February 2012

Oh February is gone.... and with it Valentines Day and a very special Leap Day!  Life goes on......  And so does the hair....... 

I've still not dyed it.... My boss keeps bringing it up and so I know she isn't happy about it... but I am actually really excited to have a new 'do!  Even if new just means bringing back the old... or original.... or whatever.  

The second week of the month I went to visit my good friends and past co-workers at Salon DeLaCruz in Pasadena, CA.  I got a little cut.  Nothing crazy, just cut off about 5 inches of dead hair.  Now it's multi-colored but in a cute little bob. It feels so nice and healthy and I love it!!!

You can always tell when I forget to take my picture on Friday.... Like every week this month.  Randomly snapping a shot at work.....  But hey..... I gotta stay true to the resolution................

And there you have it... Me in February 2012.  The month itself wasn't too crazy.  Just working... and surviving... Working and surviving.  More to come in March.... Oooohhhh.... I can't wait!!!!!!

Obsession with the BBC

It took me a LONG time to hop on the BBC Bandwagon.  Doctor Who was something that was whispered to me from the distance by my nerdier friends...  However over the last few months I have caught myself up and grown a new obsession.  I have found that just having something going in the back ground helps my knitting.  So now, instead of sitting and watching TV with a snack... I sit watching TV while I knit.  I have rapidly ran out of things to watch... until I started in on the BBC shows available on Netflix Instant.  Boy have I been missing out!!!!

First I started Doctor Who.  Netflix didn't have the orignal serieses, so I've only seen the last three Doctors... but I so badly want to see a TARDIS appear in my front yard and some sexy man in a bow tie (and even a fez) to come and take me away to travel in time and space...  Who wouldn't want that offer!  Each Doctor is loved for their own reasons, and each companion is as well.  It's funny now watching regular movies I used to love I now find myself waiting for a TARDIS to pop up in the background.  A Sonic Screwdriver would have taken care of those pesky zombies in 28 Days Later in no time!  So here is to me waiting in anticipation of the upcoming series..........  Ever so patiently..............................

Next up and in due time I got through Torchwood.  For those who don't know, Captain Jack was a character originally from Doctor Who.  The whole story is that Torchwood was designed by the British government as a way to patrol and stop the Doctor.  Torchwood itself is a little more risque then the Doctor.  A lot more sex.  Even cursing!  It's always so funny as an American to watch television from England when they start dropping curse-bombs left and right....  it's just so freeing!  The Torchwood group helps to police the life forms coming to Earth through a rift in time and space.  Alien invasions and ghosts.  Super cool secret lab.  Creepy weevils from the sewers.  It was an entertaining show in itself,  but it did not develop a place of fondness and longing in my heart like the Doctor.

Oh Sherlock!  Benedict Cumberbatch (you have to be British with a name like that) is so yummy in this revamp of Sherlock Holmes that I couldn't help but immediately fall in love.  It's set in modern day London, Watson is just back from Afghanistan and Sherlock uses texts and emails to keep up to date with Scotland Yard.  Everything else is pure Doyle.  The show uses great cinematography to really show the world as Holmes sees it as he works on a case.  Cumberbatch (GOD! I love that name) is wonderful in the socially awkward shoes of the genius detective.

I had watched a few episodes of Merlin when NBC aired it in America during that annoying writers strike a few years back.  I plan on restarting it in the coming days and watching what I can.  I enjoyed watching it before and have no reason to think I won't enjoy it now.  Especially since now Merlin will always be remembered as playing Jethro Crane from the episode of Doctor Who on the creepy planet of Midnight.

And after that.... Robin Hood......
Oh BBC... you have stolen my heart with your campy characters, entertaining shows, and wonderfully yummy actors.........  keep it coming.... I'll be watching!!!

January 2012

Well... I decided that posting a picture once a week was too much for me.  I had very little to say. So... I'm changing my resolution... I'll TAKE a picture every Friday, but post them all at once at the end of the month... so here you have it.........  me in January 2012...

The hair is still black.  You can't really see in these pictures, but I have about 2 inches or so of natural color hair growth at the roots.  Looks kind of like a skunk stripe.  My boss is not too happy about it, but I have to say that I can't wait to not have to bother with coloring it.  

I am in the process of attempting to make an appointment to cut it all off...

... and knitting... and knitting... and knitting......

Knitting... it's taken over the time for my reading....  Bah.  But I love it.  I'm still learning, and I'm teaching myself, but I think I have concocted some interesting and awesome knitted things.  Here's what I made in December 2011....  

DJ's USC Beanie

My first and so far only hat to date.  It was difficult to figure out.  This was also my real first attempt at knitting in the round.  I was using circular needles, and I couldn't get the stitches all the way towards the end, so I ended up gathering more stitches and making the top look kind like a balloon knot with the way it was all bunchy...  However... It fits and looks awesome... AND I got it done in time for the big game day family rivalry party.  I want to make more, but I need to purchase some double point needles first.  That is next on my wish list.

Monica's Christmas Scarf and Glovelets

My sister was the first one to tell me she wanted me to make her something for Christmas.  It  got the idea flowing and I ended up making both her and my mom something for the holiday.  My sister only said she wanted a green scarf.  I went and found this really soft and uneven yarn in a nice forresty green.  When I was about halfway through with the scarf, I decided I wanted to try and make her little finger-less gloves.  Wrist warmers my aunt in Arizona called them.  So I finished the scarf and figured out an easy way to do the glovelets and finished those.  She LOVED them.  I don't have any proof that she has been using them, and we do live in Southern Cali... but I like to think they will get their use in the coming months.

My Own Glovelets

I liked the way I made my sister's little gloves... I made some of my own.  I took a break and lived out my dream of being a selfish knitter.  I used the left overs from DJ's beanie (good thing I liked the color) and did some of my own.  I wear them all the time.  They fit in my purse and are there to keep my hands toasty.... except for my fingers.... but that is a sacrifice I will just have to make.

My Mom's Cable Scarf

It's a shame you can't see the detail... or the pretty blue color (stupid phone camera flash).  This is what my mom asked for for Christmas.  She wanted a thin scarf with just a single cable knit.  So, I learned how to knit a cable.  It's surprisingly simple.  I watched a few youtube videos that weren't much help.  Then I found a pattern online and went at it.  

Attempted Chainlink Scarf

This was my attempt at those trendy chainlink scarves.  I realized when I was already too far in that I needed the double pointed needles to really have them be smaller chains.  That or else knitting a rectangle and sewing the sides up.  But, as I said, I am kind of making it up as I go along, I decided to stick with my vision.  What I have is a boring scarf that doesn't quite look right and that I will probably never wear.  But I made it, so I give it distinction here.  I definitely want another try at this when I purchase those needles I mentioned earlier.  

I might need to make a stop at Micheal's tomorrow after work.  

New Year... New Me?

No probably not... but its nice to think so...

2012... its finally here. New Years is always a bust in my mind.  The whole resolutions thing is so annoying. I think the one resolution I ever kept was giving up Diet Coke. Although I feel like resolutions are more about lifestyle changes... lent is more about giving up a bad habit.  So what... I did give up the Diet Coke habit for years and years and have still only had it once or twice since then. It was a VERY bad habit.  Stupid caffeine addiction....

Anyway... in 2012, I decided to not stress about the resolutions.  I know I won't really follow through with it.  I can make promises to do things... exercise more...  get out of the house more... quit stressing so much about the little things... update my blog every once in awhile....  However at the same time.... I know I won't do anything of the sort.  What is the point of making empty promises, especially to yourself?  I will continue to sit around eating candy, watching netflix, knitting, and playing WoW.  I don't mind.  That is what I enjoy doing... and isn't that really what reservations are for in the long run?  Having fun in life and making yourself feel better... about yourself.

In the interest of new year new me... I have decided to take a leap.  I want to be ok with who I am.... and how I look... and the people around me.  First step is that I have decided to be ok in my own skin... and HAIR.  Thus the big decision... I am going to grow out my natural hair color.  Yikes!  It has been almost 12 years since I've seen my natural color...  I was always blondest blonde... and for the last 7 years or so I have been black.  Blackest black.  I stopped coloring it a few weeks back... so I have about an inch of natural growth coming out on the top of my head.... and A LOT of a kind of awesome silvery gray in patches. 

Due to my hair being so damn fine, I don't want to go through the chemical process of striping the color from my hair.  That would just destroy me.  So I'm going to let it grow out for a while longer... and then I might just chop my hair off.  Drastic change... but more then likely necessary.  So the real challenge will be not giving up on this resolution.  To ignore the skunk stripe that will be emerging on the top of my head.

In the interest of sharing the process... I will post a picture of myself once every Friday.  So here is my version of a picture a day.... but I don't like myself enough to do it every day.... once a week will be QUITE enough I think....

         
And here's to 2012.... counting down to the Apocalypse.....

I'm Addicted....

I am utterly addicted to knitting.  I fear this blog might take on the form of a chronology of my knitting projects.  Apologies, but as I never really laid out guidelines per say for the blog, you can't truly be mad at me.  It's already pretty ADD as it is... just add one more branch of conversation to the concoction.  

Knitting was a craft I'd always wanted to learn, but just didn't know how to correctly start down the path.  A craft that my mom had done as a youth and constantly told me she would show me (much as what happened with learning to play the guitar).  A group of my <ahem> nerdier and more awesome friends started knitting in what seemed like a mass of creativity.  We would meet up for breakfast somewhere and they would all have their yarn and paraphernalia.  I wanted to learn DAMNIT!  So I asked a friend how she had learned.   Youtube.com.   

About a week later I talked my mom into taking me to Joann's and I bought my first knitting needles and a huge skein of black yarn.  Went home, set myself up in front of the computer and started watching video tutorials.  Try and fail and try again.  I eventually got the knit stitch and started to go like a bat outta hell.  Well, kind of...  There were plenty of dropped stitches, accidental double stitches, and quite a few combined stitches. But I just kept going with it.  And before too long, I had a large black mass of knitted yarn.  It was too small to be a blanket and much to large to be a scarf, but I had knitted it!  And that was what counts.  

After that, the bug slightly nibbled on the back of my neck.  I started a scarf project with four colors and it ended up being more work then anticipated so I lost my thrill of it.  I put it in the closet, just another one of many failed projects I lose interest in after awhile.  

It wasn't until a Saturday morning, sitting at a local dive bar waiting for the college football games to start... that the pesky little bug in the back of my mind decided to attack!  I had to have something to do with my hands.  I dragged my boy around Target in the hope I would find something cheap that I could do sitting at a bar for the next 5 or more hours.  Nothing!  Then it struck me.  The light bulb hovering above my head light up so bright and quick it exploded.  Joann's!  It was right next door.  So I went and got a skein of yarn and a set of needles.  We went back to the bar and I started knitting.  About two weeks later I had a scarf (pictured below on the left).  A friend asked me to make her one (below on the right, pictured right after finishing the last stitch at the bar that started it all).  And my piece de resistance, the middle picture, soft, warm, super long, fringy... everything I wanted to make for my very own scarf!  

And from there, who knows.  My sister has requested a scarf.  My boy has requested a hat!  How nice it is to have a hobby that is calming and useful and appreciated!

All I know for sure is I will keep knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting....

Its all fun and games and then your computer explodes...

If you've read what little I have blogged... you will know I have some crap luck.  I have come to the conclusion that I am cursed. I am not sure which entity or diety or divinity I have pissed off, but life is continuing on getting crappier and crappier.

I infected the computer I borrowed for my boy with some nasty virus (I am once again lacking computer and wow withdrawls are starting to give me the shakes).  The cyst on my coccyx is back and in need of an appontment for removal (there is a 50% chance to get these again when you've already had one removed... so yea).  My roommate informed me she was leaving (this one might not be so bad...).  Fights all around.  Pain in the body...  I'm over it.

But ya know what they say.... at least you've got your health.... oh.... wait.....................