An Oopsie.

I made an oopsie a few days ago.

First, I'm a work-at-home transcriptionist. I type for a living from my house. Therefore, I don't really have a lot of contact with people during the day, save for my husband, who comes home for lunch. As such, many of us transcriptionists belong to an online forum where we exchange information, tell stories, make jokes, discuss business stuff, get technical help, find extra work, etc. Consider it an online water cooler.

Long story short, one of the moderators asked for a prize from me one day. It's a thing. I can't really explain it. I went out and found this:

Cute, right? Funny, no? I thought it was hilarious, personally, so I posted it. I was in a hurry, so I just hotlinked it. BAD idea.

A few minutes later, replies are saying things like, "Why are you posting that?!" "Ew, that's gross." and "OH, MY GOD!" Then the administrator said, "Sorry, ladies. This has GOT to go."

Turns out the image was hotlink protected. What I saw, and what one of the moderators saw, was the image above. What everbody else saw was a transexual receiving some oral pleasure from another male...with the saying, "I'm a dirty bandwidth thief."

*cough*

Needless to say...yeah. I was mortified. After profuse apologies, January 25th was designated "Trannie Porn Day." Trannie is our inside joke for transcriptionist. Get it? Trannie? Transcriptionist? And Sugar, the administrator, changed my screen name to Trannie Queen.

Good thing I have a sense of humor. That could've gone terribly wrong.

By the way, repeat after me. I will NEVER. HOTLINK. AGAIN.

New yarn!!!

I've been spinning away!



First, I did a whole whack of undyed merino.

200 yards, but what makes it special? Well, it's FELTED. Here's how you do it. Spin your single rather tightly. Even overspun a bit is fine. Tie your skein in several places. Then you dunk your single is HOT HOT HOT HOT water. Did I mention it has to be hot? Even put the single in a pot on the stove and get the water hot enough to steam, but not boil. I broke them up into 50-yard chunks for this part.

Then you add a squirt or two of your favourite dishsoap. No need to use the fancy stuff. Now, here's the slightly scary part. Grab a spoon. Now stir it. I mean, stir it like you're trying to win a prize for biggest oopsie. All stirred??



Great! Now pick up your single (don't use your hands - haha), and then dunk it in a tub of ICE-COLD water. Instant felt. Squeeze (but don't wring) out the excess water. Carefully separate the strands because some will have started felting to each other. After your single dries fully, you can get back on your wheel and unspin the single slightly. TADA!!!

Felted!!!



This next one is based on a picture that you can find here. I just started randomly pulling stuff out of my stash.
There's some merino, green mill ends, corriedale, mohair locks, neon green, pink and blue merino, some undyed silk, some undyed merino...a little of everything, but I kind of like it, in a weird sort of way. :)

Only about 70 yards of a fingering weight, but it's so fun and girly. I've named it Punky Primadonna.



Finally, I've finished spinning up the worsted-weight single of 4 oz of superwash for Trish. She's making something for her daughter. I slightly overspun this in spots to make the fun coils. They're so sweet.



There's about 140 yards of it, and it's so squishy!! I'll almost be sad to see it go, but I'm sure I'll see it become something on Trish's lovely blog. :) For anybody who hasn't been over there, do check it out. Girl's got talent.



With that, my friends, I must finish some work. It's not exciting, but I'm on a deadline, and I've got to stop procrastinating.
Happy Sunday, everybody!

Blam.

So somebody hit my car today. Lucky me, Elodie was in the back. They claim that they took their E-brake off while facing downhill on their sloping street (which I was driving on), started to skid and then hit me. I think they were actually starting to drive, realized that I was already driving down the hill, slammed on their brakes, lost control and hit me. Of course, I'd noticed them coming and hit my brake so it wasn't as bad as it could've been.

The whole front passenger side of my car is smushed in, the light is missing. Such is the benefits of a plastic car, but Elodie and I are fine, and the hit really wasn't too bad. I have gotten their insurance stuff. They said they were from BC and not used to Alberta winter driving conditions, but they're about to get a taste of Alberta insurance. I feel for them.

In other news, when I finally got to my destination, Elodie had a great time playing with her friend, KJ. They're so funny at this age. Baby knitting is continuing apace, and things are looking good. I got bored with just the Scandanavian Jacket and cast on Elodie's Fairisle sweater. It's so pretty, and the colors are nice and bright.

But we're off to dinner at my parents' house. Toodaloo!

I'm abnormal.

Have you ever gotten a call from your doctor's office? You know, the one where they say, "Your lab results are in. The doctor would like to see you?" I did yesterday. So I went in this morning.

I fully expected it to be my iron. I've always had low iron. It wasn't. I have abnormal cells. So I'm not entirely sure what to expect or what that fully means. I just know that I have to go in for a colposcopy and biopsy. I'm not entirely looking forward to it, and I'm disappointed that this has changed some near-future plans, but my health is important, and I don't want cervical cancer.

Okay. Enough of that. On to happier things. I've been doing some spinning.

Nostalgia

Worsted-weight single ply. 100% wool. Brown Sheep Mill Ends.

Yardage: ???

Approx 3 oz.

Spearmint Rainbow

100% wool. Brown Sheep Mill Ends.

Worsted Weight.

Approx 1.5 oz

140 yds.

Poseidon

100% Tussah Silk

Laceweight

4.4 oz.

750 yards

Berry Punch

100% Merino Superwash

DK sock yarn

approx 2 oz.

150 yrds.

All of these, save for the sock yarn, will be in my etsy. :)

Dangit.

I guess I'm not taking tomorrow off. I'm here, at 12:30 at night, working my butt off to finish a particularly awful file. I can't say much because of confidentiality, but it's a sexual molestation case. How terrible.
I've exceeded my goals for the week, and I accepted 70 minutes for tomorrow, which will put me in a very comfortable spot, as far as goals for next week go.

Today, I started skeining my 4.4 oz of silk laceweight, which I have named Poseiden. It's so lovely. Fingers crossed I find my memory card and camera (I know it's around here somewhere...) so I can take a picture tomorrow.

OH! Other news! I'm now the proud owner of SIX full fleeces. They're rare breeds, but I got all six, probably 3-4 lbs each, for far less than should be legal. I'm very excited. I'll have enough wool to spin for ages. The breeds include Scottish blackface, at least two Jacobs and Cotswold. The processing, I'm not totally looking forward to, but it'll be worth the work. The Cotswold has a staple length of 6+ inches, so I'm rather looking forward to it.

I also got a gift certificate from my mom for Xmas to Shuttleworks, and I plan on getting some carders there. One day, I will own a drum carder, but that'll be second after my Matchless. I WANT ONE! I love Merle, but the Matchless is, well, Matchless. Maybe a Ladybug is more in my price range, though. *sigh* So many possibilities.

Okay. Enough rambling! I've got to finish work!

You know, I've noticed that my blog has really because procrastination from work for me. Not that I'm complaining.

Goals met.

Pardon the le crap pictures, but I'm done clue one of my Spring Shawl Surprise. I couldn't find our good camera, so I had to use our not so good camera.

I'm beading this shawl as I go along with the crochet method. It's so pretty. I was originally worried about it, but I think it'll be fine.

Sign-ups are now closed, but I do want to give kudos to lul, who is running the Spring Shawl Surprise. Definately a beautiful pattern so far. I have the second clue on the couch, and I'm taking Thursday off work to do nothing but knit. I've been working really hard this week, and by the end of today, I'll have met my weekly goals. *happy dance*

Carsten, my baby brother, and I are going to go on a little road trip this weekend to visit our grandparents and go to a bachelor party and baby shower. Should be exciting. I plan on knitting the entire 8 hour drive. Baby socks? Oh, yes. I knits them.

Busy Bee

I haven't had time to knit or take pictures or spin or anything! I finally have a consistent amount of work coming in! Halleluia!

I did spend a few hours the other night rearranging all my fibre stuff into one spot in the office. We have the 1-year walkthrough of our house at the end of this month, so we have to clean this place from the top to bottom. I managed to get all my yarn, all my fibre, my wheel, my sewing machine, my fabric and my spun yarn into one corner of my office. It looks great! Now to finish cleaning the rest of the house. *dead*

As I said, I've been super busy. I finished the left front of the baby sweater, and I'm nearly done clue one of the Spring Shawl Surprise (or Surprice, if you prefer). I'm doing a beaded version, and it's really beautiful, if I do say so myself.

I have silk on the wheel, named Poseidon because of the beautiful greens, blues and yellows, and it's being spun up into laceweight. It will be for sale in my etsy shop when it's all done. I also have 3+ pounds of prepared fibre to finish spinning into goodies, finished a yarn called Spearmint Rainbow, and I WILL have pictures on here tomorrow.

Did I mention that this weekend, my baby brother and I are making a bit of a roadtrip to small-town Saskatchewan, visiting my grandparents on the way, for my cousin's bachelor party (somewhat late because he got married on December 31st in Mexico) and his wife's baby shower? This is THE mommy who is having THE baby, whom I am knitting madly for! Hooray!

I'd love to say that we're ready to hit the baby train again, but we're so busy and life is so stressful and our daughter wears us out so much! Who knew a 20-month-old could talk so much? Seriously, she puts me to shame, which is a huge feat. I don't. stop. talking. It drives my husband crazy, and at our wedding, EVERY speech contained some tidbit about how I don't shut up and he never opens his mouth. But I don't know when another baby will be coming around, although I'd rather get a move on. I miss little newborns. It'd be a challenge, but I think we could handle it.

Okay. Work is finally finished for the day, and I'm going to hit the hay for eight hours before I have to get up, stumble to my office and do it again.

Goals for tomorrow: Finish work on time so I don't have to work late again and spin more silk!!!

Kitteh of the Day!

Damn Straight.

Another Year

Happy New Year, everyone!

We had a lovely time last night with some friends, who came over and brought their adorable baby girl. The kiddos went to bed around 7:30, and we had an enthralling game of Monopoly. Many hearts were won and many dreams were crushed. There was champagne, homemade wine, pizza, all the foods of the Gods. We also found out that there will soon be another baby on the way within the group. This means more baby knitting, of course.

For this year, I really don't have many goals.

I would like to see my career become stabalized; the work is good, but the motivation has been lacking of late.

I would also like to spend more time with my baby and husband. I really do enjoy family time, and I need to invest more of my time into it.

I think my family deserves more healthy meals at home, and I'm determined to use and prosper from my crock pot. I love healthy stews and roasts, but I never have the energy to cook them (probably because I don't eat them on a regular basis. It's a vicious cycle). Hopefully, this year will be the year to do it.

Our house is in need of a good decluttering. Perhaps our family can finally depart with high school memorabilia. I'd love to have an organized and clean house.

Knit-wise, I'm trying to really only knit two or three projects at a time. Of course my Spring Shawl Surprise is going to be continually knit over the year, but I also have baby stuff that I'd like to concentrate on. This year will be my year for expanding my knitting horizons.

I'm also going to spin more, concentrating on making the yarn do what I'd like, not what it would like. I hope to be able to take some fiber and spin and little every few days. Then I want to sell these in my online store! How exciting!

Finally, I really hope to be happy this year. It's the year of the rat, which is my Chinese birth year. I'm very excited because it's my year to shine. I hope this year brings happiness, joy and fulfillment into my life. I want to spend time with my friends, appreciate my family, enjoy my time alone, leave myself time to think and reflect on past achievements.

I wish you all the very best New Year possible, and enjoy 2008!

ps. I'm in love.