Bad timing!

If you have read my blog before, you have probably figured out that I enjoy attending (and working at) Renaissance Faires. For the last couple of years, I have mainly concentrated on the multi-weekend Northern California Renaissance Faire but in the past, I have also attended some of the smaller weekend faires. When you work or volunteer at one of these faires, you don't just dress up and show up. You need to have some training to help create the illusion for the paying customers. The big faires put on their own workshops during the month before faire opens but for the little guys, something else is needed. That something is often the Renaissance Symposium, a weekend in February where Bill Watters and his merry crew organize a weekend of workshops where you can learn everything from English Country Dance, BFA (Basic Faire Accent), and songs of the times, all the way to swordfighting! It's a great opportunity to meet new people, learn new skills and catch up with all your friends from the faire world. I have had the opportunity to attend twice and loved it both times.

Now for the bad timing... When I received the email notice of the dates for the Symposium this year, I was dismayed to find that it fell on the same weekend as Stitches West. For you non-knitters out there, Stitches is a huge ... actually ginormous ... hmmm, how would you describe it? There are fashion shows, classes by some of the top knitters and designers in the country, a trade show with vendors from all over the world ... Last year I was able to fondle yarn from Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Alaska as well as see all the newfangled gadgets and oldfangled knickknacks we all love to covet. Do you get the impression that Stitches is kinda huge and a lot of fun? Anyway, I had already signed up for classes on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday but I figured that maybe I could catch up on some Ren stuff on Friday since I was going to be in the Bay Area anyway that weekend. But nooooo... In the latest email I received, I find the Symposium is going to be in Modesto this year. In my own backyard!!! and I am going to be in the Bay Area that weekend. Dang it! Oh well, I will have a great time at Stitches and hopefully next year, I will be able to attend the Symposium again.

In the meantime, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday week. Although I was home sick for most of the week, it meant I got a lot done on the sock I started. Yes, I did say sock. You knew I was going to have to get dragged on to that bandwagon too, didn't you? Hopefully I will have pictures for the next post. Till then, take care.

My swap package finally came!!

Well, actually it arrived a few days ago but it took me a while to get pictures since I sent my camera to New Jersey with Jen and then it took me a while longer to actually get around to posting. Speaking of which, it seems there is a great lull in the land of blogging. Everyone seems to be spending their time knitting and getting ready for Christmas! Even the Harlot has gone from posting every day to more sporadic posts while she frantically tries to keep up with Lene's Schedule. I am sure she will get everything done, hopefully with a little time for sleep.

Anyways, back to my package! Here is an overall picture of the goodies.
As I mentioned on the Coffeeswap blog, Gill mailed this package back when we were still in Halloween mode as per the jack-o-lantern goodies. She also sent me a lovely coffee mug which I used the other day at my LYS Hooks and Needles. She sent me six (six!) different flavors of coffee from Whittard of Chelsea since I didn't really have a preference when I filled out the questionnaire. Haven't yet had a chance to try them but I am thinking that when I finish with this blog might be a good time. It looks like these products are now available in the US so maybe I will have a new favorite coffee since my little coffee shop, Wanderlust, has just closed :-(

Also in the package were some lovely Yorkshire Tea biscuits. Yummy! Actually, so yummy that the package in the picture is actually empty LOL Luckily I took them to Girls Night Out so I didn't actually eat ALL of them myself. There were two coffee scented candles, a knitted washcloth, coffee bean stitch markers and two beautiful beaded coasters! Gill, did you bead these yourself? They are gorgeous!

And of course, there was yarn. Two skeins of my favorite colors in what appears to be sock weight yarn. I am just going to have to take a break from knitting stoles and make me some socks one of these days soon.

In other news, I promised a picture of the koolaid dying experiment and the hat I learned to crochet. Here they both are together!

I know I had a picture of the yarn all balled up but darned if I can find it. It must be on Kaylee's computer. Not a very good picture of the hat but the scarf in progress is the Broken Rib pattern with random stripes of the red and white yarn set off by the black. The yarn is all Cascade 220 superwash. The hat was done with a J hook and the scarf is on size 10 1/2 needles with 21 stitches cast on. Hopefully I will get back to it soon so I can send it off to Jen in New Jersey where it will be put to very good use.

I seem to be in a bit of a knitting funk lately after the big push to finish Secret of the Stole. I guess I am burned out. Hope to get my knitting mojo back soon as there are at least two stole KAL starting in January and I need to finish another one by the end of February. I don't think I will finish Mystic Waters though. It is a lovely stole but it just isn't calling to me. I will have to wait and see just what that lovely Zephyr Marine yarn wants to be. In the meantime, maybe it is time for me to dig out those sock patterns I got from Loopy Ewe and get to work. Just in case I go on hiatus like everyone else, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just a quick note

I just wanted to put up a quick picture of my finished Secret of the Stole.

Isn't it gorgeous? It blocked out to about 16" x 80", big enough even for me to wear but I won't be. It is a birthday gift for a friend who is turning one of those decade birthdays next year. I absolutely loved working on it, learning new techniques and talking to people all over the world. Thanks DK for a wonderful knitalong. I am already signed up for SotSII.

Time for a nap. I have a concert to attend tonight and tomorrow I am going to see Evita. Jam packed weekend and so far no sleep. Will update you later on the festivities and next week I will try to post pictures of the yarn I dyed yesterday and the hat I learned to crochet today (well, attempted to learn, anyway). Catch you later.

Happy happy, joy joy

Yep, you guessed it! My new computer has arrived. Actually, it arrived two days ago and it has taken this long for me to clear a spot and get it set up. Still have a couple of glitches, no speakers yet and danged Clearwire won't stay hooked up long enough and fast enough for all the LiveUpdate stuff to download. I am thinking that this live update is to cover all the virus scan and other security stuff and since I definitely need it ( ie: since virus killed (so to speak) old computer), I am hoping that I can get that working sometime tonight.

Actually, the new computer is not the only cause for joy. I have heard from Jen and she is deliriously happy in her new job. She was working the day she arrived despite having been up about 24 hours and being sick with sore throat, stuffy nose etc. By day 2 (actually about 18 hrs after she got there) she was up early, feeding, graining, turning out, cleaning stalls and all that good stuff before she had a lesson with one of the two trainers. She proclaimed it amazing and when I got an update from her today on her lesson with the other trainer, it was fabulous! I am so glad she has found a place with two amazing teachers. She should be able to learn a lot and I am sooooo jealous. Oh well, guess I will have to live vicariously through her.

The other cause for joy is the completion and blocking of Secret of the Stole. It is currently drying over at the shop. Kaylee got some pictures yesterday but we haven't had a chance to upload them yet. That is on the agenda for tomorrow since I will be over there to attend a KoolAid yarn dying class. Sounds like fun, don't you think? I am really looking forward to it. Then on Saturday, I am finally going to take the plunge and learn to crochet. Hmm, sounds like a couple more bandwagons to me. I knew the name of this blog was appropriate.

Will post more soon, hopefully with pictures this time. Have two more fun activities planned this weekend so will fill you in later. Bye for now.

Still no computer :-(

Well, I still have no computer but I did order a brand new one just the other day. Hopefully it will arrive soon and I can stop bugging Kaylee to use the computer at the yarn shop. I promised big news so here it is. Jen is moving to New Jersey!! She leaves on Monday for her dream job of working with horses. She will be working for a three day event trainer in northern New Jersey. The place is called Penwick Stable and the pictures look fabulous. I am so jealous that she is going to have a white Christmas and ... she is only 1 1/2 hrs from New York City. I would love to visit the city at Christmas and see the Radio City Rockettes and all the fabulous Christmas windows at Macy's and other stores. Maybe I will see if I can get a few days off early in January to go visit. If not, I plan to head for the east coast in September and by then she should know where everything is. LOL

The last clue for Secret of the Stole came out today. It has been such a fun knit and the pattern is fabulous. I will try to post pictures sometime next week. DK is already planning a second mystery stole and I have signed up for the new group already. Anyway, time to run for now. Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and found lots of things on sale if you dared to venture out on Black Friday.

Sick computer = no fun!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately but my computer is suffering from a nasty virus so I have to borrow the computer at the yarn shop (Thanks, Kaylee!)I have so much email I need to look at, don't know when I will catch up. Anyway, week 7 of Secret of the Stole is underway and I am still up to date. Can you believe that? I can't! Here is a picture of the completed week 6 clue.
The stole is getting very long. I am beginning to wonder just where the heck I am going to block it.

As I have mentioned (more than once, I am sure) we are having a contest at Hooks and Needles to help keep us on track with the Secret of the Stole. You don't have to finish the stole in order to win but the more rows you have knitted, the more tickets you have in the drawing. Being slightly competitive, I am trying hard to stay ahead of the game. We only have 4 of us currently in the drawing so the odds are pretty good. As you can see from the chart, I am just barely ahead of Robin in the knitting (non)race.

Last of all, for now, here is a picture of Kaylee, Robin and myself, all working on the SotS last night just before we walked next door to have dinner.

Robin was knitting while talking on the phone. Hope she didn't find any errors like I did this morning when I started back on the next row! Went forward 1 row and back 2 1/2! That's what I get for hurrying.

There is more big news coming that has nothing to do with knitting and I will try to post it soon but for now ... it's time to get back to working on SotS. Have fun everyone.

Secret of the Stole Update

Well, I did it. I am actually caught up on a knitalong. I finished Clue 4 of Secret of the Stole on Wednesday but I am just now getting around to posting the picture. I had to post it so I can enter the completion drawing over on the SotS KAL. After all, what are the odds I will ever be caught up again since I am working on that KAL, the Mystic Waters KAL and have just started on a top down raglan sweater for myself in my MJC knitting class. Never content to do just a plain jane version, I am adding a cable along the v-neck. It is kinda funky since I have to increase along the neck edge and that means moving the cable over each time I do. It loses a little definition that way but hey, it's for me and I happen to think it looks okay the way it is.

Oh yes, Secret of the Stole. I had hoped to post pictures of everyone who is entered in the contest at Hooks and Needles but I haven't had a chance to catch up with everyone. In the meantime, here is my stole at the end of clue 4. It is knit in KnitPicks Shadow Campfire Heather on size 5 Options needles.


This is not a very good picture but I was in a hurry to snap a photo while my camera's battery kept dying out. Here is a pic of the center detail. Will try and get some better shots soon.

Here's a shot of the first 60 rows of Mystic Waters. This one is for me, not only because of the color and the work involved but because my last name is Waters. Seems appropriate, no?

Time for bed now. I have been up since 1 am and I just ran out of gas. With luck, I will be able to post pictures of Kaylee's, Anita's and Robin's stoles tomorrow. Remember, if any of you are in the Oakdale/Modesto area, stop by the shop with your stole and get entered in the drawing for a $50 gift certificate. Bye for now.

Time to play catch-up

Oh my gosh, I can't believe it has been two whole weeks since I last posted to this blog. Where has the time flown? There has been lots going on, that is for sure. First of all, if you noticed my previous entry, it was about Knitters Coffeeswap Three. Since posting my answers to all the questions about likes and dislikes in coffee and yarn, I was paired with my new swap pal, Gill from England. We have emailed back and forth and I think we have a pretty good idea what each other likes. She apparently has my package ready to go. I am still waiting on a couple of things to arrive in the mail before I put hers together.

Okay, what next? Well, I promised a picture of the MS3, all blocked out. Here you go.
I gave the stole to its intended recipient last Wednesday. Hope Sherri is enjoying it. Ron took a picture at the party so hopefully I will be able to share a picture of the stole being worn. Here's a shot of the detail from the pointed end.
I know it has taken me forever to post this picture but I really did block the stole only one day after the Yarn Harlot blocked hers. Doesn't that count for something? Of course, she knitted a dozen other items during the time it took me to knit only the shawl but after all, she is the Harlot and I am a humble beginner.

Hmmm, more questions I was supposed to answer. Despite the fact that those of you who voted on the poll about yarn for Secret of the Stole and Secret of Chrysopolis completely agreed with the way I thought the yarn choices should go .... I didn't do them that way. I found out that the intended recipient of SotS would more likely prefer the Campfire colorway so that is what I chose to use. Here is a very bad picture of me knitting at Girls Night Out at Hooks and Needles. If I look like I might be rather out of it, it could be because I had only had about 3 hrs sleep in the past 20.
Lord, that's an awful picture. Maybe if I show off the picture of the baby being slowly brainwashed into becoming a knitter ...
This is Emma and her mom Amanda. Emma is 6 weeks old and has been coming to the Girls Night Out for the past 6 months. Yes, you read that correctly. We are starting them in utero!

Oh, Secret of the Chrysopolis stole. No I haven't started it but I did get yarn for it at the TKGA show in Oakland a couple of weeks ago. Can't show you the pictures cuz it's a surprise. I was putting off the thought of this stole because it looks so complex but after seeing the picture here, I am thinking I am going to have to cast on soon. And as if that is not enough, I am signed up for two more mystery KALs. One of them is Mystic Waters, which started on Wednesday. I finally splurged and got some Zephyr in Marine Blue. This stole is going to be for me. The color is absolutely gorgeous. I hope to have some pictures to post soon. I also signed up for one more stole but this one doesn't start until January. It is called Spring Shawl Surprice and there is still plenty of time to sign up for this one. A great way to deal with those after Christmas blahs.

Well, if you are still reading by now, you are probably tired of my rambling and I don't blame you one bit. I promise to try to get back to posting on a more consistent basis. Right now, I am sitting at Hooks and Needles, watching the shop for owner Kaylee while she is off coaching soccer. I am so happy that I am enough of a regular at my LYS that she considers me trustworthy to keep an eye on the business while she has other obligations. Too cool!

Knitters' Coffeeswap Three

Okay, I have done it. The reason I began this blog originally was to get involved in some of the cool swaps I have seen. I have joined my first swap and here are the questions I need to answer for it.

QUESTIONS
1. Whole bean or ground? I love the smell of freshly ground coffee so whole beans for me.
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully-loaded, otherwise what's the point?
3. Regular or flavored? hmm, not yet a major coffee junky so I am willing to try a flavor or two, just recently tried Danish Pastry, it was yummy. However I have nothing against regular coffee.
4. How do you drink your coffee? with milk, actually preferably cream
5. Favorite coffee ever? don't have one yet
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? again, not hardcore coffee junky so I am not terribly fussy, just as long as it is NOT Starbucks
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? chocolate, of course (cuz I don't think cheesecake travels well LOL)
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I haven't yet learned to like very dark roasts so a lighter roast for me, I think
9. Yarn/fiber you love? love superfine merino, also baby alpaca, anything soft and yummy
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? don't really hate anything but tired of novelty yarns.
11. What's on your needles? hmm, two mystery stoles (SotS and Secret of Chrysopolis), illusion scarf and a Lily Chin scarf ...
12. Favorite colors? love blue, green, purple, teal, those deep rich colors
13. Allergies? none that I know of, unless you are planning on sending penicillin ;-)
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? Not fond of orange and yellow colors, really love reading mysteries and attending Renaissance Faires, can't think of anything I need to get off my chest. Just excited about being matched up with a partner soon.

Okay, that does it for the swap questions. Now it is time to catch a nap and then head over to the last weekend of the Ren Faire. Next time I will try to post pictures of my finished Mystery Stole 3. Hooray!! It came out gorgeous and I am quite happy with my first major lace project. More details later. Have a great weekend.

This is fun, some might think it rather accurate as well.

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are interchangeable.Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every eventuality covered and every opportunity just has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and every day is a new beginning. You are good at so many things, it's amazing, but you can easily lose your place and forget to show up. They have row counters for people like you!
Take this quiz!

I know I already posted today but this was too cute. Is it accurate for you too?

Almost done with MS3! Now on to ....

Okay, I am almost done, just 8 more rows to go. Of course, then I have to cast off, and oh yeah, have to block it.... But still, I am almost finished and so looking forward to seeing just how gorgeous this bundle of peacock Jaggerspun looks when it is blocked and then modelled, expecially with the beautiful copper swan pin I got from Romi.

I now need to figure out just which mystery stole to work on next. Secret of Chrysopolis is absolutely gorgeous but it is going to take some serious concentration. It started last week and the second clue came out today. Secret of the Stole started today and it looks like it will be slightly simpler in terms of concentration. This may be the one for me today since I need to be getting ready to head off to the Ren Faire for the weekend. Only one weekend left after this one. I will miss it, that's for sure.

As I am sure you may have noticed by now, I have finally figured out how to include links in my blog. No, not on my own, though it is so simple I should have been able to. Actually, it is thanks to Regina , another blogger who had contacted me to ask how to make buttons on your blog that would link to the appropriate website. I sent her the directions today, explaining that now all I wanted to know how to do was to include links. She sent me back a quick explanation and voila! Isn't it cool how we can help each other out even though we are on opposite sides of the country?

We're having a contest!

Well, not exactly me but I am sponsoring it. As you know, I have been babbling on for a while about Secret of the Stole. Believe it or not, I am still not positive which yarn I am going to use though I deeply appreciate you guys helping me out with votes and comments. Anyway, the contest. Several folks at our local yarn shop, Hooks & Needles, have already signed up to do the Secret of the Stole. I figured it would be fun (and motivational) to have a contest tied in to the KAL that would encourage us to keep on knittin'. Here's the deal: sign up for the Secret of the Stole KAL (knit-along, as if you didn't know) and then swing by the shop to brag about the progress you have made on the stole. For every 25 rows of the stole you complete, you get a raffle ticket. Then, on December 5, after all the clues are out and we could conceivably be finished with our stoles (snicker, snicker) we will have a drawing for a $50 Hooks & Needles gift certificate. Yes, you read that right. $50! to spend on gifts or on yourself, just in time for Christmas.

I realize this is very short notice, since you have to be signed up for the KAL by Thursday, Oct 4th and the KAL starts on Friday, Oct 5th. I would have posted it yesterday but we had a break-in and yesterday was spent dealing with the consequences. Depressing and boring stuff and I don't want to think about it anymore. I am currently scrambling to finish MS3 so I am start SotS (Secret of the Stole). Got 14 rows done already this morning but I still have another 30 to go. I will finish this thing, I will, I will, I will.... Have to because the recipient's birthday is coming up soon. I promise to post pictures before I give it away. Hopefully, I will even manage one modelled by a happy recipient.

Oops, back to the contest. In order to sign up for the KAL, you need to join the Yahoo group "Secret of the Stole". You can go to their site either by clicking on the SotS button on the left side of this blog or you can go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secretofthestole/ and sign up there. Hope to see lots of you bragging on your stole in the near future. It's gonna be fun!

What to do, what to do ....

Okay folks, I need your help. Finally got a bunch of pictures done today and I need to make some decisions. I have two new mystery knitalongs starting, one today and the other next Friday. Both are lace, both are stoles. The problem is, I have swatched for both stoles with two types of yarn. Now I want your opinion on which yarn to use for which stole. I think I have made the decision already but I am curious as to what others think.

The first stole is the Secret of Chrysopolis which started today. Too bad I am not yet finished MS3, I really should do that before starting something else, shouldn't I? Anyway, here are the swatches. Swatch #1 is done in Lane Borgosesia, color ecru on size 4 Knit Picks Harmony Options. I like this one a lot although the photo does not do it justice since it was not properly blocked.

Swatch #2 is done in Knit Picks Shadow, colorway Redwood Forest. This is also done on size 4 Knit Picks Harmony Options and this one was properly blocked. Well, at least relatively so.

Option #3 is also Knit Picks Shadow but done in the Campfire colorway, all other details the same. So, what do you think?

Of course, only three swatches would be too easy, don't you think? The other stole, starting next week, is Secret of the Stole. I think I already showed you the one swatch for that done in Lane Borgosesia but what the heck, you can never see enough pretty yarn, can you? Here is that swatch again.
My other swatch for Secret of the Stole is done in Knit Picks Shadow Redwood Forest. It is not properly blocked but you can see anyway. Do me a favor and please leave me a comment as to which yarn seems to cry out for which pattern. I think I already know but .... Oh, one more thing, I need to find beads for Secret of the Stole. I will find time somewhere for that, I hope. Maybe tomorrow at the TKGA show in Oakland. Hope to get a chance to do some shopping over there if I don't fall asleep between getting off work and getting my buns over there. More pictures coming in the not so distant future, I hope. Nap time now.

Update on stuff in general

Hmm, seems like life has been very busy and yet I don't seem to be accomplishing much. I still have 10 rows to go on clue 6 (of 7) on MS3 and I have to get it done soon. Not only is the birthday it is intended to be a gift for coming up but Secret of Chrysopolis starts this Friday and Secret of the Stole starts next Friday. What was I thinking? I can't finish one stole during the summer with lots of time available and now I am signed up for two? Oh well, challenges make life interesting, don't you think?

One of the things that has been eating into knitting time is knitting related. Ravelry. If you already belong, you know what I mean. I think it was the Yarn Harlot who mentioned what a time-sucker that site could be. She was right! So many things to see and check out. I have posted a couple of projects and just a couple of yarns to my stash (stuff I already had pictures of since I haven't had time to take and download anymore). Two of my projects were adaptations of patterns from Exquisite Little Knits. When I couldn't find the projects already on Ravelry, I added them to the site. Wonder of wonders, I got an email asking if they could use my photos as featured photos of those patterns. How cool is that?

Work is going okay but just when I figure I am getting a particular job down pat, I manage to screw something up. No, it's not major or life-threatening but it is discouraging. Not only does it cause my partner to lose trust in my abilities, it causes me to doubt my abilities, bigtime! I am sure I beat myself up over these mistakes far more than I need to but it is frustrating. I am used to being able to do things and do them fairly well without having to doubt myself all the time. Oh well, I am sure things will get better with time.

On the Renaissance Faire front, Saturday was cancelled due to the major rainstorm that blew through. It rained so hard Friday night that water flowed into my daughter's tent and trashed her phone. What a bummer! I left mine for her as an alarm clock this morning and apparently she took it to work with her. Not good, since we don't have a landline. Good thing I didn't need to desperately reach someone today. But I digress. I drove down to the fair site on Saturday despite the cancellation. It was nice to have time to just visit with all the participants. Very relaxing. I learned a new game called Octiles. Kind of like adult Chutes and Ladders where you create your own chutes. At least that was how Moira described it. Sunday dawned bright and sunny and we had a huge crowd all happy to come out and play. I had to leave at two in order to get home and sleep before going to work but I still got a chance to take in a little bit of the joust before I left.

Today was spent catching up on sleep. Better get some laundry started and get back to MS3. Times a wasting!

Ooooh, ooooh, it came! it came!

Finally, I have my invite to Ravelry! I was suffering from severe letdown yesterday. Checked first thing in the morning, 395 people in front, a little later, 220, then 110, then 10 ..... and then it stopped. There were 10 people in front of me at 1:30 Sunday afternoon and still 10 people in front of me at 10:00 this morning, no matter how many times I refreshed the page! Fiddled around trying to get the knitting pictures up for you to see and decided to take one last look at my inbox before going to bed (I work nights, if I haven't mentioned it before). Hmm, 1 email in the junk mail, could it be? Yes! I have signed in and my name will be stlwatrs, like everywhere else. I wouldn't want to confuse myself by having to remember another name. Now, the dilemna. There is so much I want to see and do but I really, really need to get some sleep. I guess if I have waited this long ( signed up on July 4th) a little longer won't hurt anything, will it? I'll let you know how it all turns out. Night night.

Finally, some knitting pictures!!

First and foremost, I do have my swatch done for Secret of the Stole (check the button on the left, you can still join up till Oct 4). Here is my swatch, made of Lane Borgosesia Cashwool, ever so fine but oh, so yummy. The swatch was knit on size 4 Knitpicks Options. I think I like the size just fine but I have some of the new Harmony points on order so I am dying to see how that will affect the feel when knitting.

Here is a closeup of the swatch, I love how fine it is yet it is fairly easy to knit with.

A couple more pictures to share. My college knitting class (yes, they do exist if you are really, really lucky) decided that this year's charity knitting should be a show of good will from our college to the students of Virginia Tech. We found out their school colors are burnt orange and Chicago maroon (whatever that is) so I found the closest approximation I could and have been working on a couple of scarves.


The one on the left is knit end to end, 200 stitches on size 11 Knitpicks options, 6 rows of garter stitch per stripe. The one on the right is 14 stitches across on the same size 11s, the burgundy is garter stitch and the orange is seed stitch. Since I figured a college student would not want to worry about handwashing, etc. I did the scarves in TLC Essentials, colors Claret and Persimmon. What do you think?

On the job front, all is going well. Automation seems to be pretty much under control and now I am learning how to do nixies as well as working on box mail whenever needed. It's a whole different world from what I was used to but I like it and am looking forward to the side benefit of weight loss .

First week at work, first weekend at Ren Faire

I did it! I survived my first week at the new job. You would think that as you moved through training, everything would come easier. Instead, it seemed as though the volume of mail built each day until Friday when we processed over 85,000 pieces of mail, handling each piece at least twice as it must be run twice in order to get it in delivery point sequence. I was one tired puppy when we finished, let me tell you! It caused me to make a tactical mistake when I got home. I was supposed to drive straight down to Hollister for the opening weekend of the Renaissance Faire (at Casa de Fruta every weekend from now till Oct 14). Instead, I decided that I really needed just an hour of sleep. Can you see where I am going from here? One hour stretched in to two, then I hit the snooze a couple of times ..... Oh well, I did promise Terri I would be there to work for her on Saturday. Finally made it out of town by about 3 and down to Casa about 5:00.

It was good to see everybody and renew old acquaintances. Most of us see each other only twice a year, the six weeks of Northern and then many of the same folks work at the Dickens Fair held at the Cow Palace each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I arrived too late on Saturday to be of much help but worked the breakfast run Sunday morning. Breakfast is for the workers at the faire prior to the gates opening. Have no idea how many people we fed but I know that I alone cut up about a dozen cantaloupe, made copious gallons of orange juice and cracked about 2 1/2 crates of eggs! (I think there are six flats per crate so what is that? about 15 dozen or 180 eggs! Yikes) Lest that sound like I was doing all the prep, there were at least a dozen people in the kitchen so my contribution was only a small part of the whole. Left early to come home and catch some sleep before going in to work tonight at 00:45. Needless to say, I still don't have any knitting pictures. As a matter of fact, I have barely picked up the needles in the last week. I do have Ren Faire related pictures though.


This is me working at the chocolate booth back in 2005. Unfortunately, Steve no longer comes to our faire since he moved to Arizona. Too bad, it was a rough job but someone had to do it.




This is my daughter, Jen, with Zeus, a black percheron gelding used for jousting by the Knights of Avalon, whose pictures follow:



Last, but by no means least, this is Jen with King, the English Shire gelding who drew her back to the troupe as mentioned in a previous post. She adores King and the feeling is mutual. He is a lovely boy and hopefully he will end up healthy once the vets finally figure out what is the matter with him.

Oh my aching everything!

Okay, I did it. I made it through my first day of a very physical job. Not that I have any objection to physical, I rather like it but the last 12 years have been spent in a terminal staring at a computer screen. This morning, I started off "dropping" 6 cages of flats to carrier stations. For those of you at the plant or at stations, you will understand what that means. For the rest of you, let's just say it involves multiple trips (minimum 100+) carrying mail tubs ranging from probably 20 to 30 lbs. Not bad by themselves but boy, do they add up! After that, it was box mail, both flats and letters. Easy enough, except when the boxes are full and the contents need to be bundled and tagged. Everyone was very friendly and I think I will have no problems with the job. One major faux pas, my watch stopped and I worked 20 minutes overtime without realizing it. Good for the pay check but looks bad when you do unauthorized overtime.

I was worried about being able to knit after packing all those tubs but my hands do not feel tooooo bad. Thank heaven for gloves (says the person who detests wearing gloves). It's my feet that hurt the most. Stopped at the drugstore on the way home for a new watch and something for the muscle aches. Pharmacist recommended Tylenol or Alleve so I bought a huge bottle of extra-strenth Tylenol and some new gel inserts for my shoes. Took two Tylenol and fell in to bed. Now, some 5 hrs later, I managed to crawl out without too many ill effects. We will see how I feel later.

Still no knitting pictures but how about something to think cool, instead of whatever inhuman temperature it is out there right now. This is me and my daughter panning for gold in Alaska this past May. My friend Toney took the picture. While it was cool enough to have a sweatshirt on (for a short while), I barely got the chance to wear the sweater I knit just for the trip cuz it was too darn warm. Of course, for me, I would be happy if the temp stayed below 72 degrees all the time, but hey! You expect to be able to wear a sweater in Alaska, don't you?

Great concert! and other stuff (kinda late)

Wow, what a great concert last (oops, Wednesday) night. Who knew Randy Travis had such a great sense of humor? The man put on a wonderful show despite the heat and allergans in the air that had him, as he said "sounding like Mr Haney from Green Acres". He sounded great to us and the rest of the packed audience. For those of you who have never seen him (about half of the audience) he has 8 guys in his band who are all excellent and he sang for an hour and a half straight. Good times for sure.

Have to say thanks to Keith who was kind enough to mention this blog in his latest post. I will be sure to post updates about the new job as soon as I start. Hard to believe that as of tonight (Thursday), I will no longer be working at the REC after 12 years. I am looking forward to a new adventure. Should also be losing some inches since the new job will be active, not just sitting at a terminal.


Oh yes, one more thing. The Northern California Renaissance Faire starts next weekend. I have worked there the last two years and last year my daughter was a groom for the jousters. She had decided not to go this year but found out today that her favorite horse has some health problems and needs her to come make him feel better. This is just a tiny little horse, mind you, 19.3 hands or for those of you who don't do horse talk, 79 inches high at the shoulder! Yes, you read that correctly, King is 6'7" at the top of his back!!

Okay, you can see by the notes in parentheses the updates I made cuz this was supposed to be posted last Friday. Now to the current info: we did go to Hollister and it was wayyyyy toooo hot! Worked with the horses and I also did some painting for one of the food booth owners. I know I will end up with at least one free dinner there and I like to earn my keep.


Still haven't learned to do links yet but I promise it is coming. That was one of my plans for this weekend before we decided to head to Hollister and the last weekend of prefaire at Casa de Fruta. Pictures coming soon of knitting (thanks for the comment Lori). I have finished Clue 6 of MS3, swatched today for Hanami, and need to get swatching for Secret of the Stole. Oh yeah, also need to start my new job tonight. Will let you know how that is going tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the big blue eyes of Dora, our rescue kitty. After all Another Bandwagon must include the "Must have kitty pictures in blog" bandwagon, mustn't it?

Today is our lucky day

Well, after all the uncertainty of when and where I start my new job it turns out that I actually get a long weekend! Hip, hip, hooray! Don't know when I last had a three day weekend and this one works out to be nearly four (off at 8 am Friday and back to work at 1245 am on Tuesday). Even better, my daughter hit send to call me this morning, forgetting she had previously called the radio station last, and she ended up winning tickets to Randy Travis tonight. How's that for luck?

Still haven't figured out links and such but I did manage to post a button to commemorate my participating in MS3. I will attempt to get some pictures up this weekend. Have a nice day all.

I guess it had to happen

Who woulda thunk that some day I would have a blog? Not me, that's for certain! Still, it appears that blogging is just one more bandwagon I need to jump on in order to get in on all the new fun stuff that is going around. I have been reading about all kinds of fun dishrag swaps and knit one, tea two swaps. Since they all want a blog, here goes ...

Life is rather in flux at the moment as my current job is ending and my new assignment starts this weekend (I think). That sounds sort of weird, not knowing when I actually start the new job but that is not surprising considering how the whole long process of shutting down the place where I currently work has been going. Everybody has been stressed to the max but it is almost over. My official start date is September 1 but that is because it is the start of a pay period. With it being Labor Day weekend, I may not actually start until Tuesday. Hopefully I will know by Wednesday what is going on for sure.

In the meantime, my junior college knitting group starts up again this afternoon. I have been taking time off from MS3 (mystery stole 3) to knit a couple of scarves for Virginia Tech. We thought it would be nice to send thoughts from our school to theirs in the form of knitted items. I didn't think I would like burnt orange and maroon together but the colors have grown on me. I will try to post a couple of pictures before I send them off. This assumes of course that I can figure out how to post pictures at all.

I guess that's all for now. It is going to be interesting to see how this all works out. One more step in to the future! LOL My daughter is not going to believe this one.