Five Alive!!!

yeah, so I'm still alive and doing a jillion things.

Thursday:

The Swimmers

Maria Taylor

On Thursday; Kellyn, Nancy and I went to Philly to see Maria Taylor. We got to the city super early, and goofed around for awhile. We stopped by Urban Outfitters but, everything looked kinda cheesy and mass market. So, we went down the street to American Apparel and I bought some stuff. I also ran into LUSH and picked up some things I needed.

The show was gr8! It was raining pretty hard, and there wasn't a huge turnout. Most of the good shows around here are in a church basement with no climate control, so it was a good thing that only about 40 people showed up. Both opening bands were really good. The Aderbats gave me an EP that I've already listened to a couple of times, it's pretty good (espesh 4 a local band). The Swimmers were a lot of fun and sort of reminded me of the Zombies. They had a sort of *new* Mod sound thing going on. Maria was quite amazing. I didn't know that her siblings were also her band, pretty cute.

Friday:

I decided to try the croq pot method to dye some yarn. It was kind of explained in the new Knitty. I soaked the yarn overnight in vinegar and water. The next day I drained it and added more water and vinegar. I poured in the dye and put the pot on high and just left it sit while we watched The Stewie Griffin Movie. It took about an hour and half, and there was no mess to clean up. You really do give up control when using this method but I'm happy with the results. I'll take a pic once it's re-hanked. I may just put this lil' guy up for sale in my Etsy shop. I already have plenty of sock yarn waiting to be knit up.

When I stopped by Lush, I got a free FRESH! face mask. I picked one called cupcake, pretty much just because of the name. It smelled so great, that even if my skin turned green and started peeling off, I would still use it. But that wasn't the case at all! In addition to the choclate-y goodness, it actually evened out my skin tone a little bit and even made some trouble spots go away! I love cupcake :-)

Saturday:

I had to work during the day. I don't really celebrate St. Patrick's day, so it didn't really matter. It was fun to see a bunch of people dressed up and a couple of people in animal suits doing the electric slide! When I got home, we watched The Science of Sleep. It's probably one of the best movies I've ever seen, right behind Amelie anyway. All of the dream sequences had tons of beautiful handmade things produced by a single, very talented woman. I was flipping through the special features and they were all about cat rescue and adopting pets. It was really cute! Our second kitty, Adrienne is adopted and she's pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

Adrienne

Amelie

The Science of Sleep

*to watch the videos, you can scroll to the bottom of my page and pause the music player*

I'm Crazy for the Hogs!

I can't stop making hedgehogs! It's time for an intervention I think.

Pattern Particulars

Needles: Clover Takumi Size US 10.5

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted in Wild Oak and some weird cotton I had in my stash.

Time: Approx. 2 hours (most of it was spent pulling through loops of yarn for hair)

Loved: How quickly the yarn felted and the new animal eyes I bought at JoAnn's.

Hated: nothing.

I ran into JoAnn's tonight to pick up a few things I needed to continue working on Dave's Valentines gift. In addition to what I needed, I found official looking eyes for my hedgehog and future sock monkeys. I also picked up the new addition of ADORN. There is a lot of cute stuff in this one. Shrinky Dink Jewelry and ruffled flowers made from grosgrain ribbon are my to do list. There is also a pretty exciting contest from the people @ Velcro. All you have to do is use their *new* Fabric Fusion Iron-On velcro in a project and you could win $500, a Rowenta Professional Focus Iron and a 1-year subscription to ADORN. I'm kind of excited and I want to send something in.

Our dinner tonight was the biggest fluke ever!!! I was making an easy-peasy recipe I've made a few times and I only changed one thing. It was a baked chicken and rice dish, and we only had black rice in the house. We bought it one day because it looked exciting. IT WAS NOT EXCITING! It turned into a strange gelatinous sludge in the casserole dish and it had a very strange flavor. In order to make up for my kitchen blunder, I made Lumberjack's Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from "I Like You" by Amy Sedaris. They are so tasty even my new hedgehog treid to steal a few. When I first got this book I thought that the recipes were jokes. I've tried three or four and all of them have been AMAZING! Amy Sedaris is a goddess!

I wanted to take a second and talk about something important. I'm not sure if you guys know what the AIDS Lifecycle is or how you could do anything to help. Here is the info from the website: "(It) will take place June 3-9, 2007, as cyclists and volunteers will travel 545 miles through beautiful California from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
(It) is the official cycling event of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.
(It) is about HIV/AIDS and raising money to help the beneficiaries continue to provide the critical services and education needed to meet the growing needs of our community.

(It) increases awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS among participants, their donors and the general public,addresses the widespread misperception that HIV and AIDS are no longer a problem -- in fact more people are living with HIV & AIDS today than ever before, which means a much greater need for services....

(It) provides a reminder that the rate of HIV infection is increasing, particularly in communities of color and in individuals under the age of 25. In California alone there are more than 55,000 people living with AIDS, and another 125,000 living with HIV, many unaware of their infection....

(It) requires each cyclist to raise a minimum of $2,500. Each cyclist is assigned to a personal "Cycle Buddy" for assistance with training, fundraising, and emotional & practical support from the moment they register through the event's completion."

The last part is the one I would like to address with you all. One of my dear blog friends will be participating in this ride and they need help from our blogging community. I'm not asking for a miracle, or for someone to donate a zillion dollars. I know we all need yarn money.

Ms. Brooklynne Michelle is the AMAZING host of "The Mosh Knit", my absolute favorite knitting podcast. She has been knitting for almost 12 years and always has great advice on new yarns, patterns and music. A lot of people listen to her podcast but, unfortunately she has only raised $175! The money she raises will still be donated to AIDS research but, I'd really like to see her go all the way and make a huge difference, and to do that she needs our help. You can donate, check out her progress or stop by and offer her support @ The Punk Pedaler.

I'm sleepy and I think this qualifies as my longest post ever! So, Goodnight! Don't let the bedbugs bite! Sweet Dreams!

YarN PorN!

Today, Midnight Purls and I went on a lil' journey to the LYS. I went in with no list and no planned out projects! I kept my cool though and only bought a little bit. I picked up this Rio De Plata for a sweet earflap hat or mittens, I haven't really decided yet. The colorway was way to amazing to just leave it sitting there. While we were there, I also picked up some Lamb's Pride Worsted and a pattern for felted sunflowers that I wanted months ago, but it was on sale today.

I was going to watch the Knitty Gritty Knit In tonight instead of the SuperBowl, but after 3 episodes I couldn't deal with seeing any more fun fur, no matter how cute Vicki is! So, I knitted the Felted Military Belt from Michael's book. It knitted up so quickly!!!! I felted it in a bowl of hot water because I was afraid of it shrinking too much. I promise there will be pictures as soon as I get to JoAnn's to pick up some D-rings to finish it off. I was still sitting around with nothing to do, so I popped out another hedgehog using the brown Lamb's Pride. He doesn't have a face yet, but I'll get around to it.

I finally got a ball winder BTW!!! I've been agressively balling up my stash for days. I'm so excited to see everything organized in neat little cakes in my craft room. I still have a few more organizational things and a desk to pick up and then, MAYBE, I will let you all see my creative space.

I'm going to have some tea and go to bed <3>