This Is Huge!

For me. As a knitter.



See that thing on my knee? That is a sock. My first sock. Up until now I have been afraid to knit one. Here is what happened. About a year ago I started the scarf from this post and I had a terrible time with it. I was trying new stitches along with skinny old sock yarn and I got super frustrated and put it down. But when I picked it back up a year later, the process was a lot easier. I had gotten better at knitting! So when I finished up the scarf and had some sock yarn left over, I swallowed my fear and cast on to the dreaded double pointed needles. This is another reason why I was afraid of socks. Double pointed needles suck! They require a level of coordination that I did not have. Until now! I am sucking it up and learning to work with these things. At first it felt like I had 12 fingers on each hand, but I have been doing it for almost a week, and now it only feels like I have about eight fingers on each hand. That is progress. I screwed up three times and had to unravel it, but it appears that the fourth time is the charm!



It is starting to resemble an actual sock! So far so good. I have not gotten down to the heel yet. I am sure there will be more swearing and throwing of needles across the room, but hopefully I will get through it.

Tune in for the next exciting episode of "As The Heel Turns", where we hear Karla say, "%#$*&!" and "*@#&$%!".

Let's Hear It For Faythe!

I have lived up here for two years now, and fortunately I have acquired a few friends in that time. I love all my Supper Club girls, but it seems that the two that I do the most stuff with are Jennifer O. and Faythe. We all seem to like the same kind of things and we have a pretty good time together. We always find the fun in whatever it is we are doing and we laugh a lot. During our adventures, Faythe is the documentarian. She takes her camera everywhere she goes. And she blogs faithfully about all the stuff we do. Oftentimes (Is that one word or two?) she does my blog job for me, writing about our adventures to the point where I just say go here. Which is what I just did, because Faythe has documented our evening at the Roller Derby with such thoroughness, I don't even have to blog about it. So, thanks to my friend Faythe and her trusty camera. Here's to more adventures!

Why Cooking Is Bad

Victory Amid Boob Controversy

Let's start with the victory--I finished my scarf!! I have been knitting pretty much every evening, every lunchtime and most of every weekend since the Olympics started. I knit until I fall asleep in the chair in front of the TV. And it paid off, because this evening I finally finished that dang thing!



It's really nice. Too bad I didn't enter it into the Fair, it may have actually won something.

OK, now to the boob controversy. Let me first point out that this controversy exists only in my mind, but that is enough for me to blog about it. If you have watched the Olympics at all you are no doubt familiar with the commercial with the Sumo wrestlers that turn into an airplane and fly away. I think the commercial is for some computer or something.



As you can see, these Sumo wrestlers have quite a bit of boobage. In fact, they look just like woman's boobs. And the censors have no problem with these giant man-boobs being shown on network television. But they do have a problem with showing girl-boobs.



Wait a minute, this woman has no boobs. She is so muscular that she actually has pecs instead of boobs. But can we see them? NO! Why not? We got to see Michael Phelps' pecs all the live long day. But we can't see woman-pecs. And we have to look at Sumo Moobs. Do you see the problem here?? The boobs are on the wrong people!! And if that is not Olympic controversy, I don't know what is.



What can be done??

The Olympics Are Wearing Me Out!

I have stated here before that I LOVE the Olympics. Always have, always will. I have several things to say on the subject.

First, the opening ceremony was awesome. We all know that. China kicked the world's ass in opening ceremonies. And they are also kicking the world's ass in the events. Which brings me to my second point. There is NO WAY those Chinese girl gymnasts are 16 years old. They are little girls with purple eyeshadow. I am convinced that the Chinese government altered their documents to make 12 year olds into 16 year olds. I have no proof of this, but because I live in America I get to say whatever I want. Yay, freedom! And what is the big deal about the age limit anyway? All it means is that the real 16 year old gymnasts are having their asses handed to them by a bunch of 12 year olds. Does it make everyone feel better to get beat by girls their own age? I don't get it! Whatever.

Here is the problem with the Olympics. I want to watch all the time, but I work. Plus they are running until after midnight every night and I am asleep in the chair by 11pm. So I have to record it and watch what I missed the night before PLUS what I missed while I'm at work PLUS the live stuff from that night! It is exhausting! I admit that I fast forward through water polo, equestrian events, and volleyball, but it still is very time consuming.

And here is the other thing. I am an idiot. Because I signed up on Ravelry for the Ravelympics. I have to finish a scarf that I started last year by the closing ceremonies in order to win a medal. This is the scarf:



I have been knitting like crazy and am only about half way done. I really want that medal! So I finished a project that was almost done and I submitted that. And I got my medal!



But I am still determined to finish my scarf in time! I tell you, all this knitting and watching TV is HARD WORK!! OK, gotta go turn on the TV and make dinner now. I will prevail!

What I Did On My Summer Staycation

What was supposed to happen was that Leo and I were going to go to Canada because Max was supposed to be in Japan right now and we were going to be international travelers too. But then Japan got postponed and Max wanted to come to Canada too and Leo said that if Max comes to Canada then he won't go. So none of us went to Canada. But I still had half of yesterday and all of today off and now with no plans. So here is what I did.

1) Yesterday I went to the rose garden of Manito Park and knitted with a bunch of really cool people. They meet there every week and I will definitely be going back, it was so much fun!

2) This morning I got up early and Jennifer O. and I drove to Mt. Spokane to go berry picking but the road was closed half way up, so we went to Costco and picked up some blueberries there instead. Not quite the same but fun nonetheless.

3) I watched Paula Deen cook Chicken Pot Pie and Steak Diane on the Food Network. In those two dishes she managed to use almost 2 sticks of butter. She said she uses butter because she can. That sounds like a good reason to me.

4) Now I am going to watch Oprah while I clean the kitchen and then I will cook dinner which will be potstickers because the Olympics are in China. Everyone should watch the opening ceremonies tonight because fireworks come from China and they will probably have the best fireworks show in history!

5) Tomorrow I might throw caution to the wind and get a cup of coffee at the Rocket Bakery and possibly even a pink cookie. Whoa. I also might vacuum the house. Double whoa.

6) Tomorrow night they are showing "Willow" at The Shop on Perry. Bring a chair and have some free fun. And see Val Kilmer back when he was cute.

7) Other weekend highlights will include talking on the phone and knitting. Who needs Disneyland or Cabo when so much fun can be had right here!

Weakly Whirled News

It has been a busy week that has gone fast and slow at the same time if that is possible. Here is the stuff I remember, numbered as usual in no particular order, mostly boring except to me.

1) Well I took the big leap and I entered two knitting projects into the Spokane Interstate Fair! There is no going back now, so I better get cracking. I have already finished the Noro scarf, I would take a picture but I don't want my knitting competitors to see it. (Like they read my blog, ha!) I have not yet started the Ballband Washcloth but they don't take long to knit up so I'm sure I can knock it out by the entry date of September 2nd. This weekend will be spent deciding on and procuring the perfect colors of cotton because I will be knitting the finest washcloth ever known in all of history. Just so you know.

2) In other fascinating news, I have been watching a lot of the Suze Orman show lately. By watching I mean I put it on while I am cooking dinner and barely pay attention to it. I am hoping to get some good financial sense by osmosis.

3) Speaking of good financial sense, I threw $12 away playing Bingo last night with my friends Jen O. and Faythe. It was fun! None of us won anything, but 2 ladies at the next table won $500 between them. We were sitting at the wrong table I guess.

4) The other night at 11:15 pm, Max decided that he had to watch The Blues Brothers, which is one of my very favorite movies. So of course I had to stay up way past my bedtime and watch it with him, which I paid for the next day at work, but I don't regret it because any time spent with one of my kids is time well spent.

5) I would like to say HEY! to my cousin Robin who lives in New York and was kind enough to leave a comment saying hello. Robin, it has been too long! I don't have any of your info so I can't get back to you. Email me at spokarla@yahoo.com , I would love to get back in touch with all of you.

6) It's the weekend! Which means grocery shopping, avoiding housework, enjoying the beautiful weather, and possibly going to the South Perry Summer Theater tonight. Totally fun and highly recommended.

Have a great day everybody!