Halloween At Work

Every year my office decorates for Halloween. This year one of my bosses came in during the weekend to decorate the office like a spooky police station. She didn't tell anyone that she was going to do it this weekend. So I was surprised when I walked in this morning. Of course I took pictures!

I have to say that there is nothing that puts me in a better mood than Halloween decorations in my office. I guess that a lit Christmas tree will do the trick, but I don't bring a tree to work with me. I hope to remember to take and post pictures when we have the trick or treaters come in on the 30th.

Ok. I guess that I don't have too much to say so far this month. Last month went by almost in a blur. August is always a strange month because it is the end of the summer and the beginning of the school year. This year was even more topsy turvy because one of my coworkers left and the next day the tore down the wall where her cubicle was and I have started taking a class after work. I am taking a class in creative writing. Last year I applied for a MFA in Creative Writing program but was not admitted. Rather than wallowing in my own grief I decided to just work on my writing on my writing by just taking classes on my own. So far the class is going well. I can't really tell how old most of my classmates are but I do know that most of them seem to be pretty creative. I was worried that everyone would write about crack whores and how they lost their virginity but so far I have heard a lot of really good writing (no offense to people who write in the virginity and crack whore genre). So far I written one story and started another. I don't know if they are any good. But I did compete a story!

Earlier this year I told myself that I was going to make one new dish every week. That never seemed to take hold. Somewhere early on in the year I decided to eat at a new restaurant every week... That is not really true but I feel like it is not that far off. Although I have not taken up becoming a black Julia Childs but I have made a pie.

My knitting is going well. I am starting projects as well as finishing them. I started working on a pair of mittens (a-la similar ones that I gifted last year). I hope to do some colorwork mittens this year so look out for that I guess. I finally blocked my blue Victoria Yoke pullover (The sweater has three quarter length sleeves which is why it looks like it is made for a two year old)!!! Now all that I have to do is make the button holes and I am set.

I bought my buttons at Britex Fabrics in downtown San Francisco. The woman who helped me was very nice even though I could not make my mind up about what to get. I chose a set with a leaf motif.

The sad part is that I am not very sure if I like the length of the sweater. I would not be able to wear it on its own without it looking horrifyingly short. So we will see what I do. I feel like it is too late to add on (I already blocked it) but we will see what happens.

I started on a pair of mittens for myself. I made a pair for my college roomie last year and thought that it would be nice to have a pair of my own. I am using a blue worsted weight Malabrigo yarn. I never really knew why people made such a big deal about Malabrigo, but I think that it is nice to work with for my mittens. It is a very soft brand and I really can't wait for the weather to get cool enough that I wont look like a crazy person for wearing mittens while outside.

Well that is all for now. I hope that I pay a little more attention to this thing than I was last month.

Craft Fair and Craft Fatiuge

So, I have been lazy and I am not going to write about the Renegade Craft Fair. But I can say that I did have a lot of fun! There were a lot of cool vendors. Here is a list with links to their sites.

• Old Tom Foolery
• Urban Fauna
• Spincycle Yarns
• Feusty Elle
  
• Magnolia Photo Booth Co.

This weekend is the American Craft Council craft fair at Fort Mason. Tonight (August 14, 2009) they offer $5.00 after 5pm admission. So I think that I will attempt to get my lazy but over to Fort Mason. This should be a little more hardcore than the RCT. This seems to focus a lot on the rise of home crafts and innovative use of materials.

This month I am kind of out of it blogwise. There have been an number of changes around me that have distracted me. YARG!! Knitting has also suffered a little. I am almost done with the Victoria Yoke Pullover. I re-knitted the body of the sweater about five times and recently realized that I fudged up on one of the sleeves. i am at the point where I am pretty sure that I am just bored by the whole thing. I really want to finish it. I am afraid that it is going to be a little more snugg than I am comfortable with. Yep people I am committing a knitting sin: depending on blocking to solve all of my problems!!!!

There are now a number of other projects that I want to work on. Small yet challenging projects. Mittens, lace, slippers, hats. And well, I also have plans to make another sweater. I know that it is a bad idea to start one project before I start another, but sometimes you have to indulge in an urge. I would like to work on the Rosamund's Cardigan from Interweave Knits Fall 2009 issue. I think that it would be nice to work with some chunky/bulky weight yarn. I haven't done anything with chunky in a long time. Maybe I will make it in tweed? or a very light green? or blue? We will see.

One project that is going well are my socks. Well, one pair of my socks. I am at the cuff of my diagonal rib socks. I already have one completed and blocked. It took me a while to finish the short row heel. Although I am proud that I am making some pretty good progress, I am not sure if I am completely sold on the sock thing. I think that I might possibly like mittens more. Sure, mittens are just socks for the hands, but you get to use bigger needles (a lot of the time).

Brief Thought About Dating Blogs

I feel bad for people who write Dating blogs. not blogs where people give advise but where people talk about their own personal experiences. Usually a good dating blog involves lots of horror stories. Stories that might make you feel better about your own bad dates or lack there of. Although I enjoy a good share of them I realize that I feel bad for the bloggers when things start to go well for them. I notice that move of these types of bloggers stop once they have found themselves in a relationship that works for them. I understand why they would stop. I think that the best way to ruin a good relationship publicize every little detail. But when these bloggers decide to stop I always find myself wishing that they would find out something horrifyingly embarrassing about their new mate so that they would return to blogging.

This , I admit , is really bad. But because I always think that way I think that I will try to avoid talking about such things myself. If I did post more personal stuff my blog would be so strange. It would be all about food, knitting and dating. I guess that could work but I don't know if I can do it without seeming really cheesy... let me rephrase that. I don't know if I can do that without becoming more cheesy than I already am. But, saying that makes me wonder if my blog is just really boring. I don't even know if people read this thing. I have a feeling that there are just two people and one of them is me. Oh well. For some reason I feel that I should post about twice a month. So readers or no readers the writing and pictures will be put out there.


Oh! Soon I will write a post about the San Francisco second annual Renegade Craft Fair.

A cool video that was sent to me

My friend Jeff emailed this video to me and a whole bunch of other people. It took me a while to finally watch it, but I am sure glad that I did. Its a sweet and cool little music video.

About two weeks ago a friend from college came to visit me. I was happy to see her but also realized that it would provide me with ample time to be a tourist in my own city. There are many times when I think about things that I should do but just never has the time get to them. For example, I live about ten minutes away from the Golden Gate Bridge but I've only walked across it once... and that was about eight years ago.

There were two days when I played the happy tourist. We went to visit a couple of wineries in Sonoma and the next day we took a ferry to Alcatraz. I took about thirty pictures at each place. But like so many of the photos that I take most of them looked pretty much the same. So I narrowed down as much at I could to provide you all with a couple of slide shows.

The day that we visited Sonoma was great. The weather was in the eighties and there were barely any clouds in the sky. The cool stone buildings were a welcome escape from the hot sun. I am not a wine drinker but I was not disappointed. The great thing about Sonoma wineries is that you can find a lot of places that offer food tastings. So I got the opportunity to taste my share of cheese, olive oil and spreads. Another thing about Sonomoa is that each winery has its own personality. There are villas, country homes, and even barns. The one thing that is similar with each one is that by noon the tasting rooms are full of winos.



The next day there my friend and I went to Alcatraz. I once lived in full view of Alcatraz and never made my way out there. Mainly because most of the tours are very expensive. But if you go to the Alcatraz Island Official Site you only have to pay 26 dollars. Alcatraz has a very rich history for a tiny little island. It was first used as a military fort during the civil war, then as a prison, and occupied by Native American civil rights protesters and finally a part of the National Parks reserve. The prison was smaller than I had expected, but it defiantly does not seem like a place that you would want to stay overnight. There is a surprising amount of vegetation on the island. Much, if not all of it, was brought over by people who worked and lived on the island.



Side Knitting Note:
I am currently in the middle of two projects. I am still working on my Victorian Yoke Sweater. I am currently attaching a sleeve. I am currently having issues with the length. As things stand it currently sits right at my waist but I would prefer it longer. So I am trying to figure out whether or not I want to take out the bind off and make it longer or just block the SOB.

I am also working on a Mock Lace Sock. It is a cuff down pattern that is moving pretty quickly. I am also have issues with this project that i hope will fix themselves out during blocking.

Upgrading my updates?

hi there everyone. I am making this post from my phone i guess that you can say that I have been a little restless lately and the result is that I've gone further into the internet cave. i am just adding more and more to the matrix that well all call the net.

As you can see on the right side of the screen I opened a twitter account. I am still getting used to it but i think that the quick little entries will keep you up to date in between my actual posts.

So the most exciting thing going on is that my friend Adrienne is comming in town Wednesday! Yay!!! i haven't seen her in three years and now I have to show her a good time in my city. Luckily we have a working itinerary. I will take lots of pictures while I am touring around the city and I hope have a real nice post up at the begining of next week