Manderloo Who

Happy New Year

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:01:54 -0500

"Cheers to a new year, and another chance for us to get it right."

- Oprah Winfrey

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Things I Learned Over the Holidays

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:44:02 -0500

- That is IS possible for a 9-month old infant to pull down an entire Christmas tree.

- That hand-painted ceramic ornaments from your grandmother that have survived four decades do not survive 9-month old infants.

- That fruitcake, despite a willingness to overlook it's bad rep and give it a try, really is the vilest dessert ever created.

- That kids in school (who told Grace that Santa is a fake) are assholes.

- That a quick call to NORAD can totally restore a child's faith again in Santa.

- That being unemployed means lots of time for baking.

- That baking gets in the way of knitting (at least if you're me).

- That zoo-themed cookie cutters make really cool Christmas cookies:

Giraffes are best for milk-dunking.

- That husbands tend to ignore the "Let's just buy for the kids this year" rule.

- That I'm really REALLY glad my husband ignored this rule. ;)

- That it's okay to ignore the rule, too.

- That I can distract Jim from the absence of a completed pair of handknit socks with smelly Armani cologne. (I've got other ways too, but I won't mention them here. ;)

- That two children in the house means twice the wrapping paper and twice the trash littering the living room floor.

Christmas carnage

- That Sam really likes wrapping paper.

- That twice the children means double the level of noisy toys running rampant in the house.

- That I wouldn't wish for it any other way.

- That I have the best friends in the whole wide world.

- That this really was the most perfect Christmas. =)

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Almond Bars

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:44:54 -0500

Made these for tonight's Knitters' Christmas party, and thought I'd share. I got this recipe from my Mom, who used to make them around the holidays when we were kids. They are very rich and sweet, and taste excellent with a tall glass of milk. =)

Ingredients:

1 box of yellow cake mix

1 stick of butter, melted

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8-oz. block of cream cheese, softened

4-oz. sliced almonds (a regular-sized bag is 6-oz. and I like adding extra, so... go nuts, ha ha)

1-lb. confectioner's sugar

Combine cake mix, butter and one egg. Spread in bottom of greased 13x9 pan. Combine two eggs, vanilla, cream cheese and confectioner's sugar; beat well. Spread mixture on top of cake mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with almonds then bake for another 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

Almond bar

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First Snow

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:26:37 -0500

And a new pair of socks to go with it:

Berry Slush

Yarn is Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Color 4-ply / 4-fädig #5440.

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First Day of Unemployment

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:40:15 -0500

Things I accomplished today:

Brewed coffee
Laid on the couch with a sleepy Sam and watched the Discovery channel
Thought about folding laundry
Had delusional fantasies about all of the holiday baking I might do this month
Internet window-shopping for gift ideas
Laid on the floor as a human jungle gym for Sam to crawl over
Thought about that laundry again
Had an hour-long phone call with my mom and didn't have to end it with "Someone's IMing me, I have to go."
Read books and played dolls with Gracie
Started foot portion on my sock

It was a good day. =)

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My baby's on a school bus.

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:41:33 -0400

I know that doesn't seem alarming for most people, but for me it's kind of a big deal. Living across the street from her elementary school has meant walking to school, and I take comfort in the fact that I could run across the street within a moment's notice if she needed me or on the off-chance an apocalyptic attack should hit the town. (No, I don't worry much. Why do you ask? ;)

But today is different - today, she's on a school bus. Driving to a pumpkin patch in another state. Yup, that's right. Not only is my daughter on a school bus that may or may not have seatbelts (really trying not to dwell on this much) but she's in a whole different state than me. I tell you, school dismissal today cannot come fast enough.

On a lighter note, I'll tell you a cute Grace story. Last week she brought home a book from the school library having to do with the weather, explaining the different type of weather fronts, all about humidity and the different type of clouds, etc. Truth be told it seemed like it was a bit advanced for a kindergartener, but she really seemed to be getting into it so it was all good.

While we were reading about storm clouds, she asked me how lightening is made. So I tried to explain how water drops in the clouds rub and bump around each other, causing a charge (I'm sure there's a more involved explanation to be had but hey, she's only 5 and I haven't been in a science class for about 13 years).

She says "So it's sort of like when I get shocked when I'm on the carpet in my socks?" Which I thought was really super comparison for her to pick up on. "Yeah, it's sort of like that," I replied.

She ponders this for a moment or two, then her face brightens and she looks at me. "Oh, I get it!" she exclaimed, "So the thunder is when the clouds are saying 'Ouch'!" ROFL

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Ravelry - Finally!!!

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 10:23:56 -0400

http://www.ravelry.com/people/Mander

If you're reading this and you're on Ravelry too, I need some friends! I swear, I get it now. I've haven't had time to play too much yet between work and feeding children and all, but I've been scanning other people's projects and stash - the STASH! I feel like I'm snooping in other people's closets. LOL So much fun getting to see what type of yarn I share with other knitters, and what they've made out of it. Very inspiring!

Oh, and me and my knitting peeps made The Harlot's blog: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2007/09/22/last_stop_on_the_train.html

I feel like one of the cool people now. ;)

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The Yarn Harlot

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:11:06 -0400

It was an awesome night. Just absolutely awesome. I had the best time hanging with my knitting peeps, hanging with other knitting peeps, and of course, meeting The Harlot.

Now I'll launch into what may quite possibly be the longest blog post I've ever made. LOL The adventure started with my pals Gillian, Meghan and Katrin meeting at my house. Once I changed out of my baby puke-stained shirt, logged out of work and decided on which WIP would be making the trip with me, we clambered into Katrin's car and we were off. We may have been high off yarn fumes or something, but it wasn't long before we decided we had to share our enthusiasm with the rest of the world -

Yarn Harlot or Bust!

Honk If You Love Yarn!

Sadly, nobody honked. Haters!

I worked on my ribbed socks in the car -

Birthday Socks

(They're called birthday socks because the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Brights yarn was a birthday gift from the lovely Miss Gillian.)

We arrived at the Borders around 3:00 pm, four and a half hours before The Harlot was due to speak. We figured if we had waited to go later we'd have rush-hour traffic to contend with. And besides, what's better than killing a few hours in a bookstore with your friends, knitting and drinking coffee?

Here's a non-reversed version of our "Bust" wordage -

Yarn Harlot or BUST

I don't know if Stephanie saw our proclamation or not, but later we heard a few other knitters talking about it as they came in the store, heh heh.

To our suprise, we were not the first Harlot fans to arrive; there were two other ladies knitting in line. In line for what, you ask? We weren't sure but we weren't about to miss out on anything, so we plopped ourselves on the floor proceeded to wait.

Waiting with yarn

See the space behind us? Pretty empty, eh? Not for long -

The Waiting Game

Ha ha, that store was quickly chock full 'o knitters. See the baby in the middle? He was with his mom in line for hours, and not a single peep of complaint bless his heart. Hands down the easiest-going baby alive. I know my kids would have been scaling the bookcase searching for an escape route.

I finished the birthday socks in line -

Birthday Socks - finished

Meghan worked on her first sock -

First Sock

Katrin finished her scarf -

Katrin's Scarf

Gillian started a new sock using the coolest little rosewood DPNs from Lantern Moon (I'm going to break down and buy a set this week, I just know it) and showed off her fabulous one-of-a-kind "Virginia Is For Knitters" dishcloth -

VA Is For Knitters

We finally figured out what we were in line for - everyone was assigned a number for getting their book signed after The Harlot was finished speaking. So we were numbers 3-6 for meeting her in person, woot! After getting our numbers, we grabbed dinner at La Madaleine's next door, grabbed seats and waited for Stephanie to arrive.

Blurry shot of the crowd before the talk -

Harlot Madness

The picture doesn't do the whole thing justice, but there were easily over a hundred knitters there. It was a sight to behold. It was a lot of fun gabbing with surrounding knitters, chatting about yarn and showing off our work. We had the pleasure of sitting next to Jo, who was super nice to hang out with and hope to cross knitting paths with again. =)

Started new sock while we waited some more -

Harlot Socks

I may not finish them until 2009 at the rate I've been going lately, but henceforth these will forever be called my Harlot Socks. ;)

Finally, Stephanie was here! (My camera's flash was being a butthead, so I don't have a good shot of her standing at the podium but Gillian does, I think) She was awesome. (Have I used the word awesome enough?) She talks exactly the way she sounds in my head when I'm reading her blog (did that come out right?), and she's even more hysterically funny in person. She had lists, such as ways to respond if someone comments about your stash. She talked about the stereotypes knitters face from Muggles, about the cold & callous machinations of C.H.O.K.E. (Cultural Humiliation of Knitters Everywhere) and how often knitters are (foolishly) underestimated. Case in point: have you seen the total on her blog sidebar lately? She talked about so much more and I know any way to describe it would be a poor imitation, so you'll just have to take my word for it that she was fantastic.

After the talk was over, it was book-signing time and we were some of the first in line! Katrin got the chance to meet her first, and Meghan showed off her first sock mojo -

Katrin meets The Harlot

Meghan meets The Harlot

Then it was my turn to meet Stephanie. She asked me what my middle name was, then told me my mother was smart for naming me Amanda Marie because she named her daughter Amanda Lynn which sounds like "a mandolin", LOL. I presented her with my Virginia dishcloth (she said it was the first VA dishcloth she'd gotten) and babbled about how Grace called it the Dead Chicken state. I think I even told her "Welcome to the Dead Chicken State". Bwahaha. I swear, I think I'm cracked in the head.

Mander meets The Harlot

(PS - Stephanie? If by some miracle you're reading this, you may notice a tiny dab of lipstick on the edge of the dishcloth. This is from the lipstick we used to draw on the car window. Hopefully that knowledge will make the smudge a little less of a flaw and more of an interesting "enhancement".)

Then Gillian presented Stephanie with her Virginia Is For Knitters dishcloth (in case you're wondering, it's a play on our state's "Virginia is for Lovers" motto). Stephanie thought it was great! Then Gillian got to pose with The Harlot and even got to TOUCH the famous traveling sock.

Gillian meets The Harlot

Love this picture. Love it! How cool is that???

Seriously, I can't say it enough. We had the absolute best time in the world, and I really hope I'll have the chance to meet Stephanie again. =)

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Big Day is here!

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:12:10 -0400

In less than 12 hours, I will be getting to see the Yarn Harlot in person. So excited! Of course, my knitting pals and I are catching a lot of flack from the Muggles - "You're taking off work early to what? Knit? To see a knitting writer?" Yeah, yeah as a matter of fact I am. Keep giving me crap about it and you're never getting a handknit anything ever again. Harumph. :P

I just finished blocking my Virginia state dishcloth to give her, commemorating The Harlot's visit to what Grace has coined the "Dead Chicken State". Because if you turn a U.S. map sideways, Virginia apparently resembles the shape of a dead chicken. Through the eyes of a child... but damned if she isn't right. LOL

VA Dishcloth

Gillian's also made up a VA-inspired dishcloth, and all I'll say is that it's nothing less than awesome. Must snap a picture of it to show off, along with all the other pics I plan of taking tonight of our big knitting adventure.

All's left is to decide what sock I'm going to take along to work on; I've got 4 (okay, 5) currently on needles right now, and I need to decide which one will take the least amount of effort to knit since I'll be knitting and gawking at The Harlot simultaneously.

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Tea Time

nobody@vox.com(Mander) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:11:48 -0400

Was gifted with a jasmine tea flower that blossomed once you filled the cup with boiling water. Not the best cup of tea I've ever had, but very fragrant and pretty.

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