In a nutshell...

Monday in a nutshell:

-- Got flirted with three times - one of them resulted in a free chai latte, and one of them was a decade younger than me (what the hell, people??)...

-- Did NOT have a cat with diarrhea (that was a plus)

-- Spent an hour talking myself out of buying more yarn... again... when I've got three projects in my lineup waiting to be started....

-- Helped a woman get rid of her migraine and severe pain caused by whiplash at the massage clinic and gave her ideas for curing her allergies

-- Read about social injustice, knitted a lacy tank top, and taught music to a bunch of people :)

-- Stayed up too late on the internet drooling at yarn, playing with Facebook, and writing in my blog ;)

Summary: A day well spent.

MMmmm, new projects...

Hello, friends and knitters!

Today I am continuing my apartment cleaning for when Bryan gets here on Thursday. I can't wait to see him! Since we met we've been together every single day for the past year and a half, and now I haven't seen him in over three weeks. Seems like a while! They're paying for him to fly home for the Easter holiday, so he gets to be here from Thursday until Monday. It's going to be so nice.

Well I started another beautiful blouse out of that French Girl Knits book and I thought I would show you my progress so far. The funny thing is that it's going to be a tank top for my Mom, .....but it looks so tiny on the needles!! In the design picture that I posted you can see it will stretch out quite a bit and lay flat after I block it (that's getting it wet for the first time, shaping it and pinning it out, and letting it dry into that shape when you're all done knitting something, for those of you who don't knit). I'm making it exactly as the directions say, so I'll assume it's right. :) Here's what I've got so far, and the finished design picture from the book:

I think it's going to knit up pretty fast. I've only been working on it for a week and a half so far. The yarn is awesome too! Blue Sky Alpacas: Alpaca and Silk. Ssooooofft! I must say that in the past month something has snuck up on me that I never thought would happen.... I think I've become a yarn snob! Not entirely, I have to say. I'll still use acrylic yarn for baby blankets or special funky-looking scarves or what-not. ....But the allure of animal and plant fiber, once you've been spoiled with it a few times in a row... It's intoxicating. lol :) I've also begun to LOVE buying yarn online. Seeing something you absolutely love and then having it show up on your doorstep in a little box like a present from The Yarn Fairy is an awesome experience, I must say! Ravelry is truly an awesome website. I like to check out reviews of yarn so I can find out the quality before I buy it. Of course I also love yarn shops. Who doesn't??!! But somehow random balls of yarn get stuck to me as I make my way through, and the only way I can get them off is to dump them at the register and take out my debit card... Online shopping is a bit safer for me at the moment. :)

Some day when I learn how to spin and make my own yarn, I am definitely going to collect my cat's hair after brushings and use it to make yarn! She's a Ragdoll cat - really huge, big blue eyes, and fluffy bunny-soft fur. I've heard of other people using Ragdoll cat hair and they say it feels very similar to cashmere. Here's some recent pics I took the other day of my crazy cat Mia:




She's a sweetie. Alright, well that's all for now. I gotta get ready to go to my teaching studio. I can't believe I only have three more weeks left to teach!! :( I'm going to miss all of my students, and Judy, the owner of the piano store that I teach out of, SO much. I'm also going to miss the mountains and the New Mexico landscape, and the laid-back friendliness of the people here! You just can't beat the laid-back mentality of the West, or the hospitality of the South. (Yes, I know we're not technically South here. Southwest is different, but still - New Mexico people are awesome.) Strangers and people in general are way nicer here than in the Midwest. You can strike up a conversation or a smile with just about anyone here, and you can take your time at the grocery checkout. Ah well, on to new adventures in May. :) Should be fun! I'm looking forward to seeing green grass, lots of lush vegetation, farmland, and water when I get to Missouri. I want to ride that bike trail! And I'm excited to meet Bryan's friendly and eccentric co-workers. :)

Alright, talk to you later!
~Trudy~

Okay, I give in...

Well, so many people lately have been telling me I should start a blog to log all of my adventures traveling around with Bryan for his new job. I have finally succumbed to the peer pressure. :) I figured the blog name I chose would be fitting in that I am going to be a wanderer for awhile now. It's also a partial ode to Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the writer of "Free Range Knitter," among many other very funny books about knitting. :) Fitting, since I am obsessed with knitting.

We're getting closer and closer to my moving date on May 1st when I go join Bryan in Jefferson City, Missouri. Time is flying fast! It's about 3 and a half weeks away now. I'm starting to get things organized for myself, including filling out the paperwork and saving up the money to get my new massage license for the state of Missouri. I have a lot of little things I need to do to get ready. Nothing too huge, so that's good. I sure am going to miss my knitting group!! They have been such an awesome group of friends for me here and I feel like there's many times in the past year that would have been way tougher to make it through without them! But I hope to keep in touch with them when I leave, at least online.

We won't be moving all of our stuff out of this apartment until June, when Bryan's through with his probation and we know for certain that he has the job (although it's looking more and more like he's not only going to get the job, but that he may also get an immediate promotion once he's in.) Everyone is amazed by him at the workplace, which is so awesome. :) And so typical of Bryan. We did find out today that we'll be in Missouri for under a year. I guess for tax purposes they move their organizers around so that they're in each state for less than a year because otherwise they have to pay state taxes in two states, or something weird like that. But one thing about Missouri that I am looking forward to is something I just found online yesterday called the Katy Trail. It's a 300 mile bike trail that goes across the middle of Missouri!! :) Part of the trail goes right through north Jefferson. And you can even rent bikes by the trail in a couple places if you don't have one. It goes through some really beautiful areas, and it would be awesome if I could find a cheap bike and bike rack for my car somehow so I could ride part of it a bunch of times a week! Anyone know of someone wanting to get rid of a good bike rack that would fit on a Ford Focus sedan?? :)

For my knitting friends, I'll report that the ends are still hanging from my red blouse... big surprise there. But I'm determined to come wearing the blouse next time I come to the knitting group! ...Realistically I may not be able to come this weekend. Bryan will be in town and Saturday morning I have to work at the massage clinic, so I'd rather not leave him alone the whole day when he's here to see me! But here are some pictures of the blouse! :


(Sorry for the toilet shot.) haha :)

Now, I'm working on that Delphine lacy tank top pattern for my Mom from that French Girl Knits book. It's awesome. It looks SO small on the needles right now, but I'm hoping it's just a figment of my eyes' imagination. :) I think it's the right size... I'll just keep telling myself it is. lol I've also realized how much unused awesome sock yarn I've got laying around here! So I've decided to start working on some more socks for myself. Also, I fell prey to the perils of Ravelry tonight.

I was innocently checking my inbox when I saw a colorful ad for a website called "eat sleep knit". I checked it out.... Oh dear. Somehow before I could blink I had some awesome hand-painted sock yarn on order in a mouthwatering self-striping colorway called "Just Plum" and I also registered with the website for an awesome program they have called "The Yarn Marathon," in which you see how many total yards of yarn you can buy throughout the year and get milestone prizes along the way when you reach certain yardages, such as $20 gift cards, surprise bags of yarn, and other cool stuff. *ssiiiiigh* Why do I sense I'll soon have as many knit socks as Kim from the knitting group?? The entire website is devoted to handpainted and hand-dyed yarn, which makes for really yummy sock and lace yarns.... *drool, drool*

Oh!! And and... On the sidebar of my blog you'll see a button that says "eat sleep knit." If you ever want to buy awesome handpainted yarn from them, come to my blog and click on my button to link to them and buy yarn, and your purchase adds yardage onto my "yarn marathon" count so I can get free stuff!! :) :) Please click and buy!! :-D heehee.... Okay, that's my one and only shameless plug.

Well, that's about all for now. I'll write again tomorrow!

Goodnight, friends and knitters....
~Trudy~