House of Steph

Punkins and a Punkin-ish Hat

Happy Halloween was a bust at our house because we only had a few trick-or-treaters and I had to work, of COURSE! However, the pumpkin carving was great! We even made Phil do one! Can you believe he's never carved a pumpkin at age 23?? Guess I can't talk, I was almost 20 when I carved my first one. Mom and dad, what do you have against carving pumpkins?

Hooray for finished objects! I finished another Ann Norling Pattern #10 hat for baby Audrey! :) This one will be to match her Bebe Dress I just finished last week! I really love these hats. :) I didn't realize until now how quickly they knit up! I started this only a day and a half ago. Her other one is getting a little too small, I hear....

Here's the hat. We were playing around with the new Cannon and I can't get the color saturation thing to go back to normal.... It looks cool, anyway.

Turquoise saturation:

And one with the yellow saturation:

I officially have empty needles. Oh, wait... There's still that Knit and Tonic "Flair" I started over a year ago. Wonder if I should pick that one back up? It sure would be satisfying to actually FINISH a sweater... Maybe.

Ugh

Back to the grind--sort of. I'm off tomorrow, just in time to drive five and a half hours to a place I've never been for a job interview! Second interview, to be exact. Am I nervous or just dreading the drive? I think it will go well. Wish me luck.

P.S. I miss the fall foliage. Stinky Island doesn't have it. :(
Charlotte, on the other hand, surely delivers!

Happy, Happy, Happy. Joy, Joy, Joy!

No work for me for seven whole days! Yeah!

Happy Anniversary to Mister and me. Fourteen years. I love you, Mister.

Back to Work

It was a wonderful few days off--much needed stress relief. Alas, I must return to hell--oops, I meant work. My stash has doubled in the last week, and we managed to get my mom's house (somewhat) unpacked and mildly organized. It was a good week. (Minus the two rainy days I got when I returned to the Island in the Stinky South--I wanted to go to the damn beach, damnit!) Looking forward to my next day off, as always, and definitely looking forward to my next week off, which just so HAPPENS to be next month! Yeah.

Okay, okay...

So the hair is muuuuuuch better.

I went back to the salon and got it fixed by someone who really does know how to cut hair. Thank god.

I still stand firmly on my soap box regarding the fact that nothing ever goes right here the first time.

But at LEAST my hair is fixed. Before and after photos to come soon.

I'm on the 24-hour countdown to Nashville. Yay.

Shame on me...

...for thinking for one second that something would go right in this place.  Shame on me for giving this place any kind of credit for any minute section of time.  Shame on me for being an optimist at heart. 

I go into most situations thinking that everything is going to work out, even if it's not 100% the way I would like it to work out.  After 29 years, one would think I would get enough doses of the SHIT end of the stick to know that it's not always best to be polite or politically correct or to not curse at people in public.  It's not always best to NOT say what you're thinking.  It's not always best to assume that people who cut hair FOR A LIVING might have one ounce of skill at their profession.  AND finally, it's not always best to stay in the chair when the hair cut is not going very well. 

(If I had gotten up when I really wanted to leave, I would have left at the first fatal chop which left a huge razor-cut chunk out of the back of my hair.) 

Bottom line:   this place sucks.  There's not anything good about it (minus a few good days at the beach, and I could find good days at the beach somewhere else).  There's not one goddamn good thing about this hell hole of a place.  Not the beach, not the outlets, definitely not the food, not the living conditions, not the roads, not the grocery stores, not the salons that don't carry Aveda, not the non-existent knitting or fabric stores, not the weather, not the spare time, not the man-cave, not ANYTHING.  It all sucks.      

And I can't even get any goddamn knitting needles that I need for the one project I decided to start on a whim......  GOD! 

Saturday can't come soon enough.

Happy Birthday Roosevelt!

My sweet baby turns eight today!  Happy Birthday, my boy! 

     

(It was eight years ago today that Satan decided to spawn a handsom little unassuming west highland white terrier.  He's been wreaking havoc ever since...)  Long live the babs!

Dormant

Poor little knitblog...sitting dormant for so long.  I promise to be a better blogger.  The explanation goes like this:  the computer set-up is all screwed up.  What used to be my "office" is now my brother's bedroom.  Like today, he's usually sleeping in here and it makes me reluctant to come in and type.  If he's awake and not at work he's usually sitting in front of his computer, which is sitting on the other side of my desk.  And then there's B who's always playing poker...  If I'm not working and not at the beach, I'm either sleeping or knitting or trying not to fall asleep.  You see, it's a vicious cycle. 

And it's HOT outside.

Anyway, I've at least been having a good time these days.  I'm on the countdown to a five-day-hiatus from work, too.  Yaay for me.

Here's the little hat I've made for B's friend and a couple of other photos. 

   

Bad, Bad, Bad

I'm a bad knitblogger for not posting for a while. Well, at least there's this: since my last post, I have knitted two pairs of the one-hour-baby-booties, worked on the flair sweater a bit, ordered some books from Amazon, started the Rutabaga bag in the Spring Knitscene mag, and bought lots of yarn! In addition, I made a small quilt and half of a needle roll that was pre-ordered by my mom's friend.

Hooray for vacations and boo for going back to work.

Mister's home, so I'm a bit preoccupied. Not much time to sit in front of the computer because my sleep schedule is all wack.

Lots of stuff on the to-do list. Can't wait to finish some of it.

One more day

...until the Mister comes home for good!  Can't wait.

Check this silly-ass picture of my bro and me.  God, we're weird! 

P.S.  I WILL MAKE SOMETHING TODAY!  No, really, I will. 

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

It's a good song and a good question. 

My lease is up.  The house is nice but the area's not.  And it's not exactly ON the stinky island, so there's a drive involved.  And whenever there's an island and SUMMERTIME involved, there's traffic--lots of it.  And usually the traffic is going in the same direction I'm going and at the same time.  Can you say, um:  "SUCKS"?   I can.  Most definitely. 

For the most part (minus the traffic and the other random nonsense that goes on OUTSIDE of my home of one year) I do have things pretty settled here.  A nice living area, indeed--very comfortable, clean, roomy, and best of all, the "studio" is great!  I haven't put 100% of my efforts into finding something else for this reason, I think.  Plus, I'm a bit gun-shy (literally) since I made some poor choices in selecting this townhome.  The long and short of it is that I'm not sure if I really want to move.  I mean, I want to be on the island but I don't want to pay more rent, I don't want to pay lots of deposits, I don't want to be in an area that's just as bad, and I don't really want to pack up everything and move.  If only I could physically move a townhome....  Where's superman when you need him?    

Anyway, here's what I would rather be doing:

Me, Purl Patchwork, September 2006 (Sigh)

Work

Show of hands:

Who doesn't want to go to work today??? 

Me!  Me!  Me! 

Yeah.