunting, dammit! Is there a such a job as ass-hat hunter?

3. Still, no AH! o wait! Brandi offered me a choice for this week.

http://a6.vox.com/6a00cdf3a54d98cb8f00d41434fcc63c7f-320pi

Here's her commentary:
This is Nathan Fillion. He played Capt. Malcolm Reynolds in the series Firefly and the movie Serenity as well as recently playing in Waitress with Keri Russell and two other recent flicks I haven't heard of called Slither and another called Driving.I love him. Especially as Capt. Mal. Especially the naked Capt. Mal. Unfortunately it was only one episode. But I can watch it over and over and over again!

Good thing I got a stash

Como se dice "stash" en espanol?

It's a good thing I have one! I'm in the upper left corner. The current track has the eye staying below us, but there's a good bit of weather above the eye. Also, because the forward speed of the storm has increased, the ETA for the eye is late Friday, early Saturday. My friday date is probably in jeopardy. :(

Looks like we'll have a rainy weekend here in Puerto Rico.

AH Wednesday/ FO Wednesday

OK, Brandi's back from her longest trip ever, so I wanted to come up with an ass-hat of the week in her honor. I already used Mike Rowe, and I'm thinking and thinking and thinking some more. I'm stumped! I really have my mind on Kevin Costner this week. Brandi, I hope you like Kev too. I picked this picture because some people have told me that I look like Susan Sarandon. So, squint already. I do so look like her.

I lent my copy of Bull Durham, which is the best baseball movie ever, to my fellow Costner crazed co-worker Daricel. She tells me that I'm the crazy one and that she's taking lessons from me. Here's a picture of her that disproves that theory from when we went Las Vegas for a wedding last November:

First, here's the crazy girl



















And here's another pic to show you how beautiful she really is (still crazy all the same). Crazy bride on the left. That's worth another whole post




No pics of Baby Diego, the first BD baby yet, but here's my FO for today. The heartbreakingly cute baby kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting with the frog knitted into the back.
I'm so proud!
And evidently so easily entertained.

Mean Dean! and quotable Tuesday

I had to laugh when I saw the name of the storm heading my way. Dean. One of my old bosses used to call a co-worker Mean Dean. He was one of my favorites at the evil empire where I used to work. He was so intense and could actually swear better than me! (comment to the masses: I miss swearing at work! Really, I do. ) Looks like we get it on Sunday. Good thing 1: I live in the mountains in the middle of the island. Good thing 2: I got plenty of yarn to keep me busy!

For the quote for the week.... hmmm

Your job gives you authority. Your behavior earns you respect.
Irwin Federman

How's them freaking apples for ya?

Knittin' Help, por favor!

This is my first top (that makes me a top virgin?). Here's a pic that I borrowed from the Kpixie website and where I bought the yarn(well, most of the yarn) from.

So far, so good. It's worked from the bottom up which made it kinda boring, but easy. Now, I'm to the part at the top where you use the 2nd color. I got no clue what to do next.

The directions say: On the next RS row you'll start shaping the neckline decoration with Shimmer yarn. This section will be worked in three sections, the first in bamboo, the center with 2 strands of shimmer held together and the third in bamboo. Each WS row should be purled with the same yarn and number of stitches as the previous row.

I'm understanding all that! Cool! But then, I'm looking at the yarn in my hand and I'm wondering how exactly to make the switch. The first row is 42 with bamboo, 1 with shimmer and 42 with bamboo. So I go across the row in the usual way with the bamboo and then need to switch over to the shimmer for one stitch. Where does the bamboo go? And then after one stitch, where does the shimmer go? I can see the way that it turns out and comes to a point. That makes sense to me. I just can't figure out HOW! I was thinking if I typed out the instructions, that it would become clear. HA!

Anyway, the top's going to be really cool. The bamboo is a chocolate brown and the shimmer is green (and shimmery, true to descriptive name of yarn). If you're going to make this top, my recommendation is to get the newer SWTC bamboo. The one I'm using feels soft on the skein, but is scratchy when knitted. I bought the new bamboo for the fitted-flare skirt from Knitting Lingerie Style and it's way way soft.

Yoo hoo Carol, I'm a daisy too!

I am a Daisy What Flower Are You?

AH Wednesday!!!!

I don't want to make Barry Bonds the AH of the week, but in honor of his great achievement in baseball, I give you..... drumroll....

Mike Piazza. I have seen his ass pretty close up and it's a good one. I had seats right on the field when the Marlins played the Mets some years back. OMG. The man was waived recently from the Oakland A's so he's available to be traded.

On the knitting front, the kimono for baby Diego is finished just in time! The little guy was born on Monday! No pics yet.
The new bamboo arrived and it's way, way soft. I only tried a little swatch because I decided that I had to get my bamboo circ off another project. I tried the swatch with my metal CRAPPY NEEDLES which I LOVE anyway, but the yarn is too slippery for me to handle.
Later all!
BTW, Brandi is on dry land in the Singapore airport and on the way to spend a few days in Japan. She's eager to get to see HP at the movies and get a copy of the new book that was released while she was at sea. Welcome back!

Quotable Tuesday, take three

All the lovers and the love they made

nothing between them was a mistake.

All that we did for love's sake

Was not wasted and will never fade.

This is from the poem Autumn by Garrison Keillor.

I repeat it every day.

Tell me what you think.

AH Wednesday! You know what that means?

YES! Wednesday came fast this week. I decided on my AH of the week. Matthew McConaughey. I chose on Saturday while I was watching the crazy chic flick "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days." I've been watching movies in Spanish to learn, but when I pulled that one out, I needed to see it in English so I could hear his voice. Not one of my favorite movies, but well worth the AH factor. There's also the "Willing suspension of disbelief" factor going strong here. Matthew has got this rich southern accent that sounds fantastic. His family in the movie are all New Yorkers with New York accents. Very loud, typical New Yorker accents. Hmmm.

Quotable Tuesday

"Everyone thinks I'm a hypochondriac. It makes me sick."--Tony Randall as Felix Unger on The Odd Couple

I read through a pile of inspirational quotes today to find this one that hit the spot.

Leaving work on time tonight. The bamboo hasn't shown up yet, so I'm moving on a top made out of cocoa brown bamboo with green trim. about 25% completed. Pics to follow later today.

I swear, I'm innocent!

I was reading one of the Bettie blogs a few minutes ago and saw that a visitor had come to the Bean the other night and was knitting a licorice thong! I had seen a pattern for this a couple of years ago before I knew how to knit. I hadn't saved it since I figured that I would never know how to knit well enough to make it. Really, all I did was to google "Knitted licorice thong" Waddya know? Not only do I get the licorice thong, but actual pay dirt! Click here: http://www.knitty.com/issuesummer04/PATTiris.html

Way, way cool stuff here! I thought knitty would never need a shout out. Let's start talking! My fave is ummmm the men's thong. No! the mon petit chou! NO! zaftig! To borrow a word from Sarah, "HOLY HELL!!"

Here's the pic above for what started my Friday afternoon journey!

Off to the mailbox and hope my bamboo is there so I can pick it up at the Post Office. Then to Walgreens for licorice, then who knows! Old San Juan?

AH Wednesday/ FO Wednesday

Here I am, sitting on my front porch, drinking some way potent Puerto Rican cafe con leche and racking (Wracking?) my brain trying to come up with my ass hat of the week. OMG, David Stein flies in outta nowhere right onto my head. LOOKIE HERE at this guy! To top it off, he's got a great voice. He's the voice on early morning radio for Sporting News Radio. When I was in South Florida, a local AM Sports station was playing his show. I had gotten into the habit of waking up in the middle of the night. Since I've never had insomnia, I was at a loss about how to deal with it. I started to turn on the radio and even though I LOVE baseball and baseball talk, I found that talk radio put me right back to sleep. Even though the show is only played in some markets, you can get it on AOL radio for free. Check out http://radio.sportingnews.com/. The best part of the show is that David talks about a wide variety of topics, not all sports related, but always very interesting. Haven't heard any knitting talk yet, but that's because we haven't hit the airwaves yet! Nothing like a little AH!!! Now that I've found that he's on AOL radio, I can wake up, knit and listen. Great ass hat too.

For the knitting talk, I've decided to make the next few days an extended FO weekend. I finished the heartbreakingly cute baby kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting for baby Diego, soon to be the first BD Biosciences baby! We're thinking that we should but a playpen, put it in the cubicle area and pass the little guy around. Muchas tias y tios! Many aunts and uncles for el nene. I'll also finish my first shopping bag and my son's bathmat.

Quotable Tuesday?

I was reading the Yarn Harlot this evening after work http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ and found this quote by CS Lewis:

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”

I love quotes and consider myself a serial collector.

She was blogging about travelling to meet her knitting buddies and recommended cultivating friendships with other knitters so that you could travel to spend time with them. Great idea! I just want to let everyone I know that my door in Puerto Rico is WIDE open and y'all are welcome. I know, I tell you practically every day.

I'm trying to figure out a catchier name for Quotable Tuesday, but until I do, I've got an unlimited supply of quotes to share.

My first Knitting Lingerie Style Project Choice

Drum roll. please!


The fit-n-flare skirt! Ta Da! Enough with the exclamation points already chica!!!


Go here to the Knitting Lingerie Style Knit A long http://yarncrawl.typepad.com/lingeriestylealong/


Here's an example of the skirt (not mine) :

After a consult with Missa at Kpixie, I decided on the SWTC new bamboo that she promised is softer than the older SWTC bamboo. The book recommends a wool that I thought would be too hot for "you know where" My babies were shipped USPS priority this afternoon. Maybe they will be here in time for a weekend of beach knitting.