KNita KNittin'

Yay!

 

Now, if I could just stay up long enough to get some more spinning in...

Because Kathy told me to...

Here's the Targhee Kathy asked me to put up.

Again, sorry for the bad pic, but I think you get the gist...

So....

...guess what I've been doing??

Yeah, I've been spinning.  This is some merino I got from Freckle Faced fibers on Etsy, color Damsel.*  It actually produced an interesting color yarn.  Based in a really light purple-y kind of color, I was pleasantly surprised with how it spun up and am anxious to get to the next bump.  I'm actually pretty proud of how it came out all in all, and when I spin up the next bump, it will become a baby surprise jacket for the Grand niece.  As I was reminded, after doing a lot of spinning this weekend, it's really great for the knees and stuff.  Kung Fu has been giving me grief with tendons around my knees (horse and bow stances, anyone) and though it is still generally sore, I can do squats now, which actually makes me happy. 

I'm on to some deep, dark, jewel toned Targhee from Mountain Colors right now, and though I eyeballed the roving I spun with the yarn pictured on the spools, I didn't do so well with the Targhee.  It's making some yummy lookin yarn and don't know if I should make socks with it, or lace.  It's quite divine.  I can't wait.  Actually, seeing as I"m making socks for everyone this year, it might be socks...for me.  :P

I've also been toying with the idea to sell the Victoria wheel.  On the one hand, it's kind of sad, but on the other, I think i've just plain and simple have fallen head over freakin' heels with my Matchless, and though I can't bring it on planes with me, I can take it to festivals within driving distance which totally works for me.  So, I'm gonna do a little scouting to see who might be interested.  Are you?? :)

*Please excuse the bad cell phone pic.  It's all I had...

Holy crap!!

It has been way to freakin' long since I've written anything here.   I apologize to all 2 of my subscribers!  Ha!  Anyway, I'm slowly but surely gonna get back on the wheel and get to rolling again. 

So, last you heard, I had a baby blankie finished.  Well, guess what?? 

I "squee" so hard everytime I see this baby. 

Ladies and Germs: My Grandniece Aschelle!! The blankets intended recipient.  Mommy (niece Reigna) tells me she's very happy with it. 

Yay!!

So, I had taken a bit of a knitting hiatus after that blanket and the socks I made her and her mommy.  I was a bit busy, and running around, and taking Kung Fu, and trying to balance and well...you know how that goes.  Yes, I'm a Yellow Belt in Shaolin Kung Fu at Ascension Martial Arts here in San Jose, as well as a Tai Chi student.  Slowly but surely, my clothes get bigger.  That makes me VERY happy.  And I LOVE going to class.  I never have to be coaxed, and it's never a chore.  Having friends as instructors doesn't hurt, but I really do love it!  It's truly a wonderful thing, and though I don't practice as much as I could, I do practice, but know I have to practice every day...It's time to get a rhythm to my forms.

So what does one do when one is in a knitting funk?  Well, what I did, was walk into my LYS and sat and talked with my friends and just hung out.  No knitting.  And then I perused the product.  Within minutes, I had 6 balls of Crystal Palace Mochi Plus ready to be made into this:

I've been wanting to make myself a Lady Eleanor for years.  So, here it is.  Yay to the creative spark.

Along with this, I must take on the Saddle shoulder to complete a sweater that is long overdue.  I am not a "fearless" kntter.  Though I like to pretend that I am.  Sometimes, I'm just so scared to fuck something up, I can't see straght.  So, a self-imposed wall was built in front of this sweater, and now, I must tear that shit down.  Just plow through the bitch, you know??  Mistakes can be corrected.  There's no steeking going on here.

There are grand benefits to having friends who own a yarn store.  One, is that you can call and hold a ball or two of yarn if you know you can just run in and pick it up after work, or soemthing simple like that.  The other, is that when they are the ones responsible for your recent obsession with fiber to use on one of the 2 wheels they helped you purchase, you tend to get lots of fiber.  Well, July was my birthday.  And they inundated me with much love and fiber.  I tell you what.  Handdyed yumminess that was dyed ESPECIALLY for me BY them!  What could be better!?  I ask you. What!!??  No pics, but maybe later.  I less than 3 them.  :)

After that, I'm thinking it's time to get on a sock kick, and give nothing but socks this year.  Easy, low hassle, and maybe throw one or two pair in for me!  Ahhh...it was a nice break, but time to get back to work.  I'm starting yoga, I think I'll start next week. I'm a bit busy tomorrow, when I had intended to start, but I called the studio, and they's gonna hook me up! So Awesome!!

Thanks for being patient.  And if you weren't patient, I don't blame you.  But thanks anyway.

wow...

 You can say it's been a while, huh? 

Well, where to start...where to start.  Uh...Spinning lots on the wheel, my Victoria had a snapped peg, which will be fixed tonight during Late Night Knits.  Sleepy today.  Debating upon whether or not to swim before hand because...well..why the fuck not, you know??  I've begun Kung Fu and am now officially a Yellow Belt.  Very excited.  My body is being challenged like never before.  Am realizing how necessary regular massages and hot tub visits are needed for this kind of physical activity.  After having the opportunity to swim yesterday, I'm getting the desire to get back into the pool which will help with things like my knees who's tendons like to give me grief. But enough about my physical challenges, this is a knitting blog for goodness sake!!

Well, there has been knitting.  There has been the baby blanket from hell, the baby blanket for my grandniece (pictured), the baby socks, the momma of the baby socks, and a Juno Regia (will download later).  Anyway, So, I haven't been a total slacker, though I should also probably show you my spinnings. 

Life in general is good, dealing with some fantastic wonderful things regarding my music, myself and stuff.  How's that for ambiguous. 

Crowns, crops, castles and catsup...I mean catch-up!...

Here are some shots of the show, and backstage.
I wont' bore you with how much in love with these people I am anymore...Just enjoy the pics!

I also just had my "hur did" ("hair done", for the uninitiated) and got me a new pair of specs in the process...

And then, I got my tax return, and I made the mistake of mentioning to my drug pushers that I might be making a purchase from them soon...I ended up with this...

Yeah, it's a Matchless...I'm in love.

After the show closed, my body shut down, I got a cold, and have been nursing it ever since.  I've been so very tired, and trying to get enough sleep in hopes of recovering and getting back into a structured workout schedule, and it's proving to be difficult.  Today, I'm going shopping with the woman who will design my dress for the wedding of 2 of my favorite peoples.  I still need to get to my friends house and have her string me up so I can get pics of my custom corset as soon as time allows...which will hopefully be this coming week, or possibly when I get back from vacation...Mmmmm vacation.  Humboldt county, here I be comin'!!

It was a good run...

Well, the show is over.

Finally! Towards the end we started selling out shows, and sold out the last 3 shows.  The cast was fantastic, and we were greatly appreciated by those who came...and came BACK!!

This was an experience for me folks.  Most of you who know me, know I was born a upper middle-class white kid...so to speak. I grew up in Sunnyvale, and was the only black kid in class or school for a while at least until 4th grade.  So, the whole racial thing has been a "thing" in my life for a while.  I didn't have any black friends growing up, and now, I have many, and a lot of them grew up like me.  But unlike me, sought out being part of the "black heritage" where I was content to be who I was where I was.  It wasn't until this show, that I actually "felt" black...if that makes any sense.  I felt included, I felt loved, and damn...I felt good.  I don't think I have any more to add to that except to say that this whole play was a life changing experience for me.  I'm considering wearing hats...I may have to attend church in Oakland from time to time...small changes, but changes nonetheless.  I was blessed and touched by this play as were the myriad of those who came to revel in it with us.  I am blessed to have been part of such an amazing thing. 

***********

Knitting...well...Haven't been knitting...until just recently.  The hand is still healing, and because it hasn't been used, other tendons are getting cranky and giving me grief.  dammit.  But I have started knitting...just not a lot.  After the play, My body gave out, and I took a couple days off to recoup and started spinning a lot.  Finished playing some green BFL, which needs to be soaked, whacked and balanced, and I started on some 100% Merino...yum.

Oh, and did I mention the new wheel??

I got a new wheel.

Pics to come.

"Our crowns have been bought and paid for. All we have to do is wear them!"

This is the first line of the show, and it is spoken by Mother Shaw.  That's me!!
Well, suffice it to say, opening weekend, and the week prior to opening are usually pretty damned stressful.  So much so that I've had very minor, though annoying panic attacks, but thankfully, the adrenaline rush from being onstage takes care of these things.  Also, thankfully, I'm taking the day off today so that I don't have to think about much of anything else except my belly button.  Yay!!

The show had a fantastically wonderful opening.  We are performing @ the San Pedro Square theater in San Jose, and it's a quaint little theater with a bar, wood floors and comfortable seating.  Not a bad seat in the house.  It only seats a little over 100 people, but it's a wonderful wonderful place to perform.  I hope those of you that can come, will come.  Click on the poster to the left, and get all the details you need. 

In the meantime, I'm takin' a nap!!

I did the macarena with a llama in an elevator because that's how I roll....

I should really stop sending these on.  They're so stupid, but I do anyway.  I guess it's better than crack.

*************

Follow directions then delete mine and put your sentence at the top and forward on (don't forget to send me a copy, I need a laugh too...) You can dispense with the sending back, thanks
 
Pick the month you were born:
January - I kicked
February - I loved
March - I karate chopped
April - I licked
May - I jumped on
June - I smelled
July - I did the Macarena With
August - I had lunch with
September - I danced with
October - I sang to
November - I yelled at
December - I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1- a birdbath
2 - a monster
3 - a phone
4 - a fork
5 - a snowman
6 - a gangster
7 - my mobile phone
8 - my dog
9 - my best friends' boyfriend
10 - my neighbor
11- my science teacher
12 - a banana
13 - a fireman
14 - a stuffed animal
15 - a goat
16 - a pickle
17 - your mom
18 - a spoon
19 - a smurf
20 - a baseball bat
21 - a ninja
22 - Chuck Norris
23 - a noodle
24 - a squirrel
25 - a football player
26 - my sister
27 - -my brother
28 - an iPod
29 - a surfer
30 - a homeless guy
31 - a llama

What is the last number of the year you were born:
1 -  In my car
2  - On your car
3 - In a hole
4 - Under your bed
5  - Riding a Motorcycle
6  - sliding down a hill
7  - in an elevator
8 - at the dinner table
9  - In line at the bank
0  - in your bathroom

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White - because I can do no wrong.
Black - because that's how I roll.
Pink - because I'm NOT crazy.
Red - because the voices told me to.
Blue - because I'm sexy and I do what I want
Green - because I think I need some serious help.
Purple - because I'm AWESOME!
Gray - because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow - because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange - because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown - because I can.
Other - because I'm a Ninja!
None - because I can't control myself!

I can't wait to see w hat you get stuck with!

**sigh**

So, as far as I can tell, in an attempt to relax from being a bit stressed about my performances, I managed to have a "death grip" on my knitting needles which stressed out tendons in my thumb and i now have a great big case of tenosynovitis. Yay.  Yay RSI's (actually RSI's can suck it). Needless to say, I hate it.  I am splinted and on anti-inflamm's (800mg Motrin).  I've been taking 1, 3 times a day.  Today, seeing as there is LITTLE OR NO IMPROVEMENT after a week, i've upped the dosage to 2, 3 times a day.  Before you get all "it'll fuck up your stomach" on me, you have to understand that this is NOT my first time with a tendonitis issue or 800mg Motrin.  I'm not addicted to pain meds, and I know I can handle the double dosage.  Trust me.

Anyway, this is the reason I am not posting anything remotely related to knitting.  I am saddened.  I was going to have my bass player's sweater done, my niece's baby blanket done, but alas.  The universe has told me to sit still...well, at least with the hands anyway, I've started not coming home after work since I get home at 6 and have rehearsals at 7.  On the bright side, my very stressful weekend (last weekend) paid off handsomely.  Actually, I'm putting my voice to use well enough to make a nice piece of change every month.  That works!  When the play's over, I'll be looking for new musical ventures, more exercise, and definitely new knitting.  Whee!

And BTW, if you don't know, I'm gonna tell ya:

Crowns (as you can see to your left) is going to be awesome.  y'all need to come.