part two...

I had hoped to blog a few times this week, but I can't take a decent picture to save my life for some reason. I'll try harder after Thanksgiving break. I hope.

After months of having to reschedule, Beth and I were finally able to make the trek down to Loren's farm for what we called, SteekFest. If you don't know what steeking is, and wonder why it might scare the crap out of a knitter, it is in plain English, knitting something with multiple strands of colorful yarn, top stitching the "channel" in which to cut using a sewing machine, then cutting it. Why a knitter would want to cut into knit fabric is very simple. Knitting multiple strands of colors is much easier knitting in the round, but you need to have openings for armholes, right? Chop Chop!

We decided that since we are all steek virgins, instead of risking an adult sized sweater, we would all knit itty bitty teddy bear/doll sweaters, and this way there wasn't a huge time investment if something went horribly wrong. Well, apparently my teddy bear sweater is hiding or mistakenly went into the trash bin during my last stash dive and divide because I was the non-steeking photographer instead.

Loren sewing her sweater...

Beth sewing hers...

Loren cutting hers...

Beth cutting hers...

And this is what the cut steek now looks like, all ready to have a sleeve sewn into it...

And when we were done steeking, we got out Beth's shiny new drum carder...

which turned out four soft FLUFFY batts of Loren's Albert Finney's lovely Finn lamb wool...

And and... then there was the visiting of the sheep...

We had a great time! Thank you Loren and family (animals included!) Oh, and we got to make the drive down in my new van. Huzzah! Now to read other accounts of Steekfest, see Loren and Beth's blogs. There are also several other pictures from the day in my flickr album.

Lastly, its Monday and that means music. I haven't come across anything new lately, but I have been revisiting music I've sort of forgotten about for twenty years, like this song...

There was a discussion on Ravelry's Lazy Stupid and Godless forum (of which I'm a proud member, obviously) about angsty music. I tried to remember my teen years and what I listened to when I was depressed and angry and.. well, I couldn't really think of anything. To this day, when I'm pissed off or worried, or nervous, or sad, I put on something fast and hard. One would think that to be counter productive, right? But for me, yeah, it sort of builds my anger, but before too long I'm dancing, and I'm happy again.

But... someone else mentioned "Dear God" and I remembered the very first time I heard it... And begging my parents to stay up late on Sunday night to watch 120 Minutes on MTV.

I obviously recalled my teenage angst.

.. or a meme and how it relates to the sniffles?

Nan tagged me for a meme over the weekend, but while I expected to complete it earlier this week, I was hit hard with some sort of viral nastiness. So, since my week thus far as been nothing but viral nastiness, I bring you my meme..

Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag at least five more blogs with links. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

• Nyquil
• Sniffling - Sneezing
• coughing - Aching
• Stuffyhead - Fever
• So You Can Rest - or not.

So now I'm tagging, hmm.. Cass, Loren, Beth, Daisy, and KaKi. And yes I know I cheated.. I used way more than six words.

If I weren't so sick this week, perhaps my meme would look different. But being this sick has its benefits. I'm nearly finished with a pair of socks that I started to knit on the way to PA on Saturday. And I finished The Kite Runner (not as good as A Thousand Splendid Suns, but only slightly so).

I know lots of family have been visiting hoping for our pictures of Grammy's 80th birthday party from last weekend, but I haven't gotten around to downsizing them from their original 20+meg size yet. Viral nastiness leaves little patience/energy for sitting at a computer futzing in Photoshop. But I am hoping that Richard will set aside some time before the weekend to show me how to do them as a batch.. all 150 of them so I can upload them to Flickr. I even have some video - my favorite is Danny and Jay playing Guitar Hero (who knew Danny could rock like that?) But the funniest one is the one where I zoom in on the "meter" and watch it quickly plunge to red while they try to do Slayer on "easy mode" - it was hilarious! For an idea of how hard this song is, here is a video of someone playing it on expert mode (omg!) And by the way, I must buy Guitar Hero, as soon as financially possible - I'm addicted.

Picture taken at 7AM this morning, of my dining room window. As always, click for big.

It's c-c-cold.
Brrrrrrr.
I wish I had fur.
I wish I was a bear with furry furry hair.
It's cold...It's c-c-cold.

~ Barney The Dinosaur

Carla = Bad Blogger. You know its bad when you're actually expecting that phone call when it comes (thanks Janet!) There are no real reasons however, for my little hiatus. Sure I've been sick (again), but there is also this little thing going on called the democratic primary (maybe you've heard of it?) in which I'm ever so slightly obsessed. Polls, pundits, blogs... goodness, I wish it were November already. I'm dreadfully behind in personal emails, responding to blog comments, and my bloglines "need to read" list is at a record high.

Today school was canceled, surely because of the sub zero wind chill, so I'm off to coerce the tribe into stepping away from the XBox, to watch a movie with me.

I think I have them. I haven't been able to really concentrate on a project for several days now. I've started and ripped three socks. Started and ripped two hats and a scarf. I've even tried to spin, thinking that would be the creative cure, but it just didn't hit the spot. Bleh.. I hate this time of year. It even affects my blogging.

I did manage to finish something. That something red I was knitting last week? It was a secret Gretel for Kris since she asked for one. Connor and I had a little photo shoot before I shipped it off, but I only managed to get decent shots with the flash on...

I don't usually like using the flash, but the rest of the pictures from our "shoot" came out like this...

I haven't even cooked anything interesting this past week. This is a serious case of the blahs.

The kids have a snow day today and the endless fighting and yelling has been non stop. I need chocolate, some calgon and earplugs, STAT!

I'm not a big fan of Bo, but Joan Osborne.. Thats a different story..

Posting from Jill's house today. But we'll be traveling back home shortly, to get ready for the Llamies arrival. We plan to bring in the new year with style.

Daisy had a great post yesterday about the feast of St Stephen.. a very interesting read. But it also included an oooooold vid of St Stephen from youtube. Old, but oh so good. I turned it up and twirled all the way to the coffee maker for a refill.

And if religious debate is your thing, there is a good one in the comments.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated this morning. This is sad. And scary. I can't organize my thoughts on this.

I finished a sock last night. More on that later if the natural light improves.

Merry Christmas everyone!