Archives for December 2003

I’m back! And sooo happy about it. The time without my computer proved to me one thing: I can live without the internet at home.

But I don’t have to like it.

I will, however, try to put limits on my internet time during my work week. I can easily come home from work at 7pm and lose two hours, just browsing and emailing. When I didn’t have the computer at home, I came home, knitted on the couch, took a bath and slept. I liked those nights. Course, tonight, she’s like a brand-new toy, so I’m giving myself an exception so I can do this:

HI!

All right:

Let me catch you up a bit.

I had breakfast with Anne of Creating Text(iles) the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And she is even more delightful in person than she is online (hard to imagine, I know).

The place I had originally suggested we meet wasn’t open until eight (and I had to be at work by nine), so we went to my real favorite place. I should have suggested it in the first place–I should have known she would get it. The Lake Merritt Bakery is in downtown Oakland, open twenty-four hours, always has one rough looking young fellow seated with an older woman wearing a large Sunday hat (the faces change, but the set-up is always the same no matter the day, grandma and grandson out to lunch/dinner/breakfast), the shakes cause insta-weight-gain, there are about a million booths, and chicken’n’waffles are the order of the day. Well, okay, we both got bacon and eggs. But chicken’n’waffles are available should you get the hankerin’.

And Anne’s a hoot. Intelligent and charming, she was my first face-to-face blog meeting, and the weird part is that it wasn’t weird. It was just getting together with my friend. Yep.

Here we are.

Hooray!

And here are some Must-Bolero shots. Me, mimicking how I looked when I found out what size I had really made:

What was I thinking? I’m a better knitter than this. Sigh. Gulp. From the front:

From the back:

I’ve decided it’s my Lounge Around sweater. Sure, it’s more cropped chic fashion (and I consider myself neither cropped nor chic), but if I wear it to slug around the house, I think I’ll warm up to it. It sure is damn soft, and it has that great sheepy smell (Paton’s Classic Merino), and I’m gonna wear the shit out of it. Yeah. That’s it.

Oh! And I didn’t tell Brandy I was gonna do this, but here’s my pal’s first sweater (from Very Cherry Knitty pattern):

Isn’t she fabulous? She hates it. I think it looks like a million bucks. MY first sweater was in blue acrylic and I forgot to leave room for my head to push through so whenever I pulled it on, I was left with red scrape marks down my cheeks (granted, I was eleven).

(Aside: Do you have any idea how Very Uncool I was, knitting a sweater at eleven?)

Speaking of Knitty, a new issue is live today!

And I’m back! Yeehaw!

Still no little ‘puter – posting quickly from work again. I can see with my own eyes that it’s made it to Oakland FedEx. This is the point at which I “lost” the other computer. Good thoughts, good thoughts…..

‘Til then, go cheer Bethany up!

God, how I miss you all. And how I miss posting and reading blogs and replying to emails and all that good non-essential but wonderful stuff. I’m stealing time at work right now while my trainee is at lunch…..

The Must-Have is now the Must-Bolero. Single-handedly, I WILL bring them back into style. I have no freaking idea what happened (and I don’t want to examine it too closely) but not only is it too short, but it was WAY too small across the front. Way. Lemme say it again. WAY too small.

I’ve said it before – I’m a fix-whatcha-got kind of person. There was no way in hell I was going to rip it out. I loved making it, but not enough to make it again, at least not anytime soon. So I faked it. I added a moss-stitch panel and wide ribbing. I slapped a zipper on (but I pretty much screwed that up, not stretching out the fabric first, turning the front into a butterfly kind of gather – then I stood in my bedroom telling myself over and over “it’ll never be noticed from a trotting horse….” but even I couldn’t live with that – I took out the zipper and reinserted it right).

It’s all right. It’s such a gorgeous pattern, and it looks good on. I think I’m disappointed most of all because I wanted a cozy throw-over-everything kind of sweater. I got a short jacket instead.

I went out for a fabu rainy night on the town last night, dinner at Zuni, 5 dozen oysters and 7 beautiful women: What could be better? You know you’re looking for trouble when the very first round of drinks is over $70. Thank god I took BART to the City, ’cause I wouldn’t have been able to drive after those Sapphire martinis….

AND Kathy got a shot of the bolero. Here you go. Deb was tucking in a stray thread on my shirt. I was looking weird. Can’t explain that.

And here’s one more, and I’m still goofy:

Kisses to all and to all a good week – maybe I’ll be back soon? I have to tell you all about the breakfast I had with marvellous Anne and show more pics of the bolero….. I want my baby back…. please…… Good thoughts sent out to HP and here’s hopin’. Miss you.

But I’ve started the new ribbie cardie from BonneMarie. I need a sure thing, you know? Miss y’all.

Posting from phone so brief. Must-Have is bolero for 9 year old. Sigh. Gauge was on, dunno. 6inch button bands help a bit… Deeper sigh…