Knit Addictions

Life and Connections

I'm writing from our garden where I'm sitting comfortably at our big ole wooden table with the flowers on it and am enjoying the cool air.
Why is this important?

cuz I just spent the last 3 1/2 hours getting my 'easy to use' wireless router to work on my laptop!!!!!
No thanks to Linksys but much thanks to many online forums.....I finally got the problem fixed and feel like a total geeky tech head now.
pinging and resetting ip addresses and subnets and removing the connection from the bridge.
wow.
what a world.

So now I am finally OUT OF MY BOILING HOT office and in the cool outdoors.
Gotta love it.

This makes me sooooooo happy cuz now I will bring this router with me to MN and connect from me mum's house.

After my weird post the other day............
much thanx to everyone for your comments.
I am actually looking forward to seeing my mom and dad.
My dad is not at home anymore and I am just hoping to make him laugh a little.
I know I will get my mom to eat some of my healthy cookin' and .....
in the taking care of myself department.........
well, I'll have this lovely little laptop in my groovy Kensington carry/roll case.

Wow.
I feel so ...........21st century!!!!
That and the digital camera.
It's enough to make this grown up chick cry with wonder.

Just had to share my feelings with you on that.
:-)

Note to my secret pal...........
Where are you??????
please send me a card in the mail or something, kay?

xxx

EW!!!!

Hey, I figured since I'm not legally allowed to post any photos from the VH1 Vixen Bands Reunited thing........at least I can put up my camera snap of what's in the September 3 issue of Entertainment Weekly! ha ha!!!!

Ya know what's weird?
It already feels like a million lifetimes ago.
Strange how that works.

In knitting........
I'm busy with quite a few things.
But nothing major earth shattering worth talking about.

Having a very very nice birthday day with my boyfriend, husband, lover, partner and best friend, BAM!
meow!!!!!!!
I made him a very nice breakfast and lunch!
Have dinner reservations at his fave french restaurant just up the street.
:-)

Well, it's a lazy hazy day and I'm just not in a super write-ageous mood.

Thank you Wendy, Jessica, Allison and Toni for your understanding comments about my upcoming trip home.
Even though we've never met (except Toni!)........I feel like I am really getting to know so many of you.

Happy weekend!

It's a Friday!

Well, it's a friday. It's hot. It's noisy around here with all the neighbors construction. It's mad in our house with so many projects going on at once.

I feel my energy changing to go visit my parents next week.
My dad's health is quite bad now and I want to comfort both him and my mom.
The only challenge is our difference of opinion in the religion area.
*sigh.

Ah well.
I'm all about live and let live.
But they feel that I need to be saved.
It's a struggle.
And of course I don't want to stress my mom out and get all snappy about it but I also need to stay true to who I am and what I believe in. (spiritual only, no mass religion here please)
So it is with a somewhat heavy heart that I'm preparing for this trip emotionally.

I would love to able to talk about the changes in my dad with my mother but she answers alot of statements with a bible verse and this just isn't conversation or 'sharing' for me.
So I am anticipating a sort of lonely time over there.

At least I will have my new laptop to stay connected and of course I will have my knitting.

This is a weird post for me.

Tomorrow is Bam's birthday and I just have not gotten him anything worthwhile.
I need to get him something wonderful as he is so very very special to me.

Do I sound down on myself?
Gawd, I hope not.

THIS JUST IN>>>>>>>
Heard there's a pic of yours truly in the newest issue of Entertainment Weekly for the Vixen VH1 thing.
ha ha.
too bizarre.

later fellow fiber addicts.

What the *#!%*???

It was 9:30 and I was on the couch finishing...YES FINISHING...the Janis tank.
Still have a few ends to weave in.

Anyway, a very enlightened friend of ours told us we simply had to go see "What the *#!%* do you know?"
We had looked up showtimes online and found a 10:15 pm showing in Pasadena and decided to go for it at the last minute.

Off the couch and into the van and wow.
It was sooooo worth it.

Wow!
There are some films that change your life and this is one of them.
Provided you fit into the following description:
You are openminded.
You are 'aware'.
You are not a religious fanatic.
You have maybe even heard of quantum mechanics and have a basic understanding of the concepts.

It's a documentary that explores why we're here, what are we, what are thoughts.........and more!
Very uplifting and made me feel the infinite possibilities that exist at every given moment.
Atoms are not absolute.
They are simply tendencies.

Think about that with your morning coffee!!!!!

So with that in mind..........I am setting out to explore more knitting designs and be a completely creative person as much as possible.

It's all stuff Bam and I talk about anyway.
Intent.
It's all about intent.

But wow.
The photographs of water when it has been sitting next to a typed word or phrase!

well, if you're like me...........
this will all feel like a truth you already knew, a concept you already felt, a thought process you could sense and that you believed in.
But the film manages to clarify some points and the fact that there are big time physicists backing up and truly defining these thoughts..........
well, it is inspirational.

I have to go meditate to the Quantum field now and shape my day.

Later fellow atoms of possibility.
woah.

Swatchin!

I have a new love for swatching!
I view it as a way to experiment madly with stitch styles.

Here is a swatch I did last night with Manos yarn.
I did a few yo/K2tog type routines and then I did a M1 and knit a few rows and then proudly dropped that stitch to create what I consider to be a beautiful punk ladder. yes. I love ladders. I love dropped stitches.
In conversations with my Bam.....I refer to it as 'controlled drop stitches'.
Meaning.....it's not a mistake!
I want them!
yes please!
But I love being able to drop only so far and not all the way down.
Now that makes me tres happy.

Here is a viewing of my recent yarn shopping!
You can see that I am sticking with my plan of only purchasing within a color scheme and then most of this is for actual real-life projects! (imagine that!)
The only two hanks not in the program are for a commissioned scarf. Hence the blue/green affair.

Doncha love getting a whole bunch of new yarn?

Just for kicks.......here's a pic of the guitar we THOUGHT we were gonna smash up.
It just looks too pretty to be scheduled for demolition doesn't it?

Even more importantly, ..........it PLAYS too pretty to be broken into pieces!!!!!!!!
We did research on it and found out it was a Kay copy of a Les Paul made in the 70's and 80's. It has all these built in effects and it's just downright bizarre!

Well, ........lots to get done today and my mind is a blank as I haven't had any coffeeeeeeee yet.
egads.

Rock on.
Knit on.
Live on.

Cyber Hell, a Convertible and Life as Usual

So my laptop arrived safe and sound and I must admit, I do love it!
In an effort to get everything on to it that I will need, I've had to look deep in the bowels of my poor ole tired desktop and this of course, forced me to try to clean it up and defrag, delete and deoverwhelm it. what a mess I made!!!!!

I deleted too many emails at once in OE and then suddenly, I couldn't open my email anymore at all! After using the laptop to search around online for answers, I went about dealing with dbx files and backing up what I could and blah blah blah..........
Anyway, it did permanently dump my work emails but I got everything else back.
The work ones?
Ah well.
The personal and BUBBLE ones?
I am just happy I got those back.
Whew.

Then there was the van.
It needed to go back so we drove this for a day.

Talk about fun.
Yah baby.
Memories of my old 1971 Mustang Convertible came rushing back.
Not that this was even close.
That 'Tang was a MUSCLE CAR ..........full on.
Damn.
351 Cleveland engine.
White with a black interior covered in leopard print seat covers. (of course dahlink!)
It could pass anything except a gas station.
Ahhhhh.....the good ole days.
That was the car Bam and I dated in.
meow!
I miss it.
But ya can't move a guitar amp, drumset and all the other crap ya need to be in a rock n roll band in a Mustang.
Just doesn't work.
Ahhhhhhhh. ......
*sigh.

For the record....here's a partial list of cars I've owned (some I can't remember!)
1976 Chevy Nova (manual tranny)
1980 Plymouth Horizon (the car Dad wanted me to get. it was soooooooo practical!)
198x Mazda RX 7
1968 Pontiac something or another that was green and fucking evil mean, cool. tres muscle.
1970 Ford Mustang Coupe. Very very sweet. Hardened valve seats. This was my fave car of all time. Named her Mustang Sarah after Sarah Vaughn. Was rear ended (totaled) by a semi. :-(
1971 Ford Mustang Convertible. This was a LOT bigger and tougher to handle. Sold it to a Rumanian who was shipping it to Europe. I hope someone is driving this baby now as she was a wicked beast.
1990 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible. Fun but again, impractical for band life.
1989 Plymouth Grand Voyager van. Ahhhh...the beginning of van/band life. So practical. So boring.
and now....a lovely 1996 Chevy Astro Van.

The dream.........another Mustang.
Predictable?
Who cares. I love them.
1970 Red Fastback.

Vintage cars are like handknit sweaters. If you treat them right, they will last forever.
And of course, you will look very cool in them.

IN THE KNIT WORLD
Anyway, been knitting up swatches,...buying yarn for actual projects now instead of the odd ball here and there...(how responsible of me!) and.....just trying to get 'stuff' done.

Getting the new laptop proved exciting but it's also time consuming getting those things set up!
Now I need a case as I'm totally paranoid about transporting it!
Like.........very paranoid.

Here's the Merino Frappe scarf.
I've been doing it Continental Style.
Oohlala.

The POUNDING!
In an effort to show you the chaos we're surrounded by.....
here's a few piccies of our neighbors yard. Now that they're done tearing down, apparently they will be building. So I guess the noise will be going on and on and on.
Oh goodie.
Anybody got a tour we can leave on for several months?
Dude, I am so outta here!!!!!

It's late and I'm off to bed. It's gonna be a monday and I know it's gonna be mental.

Merino Frappe!

Okay. Got out my one little skein of Merino Frappe. Why did I buy this stuff? Well, it DOES sound like a bevvie at Starbucks doesn't it?

Oh dahlink.
I LOVE this yarn.
I must get more.
But in MY colors.
I just knit up the beginning of what will be a boring ole scarf in a shade of red.
Oh but it feels delicious.
I don't know who will be the recipient yet but I'm sure that will be simple enough.

Piccies coming later as I'm on the phone right now but we did manage to get batteries for the camera. hooray!

A RANT ABOUT OUR VAN
So.......the tranny expert dude said our tranny has a 'bad personality'.
What I wanna know is........
can we give our van lithium?
Prozac?
Is it an anxiety issue?
Is it wheel base challenged?
Is it a Corvette jealousy issue? (our van is a Chevy)
Perhaps some long term therapy would resolve this bad personality.
Or perhaps training.
Can you leash train a van?
There are so many ways to treat personality issues.
Think of all the alternative methods...........
acupuncture
hypnosis
massage therapy
yoga

Can you just see it?
A van getting stuck with acu needles all over.
Then a massage therapist pressing it's shiatsu points and clearing the auras especially surrounding the transmission area.
How many chakras does a van have?

I WANNA KNOW HOW TO TREAT MY TRANNY'S BAD PERSONALITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that is the funniest thing I've ever heard of regarding auto mechanics.
Except, it's my van and the tranny just clunks along.
Outside of that, it's hilarious.

Well, if someone has a Hummer they want to donate to Bubble, you know where to find me.

The Little Things

In the Terry Gilliam sci-fi film, Brazil, a fly lands on a typewriter and causes a key to slip and this causes the wrong person to be executed.

You go to a restaurant and order fish. That night, you are throwing up from the tiny parasite that was in the fish.

The batteries in my digital camera died and that's why there's only been words on here.

IT REALLY IS THE LITTLE THINGS!
Now the battery situation is not nearly as dire as the other two scenarios. But it's my excuse and I have to make it seem as dramatic as possible so it's plausible.

Which leads me to ..............stuff.

What I wanna know is ........do they build things with planned obsolescence so we have to keep repairing/buying new stuff?
Is it really and truly that difficult to build something TO LAST!?!?

THANK GOD FOR YARN!
I reckon a handknit item will outlast a car easily.
And it is so much nicer to snuggle with than that great big 48" flat screen television they are always telling you need to buy.

BERROCO FEST
I made one too many bids on ebay and ended up winning more Berroco Optik than I planned on!
Not a bad thing really!
But .....hmmmm....what to make!
I love this kind of problem.

To the Knitters Who Rock and Who Prove Knitters are Nonconformists of the Highest Order:
YES YES YES!
Thank you for your comments.
Screw the corporates.
We will carry on rocking and wherever we tour, I will be knitting when I can.
;-)

LYS in JAPAN anyone?!

Does anyone know any great LYS in Tokyo?????????????

Yep. Our old promoters have opened the lines of communication to bring Bubble back to Japan for our fourth tour over there! I am sooooo excited!!!! It's been close to two years since our last time there and I could hardly sleep last night due to the news.

We also have someone working on the possibility of an English tour. We'll see.

Right now,.............all of it is just talk.

In other news.........went to my knit night as usual. It was awesome.

I've got semi-cool stuff happening in the knit world that has gone all hush hush. I hate keeping secrets but alas, ........I must.

TIMING
It's funny. I was soooo bummed out on Monday. I had called Amoeba records to see if they'd received our cd and to talk to the appropriate person about doing an instore appearance etc. Man oh man. Was I ever humbled! Holy cow. Their response was like.........we'll get to your cd in weeks. Yes, it takes us weeks and weeks. NO you're not special cuz you won that JOHN LENNON song of the year thing. Nor cuz you've toured the planet on your own and are gonna be on VH1. We're Amoeba and you're nothing.

I hung up that phone feeling like a loser.
Capital L.

There were a few other calls that day that were pretty much exactly the same.

I swear, I'm so not cut out for the promo side. I just take it all too personally. Plus, we HAVE been around and we HAVE toured and we HAVE played big stages right along with many little stages. So we ain't no green kids with a new cd we just made in our mom's house with daddy's credit card.

But how do you explain that in a 2 minute phone call?
Or a 10 second voicemail?
You don't.

So.........we sit here in our quiet anonymity.
Fuck 'em.

we'll go play Japan and England.
I tell ya.
We can't get arrested in the states.

But there I go again being negative when there is so much to be positive about............
Bam called a friend of ours to see if he would play guitar for our Japanese tour. He didn't even hesitate. Yes. No pay required. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Let it be said........this dude is a wanted commodity in the music world and basically is a genius songwriter in his own right.
So that kind of stuff.........well, dammit.
It's just encouraging.
At least my knitter pals and our fellow rockers believe in us.

That's what I'm talkin' about.
Belief.
I swear mine gets shattered at the littlest bump.

Well, it's back together again thanks to my knit night and the mere thought of a tour.
yes.
I love that word.
Yes YES YES YES YES!

OLD WIP!
I'm nearly finito with the first sleeve on the LULU sweater.
Geez. It's only been what.........8 months? 9 months?
Ah well. At least it will be cold enough for her to wear it when it's done! ha ha!

The jury is out on this whole continental thing. I'm getting the knit part pretty good but man oh man. The purling is sucking bigtime! I will practice it quite a bit more before I actually surrender to the british. But for now.........I don't know........

a note to my commenters........
Jenna, thank you! yes, pink does rock and I love your blog too!!!!!!

To Nathania and everyone else for your good wishes.................I can't wait to get my laptop! thank you!

SP2 and My New Laptop!

First the SP2 biz........
In keeping with Heidi's request, I've added the quezzies for Secret Pal.

What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I love worsted weights and heavier. Wool blends especially. My absolute faves would be the Colinette line. Anything except Isis. I just think their colors are the most saturated and fabbo.

What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Creating my own designs. I am constantly striving to come up with new ideas and desperately need a journal or book of some sort to keep track of it all.

What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I love to knit funky stuff..........wristbands, hats, scarves, sweaters, tanktops........I am going for a messy dropped stitch or lace stitch look on a lot of items now.

What are you knitting right now?
I am working on a number of scarves, a sweater, a self designed tank top and various other things in my head. ha! (don't those count?)

What do you think about ponchos? (this is really a curiousity question for us)
Not too mad about ponchos nor have I knit one yet.

Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I generally prefer straights but use circs wherever necessary.

How did you learn to knit?
Self-taught from the internet and books.

How old is your oldest UFO?
A sweater that is 8 months along. Front and back are done and I'm on sleeve number one.
Slowly slowly. It's on fairly small needles for me so it's just gonna take a while.

THE BIG DEAL IN MY LIFE TODAY
I've just ordered a laptop. My first one. Bam and I researched it online for the past week. Here's my purchase! Egads. Hope it's good. The plan is that I will be able to continue working on websites, my blog, various other internet stuff blah blah blah wherever we/I go somewhere....like home to Minnesota. That way, I can keep making moola to pay for the darn thing!

So that's been the biggest decision in my life recently!
I totally hate hate hate spending money.
More than I hate leaving my house.
he he.
I'm like this little old hermit who lives on the hill and never leaves. Orders everything online and has her food delivered and knits on the couch while snickering at the delivery boy. he he he.

Not really.
But it makes a nice n evil picture doncha think!