Cravings and Crazies

I've had a very busy and frustrating week. I think that my hormones are all off balance and just extra sensitive to stuff. This would also explain the headaches that I've had everyday since last Wednesday and finally went away this Tuesday.

What's been driving my crazy? Kindergarten (which is doing better), the PTA (which I now hate), milk money, the stupid lady in the parking lot, knowing I get to be a big "B" because other people are making plans for my holidays that I don't want to do, the "Thursday Pack", substitute hygienists, my fire alarm breaking, having a fight with Haley (our first real fight), and Delta Dental (that one is for you Natalie).

So here are the things this week that make me feel a little better:

• Advil and my eye mask.

• Grilled Cheese Sandwich. This is thanks to My Boring Blog. Mine isn't as fancy as hers, it's just Cheddar cheese, but it sure hit the spot. It was kinda like when you've been relaxing on the watching TV, and suddenly a commercial for Stouffer's Lasagna? Suddenly you are craving lasagna. Not necessarily Stouffer's brand, but just a hot dish of cheesy, meaty lasagna with some garlic bread on the side and a Caesar salad. It happens to me often, but usually with pizza, cheesecake and baked potatoes. Once you gobble up what ever it was you were craving, you feel so satisfied. Thank you Michelle, for the happy.

• Finishing The Kite Runner, a very good book, and starting The Red Tent with a group of other knitters. I'm actually doing a good job at this whole read more New Year's resolution.
  

• A glass of Dupond Souvigon Blanc. Oh, that sounds like it would be good with a grilled cheese sandwich. Hmmm... Is lunch time too early to start drinking wine?
• Not having to put gas in my tank this week.

• And flowers. Some new ones I got to take home from the office last night and some that I bought two weeks ago that actually haven't died, yet. (I also got to bring home a bunch of fish from the office. Yeah, that sounds like a story all on it's own).
• I suppose these two, also.

Kinda. I don't know, maybe next week. Okay, fine. I do like them this week even though there was a big fight with Haley over whether I paid the milk money or not, which I did. But I'm not cooking dinner tonight.

I'm going to Disneyland. There is a place there that has a great salad. mmmm. I'll post knitting later.

Baker's Field

I headed up to Bakersfield this weekend and visited with some family. This included Charlotte, my wayward sister that has recently discovered that I'm a little nuts-o when it comes to yarn. We grabbed our googled list of LYS, hopped in the car, plugged in the GPS and had so much fun.

I forgot to take a picture at the first yarn shop we hit up, Bead and Yarn Studio. I was impressed that Bakersfield would have such nice yarn shops. I mean, it is Bakersfield. Not only did this shop have every type of Cascade yarn. They also had ALL of the shades of 220. I really wished I had any idea of a sweater that I could buy yarn for. Especially since they were only $6.75 a ball at the regular price. Apparently, it also goes on sale from that price.

The next shop we visited was Classy. No, really! Classy Knits & Yarns. They boast a lot of different yarns on their website, but I really only remember seeing half of them, maybe just because it is crowded. They did have the only selection of Rowan and Louisa Harding in town. The kicker was, as soon as we walked in, a freind of Charlotte's was working there. Talk about a dream job. Charlotte and Jeanette. Look at the two of them. Such posers. I think they look more like sisters than Char and I do. At least now she can't complain about not having someone local to help her out.

Finally, I had to make my way into a very shady looking alley. In downtown, non the less. I angled the camera enough to not show the looky-lou work crew eating their lunch. We had to call the shop to try to figure out where they were.The entrance is under the fire escape on the left.It did have a good pay-off. They shop owner discribed her shop as having the higher end yarns and that is why she is more expensive. But once you get a taste for her yarns, you won't want to go back. haha. She did have some of the nicer brands. It makes up for the dumb name, ABC's of Creative Pursuits.
I was really impressed. I had such low hopes for Bakersfield and they really surprised me. Plus, I think I did a good job passing my "drug" onto my sister. The fun part was teaching her to knit. She crochets and was more comfortable with the yarn in her left hand. So, I got to teach her Continental and teach myself how to purl Continental, a skill I had yet to master. I think that we are going to see great things from her, if I can figure out how to get her onto Ravelry.

I didn't make any new purchases while visiting her, but I had picked up something before leaving. These are 9" circular size 1 needles. You have to be comfortable working on your finger tips to use these, but they seemed to be right up my alley. It was just in time, too. I've been working on Firestarters(Ravelry Link) and the stitches are not evenly spaced on the double points, so the needles were getting in the way. Then add cabling to that. Some days I wonder just how crazy I am. Other days, I wish they would make really small circular needles for making socks.

Monkey Socks II

Golly, is Haley on lucky kid. I knit her all sorts of things, but she doesn't want to wear them. I knit something for myself, and she steals it out of my closet. At least that is what happens to my hats and scarves. I have found that the one thing she does love are socks.

Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A. (No Purls)

Source: Knitty.com, Winter 2006
Yarn: Body- Lisa Souza's Sock! Merino in What A Melon
Cuff/Heel/Toe- Rio De La Playa Sock Solid in Slate Rose

These are going to be kept away until Christmas. There is a matching pair already on the needles, but I'm not going to say who they are for. With all of this Christmas knitting getting started, I have to be careful about how much I put on the blog.

There is other exciting news about Haley. Yesterday was her first day of Kindergarten.She was pretty excited about it. In fact, she's been waiting to go to Kindergarten for about a year. Then, this morning, she asked it she would be starting First grade next week. Whoa, Haley. We gotta get through the first Hooked on Phonics box at least.