Thursday, March 29, 2007

Revlon Run Walk

Every year the college has a team made up of students, faculty and staff participate in the Revlon Run/Walk. Once again I will be walking. This is a cause that is very close to my heart. Breast Cancer is a disease that affects so many people.I am also a firm believer that once we find a cure for one cancer we will find a cure for the others. Click here to donate to the Revlon Run/Walk.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Harlot in NYC

So the Harlot was here this last Thursday. She gave a talk at the other fashion college that I can’t mention, (don’t tell my boss I was there). There were A LOT of knitters there. They gave out buttons at the door to guesstimate the number of knitters there. I am sure Stephanie will have a count on her blog once she winds down. But let me tell you when I say a lot, I mean a lot. The auditorium was almost full.



I met some of the SnB girls there. So were wearing the now infamous t-shirts (another great British/American collaboration)



Stephanie did not disappoint. She was very funny. Her husband Joe surprised her. He had previously told her he would be in Montréal that week, but instead he greeted her at that other fashion school. So sweet. She introduced us to the idea of C.H.O.K.E. (which I already forgot what it stands for, but the idea is that it is why muggles discriminate against knitters). Some being that if you are a knitter you like boys (it doesn’t matter if you are a girl or a boy); that if you start knitting while you are single, you will be single for the rest of your life (I still hold out hope); how non-knitters can’t understand our obsession with yarn and many other hilarious things. She also asked how many people tried to explain where they were going that night to a muggle, most everyone raised there hand. She told us for future reference to just tell people that we were out. At one point someone’s cell phone rang (another reason I abhor cell phones) and she just rolled with it and told the person to tell whoever was calling that she was “just out.”

She was wearing her recently finished Botus and it got almost as much applause as she did. Towards the end, she was getting hot so she took it off. She put the sweater on the floor of the stage. Many of the knitters to offence to that. She kind of rolled her eyes and reminded us that wool is washable; many of the NYC knitters reminded her she was in NYC. She agreed to pick it up.

Provided on the seats of the auditorium was a bag that included a pair of aluminum needles and some Patons wool. Everyone was asked to knit a square for Warm Up America and they were collecting them at the end of the evening. Of course I had to be me, and start my swatch over when I wasn’t happy with it. So I didn’t finish it, but I have some other squares for Warm Up America that I need to send in. I think I will knit a few more before I do that. At the end of the evening I asked the SnB girls if they didn’t want their needles if they would be willing to donate them to the knitting club at school (as I know many of you prefer either Turbos or Bamboo) and they obliged. Ruth was on a mission. She went looking for bags that weren’t picked up and any needles lying around. I now have 13 pair of number 8 aluminum needles.

She was also selling pins for Knitters without Borders. They ran out of pins. At the end there was a big bag of cash. I hope that she also gives a total for that as well.

And I must give a shout out to our fabulous Heather. At the end of the evening the Harlot was taking questions. Heather got up and gave her a copy of Not Your Mama’s Knitting. She was the last one to speak and I hope that it will help sell at least a few more copies for Heather.

I also picked up a copy of her new book. She wasn’t signing them that night; most of the copies that were for sell were already signed. Unfortunately, they ran out of signed copies about four people before me. Since the Harlot will be in Ann Arbor this week I wonder if it is worth fedexing my copy to my mother and telling her if she ever loved me she drive a few hours to get it signed. Hum, I don’t think she will go for that. Oh well, perhaps I will have another opportunity to have it signed. I have read only a little of it, but so far it holds up to her other books.

Afterward some of the girls and I went across the street to Brgr for well, burgers. It was a great evening all and all. I can’t wait till the Harlot comes back to NYC.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

The Harlot Rocks

More to come later, but for now here is a tease...



Sunday, March 18, 2007

Six Weird things about…Murray?

So Jessamyn tagged me a while back with six weird things about me. However, I can’t seem to think of Six Weird Things About Me that are both weird AND that I am willing to divulge to the world. So instead I present Six Weird Things About Murray.

1. Murray likes to play fetch. I discovered this about him shortly after adopting him. He was playing with a toy on my lap, and of course I was trying to knit, so I threw it on the floor. He brought it back. I threw it again, he brought it back again. His favorite thing to do it to bring me a toy and drop it in my lap. If I don't throw it for him, he gets upset and sulks off to the other side of the couch.

2. He likes to drink the water out of my bubble bath. He drinks a few sips, shakes his head, which I take to mean “this tastes gross,” and drinks some more. I put fresh water out for him everyday. He also drinks out of the toilet. I wonder if he thinks I am trying to poison him with water.

3. He comes when he is called. I have never known a cat to do that. Most cats when they hear their name, they if anything gives you a look like “don’t bother me” and stay excatly where they are. Not my boy, he comes trotting when he hears me call him. (Now next time any of you are at my place you will want to see this and of course he will make a lair out of me.)

4. When I first got him, he loved to go out into the hall. So much so that every time I opened the door I had to be careful (he was really good at sneaking past me). About six months later he stopped going into the hall. Now he is terrified of the hall. He will occasionally put a paw out there, but as soon as he hears a noise he comes scrambling back inside.

5. He knows that when my phone double rings, someone will be at the door in a few minutes. He will sit and wait by the door, until I open it, then he runs and hides. Although I think he is a little scaredy cat, he is still very curious about who might be on the other side of the door.

6. He would rather watch cars than birds. I swear. I thought having a tree outside my window would be a bonus for a cat. But once again he took me by surprise. I see him look at birds without response. But cars, that is a whole other story. He will chatter over a car, but a bird…nothing. I don’t get it.

Some of these things lead me to believe that Murray has an identity crisis. He isn’t sure if he is a dog or a cat.

The most important thing about Murray? He is my buddy, and although he probably wouldn’t want me telling anyone this, I know he loves me. The list of the great things about Murray would be about 100 pages long, so I’ll leave you with this instead…

Thursday, March 8, 2007

The Queen Returns...

...the cable queen that is.

Here is my open cardigan with cable details.



And a detail shot



Ok, so there isn't a whole lot of cabling going on. I still need to block it, but I wanted to wear it at least once this season. Nothing like finishing an alpaca sweater right before the temperture reachs 50 degrees.

So what do you do when you finish an alpaca sweater right before the start of spring? You start a new one of course!



I have knitting that would be more appropriate right now, but I have had this idea for awhile and thought I could quick whip this up. It's going to be a top down raglan cardigan with lots feather and fan and 3/4 sleeves. Let's see how fast I can knit this.

I also decided to give my lunch time knitting to charity. I have lots of yarn that would be great for Cancer Care hats or squares for Warm Up America, so I took quite a bit of it to work and am leaving it there. This way I always have knitting at work for those stressful days when I just need to take a lunch break. Now I just need to convince my boss to knit during meeting, it is for charity after all!