Tagged by Knitty McKnitKnit

4 Jobs I've Had

Chambermaid for 6 priests

KFC counter wench

QC in poultry plant

USDA microbiologist

4 Movies I Watch Over and Over

To Die For

Willy Wonka (the original)

Spongebob movie

GWTW

4 Places I Have Been

Cambridge, England

Vancouver, Canada

Amsterdam, Holland

Sydney, Australia

4 Places I Have Lived

Bedford, England

all over the place, Ireland

Ballymena, Northern Ireland

Columbia MD USA

4 TV Shows I Watch

Forensic Files

Red Dwarf

Father Ted

Trailer park boys

(I mostly watch DVDs so the writer's strike doesn't bother me a bit! Though I do think they have a point)

4 People Who E-mail Me Regularly

Aoife/Patty/Janet/Gail

4 Favorite Foods

BBQ Hula Hoops*

grilled salmon

potatoes in any format

Crunchies

* If anyone knows where I can get hulahoops in MD - LET ME KNOW

4 Places I Would Rather Be

Bed

Playing with DS (dear son - not Nintendo)

Out of debt

Borders, knitting with the girls

4 People to tag

The first 4 of you to read this :)

The quest for knitting supplies in Ireland, part 1.

When I announced to my knitting friends (hi lassies!) that I was off to Ireland for a week they all said something along the lines of "ooh think of all the great yarn you'll be able to get!" Hmm. While Ireland is known for its aran sweaters (and its Guinness, potatoes, whiskey and rock stars), quite where knitters get the supplies for these isn't too obvious. While driving in County Mayo I saw plenty of sweaters on the hoof, e.g.:

The sheep graze the land freely - and wander across the road as they please. I have never seen sheep roadkill so they can move when they want to.

But - no yarn stores. We took a detour to Foxford Woollen Mills, where Mum and I planned to get at least the makings of a sweater each. I couldn't see any wool for sale, just lots of fairly nice blankets and other woollen goods, with the occasional cone of wool located here and there as a design feature (not for sale - I checked). When I asked if they sold the wool they wove I was told they got their wool in from Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Considering the number of sheep I'd seen that day I still find that just bizarre. The shop assistant helpfully directed us to a shop in a nearby town that sold yarn and, as it was on the way, we stopped off.

I wish I'd taken a picture. As Mum said, I've more wool than that at home. The place we were directed to was an old fashioned hardware store with bolts of cloth and school uniforms and the like. And one shelf with about 10 balls of 'wool'. Half of these were in the Mayo colours, as people still handmake accessories for supporters.

I can only guess the colourblind lad who chose the team colours was too powerful for anyone to contradict.

We went home yarnless. Tune in next time to read more about my quest for Irish yarn...

While I've been away...

Can't believe it's been two weeks since I posted - here's some pictures of what I've been doing and where I've been: Mobile sweaters, Co. Mayo
Famine memorial, Co. Mayo

Celtic symbol in the Leitrim glens
My Dad and my son, in Hazelwood, Sligo.

Something cute for Mum

Going to Ireland tomorrow with DS and several handknitted items in tow (4 counts as several right? 7 considering there are 3 pairs of socks).
Here's what I made for my Mum, from the knitting-pattern-a-day calendar (I skipped ahead to Jan 31). Pink piggy with 6 thirsty piglets. The snaps serve as nipples for the momma pig, and snouts for the piglets, and that way they can hang on to her. Love it!
Pattern by Mette Buchreitz

The way I sewed the eyes, it looks like she's winking...

Babette Blanket

At the knitting guild last night I also snagged some ball-ettes of pinks in various hues for the crochet Babette blanket (pattern from Interweave Crochet) I've been stashing for, for some time now. There is a babette group on Flickr that takes your breath away (especially the pink ones!!!) - and here's the original - I saw this when Flibbertygibbet brought me to Purl Soho last summer. I wanted so much to take it off the hanger and wrap it around me-
(picture from purlbee's Flickr page)
Colours are even better in person - you can see why I wanted to yank it off the wall right? I think it might be time to go back to hooking again...

Wednesday night knitting

Last night I went along to the local knitting guild instead of to my usual perch at Lynn & Denises' Sip n Knit in Borders. Some Sip n Knit ladies had been chosen to positions of power in the Guild (Needle Beadle, Lady Kitchener) and invited us - with the promise that not only would it be the usual knitting fun, but also there was a swap, providing the opportunity to offload all the yarn, notions and patterns you were done with. I offloaded two big carrier bags full - some acrylic but also some nicer stuff - and several issues of Crochet! magazine (subscriber beware). I resisted the temptation to take a knitting book from 1982 - totally worth it for the hair and make-up... and I scored this:

pink+black+ sock yarn=happy camper.

I actually have no socks on the go right now - I'm knitting something cute for Mum, which I hope to have finished before Saturday (more when finished), and this scarf for me:

Pattern from One Skein wonders - very simple. I'll update later with the designers name. I've been knitting this on the train while commuting, and on conference calls at work :)

News flash!

As my subtitle above says, I love to write. For about a year, I spent my spare/commuting time writing a novel. I was part of the online community at thenextbigwriter.com - a great site full of other aspiring mostly unpublished writers, and while there I got great feedback on editing my book.
Unfortunately, you don't just have to write a good book, you have to get agents and publishers to notice and read it...and folks, I already have a fulltime job!
Well this evening, I got an e-mail from Amazon.com, saying


Denise,
Thank you for participating in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. We received thousands of submissions and were impressed by the incredible talent and creativity seen in the entries. We are happy to inform you that you have been selected as a semi-finalist. (edited to add - YEAHHHHH!!)

You can find your entry on Amazon.com via the following link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00126581C, and access the main contest page where all entries are located at www.amazon.com/abna

Now that you're a semi-finalist, feel free to encourage friends and family to review yours and others' entries. The three customers who provide the most high quality reviews will be qualified to win one of three customer prizes, including an Amazon kindle reader, $2000 in Amazon gift card value, and an HP photo printer. Learn more at www.amazon.com/abna

Good luck!
ABNA Admin Team

There are 836 semi-finalists out of 5000 entries (top 17%!), so I'm not giving up the day job, but it is kind of exciting. And - one of the characters is a knitter. The excerpt provided is short - would love to hear what you all think.

January gifting

Off to Ireland to see the folks this Saturday! I've managed to make 3 pairs of socks (for my 2 sisters, and my future SIL), including these lovelies, finally finished:

I didn't make socks for Mum (just before I started blogging I sent her a clapotis, so she's good!) but I picked up a couple of crafting books for her. This one is my favourite:

My sister (who's having the birthday that spurred this visit) is a huge Marilyn fan...I am trying to resist casting on for this thing for her - I have enough to do between now and Saturday (e.g. my job).

Speaking of my job, got some huge, good, unexpected news this evening as I was leaving. It never rains but it pours...more anon.

What does your ipod say about you?

Just updated my ipod, which I listen to everyday when commuting. I probably listen to books/podcasts half the time, music the rest. Here's my top 5* listened-to songs, since June 2006:

Wonderful Night - Fat Boy Slim
Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
The Shuffle - Van McCoy
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
It's Like That - Jason Nevins

Apparently I like to dance - and anything from the 70s to the 00s will do! What does your top five say about you?

*Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice, came in at number 9...a real guilty pleasure...

Socks and travel and stash

Work took me to Los Angeles last week. For me, one of the most daunting things about traveling is having to navigate my way through unfamiliar cities. Last Sunday evening LA got inches of rain, most of it falling while I was leaving the airport. Plus, my coworker P called me to say that she had somehow booked her flight for the wrong day and, basically, wouldn't be available for wingman duty. This was after I had waited in vain for my bags (which meant I held the entrance conference the next day in crumpled jeans and t-shirt, sans make-up...)

I was in no mood for further adventures, so I got a GPS. What a great toy. It got me to the hotel that night with only minor stress, and after that we used it everyday. I enjoyed getting the GPS lady all freaked out when we'd take a wrong turn ("recalculating...recalculating...")
I left my laptop at home so I could carry knitting on board (no problems going through security with it, yay). The plan was to use the business center in the hotel to update my blog and keep up with ye all...except, of course, no business center. Well, anyway, the lack of distractions in the evenings gave me the time to finish these, for my SIL-to-be:

I knitted a heart into each heel flap, with their initials. You'll have to trust me on this one though - I haven't the yoga skills to take a pic of my own ankles...Now I have to block them. Even though I was careful (I thought) not to knit too tightly, they are quite puckered looking. Fingers crossed I can get them into gift-giving shape.
GPS lady led us to a yarn store (of course) - Stitches in Time, in Bellflower. This is a cute little store, rather jumbled at the moment as they had a flood and are getting new carpet. P is not a knitter, but is very indulgent and was happy to come with me. I had said how much I like to visit yarn stores because the staff (usually the owners) are always so friendly, and every store carries different things. I could tell she was skeptical, but, as I said, she indulged me. I got sock yarn, baby clothes yarn (some pink 'n green, some yellow/green), some multicolored silk, a book on making toys (for Mum) and some beads.

So good to myself. P loved it, couldn't believe how friendly everyone was (told you!), and even bought some yarn herself...for me to knit into socks for her. What a good friend I am eh.

Random sightings

Friends and family who are warmer because of me:


Fetching and baby hats,
Socks,
scarves, and hats!
I kept the others anonymous to focus on my handiwork but I didn't crop this last picture - this hat and scarf were meant to be worn in an ancient, misty Irish forest on a winter's morning: one man and his foofy dog. (This is my newly engaged brother: He looks so happy.)

Socks are for lovers

My brother got engaged Christmas Eve, and I'll be meeting my future SIL when I go to Ireland (in 2 weeks! yay). They haven't been together long, and I don't really know anything about her. But I do know she has feet! (Saw a pic of her standing by bro). So I am making her some engagement socks:
Pattern based on one from this book. However, the socks (on the cover) are made with much thicker yarn - only 44 stitiches around, and to me the fairisle method, with the yarn floats across the back, were too visible through the white yarn suggested. So I dug thru the stash for sock yarn and found this black and red Fortissima Socka yarn. I found some knitting graph paper here, and graphed out the hearts and kisses that you can hopefully see above. Size 2.5 dpns, 64 stitches in the round. I keep stretching it out to make sure it's not too tight, I think so far so good. Any good hints for making fairisle look snug but not too tight?

No socks needed

Some pretty, sunny pictures, to warm those of us who won't need a pedicure till May...

I took these pictures New Year's Eve, in Florida. It was 67°F, and I was ready to paddle a bit but was assured by my in-laws that I'd catch pneumonia etc. Sissies :)

My Mardi gras sock

These colours remind me of Mardi Gras:

I got the first one finished right as we pulled into our neighbourhood, after all that driving...

I followed the pattern for Meida's socks, except for the first lace pattern repeat I used size 5.5

dpns, so I could fold the top over. I really like the first one, and look how nice it fitsOf course - you can't see the pattern at all because of the variegated yarn. Grr. And didn't I just say, like maybe 3 posts ago?, that I would stick to plain yarn for patterned socks in future? Hmm.