Wonderful

In the years that I've lived in my current place, I only met one set of neighbors once - that was the upstairs crew the day one of the buildings was burning and we had no power. Recently a new set of neighbors moved in next door, and I've seen them not once, but twice now.

Today, I saw them because their front door was wide open, wafting out the not-so-tantalizing aroma of processing kimchee. Ugh. My apartment smells of it, too. Hopefully my nose will go numb very soon. No offense meant to those who culturally or otherwise are very pleased by the taste/smell/whatever of this dish. I happen to love some fabulous Mexican and German dishes that smell horrible while preparing but the end product is fabulous. I just don't do the smelly part in my apartment.

I have seen the Yentala...

...and she is alive and well, just busy. She's recently gotten a job, you see. For those of you who may have worried, the Yentala would like you to know you're making her...ah, what's the word? Oh yeah, verklempt, already. :D

Just playing around

As some of my friends may know (in at least one case, to their chagrin), I recently purchased a new camera. Well, I decided to finally let the legs out on this baby, and I've been taking it around town for some photo shoots. At the very least, I can say that I need to improve my technique. :D

At any rate, the experience has inspired me to start a photoblog on my rediscovery of this wild city I live in - which blog I of course named Rediscovering Austin. Feel free to take a peek! :)

One week closer to vacation

Bad me for taking a week between entries, but in my defense, Blogger was down the times I did have a chance to sit and make an entry. Blogging from work is bad juju, baby.

I'd like to thank my Secret Pal for spoiling me once again with a very nice package:


The pattern looks similar to Debbie New's Scribble Lace technique, which I love, and the yarn is Kidsilk Haze and Bingo. Thanks again, SP5 - you've been a good one! :D

This all reminds me of course, that I have a couple pictures here that I've been meaning to share of an FO and some WIPs. On the left, the back of my cruise shawl, which I finished on 8-13-2005, made from three skeins of Starburst(?) in silver (which is the only color I've ever seen it in). The pattern is a mock Faroese using crocheted shells - written by the Tiny Diva herself (may I not be struck by lightning for resorting to using it). On the left of the right photo, a sock in Opal Rainforest - Flamingo, which sadly has been frogged as I decided it was working up a little too tightly on size 1s. To the right of that, a drop stitch shawl that I am making for Emmy for the cruise, using Trendsetter Sunshine. These photos were both taken two weeks ago - so I am a little further along on the shawl. :D

One down, one to go

Concerts, that is - the first of our two concerts for this session was last night (and I am still exhausted :) and the second will be this evening. Bach is hard work!

On projects:

Blue scarf for raffle winner (complete)

Teddy bear or SOMETHING for Jordan!!! (0% - waiting to hear from her parents)

Finish fixing the tablecloth for Lisa (25% and stalled - stitch pattern keeps coming out not quite right. Will be looking for another stitch resource book today at Yarn Barn - roadtrip!)

Baby booties and hat for Ann (commission - 0%)

Cruise shawl for Emmy (30%)

Cruise shawl for Meesha (0%)

Wedding socks for Becky

12 more pair of socks for me

The number of projects still at 0% is kind of discouraging, but they are mostly small projects, so if I get cracking I should be able to finish most in the next 30 days. Roadtrip projects for today will be the cruise shawl and the commission baby set.

What She's Working on Today

Ok, so no pictures yet. It's been a crazy mad week of rehearsals (and headaches, but that's another story, albeit related) and work.

However, I need to make this list so that I can focus on my crafting priorities:

• Blue scarf for raffle winner (40%)
• Teddy bear or SOMETHING for Jordan!!! (0%)
• Finish fixing the tablecloth for Lisa (25% and stalled - stitch pattern keeps coming out not quite right.)
• Baby booties and hat for Ann (commission - 0%)
• Cruise shawl for Emmy (25%)
• Cruise shawl for Meesha (0%)
• Wedding socks for Becky
• 12 more pair of socks for me

Jordan is a little girl from my church who suffered a stroke this week. She's still young enough that an almost complete recovery may be possible - I'm waiting to hear word back on her condition and I need to talk to her parents as to what would be the best comfort gift for her. She loved to see me in Sunday School every week (I usually lead opening) and apparently talked about it a lot during the week between Sundays - I can't NOT make her something.

The scarf should be finished before the concerts this week, and if I have a moment at home I'll be working on the tablecloth again (haven't gotten to it in the last couple weeks due to insane rehearsal schedule but I really need to get cracking :).

I think I can have the gift for Jordan and the baby set for Ann done in the next week or so, and then I also really need to get those two shawls done. Becky is getting married in 3 months - but I may have the socks done for her after she gets back from the honeymoon.

As for my socks, well... they'll get done when they get done.

One last plug for the concerts: (who am I kidding, I'll probably mention it again)

The Texas Choral Consort presents:
Bach's Christmas Oratorio
at
Hope Presbyterian Church
at 8 pm
Friday, August 19
and
Saturday, August 20
Tickets are $15 or $12 for student/senior

This post brought to you by the letters W, T, and F.

Erm. Well, there is a precedent, after all. (No pun intended. I swear.)

Ok, Tucci has to wait.

Courtesy of my friend Rachel, I give you Cheese Racing - your WTF link of the week.

A Tom Hanks kind of night

The original plan for this evening was to have a Tom Hanks movie marathon. I happen to have picked up a two-pack of TH movies: The Terminal and Catch Me If You Can. I'd seen the latter, but not the former.

A little over two hours (plus - including a 2 minute power outage in there) later, I have to say wow. Ok, there are a few technical errors (and one big plot owie), but on the whole the movie is rather good. I only knit half a sock heel while watching, it was that engrossing.

So...the plan has changed. Instead of a Tom Hanks movie night, it has become a Stanley Tucci movie night, to keep the mood going. Stanley Tucci, you say - how can he keep THAT mood going? Well, I also happen to have on DVD A Midsummer Night's Dream, also a romantic comedy (this time supplied by The Bard himself), in which our dear Mr. Tucci also plays a supporting role. Perhaps I'll get the other half of the sock heel done.

Oh, the sock? Making up the pattern as I go, using Opal Flamingo, from the Rainforest collection. If you have a distributor near you, I highly recommend picking up any or all of this collection - they are absolutely stunning in person.

Actual crafting content

Amidst the nine hours of rehearsal a week (not to mention the day job), I am pleased to note that not only have I been getting in a few minutes of knitting and crochet here and there, I've actually finished something!!

My sparkly shawl, all set for my cruise, is officially complete. I don't have a good place to photograph it yet, though -- so pics tomorrow, I think, when I have someone to help model it. :D

Drinking Local

Her Smoochness, Mary notes that we shouldDrink Local on August 10. Being that there are LOTS of fabulous wineries in Central Texas, I decided to take her up on that challenge. (Ok, I am not kidding anyone - I almost always drink local if we're talking wine... :)

So, without further ado:


This is my current collection of Texas Wines, most picked up on my tours of Texas Hill Country Wineries. If you're looking for something fun on a weekend, I definitely recommend picking out a portion of the Texas Wine Trail. In between some of these fine establishments, you'll run across great places to stop, shop, and eat. One of my favorite stops on the way to Fredericksburg is Burg's Corner. Unfortunately the website link doesn't work, but they are the purveyors of everything Texas peach related, including that (empty) jug of cider you see in the picture.

The actual wines pictured are (from left to right): Oberhof Texas Wildflower Honey Mead (my personal favorite, though not really a wine), Fall Creek White Zinfandel (haven't tried this yet), Becker Vineyards 2001 Muscat Canelli Amabile (a nice, lightly sweet wine - not as sweet as I like them usually but goes well with chicken and fish), and Twin Springs Sweet Red. The Twin Springs winery is actually owned by Fall Creek, and the label sells good inexpensive wines for taking to parties. :)

Most of these wineries are within easy driving distance of Austin, and all of them have superb tasting rooms. There are a couple wineshops in Austin that will also do tastings, but if you can't make the winetrail drive, I'd at least recommend getting to Fredericksburg -- there are two tasting shops on the main street where you can taste to your heart's content, and then buy a glass or two to drink while strolling up and down the street visiting all the shops.

I love Texas. :D

A tool for knitters everywhere...

This looks pretty darn cool. I wonder if we can convince her that circulars are the way to go? :)

The techie strikes back

Ha - fixed my computer all by myself. Of course, over a decade of techie experience might have had something to do with it, even if I don't like to admit I have that knowledge anymore. For the curious, it was the video card - the fan on said card decided to stop working and therefore the card itself failed.

Someone somewhere was talking about Drink Local (as opposed to the Eat Local campaign that has also sprung up on blogs). As soon as I get my act together, I'll post my own valiant efforts to keep it in the 'hood. :D

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Good: After a couple more hours of futzing (and no thanks to the DSL company as they still haven't called me to say a technician came out), my DSL is back up and running.

Bad: Now my desktop won't boot fully.

Ugly: I'm not sure whether it is the video card (which sometimes takes two boots to load), the motherboard (probably the reason behind the vid card issue) or the hard drive.

Good: My notebook system works just fine.

Bad: I've got a lot of data on my desktop hard drive, including a lot of pics I would hate to lose.

Ugly: I bought a backup hard drive a few months ago, but hadn't gotten around to backing up the desktop.

Good: All of my Europe trip pics are actually on the notebook hard drive.

Bad: Those aren't backed up either (but I am in the process of fixing that right now).

Ugly: Backups take a long time.

Good: I didn't really lose any current email, because I use the webmail component from my ISP.

Good: I do have a spare video card to try out on the desktop tomorrow evening.

Good: There is still a possibility of recovering all the data from the desktop hard drive in the event I cannot fix the computer.

Important to end on a few good notes, I think. Ah well, I'll sleep on it and tackle the trouble after work tomorrow.

I'm still here...

I promise I haven't disappeared into the internet ether. Actually, I just got really busy, and when I finally found the time to sit down at my computer, I found my DSL connection had gone south. So, I am still waiting for SBC to fix that little problem, but in the meantime I can dash off a quick little post from a friend's place.

I may still do the Cherry Twist pattern (grins to my SP :) -- I do happen to have a couple balls of Cork in a coordinating colorway to add a stripe if my gauge turns out to require a bit more yarn than I have in the fuchsia (perils of being an Amazon, I know). One thing is certain, I need to swatch. :D

The silver shawl is coming along nicely; I am down to about half a ball left to go (only 220 more yards, oy!). Aside from swatching the Cork, I also want to cast on a pair of socks -- just got part of the Opal Rainforest collection from a friend this week. Bad for the wallet, but so good for the soul. I also need to start one of two shawls I am gifting to a couple friends at the end of September. Oh, and it is time to start the Christmas gifts. Hm, plus Lisa's tablecloth repair... Yup, I am going to be busy for a while.

In non-knitting news, chorus practice has started up again - 9 hours a week of pure vocal terro joy. :D Actually, I love the symposia: you learn a lot of music in a short time and the performances turn out wonderfully. Insert small plug here for the Texas Choral Consort.

In other non-knitting news, I just have to say that I enjoyed the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory more than the Tim Burton remake. However, the remake is still pretty cool. Wow - until just now, I didn't realize that the original is older than I am. Impressive. In either case, the books are even better - so go read!

Hasta luego!