snow finally? maybe we won't get hosed

I need a new journal. Like, a paper one.
I want thick pages.
I want it to lie flat. Spiral maybe?
oh, and of course it needs to magically appear on my doorstep*.
:/

*which it will... my friend cory is sending me some of his slightly used journals to finish/modify/incorporate into something new for me.

actually, I'm being gnawed on by the bug to create one for myself.
If only I could settle on a binding. I'm hoping to spend more time on non-digital pursuits in 2007.. and spend more time writing. We'll see how that goes.


also. this new post xmas verizon commerical cracks me up.
dad in his robe, two kids with their snazzy new phones.
dad:"you got the blah blah blah"
dad: "you got the blah bleh blah blah"
dad: "and what did dad get?"
daughter: "aftershave?"
dad: "no, dad got hosed"

maybe i just like commercials where people say they got hosed.
like that clay mountain dew one with davey.

its snowing little ice balls outside. its about time. really.
5-8" they say.
did I mention, about freakin' time?

the birth of one legend, the death of another

When you're the best friend of someone who is a popular public figure (if you're in the right niche anyway) lots of aspects of your life become show fodder. Its been something I'm still adjusting to.

Before I turned into wonder gimp, I had a super surreal weekend where three randoms approached me and asked me about something that had happened with a knitting project. Aside from being a little weird (I'm remarkably reclusive) I was out of the loop and had no idea what they were talking about.

One further downside of the whole internet whatnot, and being all broke down.. I'm way behind in my podcast downloading. So uhm.. hopefully I'll get a memo so I can stay abreast of these things.

This morning when I sat down on the couch, the right knee of my infamous and oft- mentioned, diabolical penguin jammie pants, suffered a fatal rupture.

As you may know, I purchased these pants from the Old Navy store, two years ago when the Sprout was having surgery on her hip. In the times before my mother knew of the now infamous tattoo swirling around my left forearm.

(We won't even get into the time I had a hennaed right arm sleeve of bats.. and when my aunt freaked I explained it was henna, then she freaked again a month later when she realized both arms weren't washing off)

I've been sleeping in my satin-y zebra jammies, which is a nightie and therefore not the same at all. Also, that's a whole 'nother story that we so aren't getting into here. It involves pajama parties, girlie sleepovers, pillow fights, boobs on the back, a webcam, creepy drunks, a (dead)prostitute, a pancake,leopard headband, purple passion, gin- lots of gin, joy division, bauhaus, Alan Eppley and Jaime saving my ass- or defending her property- yet again.

Back to my pants. They were my favorite. Its been a good two years my friend. I'm not sure whether to save a scrap for posterity, or to burn them like one would a retired flag.



as a side note
the purchase of said pants.. and the related hospital stay..
correlated to me meeting E. Can you believe its only been two years?

they don't swivel like Elvis's, but they don't hurt anymore

So, its kinda, sorta been awhile. My last couple of posts were rather sparsely worded, and they've been far and few between. Then again, y'all know I've had stuff.

At a time frame of nearly two weeks ago, Sprout finally underwent a procedure on her bothersome right hip. I spent the summer waiting for test results hoping for an option aside from cutting the top of her femur off. No, really. Such a procedure would leave her unable to assist in transfers or dressing, and unable to toilet. I'm assuming you see the problems with this.

We ended up going to St. Elizabeth's Hospital to have a Shriner's procedure (they came down here to do some things). They poked her in the thigh with one needle to give her a local, then slid a gigantic needle in, alongside her femur.. I watched it live on the screen behind her head. It was creepy to see all of the hardware in there twisting around while they rotated the joint to get to the sweet spot. Once in, her hip was loaded up with steroids and painkillers.

She's been having a marked (and amazing) decrease in pain since the procedure. Hopefully we can use this to buy some time (like say.. until she's 22 and has stopped growing) until she can possibly be considered for hip replacement.

Yay for Sprout's hip.

little rays of hope

Cross your fingers suckahs.
I can't tell you why, as that will surely jinx it.
Just make with some crossin'

like now.

Expect some follow up later.

home again, but not exactly

I live.

Only in return, I have descended into my own personal hell.

No, really.

Which includes, but is not limited to- the fact that I'm not at my own house.. and still no legit internet access. Blegh. Luckily I'm sweet enough that I hoarde these things up to post a bunch all at once when I can. Hopefully things will start looking up soon. Until then.. meds and sleep.

However, Sarah, Jaime and Jeremiah are keen. Visits, illicit sammiches, lots of driving, loitering whilst I was unconcious.. prescriptions and snacks on the way home. Love love love love you.

welcome to the pleasuredome

buh bye all, see you in a few days, and don't do anything too crazy while i'm gone.

i'm hoping the next 48-72 hours make this stupid back pain go away.
it's prlly hoping too much that they take the numbness away with them.

bergan, for you localies that were askin'

deja vu

I don't think the word phrase "deja vu" was utilized even once in the film DejaVu.

My man Jim Caveziel was steamy as always. Actually maybe moreso- he rocks the slightly crazed look in his eye somethin' fierce.

Long over due Sockret Pal love

I'm a thousand years behind in posting about my Sockret Pal.

This is quite simply a super awesome package. Mail does have a snazzy way of brightening things up when life is feeling dreary. A couple of items are not pictured. ut Bosley filled in and modeled his new polar fleece puppy jacket. My pal sent the Interweave knits holiday issue, that was in my knitting bag during photo time, as well as some knit picks dpns that were there as well. She even sent treats for the Sprout!

Spruce is a completely gorgeous colourway of one of my favorite yarns on the planet (Bearfoot by Mountain Colors). I'm so smitten with its smushiness and the gentle gradiations in colour that I'm envisioning crafting myself some mitts from it instead of socks.

The button she sent was perfect. MMMM sour candy. The Sprout was so excited by the hot chocolates "oooooooooo faaaaancy" that she said she is going to save them for "a perfectly cozy mommy and me night" once we return home on our own. She also assured me that something so beautiful (the packets are pretty swank looking) clearly need to be used in the "good" mugs and not her plastic white tiger cocoa mug. She also commandeered the kitty magnet.

The knitpicks needles are so nice to work with, I'm looking forward to casting on my next socks and putting those shiny bits to work. As for the IWK Holiday issue? Fabulous. I read through it the first night, and there are a couple of patterns in there I would like to try. So long as I am on muscle relaxers, I'm not going to be doing anything lacy or charted.. I seem to keep losing my place and had to put one pair of socks I've been working on down.

However, the morning after I received the package, I was reaching the button hole thumb on the knitty Voodoo's I had been working on (in Mountain Colors Twizzle).. when I realized it was a buttonhole thumb, and not really what I wanted. I ended up using the thumb gusset on the "cornflower mitts" in the magazine, and adding a few other modifications to come up with a design that made my mitts everything I'd been hoping for. Talk about perfect timing. The mitts are now all finished up and can be seen in the next post down.

color me gromit

I had to have some more tests, and wait for some decisions to be made. Apparently I don't just have disc problems, there is a problem with some of my vertebrae. Leave it to me to go all out. I have surgery scheduled for next week. I've been making fairly extensive efforts to find new home health care providers. I'm going stir crazy between being broken, and being trapped in my mother's house. I'm too young for one, and too old for other.

In the knitting and fiber world...


behold some bits for frosty paws. Black men's Knucks in Coal merino style (100% merino), black women's knucks in coal KP elegance (70% baby alpaca, 30% silk). Child sized fingerless mitts also in KP merino style (iris) and 'manda sized in Mountain Colors Twizzle (85% Merino Wool, 15% Silk). The fingerless mitts are the knitty voodoo, bastardized into a 'manda pattern, 2x2 rib with the thumb gusset snagged from the mitts pattern in the IW Holiday Knits issue.

On the needles I have

Striped scarf in Coal and Cloud KP Panache (40% Baby Alpaca, 20% Cashmere, 20% Silk, 20% Extrafine Merino), Grey-brown with burgandy and blue hand spun scarf on gigantor needles and crocheted scarf and matching (and in need of frogging and reknitting) hat in LB Jiffy (tis for a toddler and my hands have gotten so yarn snobby they can barely handle it). The lower right corner also has a sneaky hint of where I'm going with this toddler project.

And still to come...


Gorgeous sari silk from Mantofev, two balls of lovely domestic and tencil handspun that will become more fingerless mitts and more merino style, this time in dusk, for yet another pair of knucks.

I have my work cut out for me.