Blogging is Beautiful

Ya know... I love this stuff. It is SO very nice to have a safe place to just.... what is it we do here? oh yeah, SHARE. Just like they taught us (those of us who are fortunate enough to have PBS) on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers and the Electric Company and ZOOM and well, you get the idea.

Thanks to all of you, too, for still listening and caring, whether you comment or not.

I feel the call of the socks..... hallooooooooo

BTW! My guitar lesson yesterday - whatever week this is... like 4 or 5.... was SO awesome. Something clicked last night and I got something I'd been missing - Something about how a true chord progression pulls naturally from one root to a 7th harmonic - some such thing of that nature and I was like, "ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh my gyah - I think I understand" - well whether I have the detail of it down or not, that tiny bit of info made a WORLD of difference and I have a whole new grasp or something. It was that missing piece of WHY that I needed. Because we all know I need to have SOME answers as to how things work. MY TEACHER ROCKS!!!!! (hi teacher) just in case he looks here, cuz I told him about my geekyness and blogging. hahahaha - I want to go into so much detail here, but I'm staying less hyper about it, for your sake, Susan. I'm desperately seeking Susan. pahahaha - ok SORRY, I couldn't control it all the way.

oh, side point.... it's another Canadian Connection - can I share that? My teacher, the one that rocks, spent some few years in Toronto in school somewhere (since I have no permission to talk about him for real... I'm being all... clandestine... hahahaha) What is my DEAL with Toronto? I must go there or something, b/c all my music people are THERE! My fav composer guy, my fav guitar podcast guy, and now my fav music teacher either have or do live in Toronto, or very near there, whatever. (for the one person who is all, it's NOT Toronto it's... Missi.....that place I can't spell yet.)

what's up with that?

and where is my melody guy? huh? hellloooo because I have SO MANY LYRICS!! ACK - he's not in Toronto, but I don't know where he is! ***sob*** Oh melody man, where for art thou, melody man? hahaha - ahem sry melody man, don't freak out plzzzzzzz

cool

OH CANADA!!! Stop calling me SO loud because I can't drive that far for at least..... um.... well until Summer or something. Any good beaches in Toronto? Because I promised my youngest that I'd take him to the beach very soon. (dumb question, that's what the internet is for)

Still looking for suggestions on a simple v-neck waist coat (lol) with a steek and a simplish Fair Isle motif, too. I'll look it up, too, and I may make up my own pattern if I can't find one (and do we really want that? My threats are so weird)

Ok, LADEEEE, I love ya bye bye!
Buttons!

Nova Scotia, perhaps?

Rock on, OH my Soul

Hey kids...

nyah, I won't GO that far - I don't know what in the heck they say there anyway - kuukachooo? whatever. I have an odd propensity for misunderstanding lyrics. Really great for an aspiring singer, right. Yeah, best to write my own stuff. At least I'm not mumbling while I write and I think most people will understand me when I speak, since I'm from nowhere specific and everywhere at the same time. My accent doesn't really fit anywhere and I can TEXAN it UP or Yankee it down. So, whatever. What am I TALKING ABOUT? shut up

K! =)*)

Public Service Announcement

*****I can't stop talking today - ok you've been warned*****

So. I finally knit 2 things! TWO WHOLE tiny FO's! Which I did not photo (bad photographer, BAD!) but, when they get to the place they're headed, you can see them there. HEY! FREAK OUT! I just realized that I completed my March Madness project with time to spare! Shocking. I knit something with a deadline (2 actual deadlines, but one was graciously extended a bit) and I did it. I don't like deadlines attached to knitting. I don't enjoy deadlines at all, for the most part, but I understand why they exist in theory. =) snort

I have a question, and I am going to steal a word that's just so perfect from our ultimate knitting Borg Queen the Yarn Harlot. That word being 'muggle' and or 'muggles'. Not a word meant disparagingly, just descriptive, even affectionate at times, because we all love our muggles.

So the question.

Why is that some muggles try to insist that we sell our knitting? Seriously. I very recently had that conversation again.

Muggle: "Oh you could really make a lot of money with your knitting."
Me: "Um.... I never want to knit for money, it would take the fun out of it."
Muggle: "Oh, believe me! When you start making money with it, it gets fun."
Me: "Well, knitting is my recreation. I do it to relax and calm my nerves. I don't like knitting with deadlines or any of the stuff that comes with it."
Muggle: "You don't have to have deadlines."
Me: "I'm not in love with money enough to turn my relaxation time into a job."
Muggle: tries to argue more and only gets mouth barely open
Me: "I DON'T WANT TO, AND I'M NOT GONNA DO IT!!" (thinking in my head - good grief, I think I already said no a MILLION TIMES, take a freaking hint!)
Muggle: startled "OK, I won't make you."
Me: growling slightly "Yeah, I KNOW." (thinking - as IF you COULD make me... whatEVER! try it....do you feel lucky?)

What the heck? right? HELLO!? I don't understand that mentality at all. I obviously have no issues with anyone knitting for money, that's not the point. I just personally know I would take no pleasure in it and it would stress me out. I know me... it's true. Knitting for me is calming and I need some calming (CLEARLY) and I don't want to turn my rare bits of solace into some sort of machine for material gain.

Issue two I have with this conversation? I don't normally say "NO" just on the fly. Everyone who knows me, KNOWS ME. Asking me why I've said "NO" is fine, but why would a person who knows me, try to PUSH me on an issue I have clearly already considered and rejected? Why do some people push? (and this has nothing to do with muggles, it's just a side point, because, like I said, I love lots of muggles, they're cute) The relentless pushing, though, what is that? I don't like it. Furthermore, I am not in need of being pushed, I push myself PLENTY, I don't need help with that crap. Shockingly, I have actually explained in great detail this point to the aforementioned pusher of "no's" spoken. I guess there are lots of people that really never get lots of things.

SO.....I have quit the job of educator of the "Non Get It's" Just so you know. It's a thankless and never ending quest, like a bottomless pit of despair. Sounds depressing, right? I'm not depressed. I quit that particular job a few months ago. I'm laughing about it now, because the "Non Get It's" are wandering around confused and it's funny. Yes, you got it. There are a disproportionate number of NGI's around here and they all call me for attention. I love quitting jobs. Thinking is good, some people should really try it.

*****exhale*****

I love life! yaaaay

(and they, NGI's, all scratch their heads and wonder........... forever)

Happy ranting, oxymoronic - yes, but hey, my mom should not have named someone born in JUNE - April. She had to know it was going to complicate matters.

Hi, what's your name? April, what's your's? Oh, I'm SoAndSo. April... that's a pretty name, were you born in April? Thanks, and no I wasn't. When were you born? June. Why didn't they name you June? Probably b/c my mom already had a June in her family, I don't know, though, maybe she likes trauma. Hmmm weird. Yeah, weird. So..... now what do we talk about? I don't know, but I'm hungry, =)*) see ya!

I think I have changed my mind about which yarn I'm going to use for my first Fair Isle project. Since I want to do the hard core Fair Isle right away and get the freaky steek phobia dealt with ASAP, I am going to use yarn that fulls easily. Scroll down to the buffy blue, gorgeous grey and lovely lilac. That stuff is a sort of nameless fiber out of a Navajo reservation in New Mexico? or Arizona? gyah I should really know that. It's a very nice knit. My two recent FO's were taken from one partial skein of the gorgeous grey. (Not in the photo, b/c I had already started knitting with it) So I may have to go back and get more of the grey for my project, whatever it is. Maybe not. I think I'll do a V-neck vest thing with some sort of Fair Isle panel? is that right? That strip thing across the chest. (ah MAN, could I BE less prepared to talk about this?) Well, whatever it turns out to be, it will at least be attempting to be cool....yet.... warm, at the same time. At the rate I'm going, I should be done with it by the time it gets cold again, in 2009. (since Winter only shows up in El Nino years. Maybe in La Nina years, too. I'll keep you posted.) every keyboard should have an enya - or however you spell it, the n with the squiggly thing over it that says "NYA" for El NINYO - phonetically, El NINYA - dang it. Especially in Texas and California and all those places that used to BE Mexico. I like speaking Spanish, and ONE day I'll speak French and Italian if I have my way and THEN you'll ALL BE SORRY. or happy? =)*) or maybe just confused, like now. It's okay, honey, my cuzin bubba has the same problem. (hey, I just quoted myself - cool) email me for more information on that if you don't know the answer already.

Now to start imagining and looking at patterns. yaay!!!!

Perhaps.....something along the lines of Eunny's Deep V but not quite SO deep, b/c ummmm....... well it doesn't have to be that deep to LOOK that deep on me. LOL &, of course, not Argyle because, C'MON, who are we fooling? I'm not tackling THAT much busy on my first try. (even tho it sound's like something I would do.....hmmmm) So I'll be looking through my motif book for something cool that I can plaster on a simple vest pattern. (or some such conflagration) yes I know what that means, thanks for asking.

Any V-Neck vest patterns including steeks - suggestions? Like any of you are bored enough to read through that long rambling and scattery post - even though you totally should because it's..... aaahh funny? yeah, funny! that's it - ha ha ha?

Is it just me, or is the standard dictionary for these browser things very unknitterly? It's an electronic muggle! And why isn't "LOL" included in ALL the browser dictionaries by now? Just curious. I've added so many terms to mine because I hate it when it tells me I misspelled something it just doesn't recognize as a word because it's still ignorant. (hahaha I just misspelled 'misspelled'! hahahahaha - I think I did it in a letter recently, too, and that's just sad!) shut up!

okay! =)*) (this particular browser doesn't even know 'OKAY'! huh?)

dangit - one more thing

I put several posts, from my dearly nearly departed blog Coffee Crazy Knitters, BACK on the newer bluer Coffee Crazy Knitters

I'm glad I have that stuff at least. I need to look for more, just because, but I may not. (still lots of irons, as per usual)

Happiness is...

Plants in Pretty Pots

Beautiful Blues for Beanie-Scarf comBo

Fiber for First Fair Isle Frock

Buffy Blue

Gorgeous Grey

Loverly Lilac

and Alliteration, APPARENTLY!


The last 3 pics are for a striped and cabled sweater for me. yaay

PS: I was born in the Summer of 1969 (in spite of being named April - I think my Mom may be a closet hippie or somethin') This week - on Tuesday at 9am - well 10am since stupid daylight's savings lie was 3 weeks early - I turned 1969 weeks old. Is that cool or what? I'm glad I learned it yesterday and not on Wednesday of next week!

So this means that sometime this year - Woodstock was 1969 weeks ago - and next month it will be 1969 weeks since man walked on the moon - and many other cool interesting things. 2007 is a good year, okay? It's the coolest year since 1969!

How Many Irons Fit in One Fire?

I've been asking myself that for the last few days. It's really the story of my life, with one alteration. This time it's mostly stuff I actually WANT to do. My little photography biz is getting a decent little start. I've taken oh.... about a MILLION pictures! lol not quite, but it feels like it. I'll give y'all a tiny peek (eeek)

This band is called After the Tragedy
They're out of Arkansas and a very talented group.

Then there is the normal biz of Spring around here. I'm the landscaper here, so off to Home Depot I went to procure supplies for all the stuff I have to do out there. I'm off to a decent start though. See my pretty flowering trees?
























And some bigger houses for two of my trees that live indoors. My other plants are due for re-potting as well, so I took advantage of the stoneware they had on sale. PURTY? yes?


















How awesome is my avocado plant, eh? This is the first one I've EVER gotten to sprout. I'm all proud. It's about to grow itself out of it's spot on my window sill. Once I get it repotted it'll take it's place next to my palmy tree above.



My aloe is a little twisted, but I think he'll like his new home. I gave him some plant food to munch last night, and he already looks much greener.


Hubster is talking about growing corn. Well.....that's funny. I told him he'd have to buy a tiller and get to work if he wants that! I'm gonna put out some tomatoes and peppers somewhere in the yard, but they don't take up much room and I have plenty of little spots around trees that have decent soil because of my constant mulching and dumping coffee grounds(good for awesome roses) and eggshells(calcium ='s great flowers or flowering trees) and old potting soil and top soil and humus w/added cow help hahaha. The rest of the yard.... the soil is like concrete. I can barely grow WEEDS in the backyard! So corn? WHA HA HAHAHAHAHAHHHHHAAAA - I'm sure he thinks my screws are still loose, but that's ok. (If they are...well... no one is free of blame for that around here) See Sasquatch rant from several posts ago. heh

ALRIGHTY THEN... oh yes, this is my practice homework from my guitar teacher who is a GENIUS and um.... I'm glad, because I definitely can't get bored. I'm looking at him all wide eyed and questioning, like, 'HUH? that's a good question, teacher... aaaahhhh.... ummmmmmm.... k?' He says I'm doing really well, I think I'd believe him if I knew WHAT I was doing well, because I'm still trying to wrap my mind around most of it, check it out...

Oh, and I am officially humbled - why is that? Look what happens when the awesome Grumperina mentions you in her blog:



Is that not wild? I used to get about 100 hits per day before my infamous tail spin and blog deletion fiasco followed by a few months worth slump. I know you regulars understand that it was very necessary for me to take some time to get centered and sort thru the labyrinth in my head, but alas... not everyone is quite as....sticky as y'all. (for lack of a more diplomatic term) So I appreciate you regulars all the more. I'll have to drum up more excitement in the months to come. It really is starting fresh (so that's ok) fresh is always good... ahhhh.....MINTY!

Very wordy and picturey today? eh? yes I am. I want to go to Canada. (sorry, sudden violent urges again)

Here's my breakfast (that I didn't eat until 12:30) next to my new portfolio holder thing - and it matches my hat and I got it for $5! AND... at the SAME garage sale, I got a FREE leather jacket that ALSO matches this thing and my hat - now all I need is boots, and I'll be all TOE down for the next HOE DOWN! In other words, when I go shoot some country bands, I'll be dressed to blend (sorta - snort) I do the country scene purty good, YO! hahaha Having been raised around horses, cowboys and whiskey. hahaha (you think I'm kidding? SO NOT)
(probably explains why I am a rocker - lol) but I still love horses, rodeos and cowboys! Whiskey?....eh - not so much - I'm a brandy girl.

So I have a question...? Ford or Chevy?
(trucks, that is)

Just curious - I'll tell you my pref in the comments later - "Wha ha", said J.W.
=)*)

OH DUH - I forgot to put in the sad bit of knit, along with my awesome new phone and cool pink leather carrying case - thank YOU tax return!

Minor Distraction

What color of sock yarn do you prefer?

You like nature sock yarn. You are pure. You would never wear anything artificial.
Take this quiz!








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HELP!!!! Knitting Vibes Please

OK, peeps - I've got a problem. I just can't get my KNIT ON! dangit 2 out of 3 of the things I started knitting have been frogged. One of those was the artsy FARTSY square I started. I hated the yarn I was using so I'm starting over, more simply, plain old garter stitch as much as it pains me to do something boring, lol, I have to get this thing started, finished and MAILED. (maybe I'll do a few squares or shapes of some sort instead of being artsy?)

But I need encouragement! I know it's changed over here, and I really appreciate those of you who have stuck by me. My regular comment colleagues, thank you - but where are the rest of you guys? HELLO! I need my peeps around me right now, lol

HELP ME GET MY KNIT BACK ON!!!!

shriek!

hahahaha

I even went stashette investing and it didn't help, and it's GOOD STUFF, man. (pics to come later) so I'm in a serious slump knitwise. Can ya break me off a little knit vibe? c'mon! halp halp halp

My Guitar, My Friend

Just look at my friend for a minute. She's not young. She was designed in the US and made in Japan. She was built back in the 40's or 50's, as a copy of the high end guitars that were being built here. Who ever had this guitar before me, played her a LOT, and I can tell that although she has some bumps and bruises, she was dearly loved.

I dearly love her, too. Isn't she SO cute wearing my hat? She looks happy.

My first guitar was dearly loved, too, but I think he was a boy. =) - He was shorter, less shapely, thick neck and high action. I don't remember the first time I met him, but sometime around the age of 12, I picked him up and began to try to play. I managed to buy new strings for him and strung him up myself. Using just the memory of the 6 opening notes to the theme song of "Gun Smoke" I tuned him. I also found a basic instructional book with a good balance of chords. I don't know if it was ever in 'tune' properly, except in relation to it's own strings. It doesn't matter, because without my first guitar, I would not have learned to sing. It was because of this guitar that I trained my ear to hear music note by note instead of as a whole. It made me try hard and it helped me develop my voice. Unfortunately, my guitar met a heartbreaking demise, when I was near the age of 16 or so, and we were so poor that I couldn't get another.

About ten years later, I found myself working in a music store, surrounded by guitars of every sort, acoustic, ecoustic, electric, steel, bass. There were also mandolins, fiddles, stand up basses and the lot. Of course in a place like that, you hear the best of the local talent and it was a very rich atmosphere. Yet, I was still, ridiculously poor, and though I looked every time we got in "new" stuff through trades or sales, they were all just out of my reach. Until one day....

I walked in and saw a my girl. She was only $25! I could surely afford that, so I began to tinker with her and play around. The keys were a bit slippery, she had some damage, but I didn't care. The action was low, the neck narrow and long, the wood worn just enough to feel soft and comfortable. My boss and co-workers one by one noticed my interest in her and one by one, they held her for themselves, tuned her a bit and played her. Every single one of them said, "This guitar has a beautiful voice." I felt.... proud and a little special because this sweet little guitar - cast aside by someone, perhaps the family member of the person it had belonged to previously - had slipped by all the greats around me and fell into my hands. My boss, the store owner, wouldn't even let me pay him for her and I took her home.

Somewhere in the midst of marriage and pregnancies and toddlers and all that, she was put safely away. I wasn't taking any chances of her getting broken or even TOUCHED by crayons or markers. The very thought made me shudder. About a year ago, I brought her back out, and off and on I've been playing again. I had to put her back in her safe house while we had more kids in here, but now, it's a bit safer.

Last night I had my very first REAL guitar lesson, and I'm so excited. It feels like the beginning all over again and I'm excited to see where we are headed together. It's gonna be SO fun, and I'll always have someone to hold my hat.

Ring in the March....

Ring in the Madness!

My dear British Twin Amy of Dyed in the Wool is having a March Madness Challenge. So I'm ALL in. As you all know, I've been having a bit of knitting stagnation going on because of the art thing going on with me. That's how we artists work I guess - scattery? I can't really speak for any other artsy soul, only myself, so I should say... that's how I work, scattery. The stuff clicking in the brain is clicking so fast that I have to scramble to get at least the idea of what's going on jotted down in the trusty journal or it's lost, sometimes never to return.

See.... I normally do one knit at a time, three projects going at once speaks to my inability to focus on knitting! Two are mindless the other is going to take concentration. YET...

......concentrating on one thing to the exclusion of all other things doesn't always work out. (mostly never works) It might work if I was back on the beach in Roatan all by myself with only yarn and needles, but then wouldn't I get sand in my yarn? I dunno. So here I am at home, about to pop in the ear phones to listen to my favorite podcast while trying to read my cable chart and start (in earnest) knitting...... drumroll please.......

My Means for Motivation March Madness Multicolored Monstrously Measured Mark

lost? I have to knit this square, and I want to do it fast. =)*) It's big and cabled, two colors of yarn and it's special.

My other dear younger sister Rebekah from Knit Knack is putting together a Blanket of Hope for someone she knows that is going through a hard time. So naturally I must knit a square for it. Knowing my stagKNITion that's been going on though, I knew better than to do more than one, but then Mrs. A-Type took over and made said square into something more than garter stitch. (I can't help it, it has to be ARTSY or I can't do it..... ****cry****) So now it IS a challenge but I need to get it DONE.

The longest way I could have told this story, right? I'll probably post a pattern for it too, eventually. At least the cable chart is done! That'll be available for anyone who wants it, of course.


So here's some entertainment for you.

My scattery, yet somewhat organized work station.

Everything in reach.

I didn't include the whole picture, b/c I need to clean the kitchen and that's the back drop for the rest of it. The little bedside drawer thing I put next to my reclining piece of the sectional couch.

Next to the tiny entertainment center that I use as a desk that is too high to type from the couch unless I sit on the arm rest or stand on my knees. Yes, I'm weird, but I like me this way. =)*)

don't suppress your weirdness, it's just your art trying to express itself

hahahahahahaaaaaaaa