Knit n Things

There I was getting up at O' dark thirty to catch a train into New York City. Now mind you I don't even get up for work until almost 8 o'clock but here I was getting up at oh my god it's early to get on a train. Megan, Tracy, Gretchen and I got together on Monday morning to go see a taping of the Ellen show in Central Park.

What a day! Despite serious caffeine deficiencies we managed to get on the 7:36 express to NYC. And then Megan promptly got off the train after about an hour to go back and get the tickets. Maybe she should have gotten a bigger coffee? Megan and Tracy started what would be a three hour tour (couldn't resist sorry) back to the car to get our tickets while Gretchen and I continued on into the City. We did some shopping and had breakfast. Then headed over to the 96th street entrance of Central Park to hook back up with Megan & Tracy. We got into the line of about a zillion people and proceeded to wait - and wait - and wait - for like two hours. See, everything happens for a reason. If Megan had remembered the tickets and we had gotten into that line at 9:30 in the morning and had to stand there for five hours instead of just two it's very possible Gretchen and I would have killed her. Luv you Meg ;)

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it but I don't watch t.v. there are a couple of dramas that I do not miss but that's about it. Needless to say I've never seen Ellen's show - I don't really think I've been missing much. Ellen really is funny as hell but after her little monologue the show falls flat. Guess you could just watch the the first few minutes that's the only part that's really worth it. The rest was just kinda blah (this coming from the one who doesn't watch t.v.) However the problem may have been her guest. He blew chunks. And they played "Sexy Back" so many times I was seriously tempted to garrotte the DJ with my circs!

We did get a surprise though. Ellen announced (at 4 o'clock - after many hours standing in line and an hour plus of taping) that she was going to tape a SECOND show! Her second guest, Beyonce, kicked some serious ass! She was amazing! And if Ellen had done Beyonce first we would have left. Did you know she's only 25? It was her birthday, well I suppose technically Tuesday (the day the show will air) is her birthday but whatever - she's 25! I'm in awe.

We didn't get back to our neck of the woods until well after 9 o'clock totally exhausted. But we had a dam good time - I even finished a sock! First one all summer!

Oh and by the way I didn't forget - Blogger still won't let me upload the AC Pics. Don't know what's up with that - any ideas? In the meantime I've uploaded the pictures into my flikr account instead.

Friday night Cathi, Lea and I went on down to Atlantic City. There was knitting in the car on the way. My Trekking sock - which while it has gone to many, many hiking destinations - it has never come out of the bag. Poor thing keeps getting left in the car - at least it gets out of the house though!

We went to Wolfgang Pucks Grill to eat. BEST BURGER EVER!!! Let me tell you about fancy restaurants - the food may be AMAZING but the rest - not so much! When we made reservations we checked out the menu and found stuff to our liking (omg good burger) and made sure to ask the person on the phone about the restaurant/cafe issue and would we be able to order from both menus - "sure no problem" - moron. We're seated in the restaurant with the fancy plates & whatnot - given a menu with a bunch of fancy dishes (none of which sounded even a little yummy to me - I don't do seafood) and asked the waiter "um... what about the sandwiches, pizzas and stuff?" "Oh" says the waiter "you have to sit in the cafe for that menu" which was FIVE FEET AWAY!!" WHAT? WHY? Does five feet make that much of a difference? Ya know what he said to me? He said "yea I asked them about that when I got hired, I told them it was a dumb idea - and I'll tell them again when I quit!" Ha! Guess Wolfy's aint the best place to work - but did I mention that I had the best burger of my entire life?? Yea go there - get a burger - to go.

Did a bit of gambling - Cathi won money! Exactly how much is unclear. She had 35 dollars in the "winnings" pocket. All winnings must go in this pocket not to be touched. I think this is a great idea - however this is before I realize she keeps pulling money from her purse to keep gambling. Why this makes sense I have no idea - I suppose it's nicer to go home thinking - hey I won 35 bucks! Then "Crap I lost 50." No matter how much money came out of the purse - it was "I won 35 bucks!!" all night. Luv you Cathi!! Me - gambling makes me ill so I don't really do it. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to AC in my lifetime - and 2 of the 3 were in the last two months isn't that odd? I did manage to slip 5 bucks into a slot machine and got back 10 so I did good - it's not as much fun anymore though because there is NO MONEY! What the hell is up with that? I want a bucket full of quarters not some stupid ticket!!!

So the reason we went to AC?? Other than a girls night on the town of course -we went to see the Foo Fighters concert at the Borgata. Now when I got asked to go to this concert I said sure I know some of their stuff - couldn't for the life of me think of one single song they did - not one. Get to the concert - turns out I knew pretty much all of it - which of course makes it a much better show! That just goes to show you the said state of radio today - I LUV this band - if I had know that it was them doing all these songs that I really dig I would totally have at least one of their albums. Ah well - at least I'll be getting some of their stuff into my collection now. Oh and check out how close we were! Cathi & Lea - you guys ROCK thanks so much for taking me!!

**I have lots of pictures to go with this post - but blogger isn't cooperating so I'll edit it later to add them.

I learned something cool yesterday. Kumihimo the Japanese art of braiding. It dates all the way back to the 7th and 8th centuries and was used for all kinds of things including lacing together traditional armour! It's just so neat to learn things that date back hundreds of years!

First - pick out some colors, we're using simple embrodery floss nothing fancy at all. Note the Japanese instructions. Without someone to hold my hand I'd have never figured it out!

Then you set up your marudai - I have mad respect for the person who initally developed this method of braiding.

My little braid is starting to show!
Wa-la a finished anklet (or two) Mom made the one on the right. Just what I needed - a new addictive hobby!! Love it it's so much fun!!

Like any good worker bee I spend a good chunk of my day surfing the Internet. I guess the network administrators found fault with that cuz I got a "page unavailable" for 4 different sites that I could get onto just this morning. Dam that sucks – what am I going to do all day?!?! Do they actually expect me to work? The horrors!!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there hasn’t been much knitting going on. I will not become the gazzillionith knit-blogger to complain about the heat. We all know it’s hot and while I’d like to blame the lack of wooley pursuits to the heat – well that’s just not the case. It’s never really been my habit to play with yarn in the summer. I’ve been a crocheting for one baby or another constantly for the last ten years (the past year & change with NO babies has been very strange – like they’re waiting for me to become a better knitter because they don’t want me to crochet for them). If the baby was due in the summer I always made sure to finish whatever I happened to be making early because I don’t sit still long enough to a project in the summer.

This summer hasn’t been an exception – I tried really I did. Back in June I started three different pairs of socks to be sure I had something on the needles. I like making socks, socks are small and fast and the yarn isn’t heavy and won’t be sticky. Alas I’ve not finished one. Not even a single lonely sock. I carry around my socks & take them out to the park. I go for a Trek probably once a week but the sock never makes it out of the bag. I tried working on my lace. The lace is light and airy and beautiful, the pattern intriguing and challenging. I loaded a book onto the iPod – my two favorite things! Nope – I feel like I’m being cheated (funny how in the fall/winter audio books are just fine.) I want to READ the book. Hold it in my hands, smell the pages, hear them crinkle as I turn.

Oh well. Fall is just around the corner. Until then – the only knitting that’s amusing me must be finished almost as soon as I pick it up. So – you guessed it! I made some washcloths.

First I must apologize for the not so great quality of these photos. I haven't been able to get photoshop to work since the crash. I wanted to share a couple of photos of the wedding anyway. First up we have my very swanky hairdo. First time I've ever had an updo that mother didn't complain about. And dontcha just love the tacky Hawaian shirt!! I must say it went very well with the do - I looked so fab running into to CVS.

But hey with a mug like this I probably look just fab going anywhere! What do you think of the dress? Can you say OVEN?? For what I paid for this dress it totally should have come with central air. And doesn't Mom look fab there in the backround? Do you think I've got a nice pic of the two of us? One of me and the groom? One of me not pulling a goofy face? Not.


Laurie looked beautiful. Her dress was amazing and she positivley glowed. She says often that she knew when they met (in the fifth grade) that she would marry my brother. To see the happiness on her face when it finally happened was amazing. I wish them many many happy years together.