So much past inside my present....

It took a few hours, but I think my stomach has finally started speaking to me again after all the awful things I did to it yesterday.

Our dear friend Ryan is leaving The Black Drop and, in the not-so-distant future, Bellingham and 'round these parts nobody goes anywhere without a proper send-off. So we had the (second) Deep Fry Party*, where everyone brings anything they're brave enough to batter up and dip in oil. There were too many items to list everything, but some of the notable mentions included the customary cheese wiz-filled corn dogs, shrimp and bacon won tons, Snickers (my contribution), Oreos, Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches, and a concoction Arianne came up with-- macaroni and cheese encased in garlic cheese biscuit dough**. The best however, occurred after we left in the form of deep-fried Tums.

As is also customary, there were also quite a few shenanigans, including the wearing of unitards. Poor Eric, who had been at home sleeping and was only there to ferry me home, got a little caught in the middle of all of it, though he never had to actually wear the unitard. He was a damn good sport about the whole thing, however.


On the knitting front, I've made some decisions. After a slight color change, I've decided that the Rambling Rose Cardigan is the next sweater project, in part due to the fact that I could get the yarn for that one soonest***. I'm also testing out another yarn for my brother's Baby's First Tattoo cardigan. I'm trying out bamboo, but I fear it's going to be too.... the best word I can come up with is "slinky."

I'm kind of grabbing at straws with that one, as nothing I've seen in fingering weight has been able to meet all of the requirements. I wouldn't think it would be that hard to find something in solid, non-wierd colors that doesn't require massive jumping through hoops to care for, and yet here I am testing out a bamboo yarn that will make my baby brother look like he's wearing a satin smoking jacket or something.


* -- There's good stories behind why we've all done this to ourselves not once but twice. I prefer to live inthe now, though.
** --These eventually became known as "Cheese Fists" and were incredibly yummy.
*** --Is that even a word?

I might actually make it this year!

I have to say I'm a little proud of myself. So far I've gotten quite a few Christmas presents 97% done. The final 3%, the weaving in of ends and use of kitchener stitch, I'm saving up for last so I can take one day and finish everything at once. I'm not sure if this is a good plan, as I'm probably going to avoid "The day of stupid fucking end-weaving and seaming" until the last possible minute, but it seems like it won't be so bad if I know I'm getting it all out of the way at the same time.

Barring that, nearly half of my gift list has now been crossed off, including a super-secret gift for a friend that I can't even tell Eric about. (Actually, I just mostly can't tell Eric, even though it isn't for him. Don't ask me to explain that, it might give something away.)

All that's left is to knit a pair of mittens, socks, a hat (or possibly two) and a tea cozy..... in three weeks. And figure out gifts for four other folks, the most difficult being my 16-year-old sister. For starters, knitting doesn't exactly get used much in central Florida. Also, I'm a bit nervous that she wouldn't really like anything I made for her, just like I was last year. And did I mention that she's sixteen?*

I'm also contemplating throwing another holiday party, Festivus '07, into the works as well. I wasn't going to, but I wouldn't mind an excuse to drink things out of the martini glasses I haven't used since last year.


...on second thought, maybe I shouldn't be jumping for joy just yet.


*I think I may spend some time tonight perusing Etsy. If I can't make her something she'd like, maybe I can find something made by someone else.

Spinning, spinning, spinning.

As soon as I put new batteries in the camer, I want to take a picture of my first spun yarn, knitted up into a swatch. It looks like crap, but it also looks like it started to even out a little as my day went on. I've worked on some more tonight and it seems to be coming out better.





We rang in the new year comfortably, having drinks with our friends at their house. E and I had contemplated going to a bar, but we looked at the calender and saw that absolutely nothing was happening, so instead we all decided to have a small pajama party, complete with fuzzy slippers. I finally got to give my friend Elena the armwarmers I made for her, which are just like mine only in a different colorway. She's been subtly and not-so-subtly hinting for the last couple of months that she would really like these, so I made them for Christmas. I was glad she finally got to open them.

I really wish I could find a decent spinning FAQ, I've got a couple of questions that I simply can't find answers to online. I'm thinking that I may take the beginning spinning class at my LYS. For now, I'm just going to sit and be inspired by these girls. They spin and dye some of the most beautiful yarn I have ever seen and, lucky me, have their studio two blocks away!

I find that I tend to write in this thing as one of the last actions of my day. A sum-up, if you will. This is definetely a drunk sum-up, but you can't win them all.

So here's some things that happened tonight, most of them at the cocktail party:

-I spent time with a good friend that I haven't hung out with in a while. I took it as a huge compliment when he told me that he loved me not just because of our friendship history and all we've been through, but because I was one of his "low-drama friends." It's sweet to hear that someone misses hanging out with you not only because they have an awesome time, but also because there's no aftermath. I'm always so glad when people recognize me for the traits I look for in others.

-I am starting to form some new friendships with people that I have always gotten along with and liked, but have never truly gotten to know.

-I am finding more and more that I like my new neighbor and her boyfriend.

-While I was on my lunch and waiting at a traffic light, the Clash's "Should I stay or should I go" came on, and I danced like crazy in my car. I realized, midst-dance, that the cars around me (or rather the people in them), probably thought I was being nutty, but I was happy, so fuck them.

Some friends never showed up tonight, and while one called and another one is known to do her own thing and/or flake out, the other two (who are two of my best friends and also dating) haven't talked to me tonight. Which isn't like either one of them. It makes me worry, since last time the boy talked to them they were in the midst of a fight. I love them both a lot, so I worry about their individual and collective happiness.

-I got to buy martini glasses tonight. I only owned one, from when the girls and I lived together, and it was piddly and sad. Now I have a set of six basic-but-awesome ones. The boy got to buy our new down comforter. For various reasons, it's a king size comforter even though we only own a full-size bed, which makes it huge. It does mean never having to worry about the other one stealing blankets.

-Tonight I wished that I was bold enough to say exactly what is on my mind at any given moment with no worry. I'm a gal who's pretty much known for telling people exactly what I think, but at the same time I can't leave a comment on one of my favorite blogs for worry that I will sound dumb.

I think that's it. Time for bed.

3-day weekends are bad for my head.

The hangover's not as bad as I expected, but it's not fun either, especially when I have so much to do. I'm heading over to my mom's to finish laundry and bake cheese crackers, chocolate chip cookies and more cut-out sugar cookies if I can get a chance to go buy more dough (I'm lazy and don't feel like making dough from scratch.)

here's the list:
-finish laundry and cookies
-finish carly's present
-buy supplies for Steph and John's present
-buy supplies for the girl's gift bags (the sachets, bath bombs and something else!)
-make sachets and bath bombs


list for the week:
-switch dressers (I think E and I might actually use our dressers if they were on our sides of the bed)
-clean house
-buy booze
-make finger foods
-find place to set up bar
-move bikes
-try and get office organized before Friday

And then, after this week and Christmas are over, I'm going to collapse in a fit of inactivity.

Dragging his sack thru a chimney stack, all the little hepcats jump for joy

Okay, I managed to get the move over to Blogger Beta done, but it's gonna take a bit before I can customize this thing the way I want to. I just kinda hate default settings, you know?

The cold I've been trying to outrun finally caught up to me, so I'm planting myself on the couch tonight. The boy was offered a spare ticket to a Guns n' Roses show, so he's currently on his way down to Seattle, which gives me some decent craft and chill time. So I'm playing with beads and yarn.

The design for a pair of earrings that I've been trying to work out is finally starting to take shape after about three failed attempts. It came to me while I was at work and was one of those ideas that is so simple you ask yourself why the hell didn't I think of that sooner, before I did it all these dumb ways?" So I played with that a little bit, but now I'm setting it aside-- I've still got presents to finish!

I've been thinking about hosting a cocktail party for whoever of my friends feels like coming over, and right after I got this idea I saw an article in Domino Magazine about it. I realize this isn't some big shock as just about every home-and-lifestyle magazine has a cocktail party article in December, but what fascinated me was this:

The inside table of contents mentioned how the writer threw this great party and it was so easy and fairly cheap. Easy? Probably. Cheap? God, no. When I tallied up all the things this woman got for this party (which to be fair, does include an artificial tree and ornaments, which she'll be able to use in the future), the total came to just over $1000! I suppose when you're a Fancy Shmancy New York Magazine Editor, this makes sense, but to those of us that live in the real world, spending $100 on thirty custom-printed invitations seems just a little bit nuts for one little cocktail party. Nevermind the custom matchbooks (which I actually secretly dig.)

I'm all for splurging, but damn.