Blue skies

I'm definitely getting spoiled - in a way I would love to continue to be spoiled - with the gorgeous weather lately.Yesterday was my birthday, and it's the first one in a long time when there was no rain. It was a fabulous birthday present! And - may I say - I was so touched and buoyed by your birthday greetings on ravelry, facebook and twitter. Thank you all! It was a Good Day.

This was my big gift. I love that the inside is so high tech,

and the outside is so vintage.

This is the new Kindle Touch and the e-ink is incredibly cool. Since I love books and the printed page, I held out for quite some time. I've always had a huge collection of books and I couldn't stand the thought of losing the smell and feel of them! But I have to say that the convenience of the size is what finally won me over. And when I found out that the e-ink is actually little particles of ink, well. I couldn't resist. I may have dropped some (very broad) hints. I know the Fire is what Amazon is really pushing right now, but I passed on it and I'm so thrilled to have my e-ink instead! I spent some serious time just looking at the gorgeous photos of typewriters, pens and printing implements that serve for the cover page when the Kindle is turned off. If I were a black and white photographer, I would put together a portfolio for Kindle. It's that beautiful.

After opening my gifty, I headed over to knitting group where they sang me happy birthday. I wish I could have gotten my video camera (erm, iPhone) out soon enough to catch A's stunning performance, but alas, I was too late. It is burned into my memory though. :) My three boys picked me up for lunch and we had a lovely one at a local cafe. Later on, we all saw The Muppets (fabulous!!!) and went out to eat Ethiopian food. It was the boys' first Ethiopian and #1 Son was dubious as always. The Bear was entranced by all the lentils, though - his favorite. They both ended up absolutely loving it, and - as the portions were humongous - we stuffed ourselves and still took home as much as we ate. I did point out that - so very sadly - an Ethiopian family could probably live a month on the amount of food we ate. After dinner, we were treated to traditional Ethiopian coffee, and we could smell it roasting in the back as we were finishing our last bites. All I have is a poor iPhone photo, but this is how it was served, with incense burning.

I loved the top of the coffee urn, and was happy not to worry that it would fall out when I poured.

The coffee was the absolute best I have ever had. Truly. The waiter/owner told us the chef roasted cardamom with the beans. It was very strong, but had no bitterness or aftertaste, and didn't need to be sweetened. I would go back just for the coffee, even if the food weren't so amazing.

When we arrived home, I found a little parcel from France on the doorstep. I opened it and was reminded why I no longer use the iPhone app to order from Amazon.

For those who don't recognize it, this is "Singin' in the Rain." In French. But in the Amazon app, this information (language) is not important enough to put on the front screen; it was buried. Too funny. And too bad that international DVDs won't play on US players. I think this would be fun to watch. I might try it anyway. Heehee.

Next is some catch-up from my period of anonymity. At Stitches West this year, Miss Babs gave me some of her gorgeous yarn in Terra Cotta.

But while digging around in stash a couple of months ago, I wanted something to go with it for a two color project, so off I went to check around her site for a willing partner. I fixated on Plum, and she and her assistant kindly looked at the two colors together and confirmed that Plum is, indeed, a good mate. It is stunning by itself.

And don't they look happy together?

I've also been working on some lined cuffs to go in the pattern with my Poinsettia hat.

Just a simple little project to use up a skein of yarn and some left-overs.

And it shows a pretty little ruffle at the cuff of your jacket.

I'm quite enamored. And the pattern should be out very soon.

Last, I saw some great Melpomene FOs on Ravelry and wanted to share. This one is from Ali. She blocked the edge into rounded scallops instead of flat across the bottom of each scalloped bit.

Great color! And the following one is from Justine. I love the way the stitch pattern pops in this yarn (Tosh). Justine's is blocked with rounded scallops too. It's so cool how a different blocking method can change the whole look, isn't it?

I love looking at the different yarns and colors everyone is using, so I've decided I'd like to start featuring FO pics on my blog. If I use your photograph and you don't want me to, please just send me an email requesting that I take it down and I will gladly fix it post haste! Also, if you want to share your FO, please email me a little linky to your Ravelry project page. I will not use people's faces without permission.

It's amazing. For so many months, I've felt that I have nothing to say at all. Now I can't seem to shut up. I didn't realize I was so stressed. Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Drive by blogging

Today was a good micro blogging day, considering the paucity of free time when one is dealing with:

- a dead water heater that is pouring water into the wall and then all over the garage,

- a cat that misses the litter box (a social statement?) then knocks one's laptop computer upside down onto the tile floor,

- an attitudinal pre-teen,

- a cold,

- 3 hours of sleep (see cold above),

- the necessity of working very late to finish work not done today while draining the hot water heater and mopping up the garage.

There's a swim meet this weekend. I'm happy to report that it's indoors.

We have no hot water. Just thought I'd mention that.

On the other hand? It's really nice to have the luxury to complain about such comparatively trifling things, and I'm finding I have a difficult time staying cranky. I think that's a good thing. :)

I just finished the audio book version of The Three Musketeers. Freakin' awesome.

Have a great weekend!

Better late than never

7 Small Shawls: T - 25 days and counting down.

Our little Japanese Maple has finally decided to show her colors. And she is beautiful!

Looking out the front, there is a glow of color like a stained glass window.

I caught these pictures right after it rained.

And right before we munched a bunch of taffy from my birthday last week. Yum!

Mmmmmmm. Green. Ends need to be woven in. Blockage needs to happen. (Can you tell that it's late and my mind is wandering?)

As I was finishing up this latest Small Shawl, a thought struck me. Most people (read: my test knitters) are not insane workaholics. I seem to thrive on working until all hours of the night, and I honestly love what I do. But other people? Well, they have lives that perhaps don't involve knitting all the time time. What I'm saying here is that, while I am determined to finish up the rest of my small shawls by the end of the year, there is no way on Earth that my test knitters are going to be able to test them properly by the end of the year. And I don't want to release a pattern that isn't ready, so I'm not going to rush it. This has been going through my mind for a bit, but I thought it was probably a good idea to say something about it, eh?

Onward to the family report....

Younger kiddo: getting over flu (can't get flu shot because of egg allergy)

Older kiddo: recently came down with cold

Mr. Romi: recovering slowly from creeping crud

Kitteh: fixed, vaccinated, ears cleaned

Me: not willing to get sick at the moment

Be well! I'm off to bed. :)

:(

7 Small Shawls: T - 56 days and counting down.

I spent several hours with my baby (I can still call him that - he's only 7) at the doctor's today. He truly couldn't breathe. He needed two albuterol breathing treatments before his lungs were clear enough to tell if it was pneumonia or not. (It's not). And can I tell you how wonderful it was to see pink color come back into his face? And how horrifically selfish and ugly I felt having hoped that he wouldn't quite be over his cold so I wouldn't have to go to a swim meet this weekend? Ugh.

But he seems to be fine now: sleeping peacefully and without fever. And breathing, which is most important. Whew.

My brain is feeling random today, so beware of disjointed factoids.

1. I bought two pairs of rain boots at my very favorite online store, Sierra Trading Post,

in hopes that they would prevent this weekend's swim meet from being rainy.

So far, I think it's working, although I also think I'm probably staying home with Bear.

2. I finished listening to The 19th Wife audiobook. I'm torn about this book. At first, I thought it was largely true, but as far as I can tell after reading more about it, it's mostly fiction. I feel almost betrayed by some of the unnecessary fabrication having to do with real historical figures. Isn't the actual history interesting enough?

3. I am freaking out about finishing up my 7 Small Shawls, but I am absolutely and completely determined that they will be done by the end of the year. Maybe not all test knitted, but they will be designed and knitted by me. Yes, they will.

4. I have a lot to do this weekend.

I voted

Did you?

Hey. How 'bout them GIANTS?!?!?!?! Woohoooooooooooooooooooooooo!

There was much joy in Mudville. ;)

Halloween

#1 Son's pumpkin got in a fight.

Possibly with The Bear's pumpkin.

Mom's pumpkin was just sick of the whole thing.

Hope your pumpkins are all enjoying the day!

Oh! Hey! Did you know that Elektra is out? Enjoy! :)

Photo Safari - Lite Edition

7 Small Shawls: T - 121 days and counting down.

I often forget what's right over the hill from me, and have to remind myself to stop and take a look around. So I took the camera out and tried to capture a particularly lovely day to share with you.

Under a Tuscan Dry Creek Valley sun.

The grapes are finally ripening after a long cool summer and we're seeing some hauling trucks for the beginning of harvest.

I love where I live. :)

Oh. And the super glue? It completely wore off! Whew. :)

Taking the evening off

7 Small Shawls: T - 183 days and counting down.

It's been a long week.

It's going to be a long weekend. I'm taking the evening off.

Saturday morning I'm going to my knitting group. Yay!!! And Sunday, I'll get a little respite - a couple of July 4th parties that I'm really looking forward to. Otherwise, I'll be working on my secret project, 3 big wholesale shawl pin orders, a couple of wholesale pattern orders, and my next club shipment. No wonder my house is a disaster area! Now that I've written it down, I'm not feeling as guilty as I was....

Have a great weekend, everyone!!!

Friday Wrap-up

Today, I went into San Francisco to pick up my aunt's clothing (sadly MIA: a pair of socks and a shawl I knit for her) and her ashes. Lisa says that ashes are surprisingly heavy, but my aunt was so tiny when she passed that hers hardly weighed anything at all. I'm glad my husband wouldn't let me go alone today. We all went, and on the way back stopped in the town where I grew up for lunch. It was a very strange day. I felt like Haley Joel Osment: "I see dead people."

I was exhausted when we returned home, so I did the best thing for exhaustion. I took a nap. And then I spun.

And then I went for a walk. I feel almost human again!

I am, in fact, feeling human enough to be lusting after Connie's lovely lovely sweater Alexandria (although not in pink - not for me).

(Photos © Parikha and Hemal Mehta and used with Connie's permission)

I feel foolishly proprietary about Connie; before her first design came out in Knitter's, she posted to a list I was on at the time saying that she was excited. She was so sweet about it that I watched out for her, curious to see what she had designed. And truly? She completely blew me away. I knew when I saw that sweater (Auburn Mist) that she was really really special. And, I'm happy to say, everyone else knew too. :) Have you seen the project she was recently part of? On Jared's blog? Now there's another very very special person, who is also incredibly kind and unassumingly nice. And his model is another of my favorite people.

Not much of a wrap up, I know, but it will have to do for today! My brain is a little fried, and tomorrow is the Swim-a-Thon. I want to thank those of you who sponsored my boys; that was so very kind of you! It will help the team a great deal.

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm off to do a bit of pattern writing so my testers can commence testing!

Valediction

Be forewarned. This is a very uncharacteristically personal post.

Last Saturday, my Aunt Beverly passed away after a very long, very very hard life. She waited for me to come to her on Friday, and on Saturday morning, before anyone was up and about their business, she left quietly.

I find myself not really knowing what to write, but needing to write something. She was the end of an era: the eldest and last of three siblings. My uncle died in 2003, my mother in 2005. They were raised by my grandmother, who, when she raised me, could be equally loving and cruel. She had mellowed quite a bit, but she was still insane. My aunt eloped at 16, running away from beatings at home to a man who was even more vicious. She sank into alcoholism and despair, ending up on the streets, homeless. In the haze of her life, she survived shock treatments in mental institutions, beatings that left her bloody and bruised, and lord only knows what else. My grandmother never told me the whole of her story, but by the time I knew her, she was a broken person.

Although she was the most obvious of the victims, my mother, the baby, and her brother suffered too. My Uncle Laddie lied about his age and joined the Navy at 17, hating it, but taking the only way out. He fought alcoholism for the rest of his life. My mother stayed with my grandmother, then married my father at 21, later divorcing him when I was barely two. She begged my grandmother to let her come home, and then never escaped again. My grandmother raised me as if I were my mother's sister. My mother was an alcoholic, albeit executive level and high functioning, for as long as I can remember. She died of liver failure in 2005, outliving her mother only four years.


Why? That's what I've been asking myself. I look at a picture of the three of them as children with their whole lives ahead of them and wonder how they could get up every morning and make the same decisions. Every day. Day after day. It breaks my heart. None of the three siblings could ever forget their mother and move on with living their lives. I think they always felt powerless: caught by fate.

I am feeling strange these days, like someone without a history. Questions come up and I want to call my mother and ask her, but she's gone. As an only child who grew up without any extended family, the death of my aunt has left me feeling lost, as though the last link to my childhood is gone.

Why am I telling you this? I've been going back and forth about posting it. I often write personal things and then delete them before hitting "publish." I guess, in the end, I just needed to say it.

I may yet delete it.

Happy Friday!

First things first? Remember my give-away connected with the Pins & Lace Club? It's honeybee33 for the win! She was randomly chosen through the random.org website. She wins six lacy patterns from Designs by Romi: three socks, two scarves and one shawl. Many thanks to all of those who entered! There will be others, so stay tuned!

I have a little special for you all this week!

Through Wednesday, October 14th, take 15% off my copper swirl clip, item # el_75! Just enter CLIPPY at checkout.

It's been a crazy week, and I have a ton of pictures to share but I don't know when I'll get them uploaded. This weekend is a swim meet and both kids are swimming, so not much else gets done! We're still trying to get the local pool re-opened soon. It's been a real uphill battle. Here's the story according to the local newspaper. To understand more of the story, you need to read the comments as well. The whole thing was political and the City has been very resistant to offers of help from interested swimmers. But we're still fighting!

And here's a cool article to read about Vitamin D. I was diagnosed with a Vit D deficiency and have been taking mega doses for three months. I thought it was depression, because I could barely drag myself up the stairs or out of bed. It was horrible. But now I feel almost human again!

Extraordinary

Thanks to my friend Carol for sending me this...it is absolutely stunning.

My Week

Don't forget that my Sneaky Sale is still on!!!

I have to say, I think I'm way better at micro-blogging on Twitter than I am at blogging here, so here's a micro round-up of last week.

1. Oh, hai! Mercury is retrograde.
2. "Fair" is something that happens once a year in the county.
3. Tires are 4 times more expensive than they were, but I'm still making the same amount of money. :sigh:
4. "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to sing in the rain." I knew there was a reason I loved that movie.
5. Bunnies don't like green bell pepper or zucchini.
6. Bunnies love cilantro.
7. There are some very very interesting people living in my area.
8. Dreaming that a secret project is felted and full of moth holes is almost as scary as a "being chased by monsters" dream.
9. Bike riding makes everything better.
10. So do bunny kisses and little kid hugs.
11. My younger son can make me laugh so hard my stomach hurts.
12. That was an especially good thing this week.
13. Some people make up their minds without looking at the facts, and then get annoyed that they are being bothered with said facts.
14. I will never understand this.
15. There are things you just can't push. You just do your part and then let them happen when they will.
16. The control freak side of me can't abide that.
17. My older son is an even bigger control freak than I am.
18. I am very very contrary.
19. I get my feelings hurt and feel rejected even though I know I shouldn't take most things personally.
20. Curried elk is tasty.

Amazing

This is mind blowing, although not in the least knitting related. Wow!

Love this!

I was reading the Daily Om (Scout got me turned on to this!) and this caught my eye:

FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real

I love it!

In other news, The Consumer Product Safety Commission has exempted yarn and fabric from the CPSIA. This act still boggles my mind. And I have to wonder if it will end up doing anything at all, since the government has no money to enforce it.

Happy Independence Day, USA!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - from the Declaration of Independence

Is my tattoo showing?

No really. It is, isn't it?

So you know how everyone says things come in threes? Heh.

1. A couple of weeks ago, a guy contacted me by email to inquire about purchasing my pins wholesale. He said he was in the UK and wanted to sell in his European shops. So I told him my terms and the total, and he said he would send a cashier's check. Okay then. He called the next day, which happened to be Saturday. He did not sound British. His accent was definitely a US accent, but still there are many ex-pats in the UK, so I just thought he was a little odd. Then came the email. He said he had had a client of his who owed him money send a cashier's check from Chicago for $[insert ridiculous amount of money] and I was to cash it and send the remainder to his secretary in Florida to purchase textiles. And I could keep an extra $50 for my troubles. Right. And did I tell you before that I am really a Nigerian princess in disguise? Of course, at that point, I knew it was a scam. But I received the check that very day. Thinking someone might be interested in trying to catch this guy, I played along and asked him what he wanted me to do with the excess money. He gave me instructions to send it via Western Union and then he sent the addresses of two Western Union outlets in my area. He was obviously prepared. So I called the FBI's internet division and told them the story. They didn't care. It was an amount under $50,000. It didn't matter that this guy was probably doing the same thing to dozens of other people. It didn't matter that I had a forged cashier's check in my hands, or that he had given me instructions. They just didn't give a hoot. So I called the bank on the cashier's check. They didn't care either. At this point, I took said check down to my local bank. I showed it to the manager and said it was of dubious origin. She took one look and said she thought it was fake. So she called the other bank. They were rude. They said unless they knew what branch the check was drawn on, they couldn't trace it. And then they said it wasn't their problem. So she called the processor named on the check. They didn't care either.

But really, it did set me straight about one thing. I no longer wonder how people get away with all of the scams that seem to be floating around these days. Truly. No one cares. Except for the victim.

2. Yesterday, a woman called from a "production company" and let me know that her company was putting together a "gift suite" for the MTV Awards. She thought my product would be great. Hunh?! All I had to do was give them at least 70 pins and be there to meet and greet all of the celebrities that are just waiting to put on their new...shawl pins. Hee. Because really, Beyoncé needs one, don'tcha think? ;)

3. Then there is the worst one. We have had the same web host for about 11 years now. We thought we had a great relationship with them and we steered tons of business to them. Well, it now seems that they have been systematically over-charging us. And probably many many others. Here's how they did it. When we signed up, hosting a website cost a lot more than it does now. And came with a lot less storage space. So we signed up for the package that gave us what we needed. Over the years, we have accumulated more websites, for a total of four with them. Also, over the years, unbeknownst to us, they lowered their prices to be more competitive. But they did it in a super sneaky way. Instead of lowering prices on their plans, they apparently increased the amount of storage and traffic that each plan includes. Several times. Without saying a word about it. (I love the Wayback Machine). So instead of letting people pay for what they use and reducing charges, they charged us for services we weren't using and didn't even know we had. Pretty clever, eh? I figure that just over the past three years, they have overcharged us more than $3,000 for something we have never even come close to using. When we were talking to the tech guy about reducing costs, the first thing he said was "why on Earth are you on this plan?!" He changed it all and guess how much our bill went down? $100 per month. Yeah. I am feeling a little sick. :P

On the lighter side, the Faroese Muir is progressing! I can never get over the fact that so much knitting can fit in so small a space:

Amazing, no? :)

Have a great weekend! And watch out for scams, ya hear?!

A peek in my backyard

First of all, thank you for all of your great comments! I guess I wasn't the only one who needed a little "umph" to get through Monday! :) And, btw, I think I am going to add Haloscan to my blog so I can actually respond to everyone! Stand by.... Has anyone had any bad experiences with Haloscan commenting? How about when you installed it? Did you lose any previous comments?

And now for the little peek. :) We have wisteria:

the smell is intoxicating!

and apple blossoms:


and cascades of little yellow roses.


:happysigh: I love spring. :)

What's that White Stuff?!

The other morning, the smallest member of the household came running in to my bedroom yelling about snow! And what do you know? Here's the view down the street. See the white stuff behind the houses? Real, honest snow.

We do sometimes get snow in the hills around here (you can't really call them proper mountains), but this is super super low. I like the effect with the palm tree, don't you? ;)

The snowline must have been down around 500 feet or so.

Many of you from snowy areas are no doubt thinking that this is no big deal. Let me assure you that it does not often happen! I think it was two years ago, though, that there was enough snow up in the hills to play and make snowmen. Which we did. :) But this stuff was completely gone by noon.

And I am very very touched. Bonnie and Cheryl have honored me with a "You Make my Day Award" and in the process have made *my* day! Cheryl tried to sneak it by me, but I caught on to her. ;) Thank you so much! I have already passed it on before, so instead of naming more blogs this time I will just tell you how much I really enjoy all of the blogs I read! And through the really crazy time I've had the past year, I have sorely missed you all when I haven't had time to catch up on the latest! You all rock. :)

Snow? Who needs snow?!

Or what we do at the lower elevations in California when we get the urge to slide around.







Seen on Christmas at the end of my street. Hee. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Whatever-you-Celebrate!