Happy Unbirthday

I am so fortunate to work for an old-school company, because for some reason they consider Good Friday to be a paid holiday. Yay for three day weekends! Alas, J didn't have the day off, so I taunted him from the kitchen and the sofa with my knitting and true crime procedural dramas on the TV.

It wasn't all negative for dear J, however - I did finish this spiffy new Brioche stitch hat for him:

Believe it or not, this is my first experience working with more than one color at a time! J kept it on his head for a good portion of the weekend. I also continued working on my Mariah sweater. The short version of this very long story is this - I made the sweater (in the round!). I decided to try the sweater on. But I was stupid - I'd been on a diet since starting the sweater, and apparently went down 4 inches in my chest measurement. I was swimming in the thing. So now I've totally redone the body, and am finishing up one sleeve. I still have the other sleeve to go before yoke-ing it all together. I actually went down two sizes - unbelieveable. I love the sweater, but I periodically have to do something else, like a pair of socks, because I am seriously sick of knitting this freakin' sweater.

I also got experimental and baked an unusual treat - bacon chocolate chip cookies. I had read about somebody's version on the intertubes, and decided that it should be tried at least once. All I did was add two 12 oz packages of fried, chopped bacon to my normal recipe. Yummy, but man are they filling! I ate two cookies, and didn't think I'd be able to eat dinner that night.

Oh, but I would have been wrong. J wanted to get out of the house, so we went to McMenamins and managed to put away an order of Scooby Snacks (mini corndog nuggets), fish and chips, and their apple and cranberry crisp for dessert. Goodbye diet!

Last but not least, J decided to spend his birthday money from Mom by purchasing a new acoustic guitar. He couldn't fight the itchy fingers anymore. Now he can happily strum away while dealing with work emails from idiots (I almost left it at just "emails", but decided it's not nice to call your friends "idiots" ;) ).

So, not quite an official birthday for J (because he refuses to acknowledge his birthday and hates celebrating it), but a happy one nonetheless. Happy unbirthday!

The rest of the weekend was spent doing small stuff around the house. We started moving furniture out of the loft, in preparation for the carpet to go down on Thursday (yay!). We also went through all of our SCA stuff, and stored most of it up in the attic in sealed containers. J got a bug up his butt on Sunday and decided to start priming the stairs. They look so much better, just with the primer! One more coat, then we can slap the trim paint on and call it a day.

I'm looking forward to my trip down to OC this weekend. I haven't been back down since the big move, and I'm excited to see everyone. People are talking about how "chilly" it's been, but I look at the weather reports and I have no idea what they are talking about. Since when is 50 degrees chilly?

Maiden Voyage

My first post! I have a personal blog (siobhan_genie.livejournal.com), and I've even had a knitting blog that I let fade into the ether. So I decided to start fresh and new. Plus, I figure I didn't have much of an audience with my previous blog to begin with, so it's not like I am abandoning/confusing any imaginary readership.

So, about me. I am 34 and live with my husband and three cats in the Portland, OR area as of May 2007. I am originally from Orange County, CA. Nice area, but got too expensive. I also despise hot weather, so living in the Pacific Northwest suits me just fine. I can also actually wear my handknits here, which thrills me to no end. In 2006, my husband and I had the insane idea to move out of state and settle somewhere new. After much research and a delightful vacation, we decided that Portland would suit us best. It's a small city that is liberal, progressive, and funky. The whole area has personality, and I love it. Between trying to sell our house in CA (at what turned out to be the beginning of the giant downturn) and finally getting settled here, I haven't had a whole lot of time to start blogging again until now.

I first learned to knit from my mother when I was about 12. I didn't get into it at the time - I was more of a counted cross-stitch gal. About 4 years ago, a friend of mine handed me her copy of Stitch N Bitch, and I was immediately hooked, and haven't put down the needles since. My favorite things to knit are socks. I'd like to get more into colorwork and sweaters, and I may actually be able to do that now that my life has settled down some.

As I mentioned, I did have a knitting blog before. I didn't really know what to do with it at first, since I had my LJ blog that I was also updating. But I have a plan, and I think it will keep both blogs from feeling neglected. It will also save my friends on LJ from having to read about my knitting adventures - I'm afraid most of my friends just don't understand the appeal.