Pucks and broken sticks…
My adventures in Denver for my first Hockey game.
Step One: Drive to Denver
Step Two: Starving, go to lunch at Panera. Once again disappointed with the tomato mozzarella panini.
Step Three: Realize we have about 3 hours before we can even contemplate going downtown.
We were near Park Meadows Mall and knew that there was a DSW. So Mother of Mine and I decide to see if there are any shoes that might work for the wedding.
I quite literally steal them off another woman’s feet… But I’ve got my wedding shoes.
Amethyst purple with a kitten heel and pointy toe.
This means the wedding colors changed. Thats alright. That’s a blog for another day.
Oh, I also bought 2 other pairs of shoes. A pair of sheepskin Chuck Taylors, and a simple pair of black Keds. I really needed summer appropriate shoes, hence the Keds, but the Chucks were a factor of “oh my god they actually fit”.
We even still go to the actual mall and poke around as we had only killed about an hour at DSW.
Wandered about the mall… definitely killed time. Bought something that you really don’t need to know about.
We head downtown and attempt to find parking. I’m going to gloss over that spot because well frankly… it was not pretty.
Head up the escalator to the very top of the arena, we are in the nose bleed section. A scary section I might add as if you trip… you will fall and nothing accept a small railing 15 rows down from the top will stop you.
Ask me how I know…
No… I did not tumble.. but I did stumble. I caught myself though.
We were in the very top row. This is our view: (and mind you, this is my camera zoomed in all the way)
Suddenly we see someone from the arena walking around with a stack of tickets.
That person comes up to us and asks us if we are wearing Av’s clothing. We are.
We get our seats upgraded since it’s a home game and it’s televised so they want more visible fans for the cameras.
This is our new view:
BIG difference no?
This is a picture of where our seats were, from where our seats are now.
Top section, middle of the photo. You’ll see 2 white blobs next to one of the columns? Yeah.. our seats were like 3 away from them.
The people who’s arms you see in the photo next to us, ironically had been sitting up near us, and it was their first game, AND they were from Colorado Springs.
Seriously… it’s weird when we go places.
On the other side of us, we sadly were next to the drunkest/loudest people in the arena. I was almost tempted to send the SOS text to get them kicked out of our section. Without fail we always end up being near “those” people at concerts/events.
Even though the Av’s lost, it was still a good game. I’m very glad I went as it was my first and last time I was going to get to go to a game here in Colorado before the move. (Sorry, it wasn’t in the budget to go to a playoff game)
I bought us hats. It’s hard to find a good charcoal gray hat.
After that we headed over to Casa Judd, our home away from home.
Saturday was spent doing the Colorado Tartan Day… Which… I really don’t miss doing those festivals. I of course was there as a civilian so I could come and go and do as I please.
There, now you have the blog I’ve been meaning to post for weeks now.
I have a new yarn base drying in the shower… I did the Vamp trifecta today in honor of the Moonlight marathon I’ve been enjoying. I am in love with this new base.
Tomorrow will be painting on some tshirts for my Florida trip.
And then Tuesday is my flight. Obviously I will not be able to blog while I’m gone. But I will make an attempt to do so. There is something that should happen while I’m gone that will require big uber announcement and dances of joy.
Grab a Freshie.
I promise I do have a kick ass post to post about the Hockey game.
I swear.
Really. You believe me right?
Well… this is not that post.
This post… I am debuting a new yarn.
Josef Kostan from Moonlight.
One of the Snarkiest Vampires on the small screen for a good long while.
You know.. Vampire Solidarity and all that.. Rah Rah Rah!
So grab a freshie, or a non fat soy vegan blood if that’s what you prefer and enjoy.
This, to my knowledge is the final Moonlight colorway I’ll be doing. I don’t know, we’ll see if I get inspired for another one the next time I watch the dvds.
Now its time to go make dinner and then have another Pumpkin Pillow cause those are just damn nummy.
Crazy Holidays and other randomness
First I want to say, Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends. (And of course all it’s territories)
Though I do not celebrate Thanksgiving, because in the US it’s all about Turkey… and well… I’m allergic to Turkey. I don’t do cranberry sauce, I don’t do stuffing, I don’t do gravy on my mashed potatoes. I don’t like marshmallows on my sweet potatoes (or yams). I don’t like almonds on my green beans… Yes.. I am a freak.
Oh, I’m also not a Football (US football) fan either. I don’t like to go shopping at the crack of dawn for christmas pressies… Really… I’m just not big into the T-Day.
But I’ve still got more than a month before I have to deal with the US version of it.
Moving along.
Today is Columbus day.
Which means, once again the kids in NY are not at school. Which means I am once again having to make up time throughout next week. I’ll actually be working on Saturday to make up for the pay.
Well, this weekend we got a new couch. Spent 45$ on it.. and so far, my ass does not fall asleep. My body is objecting to the new positions, but thats alright.
We are also in the process of rearranging the house completely.
The stuff currently in the dining room area is going upstairs to the loft area (which was a bitch to clear enough space for)
The stuff currently in the living room (meaning our Dining room table) was moved to the dining room. (What a concept)
Still not done yet of course. But we are getting there.
Unfortunately in the aftermath, I broke one of the Harmony size 4 needles that currently are holding my Legal Assassin socks. Luckily, we had a random size 4 around the house, not to mention 2 other sets floating around as well. So we actually have “matched” sets. Which is all good.
I have discovered that shopping on any holiday.. even if it’s not a normally celebrated holiday in this state… is never a good idea.
People are freaking crazy. Seriously crazy.
Never again. I don’t care if it’s National Smile Day… I’m staying home.
Which thinking on that.. means I’ll never leave my house as there is a holiday for every day. Shoot. There goes that idea.
Oh.. I totally forgot.
I dyed this weekend.
New colorway called “Flirt and Flounce”.
No pictures as of yet as it is still drying and well.. we had an Ice Storm down here in Colorado Springs so it’s cold and there is moisture in the air.
The colorway was for a custom order, which is why it got bumped up before continuing with either the Repo series, or the Moonlight series.
I guess that’s all I’ve got for now. Gotta go make dinner. Tomorrow is going to come very early. Sigh.
Bugs and Hisses peeps!
Writing, Knitting and Dyeing- an update
Alright, so on top of the whole “someone trying to steal all my money” situation of 2 weeks ago. Last week my employer decided to over pay me.
Now I can hear you already saying “Woot. more money right?”
No, this is a bad thing. Why? Because the last time a company over paid me, it took over 6 weeks for them to correct the error, and Murphy is not my friend. It would not matter how long I would sit there and not spend the money, something would happen, and the day/hour/minute before the employer would get their act together and retrieve the money they over paid, something would happen ans *poof* it’d be gone from my account, thus making me extra broke and generally negative in my account.
Thankfully, I was pretty on top of the situation this time, and I notified my HR person, she sent the appropriate email, and instead of the company retrieving the funds from my account, simply took it from the next paycheck.
Sucks because this paycheck that I got today now has a whole lot less than it normally would, which of course puts me mentally into a not so happy place. Luckily, I had not had any bills clear, nor really buy anything I shouldn’t have, so the funds were still in my account, and I’ll still be golden for the week.
What does this mean? Well, once I finish paying bills for this month, I will more than likely be able to afford to buy some more yarn goodness.
I plan on finishing up my Moonlight colorways, (2 more planned for the series, Josef and Coraline) and starting on a little custom project that I have in the works. Here’s a hint… when I finish it.. it will be part of my Wicked set.. and it shall be called: “Little Ways to Flirt and Flounce”
So thats the update on the Dyeing front.
Knitting front:
I’m almost done with Sock #1 of the Fangtasm pattern (which I’ve dubbed my sock project to be “Playful Bites”)
I’ll most likely finish tonight and then cast on Sock #2. I’m terrified that they won’t match for whatever reason, which is very much making me want to start 2 at a time on the next pair I do. I didn’t do it this time because 1)I was still new to socks, 2)I had never done Magic Loop socks, 3)I had never done Toe Up.
Now that I’ve accomplished all those little things, I think I’m safe to move on to 2 at a time.
Next up: Writing.
Alright, the past two days have been a little crazy for me. But on Monday I did manage to write some. Which makes me happy. I’m hoping to spend this weekend busting out even more on the word count.
Mother of Mine is going to be out at the Elizabeth Celtic Festival (formally known as Kiowa Celtic Festival), and that means I’ll have Friday from Noon till I fall asleep, Saturday morning. Saturday Afternoon I’m going to go to the festival for my “very last time”. I’ll spend a few hours there then come home (thankfully, it’s not like I’ll be driving to Denver at all) and write till I fall asleep, and then I’ll have the bulk of Sunday till Mom comes home to write.
Hopefully I’ll be able to bust out my goal for the week and a whole bunch more past that.
Work: My backup who really was the only other person at work who
did anything broke his leg last week. I can’t recall if I wrote about this or not.
Well, Tuesday he went to see his doctor to find out if the surgery is a “go.”
And I don’t know what he did to piss off his doctor, but he is now banned from coming to work until the end of the month.
This leaves me screwed. Now, I’m the only one doing work until this desk closes. Yes, I have the other backloggers, but they do not get nearly as much accomplished as my backup.
This means I’m brain dead when I come home from work, and cannot write at all. Sigh. We’ll see how it goes.
Other news: I’m totally geeking out. I bought a new printer. It is a spiffy one, that is an all-in-one. Most importantly, it has a flatbed scanner (last year my scanner that I stole from the ex broke.). This means I can now scan all the photos from my childhood and not be without them when I make the big move. I am happy.
It’s spiffy. It’s new. It’s wireless. It will so pay for it’s self in like a month. (now I can do business stuff easier. Color printing.. woot! etc etc)
Alright, I guess that’s all I’ve got for now.
Talk to you later people.
Bugs and Hisses.
Beth and Mick wanna go home with you…
Oh yes… I went there.
Just a quick note to say that yes, my yarns for Beth Turner and Mick St. John are up for sale in my shop:
For reference images:
and
Beth Turner, the morning after
The wanna go home with you. They want to party. They want to be petted and loved, and they want to do wrap themselves allll over you.
How can you resist this pair? They know how to play. Watch out for Mick though, he’s a biter.
And for those who get to take these lovers home… I’m gonna be pervy here and say.. I want photos.
(Also, there will be a 10% off coupon waiting for you when a FO is completed and shown to me.)
Mick in the shower.. and Happy 4th of July
Alright.. that title sounds a bit.. well.. heh. But it’s true.
Today, 4th of July.. I dyed some more yarn.
Friday, I went to my Local Yarn Shop.. spoke with Shop Mom, and she is willing to work with me when it comes to ordering some of the Panda Cotton from Crystal Palace Yarns.
While I was there, I picked up about 6 balls of yarn.
I dislike working in balls, because they are so small. Generally about 100 yards each. This is frustrating when I prefer my yarn to be.. SKEINS and about 450 yards.
But now I’ve gotten to play with some Panda Cotton, Classic Elite Bam Boo, Classic Elite Silk, and Plymouth Earth Oceanside Organic (cotton)
They all took the dye slightly differently, but all took the dye really well. The silk is the most muted of all of them. But that is the nature of silk.
He will also be for sale once I pick up my scale.. (should arrive at Evilmart any day now)
Knit Picks was having a sale, and I picked up some books. (At 40% off can ya blame me?!) Specifically I picked up:
which means I can in fact start working on my Avalanche Hockey Sweater once I get all the yarn.
lots of good patterns, and I am so far liking Toe Up socks.
which already has given me several great tips. Woot.
Right now X-Files season 1 is on the telly, some NY Strip Steaks are being cooked, and the rain just stopped. So Happy 4th of July everyone. Hope your having a good one.
Oh, I haven’t forgotten the blog about JC in Denver.. and also I have another blog about not so fun drama that happened yesterday.. But don’t want to blur that ickiness with todays awesomeness.
Beth Turner, the morning after..
Heh. Sounds a bit kinky.. Morning after what?
Well.. It’s pretty mundane.
She’s dry. She’s cozy..
And here she is.. I’ll post the photo of the “One of a Kind” Cake soon. I thought I wasn’t going to like it. But it actually turned out neat.
Right now it is raining. I just finished watching disc one of Burn Notice season 2.. And now I’m watching Equilibrium. A Christian Bale/Sean Bean futuristic movie. Too early to tell if it’ll be any good.. but so far they just burned the original Mona Lisa… (oh, and apparently the guy who played Robert the Bruce from Braveheart is in the movie as well)
Today was brutally hot, and muggy in the morning. I’m loving the downpour right now.
I went over to Jes’s house and hung out with “The Girls” for a little while. Mostly just to prove that I am still alive.
I realized I should not take the pride and joy of my new work (Beth Turner) with me to show off to people whom.. well.. they don’t knit, and thus do not care.
As there was a 2 year old running around, I was not able to work on my stitch markers like I had planned.. I had forgotten that Kasha is growing and growing quickly. So I did some knitting, which I now have to go count a few rows to make sure I’m where I’m supposed to be, as I didn’t have a pen to mark my place, and if I don’t I’ll forget what row I’m on. Luckily, I know at least one spot I’ve done, so it’s just a matter of counting from there.
After that I stopped of at EvilMart to get some groceries as I was passing right bye it. Got myself a real pair of gloves for dyeing. I discovered I didn’t like using latex disposable ones, as of course your hands get sweaty and gross on the inside, and also my hands smell of powder for hours afterwards.. no matter how many times I wash them. And also, if you get dye on them, they don’t wash very well, and can transfer. So.. real gloves it is, and will also give me a bit more protection from the heat that the disposable ones didn’t. Some day I’ll upgrade to a pair of Bluettes (like.. THE gloves) And a new bucket for when I’m doing the yarn prepping and rinses.
I really need to buy myself a digital scale so that I can start knowing the shipping cost of something without having to actually go to the post office and have them weigh it for me. Ugh. Evilmart has one for 16.99$ online that I’ll prolly get. If I remember correctly it does grams as well, so I should be fine using it for the UK.
Now, I am going to go. Have some stitch markers to make. I will get to the Denver adventures to Jacqueline Carey soon, I promise!
I think I’m going to make some pizza for dinner.. mmmmm Yummy.
Bugs and Hisses!
Oh and on a random note: My Lucien from Fresh from the Cauldron arrived yesterday. Woohoo. More of the yummy werewolf. And a pattern I was hoping to get called Vindication.
Beth Turner.. Welcome to the World.
Alright… Just a quickie as it is well past my bedtime, and I am also running on less than 4 hours of sleep (don’t worry, you’ll get to hear all about the adventures in Denver and the Jacqueline Carey book signing) And forgive me any of you who have already seen this announcement in other various places.. I’m excited.. and I’m also trying to get my work out there.
This is my very very first yarn dyeing attempt.
Yarn: DK weight 100% Bamboo, chain style
Dyes: Cushing Direct Dyes
Colorway name: Beth Turner – Moonlight
In the photo’s she’s really dark, but thats because she was still quite wet. As she’s drying I’ve already noticed the color softening. Which I’m fine with because I originally envisioned this colorway to be ‘softer’.
I have to admit that the perfectionist in me is slightly disappointed in a few spots of it, but for a first attempt it’s certainly not too shabby, there were only a few spots where the purple and the yellow mixed in a not so pretty way or that the color got on a section it wasn’t supposed to.
I was very much flying by the seat of my pants doing this, and I learned a lot with each color dipping I did. So I’m keeping my head up and really I’ll wait to see what the morning light brings. If nothing else, I’m learning that I can actually get things to translate from the image I see in my head, to the yarn I hold in my hands. (just a matter of perfecting it now)
I’ll decide in the morning when she’s dry if I’ll be selling her or if I’ll just be keeping her for personal use.. either way.. I had fun.. I just very much wish I had a larger kitchen! (Thankfully, the Hunny of Mine knows that I will require a large kitchen for when we are house hunting.)
I have realized my problem now though…
I am now completely out of undyed yarn. 
I shall have to order some…
100th post, and huge news!
How very lucky am I that I have huge news, and it also happens to be my 100th post on this particular blog. (Meaning, since I jumped over from Myspace… I don’t miss it. I haven’t even logged into Myspace in most likely, 2 months)
Yesterday started something major for me.
You’ve seen it coming.
The Asylum for Wayward Yarn is now up and running. It’s a little bare at the moment. I’m working on logos and such like that.
I posted my first set of stitch markers.
A set of 4 Doctor Who “Pinstripe 10″ themed gems. I already knew there was interest in them prior to posting them for sale. And guess what, they sold immediately. (didn’t get the confirmation until after I came into work, simply because I had to go to bed at my normal time, and I don’t have time to check my email before I come into work)
I had already had the package ready to go, it just needed the address, the postage, and the envelope to be sealed.
Mother of Mine has kindly added those last few pieces so that it will go out in the post today instead of tomorrow.
I am excited.
Here are the envelopes ready to go:
I had stopped off at Hobby Lobby on the way home and picked up some more fixings, also so as to pick up some envelope blanks, so that I could decorate them and of course get things shipped out.
Here are the fronts of the notecards:
New set of markers I made last night: and you can also see the inside of the notecards
Beth Turner, and some more Pinstripe 10
Tonight I must work on more of the skeins. If I get time, I will make more stitch markers, but first comes the skeins.
I still haven’t gotten my dye pot. I hope it arrives today.
The knitting is going slowly, as the past few nights I’ve been focusing on *ahem* other things.
The next set of stitch markers, shall be Mick St. John. I look forward to him.
I also plan on having in my shop a “Mix and Match” option, so that, say if people want some of Beth and some of Mick, they can have it.
Alright. Time for me to get cracking at work.
I’m just very excited.
Oh. Quicky book review:
Dead and Gone – Charlaine Harris
Finished last night. I can see why some people are starting to feel that CH is kind of loosing the steam when it comes to the Sookie verse.
I don’t quite know how to explain it. But whenever something major was happening, it reminded me of my first notes. It didn’t actually show much of the violence (thinking of a big scene towards the end). It was written in the “I didn’t think they would cut me. They did.” type style. That style was how I would do my quick shorthand notes. Not the finished product. I don’t know. I really don’t know how to describe it. I don’t know if I’m happy about what happened to a certain Vamp. Actually wait.. that really bugged me. This certain person had silver capped teeth. This person bit a vampire. That vampire was supposedly then poisoned. WTF? how would being bitten by silver be any different than having a silver chain cut into their flesh? Why then did they not get silver poisoning then? Totally a cop-out methinks. And also, CH forgot her own rules. Bill entered a house without permission (or no permission that we were aware of).
Alright I’m done for now as I really must get back to work.
Bugs and Hisses people.
Excited again, and The Great Batsby
So I’ve been meaning to blog for a little while now.
I’ve even had things to blog about. But, I just never seemed to have the chance or the brain power to do so.
I am excited.
Oh, lets get through the other stuff first. 
Work = dull right now. Thats alright though.
Saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. It was quite fun. When I was younger I loved the Air and Space museum, so seeing it in a different light was quite enjoyable. Ben Stiller didn’t even annoy me that much. No, the only person in the movie that annoyed me was the “I’m only famous because I’m fat and am slightly a comedian” actor Jonah Hill. I’m sorry, John Candy used up all the “I’m fat and stupid, so that makes me funny” quota. No one has ever come close to being him. Oh, and sadly the Jonas Brothers were in the movie as flying Cherubs. They were annoying.
And yes, it rained on us, so we really did see the movie.
Now on to some more exciting stuff.
Sunday I had a bit of a break through in the writing.
No, I did not add to the chapter I was working on, but I actively got a Chapter Outline started, and it actually helped me get past the place I was stuck. So I am quite excited about that. I allayed my concerns that I had about certain pre-existing correlations, but in the end.. Hey.. those authors had the same process on human friendship as I did. So I’m not going to fret.
Guy was quite helpful in figuring out some of the military stuff, and yes, I have a lot of play in what I actually end up working with, but now I at least have a base to start from.
On to other exciting stuff..
Tomorrow, I am going to purchase my first set of dyes. Yes, yes I will.
I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned it before, but I have just found a supplier of non acid dyes, that work just like Acid dyes.
What does that mean?
Well, all the readily avail dyes out there for the non animal based yarns… suck. The process is “Cold” and so takes FOREVER. And you don’t get good vibrant colors either.
Well, the dyes I just found are “Hot” like the regular animal based dyes. The process is the same, the only thing I won’t have to worry about is the pH level of the bath. WOOHOO.
I already know exactly which colorway I’m gonna do first. I can’t wait. I’m excited. It’s odd, because the colors are not something I would normally do for myself. But, this is an experiment, and also it was the only colorway I could do in only 3-4 dyes.
Also, any day now I should have a Rolotape meter arriving, so that I can accurately count off my yardage. Hey, I’m for real on wanting to start a business.. I need to know exactly how many yards are in my skeins.
Also, any day I should be getting Santa Olivia from Amazon.com (i was buying the rolotape, so I figured I could justify the cost of finally getting Santa Olivia)
The reason I am buying Santa Olivia is because June 25th, Jacqueline Carey will be IN Denver for a book signing. Woohoo!
Her new book Naamah’s Kiss comes out the DAY before her visit, so I will pick that one up in person instead of running the risk of it not arriving on time for her to sign it.
Saturday mom and I are going to a baseball game.
It is opening day of faire, but mom got the tickets thinking the game was on Friday. No worries. I’m alright with not going to Faire opening day.
I might go closing day.. but who knows.. I’ll go if and when I feel like it.
An awesome person on Ravelry gave me a free copy of one of her new patterns, as it was something I had slightly requested her to make. (I asked her to make a gargoyle pattern, and this she made first.. so it’s close) The condition of getting the pattern free is that I have to make a SteamPunked Bat. Woohoo I think I can do that.
So I cannot wait to start playing with The Great Batsby
He actually clips on things. Tee hee.
Alright, I guess I’m just trying to kill time.
oh, and I’m bummed because Since JC is coming to town, it means I cannot go to REPO the Genetic Opera in Denver the night after. I just can’t justify driving to Denver two nights in a row for no other reasont than to just see a movie and get a book signed. lol
