Posts from — September 2005

I have been toying with this idea for a while, but the risk of seeming like a “real” stalker (as opposed to the harmless, friendly, knitty, cute kind) made me hesitate. I have been pushed over the edge though (I think it was the WWLGD post… Gilmore Girls is one of my favorite shows.) I just have to say “I Love Crazy Aunt Purl” (aka Laurie, lover of knitting, wine and kitties). I am hardly the only one though. Everyone seems to love her. She is one of the first links I found when looking for other knitting blogs (The first one I found was JenLa, another blog I love and stalk, who also apparently at least likes Crazy Aunt Purl). She currently has 514 bloglines subscribers, which I am sure only accounts for a fraction of her blog fans. Not only is she witty and fun, but she is cute as a button too (my favorite picture of her enjoying one of her favorite things…an adult beverage). I love her so much, I even had to send her a little present. What can I say? I was moved to do it while handing out some other knitting RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness) gifts…plus, it’s sort of her fault for putting her mailing address on her website. Wonder if she ever got it? Oops, digression…back to the love fest.

Laurie and I have so much in common. I too love knitting, wine and kitties. I too am a “blog stalker.” (Although technically, I think, “stalking” would require some stealth on my part. Definitely not me…I have to comment…can’t help myself.) I too love to travel. I am in love with California. We both have blonde hair, cats, a blog and are practically the same age. Coincidence? I think not…she may be my platonic girl soul mate.

So without further delay, these are the top 10 reasons I love Crazy Aunt Purl:

10. Her cats say funny things.
9. Although her horoscopes may not be astrologically correct, they are entertaining.
8. Laurie says y’all a lot…I was born in Louisiana and lived in Texas (oh, oh, another similarity…Laurie lived in Texas, hi y’all!)…I like that.
7. Fully 60% of her daily calories can be attributed to wine.
6. She likes to drivedial drunk (on a somewhat regular
basis).
5. She doesn’t mind sharing her bad skin days and names her blemishes.
4. Laurie likes to learn new things and teach them to others.
3. She openly trashes Mr. X to the delight of her many blog readers.
2. She quit smoking cold turkey (this way, we’ll have Crazy Aunt Purl around a lot longer).

And the number one reason to love Crazy Aunt Purl:

1. She conquered “fear of life”. Way to bust out, Laurie.

So there you have it…my story of unrequited blog love. Pitiful, I know…I could quit if I wanted to though (shut up…could too)! Yep, I could…as easy as quitting chocolate and knitting.

Acutally some truth in this one!

You are ‘Gregg shorthand’. Originally designed to
enable people to write faster, it is also very
useful for writing things which one does not
want other people to read, inasmuch as almost
no one knows shorthand any more.

You know how important it is to do things
efficiently and on time. You also value your
privacy, and (unlike some people) you do not
pretend to be friends with just everyone; that
would be ridiculous. When you do make friends,
you take them seriously, and faithfully keep
what they confide in you to yourself.
Unfortunately, the work which you do (which is
very important, of course) sometimes keeps you
away from social activities, and you are often
lonely. Your problem is that Gregg shorthand
has been obsolete for a long time.

What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

It’s hard to believe it’s officially autumn now…especially since it got up to 87 degrees yesterday (10 degrees above normal). My gardens look surprisingly perky for this time of year. I love to plant things that bloom into the fall.

So now that I am getting a bit more comfortable with this whole blog thing, I think I’ll start sharing some of my surroundings. Yes, I have shared knitting and a few select other things, but I think you can get to know a person a bit better by seeing how/where they live. I’ll try to share more over time My red front door…I painted it a couple of summers ago while Jim was at a Red’s game.I love to cook, so of course I have an herb garden. I lose my rosemary every couple of years since it’s a bit too cold for it here, but everything else does well here. The south facing brick wall makes a great hot micro climate for Mediterranean plants. Finally, this seafoam rose bush was the first thing I planted when I moved in with Jim. I had always wanted a roses and I was so happy to finally have a yard to put them in. This one is especially great since it is super hardy and disease resistant. It also blooms the whole summer!

Sure doesn’t feel like it! Instead of cool and breezy, we have humid and hot here in good old Cincinnati. Here is a picture for Sandy’s contest…sure LOOKS like a crisp fall morning with the moon still in the sky. Take some time to learn about the Autumnal Equinox.

In other news, I received the very first entry into my contest! It’s from Kelly and it’s gorgeous. See larger picture for pattern/yarn details.

Sunday I dragged poor Jim to The Wool Gathering…a little fiber festival just north of Yellow Springs. He is such a good sport! It was a beautiful day and since we haven’t been able to golf or bike ride (which would have been our first choices by far on such a day, but we haven’t been able to lately due to previously mentioned medical issues for both of us) this festival seemed like a reasonable alternative.

I’ve said in the past that I would never start spinning…I don’t need another expensive hobby, takes time away from knitting, blah, blah, blah. Seeing all the different fibers and many spinners in action though may have made me change my mind. After seeing the prices on the raw fiber and rovings, I think I could actually save money by spinning my own.:rofl: That’s a good one, right? If I amortize the cost of a wheel over a year or two, surely this could work in my favor. Instead of just jumping right in though (which I LOVE to do) I decided to be sensible and join the Cincinnati Weaver’s Guild instead. They are an organization of all things fiber and members can rent spinning wheels by the month for a VERY reasonable fee. Hopefully, I’ll try it and then get over it.

I saw Alpaca’s for the first time in person. Not quite as cute as in pictures, but cute enough. And the fiber…the fiber is amazing. I have knit with Alpaca before but feeling the roving or raw wool is awesome. It is so light and soft…ahhhhhhh.

The festival itself was nice to check out once, but I doubt whether I’ll ever go back, unless I start spinning. All of the hand spun yarn was pretty expensive…not too many deals to be found. So of course, I didn’t get any yarn, right? HA! I scoff at your silliness! Haven’t you never read my blog before? I have a serious affliction…can’t-stop-buying-yarn-itis. This actually was a bit of a deal…$25 a pound for hand dyed, hand spun wool and a cotton/rayon blend.

I also won’t return unless The Wool Gathering changes their seeing eye dog policy. :ban:According to Julie, the festival turned away people with service dogs. BAD, BAD festival people!

Another thing…I finally remembered to bring my camera to a weekend activity. Now that I am a “blog person” I constantly find myself places thinking, “I can’t believe I didn’t bring my camera! It would be great to post pictures of this when I write about it on the blog.” However, I did not do a good job with the photo journalism on this outing. I felt way too self conscious taking pictures in the middle of all those people. Strange, huh? Well bear with me; I’m sure soon I’ll be taking pictures with reckless abandon. If you want to see some great pictures, check out Lisa’s post. She did a much better job with the wool gathering picture documentation.

Don’t forget to enter my contest! The deadline is October 22, 2005. Start :knitting:!

A couple of the blogs I have been reading lately (Jodi and Lolly) have been participating in Self Portrait Tuesday. I’m jumping on the band wagon! This month’s challenge is “body parts”.

I just received a nice note and this cute memo pad from Angela. She said when she saw it, it made her think of me. I’m not sure how I feel about that since the pad features a monkey! Only kidding, Angela… she made it clear the it was the “diva” that brought me to mind. So from one “diva” to another, a big :thx:

Now I’ll have that song stuck in my head all day. Anyway, it must be that time of year. Laurie, La and Jen have all had little visitors lately as well. (Does anyone think it’s strange that I talk about these people like I KNOW them??? Never met any of them…just a regular stalker of their respective blogs. It’s kind of like when people begin a conversation with “Did you hear about Brad and Jen?” …referring of course, to Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston, neither of whom they have actually met. Hello??? Tangential much???) This guy showed up in front of my kitchen window yesterday. I’m not a huge spider fan, but my general motto is live and let live. Unless someone recognizes this as a deadly type spider…then I am more in the spider die club.