I am truly a knitting goddess!

OH MY GOD! I totally GOT intarsia. Ok, it's not the stranding a million colors across the back intarsia, but I made a little square with a funky shape in the middle of it and IT WORKED! It's so flippin' cool I just couldn't hardly stand myself. I also FOUND MY CAMERA in a BOX!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!! Battery's dead, so I'm charging and LOOK OUT photobucket, pics are a-coming! I went and watched the help video at KnittingHelp.com and that was all she wrote, baby! There's NOTHING we women can't do with pointy sticks and fiber!

Has the Studio totally gone insane? OH OH OH I'm gonna be spending some serious time at 47th Street this summer! FREE HOUR CLASSES to brush up on your skills including: ribbings, cables, increases, decreases, gauge, creative cast-ons, picking up stitches, simple seams, etc. I'm also doing a class to learn how to line a felted bag and sew a zipper. PLUS they have this cool "Flash your stash" deal on Sunday, June 25 where you can set up tables and SWITCH, TRADE, BUY and SELL your stash with everyone elses!!! Go to the studio's site and check it out. You won't be sorry. They also got in more malabrigo, you know you wanna....go for it, you have GOT to try to this yummy yarn!

Weekend was the lake! BOTH lake places, going back & forth between mom & dad's lake house and Jeff's dad's lake house at the Ozarks. TOO much fun, kids were in the water almost the entire day and evenings until I forced them out. I swear I almost didn't recognize my kids. Joey was doing running cannonballs off the dock and Beth was flopping around with the fishes and turtles (and snakes though they didn't know it at the time, ick!--there was a family of black water snakes hatching & swimming around the other side of the dock ICK ICK ICK!). My wimpy little not-touching-anything-icky-that-water-smells-like-dead-fish kids turned into lake rats! I love it. You know, life is just nicer at the lake. Everyone's got their beer bellies hanging out in the sun, a beer in one hand, floating along and waving at each other. Sea doos, boats, tubing, family, it doesn't get much better than that.

I'm going to teach myself intarsia

I think I may have lost my mind, but I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it without having a million ends to darn in as well. I have an idea of the ULTIMATE MUST-HAVE FASHIONISTA accessory felted bag in my mind and have bought the yarn, and even some expensive beads (what is this $1/inch crap? I gotta get myself to the CRAFT STORE next time) and I'm gonna do it. I think I'll check out the KnittingHelp.com site for my favorite online teacher video and just DO IT dammit.

I know I have stated I'd rather poke needles in my eyes than learn intarsia but there's just too much cute stuff I've got to make. wish me luck. No I didn't finish everything else I was supposed to, it's 90 degrees and humid as hell so I felt like buying 100% wool! You gotta problem with that? All right then. PLUSSSSSSSSSS it's Malabrigo. yummmmmmmmmy yarn no less!

Knitter's thumb is better now that I put the sz 2's away for a bit and am giving it a rest. Maybe I'll do a test patch and felt the crap out of it and call it a coaster. Yes, that's what I'm gonna do. wish me luck!

He didn't get the job. :(

Well,

We got the call that the big ol' company that Jeff flew out to interview with decided not to offer him the job. I felt so bad for him. Of course, he heard the news 30 min's before I came home bouncing with joy over the whole Hawaii thing, so he didn't tell me until later so I'd still be all happy. I told him there's a reason for everything. Look what a fluke it was that he and I even met. We had to have all these weird things fall into place and the planets aligned just so for it to happen and it's just what both of us needed. He's got another interview next week scheduled and we'll get serious about getting that ol' resume out there again, but it still sucks. One good part of not getting the job is he would've had to travel A LOT and that would've gotten old fast. Of course, when he was traveling I could have been QUEEN OF THE THERMOSTAT and crank the air conditioning (HAH) but that doesn't make up for not having my honey around. OK, it's only 80 degrees and not yet too humid when I write this....if it were 90+ and sticky, I may not be so lovable--I'm a cranky biotch when I get hot and sweaty, it's not pleasant.

I started on the cute envelope holder for my shawl for Jill, but ended up giving myself knitter's thumb. My right thumb wasn't able to grasp onto anything, I was like an anti-evolutionary ape, couldn't hold a cup of diet coke or anything in my right hand, so had to NOT KNIT for almost a whole day. I never realized how damn often I've got needles in my hand. I waited in the drive thru and had NOTHING TO DO WITH MY HANDS...I sat with Joey while he ate lunch and had NOTHING TO DO WITH MY HANDS...waiting in line in the car to pick up Beth after school....NOTHING, after my kids and my cousin's kids were sleeping while I was babysitting watching TV with NOTHING I couldn't stand it any longer, got out the yarn and little sz 2 needles and DID IT ANYWAY! I had to move my thumb in all these weird directions to keep from dropping the yarn, but was using circs, which made things easier to pick up when I did. Somehow this wrangling around of the thumb made things better and I'M BACK BABY!!! (you must scream that part as George from Seinfeld in your head to get the proper feeling here.)

I'm now able to hold my diet coke this morning (glory of glories) but still have to watch how I move it around as every so often I get this weird stab of pain. Probably not good, but it's working. How weird is that that I was feeling all discombobulated and antsy without my knitting. What an addict! I couldn't even think straight without my hands doing their thing. Ah well, just think about this.....KNITTING on the beach in HAWAII! woo hoo! Ok, so I'm as obnoxious as a 3 yr old child on the same topic, but WOO HOO anyway! How good would one of those cool foulards be on my trip for me to tote around and whip out in the air conditioned chill of the hotel from the heat of the beach? Yup, I'm making a big size for me as soon as I'm done with Jill's. Maybe Beth needs a small one as well? Yes, I think she does. Poor Joey, boys get screwed on the whole knitting thing. I'm going to whip him up some of the hacky-sacks from the Mason-Dixon book so he gets something too. He's learning to juggle, and could probably use those for that.

I know Aloha means hello and goodbye, but how do you say HOLY COW in Hawaiian?

GUESS WHAT Joey got in a box delivered from UPS this afternoon???? go ahead, GUESS! WELL.......it was a big box from the Children's Wish Foundation International. I cut the tape, Joey opened the flaps of the box and a big ol' silvery balloon floated up in the air! It was attached to a beanie baby bear called Lanai and had a Hawaiian poem in it along with a letter saying Joey's wish was approved!!! How cool is that? Forget a boring old letter, NO they send a BALOON! very cool! We get to give them info about Joey and ideas of fun things to do, but they're taking care of EVERYTHING for us! They try to give kids with rough diseases a time to treasure that they can remember forever. (my son has Cystic Fibrosis--a genetic lung & digestive disease and he was referred by Children's Mercy) I am so excited I can't see straight. The kids are having a BLAST just thinking up things to do.

So far on our list of hopefuls is a helicopter ride over a volcano, playing on the beach, surfing lessons, metal detector treasure hunting on the beach, swimming with the dolphins (in an aquarium, not out in the wild in the middle of the ocean--too intense for my kids), riding the sugar cane train, the Drums of the Pacific Luau with fire dancers (Joey's in total awe of those fire eating and dancing guys, maybe he can meet one of them) and I'm checking out which resorts are the most family-friendly.

Went to the library to check out a few books on the islands and think that Maui looks the best for us, but don't really know yet. I also grabbed a few knitting books. The library at 95th and I-35 (Oak Park branch) has a HUGE selection of new knitting books, I was very impressed! Finished the medium foulard (from Morehouse Farm Merino Knits book) out of koigu...mmmmmmm...koigu.... for Jill, but haven't sewn in ends yet. HOW do you weave in ends when your knitting is all lacey and holey? I'm gonna work on that tomorrow. I've already cast on for the cute envelope case and am going to town. Pictures as soon as I find the camera! I'm SO making one of those puppies for myself too! Went to the Studio and met Miss Amanda (HI!) and got her hooked on my favoritious yarn ever, the MALABRIGO! She's going on the wild ride of felting....can't wait to see her get hooked! I tried to be good, but then had too much time to kill as Joey was playing with the owner's boy and I had all that TIME to look around. Picked up some unbelievably COOL shell/bead things and some cascade to make a cute purse. Like I need another felted bag! Ah well.

Then I realized, BEACH....SWIMSUIT...BUTT WHITE READHEAD (chubby tan people blend in. Chubby WHITE pale people stand out like there's a spotlight on us, we can't hide) so it's back to Jazzercise I go! Reese, when are you teaching??? I have had a nice start (remember the horrible tummy trouble of a few weeks ago?) I am still about 10 lbs lighter than I was and am fitting into clothes from over 2 years ago. Now I'm getting SERIOUS!

Actual knitting content

Well, since I still haven't figured out which box of crap my camera is in, I'm stuck scanning portions of my knitting. I've got about 2 inches past the join on the somewhat cowl, am LOVING this sweater. I'm going to put it onto waste yarn and try it on and hope it fits. It looks good enough when I hold it up to myself. Time will tell.

Here's a scan of the COOLEST fun shawl I'm making for my best friend Jill. I'm using KOIGU and loving the heck out of it. I'm using the pattern for the foulard with case pattern from the Morehouse Farm Merino Knits (my new VERY favorite book)and OH MY GOD it's the coolest thing. I'm making one for me too!


Ok, now for the color. Story provided by my dear friend Russell. Russell went home to his little town in Arkansas last weekend and was talking with his little nephew who goes to preschool. I think the kid's about 4. He got in trouble at school by saying "I'm gonna snap a knot in your butt" to this little boy that was bugging him. (said with a BIG ASS ARKANSAS twang) this is what his grandpa said whenever the boy needed a pop on the butt. He, understandably, got in trouble for saying "butt." So what did he say the next time the kid was bugging him? "I'm gonna kick your ass!" OMG I laughed and laughed. He said "teacher said I couldn't say butt so I didn't." HAH!

PS-->a few more finger crossings please, Jeff's out in NJ interviewing with the big boys for this company that may hire him. He'll get to still live in KC (whew) but will travel about 30-50% of the time. Just think of the frequent flyer miles....Hawaii anyone?

what a weekend!

WOW, let's see, where to start...

Friday, Joey learned to ride his bike without training wheels. I'd given up entirely as every time I try to get him going along with me hunched over holding on the back and panting he is all crying and scared to death. I've never let either of my children fall, but they are sure they're going to DIE a horrible death if I let go of the back of their damn bikes. I take Elizabeth out to pick up some KFC for dinner, come home and see this kid riding down the middle of the street and realize it's MY KID going to town. Jeff's walking along beside him, I swear you'd never know the kid just learned. He's on that bike every moment he gets now. YEAH! Beth suffered one of those "got to get out of something" headache/tummy ache things that night, so I told her she'd get on her bike Sat. one way or another. Repeat of the sobbing "poor me" child and then she just got going and said "Mom, this is no big deal." cripes. Now they're both riding all over the playground near Jeff's house, but sidewalks and turning left are still not in their bike repetoire. Soon.

Sat & Sun Jeff built the frame for a screened-in porch part of the back porch. It's amazing and I am going to LOVE it! We have a very pretty yard and I just love the idea of sitting out there with NO BUGS eating me! We basically rode the bikes forever, then went to my cousin's daughter's 2 yr bday party. We celebrated 3 birthdays there that day as other family came in. My favorite part of the party was when the little girl's grandma picked her up to see her cake. She leaned in close like she wanted to see it and then stuck out her tongue and LICKED the cake with a sly smile. LOVE that child! HAH! Kids all had a BLAST blowing bubbles and running around in the backyard while I sat in the sun and chatted and knitted.

Mothers Day dawned without be being awakened to see it! WOO HOO! My kids let me sleep in till 8:30 and it about killed them. They brought in handmade cards and some cool clay stuff made at school. Lots of snuggles to start the day.

We had another cousin's baby's baptism at 1pm. Church was at noon, but I was lazy, so we snuck in at 1 in time for the ceremony. We see a fire truck and ambulance with lights flashing right in front of the church. The kids asked what was going on and I said, "oh some old guy probably got sick and needed help". It was MY uncle. Had a heart attack during the service. He was actually having one at the beginning of the sermon but didn't want to get up until the sermon was over. He got the LONG WINDED priest, so it took forever. My uncle was very lucky that there was a doctor sitting right in front of him and a bunch of dr's and nurses there to help out, got him some nitris and aspirin and to the hospital. He's doing much better and they're going to run some tests to check things out. I think it was a miracle as he's a farmer from western Kansas and has been out planting corn in the fields all by himself far from his house for the last couple of weeks. Unreal.

Went to the library later that day with the kids and I found some GREAT knitting books and the kids got books. We probably spent an hour in there, having a good ol' time. Go to the counter to check out, I don't have my damn wallet. NO id. No problem, but the kids were so excited to take their books home then, I pulled out my sweater in progress, makeup bag and that's all I had. She said do you have ANYTHING with your name on it? I opened up the pocket and there's the good ol' BIRTH CONTROL. With my name on it. She laughed and said, that ought to prove you're you. Checking out books with birth control. Only in America.

Gotta Love those Mason-Dixon women!

Guess what??? My daughter Beth & I made the Mason-Dixon blog on their recount of the visit of the knitting chics to KC! (gotta scroll down a ways)OH I'm so glad they got taken to Jack Stack BBQ. mmmmmm. I must be feeling better as I'm hoongry now. towering onYON rings...mmmmmm. burnt ends. mmmmm. Still keeping the skinny by trying not to eat more than I have to, but damn it's hard. Beth was SO SO SO excited to see herself on their blog!

PLUS they've now got an official Mason-Dixon Knitalong going! Well, sign my ass up. I've not been this addicted to a group of patterns since a few issues back on Knitty. Heck, I'm even all excited about making DISHCLOTHS for the love of all that is yarny.

OK, I just couldn't stand it, I've got to put their pic up here too for my own record. I am LOVING this knitting with mom & daughter thing. Thanks again Kay & Ann!

Thanks for the finger crossings!

Well, we're one step closer to Jeff landing what we hope is a great job with the big-ass chemical company!! woo HOO baby! He had a great interview here yesterday and was just called and told to book a flight to New Jersey for the next step of interviewing! He's going next week, so MORE finger crossing then please! I may even cross a few stitches just for good measure.

Only a moment to type, so here's a few tidbits...

Survived a tour of KC with 48 3rd graders in the FREEZING ASS COLD today (is it really May or did we get hit with a freak November day?) in a BUS from 8:15am to 2:00pm with only about 5 quick little breaks outside. GOD BLESS our little overanxious and overachieving parents of our public school that really want to pretend we're a private ritzy school. The pta sprung for a VERY ritzy tour bus. We passed green and greener and barfing children bailing off their normal yellow school busses all day and just smiled. Gotta love southern johnson county, HOyeah. I'm thinking the cold was actually a GOOD thing as the kids were too damn frozen to go flying off like crazy children. I enjoyed the trip, learned a few things and am tired out. Beth walked along holding my had for part of the trip, I got teary eyed thinking this is probably about it on that now that she's almost a 4th grader.

Stomach is finally handling normal food. Guess there's a particularly violent thing going through the school and some are seeing a mutant rotovirus thing, so my one and a half day of hell wasn't so bad from what else I'm hearing about. ick ick ick. I did lose a mighty 12 lbs in 2 days from total dehydration and let's just call it "toxifying the system". Of course, I put on about 4 lbs immediately, but am loving the way my jeans look, so am trying to delay the return of the other weight by eating much less chocolate and processed foods. How long will this last? I'm not holding my breath.

GOT a TON of knitting done on the bus today, LOVING my sweater-to-be, still hitting gauge, am actually impressing the heck out of myself. STILL can't find the damn camera, narrowing it down to about 4 or 8 boxes. maybe this weekend.

Getting ready for the mother of all garage sales at my folk's house next weekend. Can't WAIT! Gotta unload some serious crap.

I'm alive

I'm eating bananas and drinking gatorade. I can't find my damn camera during this move, so I'm going to have to scan part of my somewhat cowl to show progress. I'm really enjoying this knitting project, can't wait to see what it turns out like!

Jeff's just left for his big interview, it was rescheduled from last week to today. CROSS YOUR FINGERS for him please! I know she's interviewing all over as she flew into KC from Little Rock from another interview. He looked SO FINE in his new suit and power tie. mmmmmm boy.

The man took very good care of me while I was sick, I think that's a WONDERFUL sign of times to come.

Tomorrow I'm going on the tour of KC field trip with the third grade. I sure didn't do this one right, as it's ALL DAMN DAY on a bus with 55 9 year olds. WOOOOOOOO hoo that should be fun. :) Ah well, life's short, party all night.

My daughter's limerick was published in her little class thingy. I got a kick out of it.

There once was a cat named Bread
Who wouldn't go to bed.
Along came a sheep
who said "go to sleep"
but he went to a party instead.

That's my girl!

payback's a bitch

You know what bad karma is? I truly do. It's when you call in sick on a Friday afternoon when you're mildly under the weather but really should be working. What happens to you on Monday morning when you really NEED to get your work done? Lordy Lordy I got stuff coming out of me in quantities you would not believe. Let's avoid the whole tmi thing here and just say BOTH ends of me. nice.

How do you know when you are a psycho-knitter? Is it when you have your tv project, your thinking project, your car project (waiting in the car), your DRIVING in the car project? No, no, no. That's not psycho-knitting. Psycho-knitting is when you're spending so much damn time sitting on a toilet that you think, hmmmmm, this could be some prime knitting time. At least I have the decency to not knit a gift in there, just something for me. I truly hope that I won't think of my somewhat-cowl as the stinking sweater or, even worse, the shixxing sweater. nice, huh? I can't be held responsible for when I'm suffering major dehydration.

I got my damn flu shot. Is this the bird flu striking Kansas City? cripes almighty. I'm thinking it could be a nice little case of food poisoning. I don't really feel bad, no chills and no fever, just barf-o-rama with the bonus stuff. We're so far past any slight food substance, now it's like a freak show. I've tried meds to stop this stuff, but they came up too. Another bonus beyond uninterrupted knitting time (seriously, no matter how much my kids want to bug me, they're NOT coming in there when mom's moaning and groaning) is my boyfriend is being the total sweetheart and spoiling the crap out of me. no pun intented. He realized how sick I really am when my daughter brought her piece of chocolate cake over to see if I wanted a bite and I started shuddering. He said, "You don't even want CHOCOLATE???" and got very concerned in a hurry. Yes, when my body rejects its main dietary substance, it's scary.

Think good tummy thoughts please people. Mine has had a workout from hell. I should at least get some six-pack abs out of this, right? Seriously, I've gotten more progress on my sweater in one day than I have in three weeks.

How much fun is this?

I'm having entirely too knitterly much fun lately. I go from knitting all by my lonesome for a long Loooooooonnnnnggggg time, too busy to get out to see the knit chicks, too busy too busy too busy. Screw that. I'm having too much fun now to go back. First a weekend of Nicky Epstein and local knitters, then I get out on a Thursday night and not only KNIT with other KNITTERS but they feed me too! WOO HOO! Happy bday to Teri! And oh my GAAAAAWWWWWWDDDDDD such chicken tetrazini (see, I probably can't even spell it, let alone cook it) and now my very favorite ice cream cake EVER or was it a frozen custard cake? I don't know, I don't care, I'm just getting more of it! AND then when I dropped Joey off at tae kwon do (for the love of all that is holy, never EVER call tae kwon do "karate" to the tae kwon do guys. They get really pissy) Beth and I zipped over to the yarn store to see some of my favorite bloggers, Ann & Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting and got our book signed and sat and got to knit with Colleen too! I love putting faces to bloggers, it's awesome. Colleen, the sweater you were wearing was amazing, you rock!

Back to the knitters who fed me, OH people we need to get out in KC on Thursday nights as these are some GOOD knitting women to hang with. OH and I told my mom she wasn't the only total QVC freak that I thought she was because I was sitting with women who knew the personalities and also got signed bday cards and phone calls from the girls at QVC too! LORDY it actually made me go home and turn the damn thing on. I caught myself saying, "I do need that. I absolutely do. My life would be so much simpler and more complete with that." Don't have a clue what "that" was anymore, but I'm sure it was cool. My mom cracked me up today as she saw the UPS truck pull up outside, but didn't hear the knock, because *gasp* he wasn't there for HER *dammit*. She was all pissy, cracked me up. I'm bad enough just going to the mall, bringing the mall to me is a very bad idea.

Anyway, go buy the Mason-Dixon Knitting Book. Seriously. Go.buy.it. There are some linen washcloths, cotton dishrags and OH OH OH those blankets. I, who have cursed more than a drunken sailor on my few attempts at knitted afghans, MAY have to reconsider and make some of these things. AND good lord above, I'm going to make the knitted nightie in there. Yes, Yes I am. I don't know what the heck it will look like on me, but holding that thing in my hands (they brought nice samples) I knew I must knit it. Unbelievable. Go, spend money and prosper.

show N tell

OK, so here's the picture overload... I did make myself take off the pics of the books I bought too, so count yourselves lucky. You only got half the pics available...

First, here's the lace bottom of my soleil tank. click to see larger view. Notice the lace isn't quite right. I had knit & frogged so many freaking times that by the time I got it figured out, I just didn't care any longer. Where are the beautiful FEW straight lace edges? In front where everyone can see? NO, on my side under my right armpit. Nice.

Here's some of the flowers I made in Nicky Epstein's classes. The dark one is actually my fave, but hard to see in the scan I took. I wear it on my denim jacket and it really pops. It's made from two different knit edgings twisted up together and layered and tossed in with the felted stuff. LOVE it! Then there's the cabbage rose with leaf and the VERY VERY cool green one, cut from a felted $2 thrift store sweater. HOW cool is that?


Here's some of what I spent my cash on...Six skeins of the gorgeoso blue koigu destined to be a shawl for my friend....I've got to find a pattern that will only use 5 so I can sneak one for myself. toooooooo soft and tooooooo beautiful! Then I got 2 skeins of the mimosa hand dyed lace yarn from a sweet girl from our guild, and I can't dig out her info yet from the bags and bags and BAGS of crap I came home with. When I find it, I'll post it as I really liked her colors!


Somehow I reached home with MORE books...somehow. Needled to Death mystery by Maggie Sefton, 2 Nicky Epstein books--Fabulous Felted Bags and Knitted Flowers, The Morehouse Farm Merino Knits book (beautiful), and Shahman's Shawls & Scarves (LACE can you believe it?)

I'm like a junkie, man, I can't get enough!

OK, enough knitting content, this is totally screwing my rambling everything-but-knitting style. Got to go work to earn enough to keep satisfying my yarn cravings!

my weekend of knitting

OH I had such fun! I'm totally hooked on the knitting classes thing. I need more of these weekends as they're inspiring and FUN! I have no pics now. Most of the stuff I have is at Jeff's and the camera and scanner is at my house. We're getting closer and closer to having most of my crap over there, can't wait for official MI-Day!

Nicky Epstein is a hoot. I swear, she's got so much bouncing around in her head, it's a wonder she gets anything done at all. She just cranks stuff out and BAM there's another cool design. I had a blast. I took edgings & embellishments and also her class on knitted flowers. I spent WAY WAY WAY too much money at the market and had fun doing that too! OH the books I have, OH the yarn I have, OH the projects that are waiting for me!!!! I also got 6 skeins of the most luscious deep blues of koigu to make a shawl for my friend Jill! Haven't decided what pattern to use yet, but it's going to be REALLY hard to give away! I also love making new knitting friends! I'm going to have to get my butt over to the guild meetings more often and am planning on starting to do the Thurs night knitting at the Yarn Shop & More in downtown OP starting in a week or so. There's just nothing like sitting around with other women and knitting and talking and sharing and petting each other's yarns!!!

Mom & Dad survived the weekend with my children at the Lake and they all had a blast. Jeff also had no children, so we were just us two. It was wonderful. Friday night we painted the living room and munched on overpriced chinese food. OK, I painted two wall's worth of the bottom edging next to the trim and then was delegated to do the cracks where the walls fit together and he did the rest of the work. I've not got a steady hand, it wasn't pretty. SO, if you come to our home sometime, move the couch away from the far wall to admire my work. We used this lovely dark shade of brownish green, hard to describe, but I LOVE IT! What did Jeff do while I was out from 9am -5pm knitting my heart out on Saturday? Put a second coat on the living room, painted the dining room (2 coats) and then moved all the furniture back and hung pictures up AND built me a little cubby-hole thing to keep my shoes in our closet AND vacuumed the entire house. DAYYYYAAAAMMMMM I was so impressed!

Sat night we decided, hey, we've got no children, we need to go out and play. ***I totally forgot to go get some of my little chasers anti-hangover pills*** We went bowling with my favorite friend of Jeff's and his wife and had a BLAST and too many margaritas. GOD BLESS my old friend from the bowling alley as we should have paid over $100 and ended up paying $22. AWESOME! THEN we had too much fun to go home, so off to Scoreboards for karaoke and entirely too much beer. Long story short, I need to remember that now that I'm over 35, I need to pick ONE thing and stick with it if I go out drinking. Beer all night, fine. Wine all night, fine. Beer, margaritas, more beer, shots, more beer, NOT fine. Jeff was right with me. I always know when he's lit as he starts dancing. WOOOO baby we tore things UP that night (don't worry, I wasn't so bad that I sang or anything--I don't get THAT drunk any more!) I did get a bit mouthy, I know, I know, hard to imagine! OH LORDY LORDY my hands were shaking like an old lady's the next morning. Good thing my am class was on learning about fibers and all that was expected of me was to nod my head gently and knit a few swatches. By lunchtime I was better, and by night-fall I was ready for bed at 9pm and tired ass out.

SURVIVING HANGOVERS 101.....
FIRST of all, take those damn chasers pills with your first drink and again at some point in the night. If you forget like I dID, take 2 alleve pills before bed with a big glass of water. The next am, take 2 more alleves and another big glass of water. Move slowly. Drink something with caffeine, I've heard green tea works well, I do diet coke. When you can tolerate food, around lunchtime, eat mashed potatoes. Get some form of protein in you, I find fried chicken from KFC to do the trick for me. Avoid greasy burgers by all means. Later that evening, take a few sips of a beer or something mildly alcoholic and throw the rest out. Drink enough water during the day to drown a cow and you'll be feeling better in no time.

Through the weekend, I realized that there are a LOT of advanced and intermediate knitters who don't get felting. They want to, but don't quite know how. I was asked top share my tips, so I'll work up a FELTING 101 tomorrow or Wed, depending on how much work gets in the way of my fun.