KnittyOtter

May Apple Blossoms & The Bees Knees (Literally)

Last year the honey and I planted two dwarf apple trees. We even had enough of an apple harvest for a pie. Mmmmmm Pie. Pie. 1.5 Pie. Pie is Good! Want Pie Now... PIE!!!

When Come Back Bring Pie.

Ah, a simpler time.

Wankers.  

/end tangent o.0

Anyhoo, so we planted some stuffs last year. More on the other stuff later as news arises.

The trees are blossoming like crazy this year. Absolutely beautiful! :D Yesterday I took a few photos of them in all their spring glory. (Oh and I got a new camera a few weeks ago. We are in love and I plan to have it's camera babies. It will be an odd life but I'm sure we will be very happy together. :p )

Full to bursting with blossomy goodness. 

Check out this close up.

Just then I spotted a garden visitor.

It's a wonderful little honey bee!! YAY!! I love Honey bees. The honey and I have been talking about doing some backyard beekeeping for awhile now and I'm thinking next year after we do some more prep to the backyard we will be ready. :D

Here's a close up of the little guy. Check out his pollen laden knees. Whoaza! 

When he flew away he kinda wobbled. I'm wondering if it was his heavy load or if he was drunk on pollen. *L*

Thanks to his efforts I hope we have lots of yummy apples this autumn.

Pie! :D

The King Is Dead.

Long Live The New King.

Yesterday I was told that Lightening the Laptop was dead never to return to the world of the computing. Thankfully when he started to look a bit sickly I got a new computer. Still it sucks. I saved all the info except for some of my Favorites and the list of blogs I used to read. You know when I used to have time to review blogs and keep track of my own.

Funny how time flies and the world passes by.

It's hard in keep in contact with people. For me at least. Mileage may vary per individual.

So life has been moving forward and with it change. I'm still me just a bit older, different, I'd hope wiser but that's just the delusion of age I suppose.

The things that are the same are the most important, still with my honey, still nursing along my little TKK Kitty (now 20 years old) and still best friends with my Cookie.

I have made new friends, gotten rid of some old friends who turned out to be poison and gotten rid of some the new friends who were also poison/users/vampires. Keeping what I hope to be the best. Time will tell. Though some friends have fallen to the side not because there was anything wrong with the relationship, just a lack of time and attention. Like flowers some beautiful things just wilt without care.

Yesterday I turned 35. I was 22 when I met TKK. 23 when I met my Honey. 27 when I met my Cookie.

How time flies.

I still knit, as if there was a doubt. I just haven't found the time or attention to blog about it. All along I keep intending to update. Intentions. So cliche.

This year I've done a bit of traveling. For this and that. I even went to Stitches. That was... interesting. Kinda reminds me of something I read earlier today, "If you're a screaming narcissistic attention whore, you need the cyberhugglez". Only the cyberhugglez obviously would be changed to something like  "If you're a screaming narcissistic attention whore, you need to make huge dramatic scenes at stitches".  I'd go again, I just need to learn to tell people to shut the fuck up. It's not a knitter thing, trust me knitters are not above the rest of the humans. It seems that some of these individuals are starved for human contact and believe this is their big opportunity to get some sort of validation.This made for a lot of uncomfortable class room settings where crazy people hijacked the teachers time to tell everyone in the room about how their lives sucked because of ___________. Or the crazy people who showed up and wasted the class time by trying to teach over the actual class instructor when they obviously had no fracking clue. o.0 I paid money for that?! Really?!!

There was one teacher who was capable of  stopping the bullshit before it started. She wore black leather pants. Funny how you can always count on the Domme's to take charge. *L*

I did learn a lot, despite the crazy humans. (Cannot wait until the zombies get most of the humans. Looking forward to the peace and quite!) That's not to say there weren't nice people. 98% were probably super awesome and I met some great people there. But they were calm and nice. The crazy ones are frack ass loud and in your face... or they were sour disgruntled asshats who bitched because everything was sooooo hard. Eh. Feh. Meh! o.0

It was also fun seeing all the yarn and stuff to be purchased on the market floor. It was... interesting.

Like I said I'd go again. I just might try to take it slower and drink more. Yes a few glasses of wine before hitting the market floor sounds like a good plan. That and only going with the cash in hand that I want to spend. So many colors and options and people. It's crazy making.  I personally would need some sort of buddy system to stay sane if I go again.

Of course maybe it just seemed weirder than it was because of some personal/family stuff that was going on at the time. I seriously considered not going even though I had already paid for the classes because of what was going on. When dealing with bullshit other bullshit gets seriously magnified I'm thinking.

So maybe next year will be a totally different super fun thing. I'm planning on it. ;)

And just to prove I still knit here is my Mocha Bay scarf. The pattern is the Montego Bay by Amy Singer. The yarn is the Stitches 2010 Lornas Laces Jimmy Beans colorway called Peppermint Mocha. Love!

A funny thing happened on the way to my life...

I won't go into the stuffs that has been going on the last year. I'll just say I was busy and most of it was life stuffs I don't blog about. That and computer issues.

:P

I'm posting from my new computer now actually. Just got it last week. LOVE!

Though I'm a bit weirded out by how different TypePad is now... again. o.0 That'll teach me not to wait 7 or 8 months to update. Sheesh.

In knitting news I am knitting my first pair of gloves. The pattern is Knotty. :D The yarn is Sundara Sock, colorway Marina over Icicles. Love!

 
Yesterday I made super yummy pies. Well the pumpkin is yummy. Haven't tried the apple yet, but the crust looks faboo. It's the first time I have made my own crusts. Soooo nifty!

 
I'm making some French Vanilla Ice Cream to go with the apple pie at the moment. YUM-E!

I recently cashed in some credit card reward points for gift cards to Williams-Sonoma. I am the owner of a super cool Cobalt Blue Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer. I got the ice cream attachments and the pasta attachments. Wheeeeeee! I also got a proper rolling pin, rolling pastry mat, a Blue Le Crueset 6 quart dutch oven and some other fun toys.

I hope to start posting more, but don't hold your breath and I won't beat myself up if it doesn't happen. There is lots going on and I'm just happy to have some time to knit again.

Life is all about balance and I'm still looking for mine. ;)

That makes me think of: Self Centered Twat Monkey Edition

You all know the "That makes me think of" game right? No? Well it's sort of a stream of conscious type thing. Or rather how my brain is ALL the time. o.0

ALL. THE. TIME.

So this morning as I was knitting a row or two on my shawl before getting to work (not a normal occurrence, btw but I got up super extra early so thought why not.) I was thinking about my needles and gauge. I'm knitting Madli with my US 4 / 3.5 mm Metal Knit Pick Option Needles. I would be using my wooden ones as I think they have a bit more grip and make nupps and those sorts of things a bit easier BUT I seem to have misplaced my US 4 & my US 5 wooden tips. I have torn my house apart looking for them. I see now that I will have to order another set of tips to replace them. I've also started putting notes in my needle binder that says which project the tips in use are in. Now I just have to be good about putting the needle tips & cords back once I'm finished with them. Novel concept eh? :P

So anyway... as I was pondering my lost needles it made me think of how my gauge has relaxed a great deal in the last year. Used to be I could knit a pair of socks on a US 2.5 or even 3 and still get gauge. Now I'm knitting my sock on US 1.5 and getting the gauge I want for my socks. If I knit on the US 2.5 they are freakishly big. Which sucks as I have several lovely sets of DPN's in US 2.5 that aren't getting any action.

That made me think of how back when I first started knitting this asshat once put me down for having such tight gauge and bragged about how she had to knit with size US 1 needles to get the gauge that most people get when they knit with a size US 8.

Well La De Fucking Da, you Self Centered Twat Monkey.

First of all why should I even care about some strangers gauge. Why did she feel the need to share that and put me down for being a tight knitter. As if having freakishly loose gauge was any better than being a tight knitter?! o.0 Cause it's not. It just is. Just as being a tight knitter just is. Not good or bad, just whatever each knitter should know about themselves so they know how to proceed when they start a project.

So this morning as I was knitting my shawl and thinking about needles and gauge it occurred to me why that person had done that. Granted this was before there were as many online outlets for attention whores to get their "look at me fix", it's because she was a Self Centered Twat Monkey. *L*

That made me think of the most recent atrocities of selfishness this person has committed lately which made me at that time proclaim, "What a Cunt!" to the person who was wronged by the SCTM. Twat Monkey or Cunt Monkey it's all the same. Those people should be avoid at all costs.

Of course this morning as I was knitting it made me think about how much I love the phrase Self Centered Twat Monkey. :D

Sadly I feel like I know wayyyyy too many SCTM's right now. It's pissing me off and making me grumpy. Yet recognizing I have a problem with SCTM's is the first step to solving the problem. The next step will be to remove them from my realm of existence. :D I did that with a group of Self Centered Twat Monkeys last year and I have been soooooo happy not to deal with them.

So if you find you are dealing with Stupid People or Self Centered Twat Monkeys and it's pissing you off the only advice I have for you is to eliminate them from your life.

Or go on a killing spree, depending on the time of month and your tolerance level for such worthless creatures. ;)

Of course you will need to secure bail money, a good lawyer and an alibi if you are forced into the latter option.

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!

Now that brings me back to the original thought which makes me think and question why my gauge has relaxed so much in the last year. Especially considering how stressed I've been.

Historically during times of stress my gauge has tightened up. My stress hasn't decreased any, though perhaps my knitting style has become more confident. That makes me think of the major change in my knitting in the last year. That would be Cookie showing me her fool proof and most awesome toe up short row toes and heels. That sort of clicked a switch in my head and I have a lot more confidence as a knitter. Even though now the Cookie Cutter Short Row Method is second nature and totally obvious at first I wasn't sure and it was a bit like flying blind. I had to have trust and blind faith it was going to work because my brain could not comprehend how it could work. Even if you were to fail though, it's just knitting. *L*

Now all of that makes me think how even though I'm more stressed I can always count on My Best Friend to be there for me. Even when I suck. That makes me less stressed. Throw in The Honey and Rendog and a few other people who have been added to my solid rocks of stability in the storm of life and you have more relaxed gauge in my knitting even though the world is in chaos. *L*

That makes me think how lucky I am to have the people I love in my life and how those few Self Centered Twat Monkeys don't really matter or bother me too much in the big picture.

But it's still really fun to say SELF CENTERED TWAT MONKEY!! :D

Edit: Damn this is a long post. I should give a virtual chocolate chip cookie to anyone who actually reads the whole self indulgent thing. *L*

George Wants To Hug Walter Greatshell!

Congratulations on your FOUR book deal with Berkley!!

Early today while I reviewing blogs and whatnot George let out a giddy girlie scream of delight. Now I'm used to him making comments over my shoulder as I go about my various activities online through out the day, but this was something different. Plus he normally only has snarky things to say about badly knit items, people who can't use Google to save their lives or the hordes of stupid humans who irritate the crap monkeys out of him. It's hard being a forward thinking Zombie in these crazy times. heh.

Yet when his shriek of delight nearly burst my eardrums I too had to take a closer look to see what had ignited him so.

First I noticed in Walter's post of yesterday that he had acquired out of the blue a FOUR book deal with Berkley. *Happy Otter Dance*

Finally! The honey and I have been waiting eons and eons for more of his books to get published. Well at least since 2005, which in Ottertime is wayyyyyyy too long to wait.

You'll notice in the photo that George is hugging two copies of Xombies. Yeah... so the honey found the book at the bookstore and thought it looked good. He'd never heard of Walter Greatshell before but given our love of Zombies decided to give it a try. When he started reading the book he was overcome with excitement and had to tell me all about it. He left out the bits that would have spoiled the twists and turns for me but gave me just enough that I was left impatiently waiting my turn to read it.

Once The Honey had finished reading the book he looked up the Author to see what else he had written. Sadly there wasn't anything else published at that time AND you couldn't get another copy of it anywhere. o.0 Frightening indeed!

This made The Honey extra protective of the one copy of Xombies we had in our possession.

There were RULES to reading the book. We could't take it with us during travels, especially any kind of air travel. (Just the thought of loosing this in some crappy airport or a hotel makes my skin crawl!) We could not read it while soaking in the bathtub. (granted this rule was aimed at me, even though I've never dropped a book in the bathtub ever. *sigh*) We also couldn't read it outside on very windy days. (It's Reno, the wind can rip the pages or even whole books from your hands without any notice.)

One day I was doing a random search through Amazon to see if anything new had been published by Walter Greatshell when they had some "alternative seller" copies of Xombies for sale. I snatched up one pristine copy along with the book The Undead: Flesh Feast (Zombie Anthology) featuring a forward by Walter Greatshell. I wrapped them both up and gave them to my honey. It was one of the best Birthday gifts I have ever given him. :D

Naturally he loved it, but questioned if perhaps we shouldn't just go ahead and get another copy, ya know just in case something happened to the two we now have. *L*

With two copies I still haven't risked breaking any of the rules. It is THE BEST Zombie / Apocalypse book EVER!

It's not just the compelling storyline that makes this book so memorable, but the actual writing skill. I know, a rarity these days for certain. But damn-it these books are wonderfully written with stylish turns of phrase that make you stop and think... and if you're a dork like me, think what a great quote that would make. *L*

The second best Zombie / Apocalypse book ever would be Stephen King's Cell. Great book, but still second best.

So you can see how excited George was at seeing his favorite Zombie Author finally getting the publishing love he deserves. :D

But that wasn't all!

At the end of Walter's post he mentions how he would like to Hug My George! *L* Priceless!

George being all dramatic, as anyone named after the Great Zombie Film Legend George A. Romero can expected to be, then insisted we take a special photo to post on the blog today.

Xombie George!

Now of course we have before us the long task of waiting for the books to come out. o.0

Chances are I'll knit a lot of socks before then. Maybe even some lace. *L*

Hell if I'm real lucky I'll finish the five pairs I have going right now. :P

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Dreaming of Autumn Scarf: Final FO of 2008

Goodness I just looked through my 2008 Completed Projects Thingy and I really didn't finish much last year. I did start an awful lot of new things. Many have been frogged, live and learn and more are just waiting to be finished. A few things were completed but never made it to the blog due to lack of photo taking. Opps.

Here is the scarf I finished last November as modeled by the ever lovely George.

Pattern  : Drop Stitch Scarf by Christine Vogel

Made for : ME!

Size : 8 feet long & 4 inches wide (Crazy Ass Long!)

Needle s: US 7 / 4.5 mm

Yarn : Manos del Uruguay Manos Silk Blend - 2 skeins

Colorway  3109

Purchased at: Jimmy Beans Wool in Reno, Nevada

Notes: Cast On 8/3/08 @ 9:00 pm

The color reminded me of late summer/early autumn when the mums are all out and it’s time to go play in a maize maze and pick your pumpkins. :D

The yarn tends to fuzz up FAST and lose its wonderful shine and luster, still pretty but a bit of a shame. :/

If I made this pattern again I would make it wider and shorter.

Here's a better view of the gorgeous colors.

Now for a bit of random... I love William Shatner.

I was just listening to a William Shatner & Ben Folds song a bit ago. The song is called "In Love".

In general it's a damn funny song, but this bit caught me just right.

"I don't feel enough of anything
to harbor the kind of disdain
that you'll maintain

you painted me into what you
wanted to see,
and that's fine,

but you will never know me"

The bit about the being sworn to secrecy by the international brotherhood of lying fickle males tickles me pink also. *L*

If you haven't heard it yet give it a listen here. ;)

P.S. Every time I come to TypePad everything is freaking different. o.0

Yes…no…I… this is

I'm just a girl who can't say no... *L*

I saw this on Carole's blog a while back.

YES/NO GAME RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

You can only say yes or no. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone comments and asks what the dealio is.

Over 18? Yes
Danced in front of your mirror naked? Yes
Ever told a lie? Yes
Been arrested? No
Kissed a picture? Yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? Yes
Held an actual snake? Yes
Have YOU Ever run a red light? Yes
Ever drink and drive? Yes
Been suspended from school? Yes
Ever been fired from a job? No
Totaled a car/motorbike in an accident? Yes
Sang karaoke? Yes
Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? Yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes
Ever laughed until you wet yourself? No
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes
Kissed in the rain? Yes
Sang in the shower? Yes
Sat on a rooftop? Yes
Thought about your past with regret? Yes
Been pushed in the pool with your clothes on? No
Shaved your head? No
Blacked out from drinking? Yes
Had a gym membership? Yes
Been in a band? No
Shot a gun? Yes
Liked someone with nobody else knowing about it? Yes
Played strip poker? Yes
Been to a strip joint? Yes
Donated Blood? Yes
Liked someone you shouldn’t? Yes
Have a tattoo? No
Have or had any piercings besides ears? No
Made out with a complete stranger? Yes (but we've been together 10.5 years now so it's okay!)
Caught someone cheating on you? No
Skinny dipped? No
Regret any of your ex’s? Yesssssssssss
Been to a rodeo? No
Been to a NASCAR race? No
Been in Love? Yes

Yes I broke the rules on that one, but as it was the only time it happened and the love at first sight stuff I figured I should speak up. :P

Oh and the title of this post is a quote from ButtMonkeyW. Go figure. It's also a line from a catchy song I enjoy. :P

My Halloween Personality Hates Your Halloween Personality

What Your Halloween Habits Say About You

You're a friendly person, but not the life of the party. You like making someone else's day - and you'll dress up if you think of a really fun costume. Sneaky and devious, people should really watch out for you. You are usually underestimated and forgotten. Your inner child is open minded, playful, and adventurous. You truly fear the dark side of humanity. You are a true misanthrope. You're logical, rational, and not easily effected. Not a lot scares you... especially when it comes to the paranormal. You are a traditionalist with most aspects of your life. You like your Halloween costume to be basic, well made, and conventional enough to wear another year.

What's Your Halloween Personality?

Some of that is freakishly spot on... some not so much. Considering I hate people, why would I want to make anyones day. :P

In other news the honey has headed my plea to go humane on the mystery kitty poo offender. He placed some TKK poo in the backyard and that has scared the mystery poo-er away!! :D YAY!!! (That or the coyotes got it. o.0 You can never be too sure out here.)

He tried to get TKK to go out there but she was having none of that so we had to retrieve from the box, but it still worked. I'm muchly relieved. 

Tomorrow is Halloween. Maybe I'll have time to take some pics of my Socktoberfest Socks even though they aren't completed. It's been a busy month. o.0

Random Ass Thursday: Now with more Random!

I saw this little doohickiethingymabobthingy on a blog recently.

My blog is worth $11,290.80.
How much is your blog worth?

I'm wondering what the criteria is for the value. If it's based on not posting consistently then I think the number should be much higher. *L*

Yeah there's knitting happening over here. You just don't know about it. But trust me... there is socking happening. There's a bit of Scarfing too which when said that way sounds way more disgusting than it is. o.0

In other news I had a dream a few nights ago. It kinda stuck with me. In the dream I was in an all white room. I was putting on thick opaque black goggles so that I couldn't see anything, and I put huge headphones so that I could hear anyone. Then I put something that looked like it was out of a science fiction film over my mouth so that I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. Finally I took a funky looking paintbrush out of a bucket and started to paint myself with invisible paint. When I did I became invisible. Not seen or heard nor hearing or seeing. It felt so right. So much better... and when I woke up I was disappointed. And for days now afterward all I can do is regret not having such a design.

Not sure what that means. Nothing as dreams never do, but it stuck with me and I felt like blogging about it.

Last week I baked an Apple Pie. I've been trying to use the least amount of sugar as possible. That may well work for a tart but for a pie you kinda need that sugar. So maybe next time. I the interest of having a photo for this blog post, as I love me a photo in each post here's that pie. At least the crust looks decent (for a store bought crust). :P

So that's some random stuff. Depending on how tomorrow goes maybe I'll post some actual knitting content.

But hey at least I'm not ranting about Politics or the Economy on the blog yet. Really biting my damn tongue on that shit. Feh.

I wonder if tomorrow will be "Tell everyone to eat shit and die Friday". Stay Tuned! o.0

Wednesday WTF: Rachel Ray

What the hell is wrong with Rachel Ray?

Seriously?! o.0

A bit ago I saw this post where a blogger has asked people to name their least favorite culinary words. Quite a few of the words people have shared are words dubbed by that nutty ass banshee Rachel Ray. I have to agree with the sentiment.

She freaking creeps me out!

She has creeped me out for years. Rendogg and I have joked for years about how scary she is. Her face was on a box of crackers we were enjoying with wine one night. That of course lead to an endless game of "You Secretly Love Rachel Ray", because I'm all of twelve deep down.

He is so gonna marry her someday and make creepy babies who don't speak English but speak in Rachel Ray talk.

:P

(Just kidding Rendogg I know you'd slit your own throat before enduring that hardship.)

Part of the problem is that she seems to be everywhere. It's really disturbing. You can't go into any store that sells books, food or food preparation items without getting smacked upside the head with her fake ass smile.

I just want to smack her and tell her to knock it off. You don't have to be a robot and not everyone has to love you.

You would think by now that she would come to terms with that last bit. Feh.

And now a list of terms I hate to hear thanks to Rachel Ray.

EVOO - Just call it fucking Olive Oil you ridiculous twit!

Yum-O - Stop fucking up decent slang by talking that way on television.

Anytime she has ever referred to using turkey instead of some other meat as figure friendly and then proclaim you can eat twice as much with that trade. o.0

Same goes when she calls certain foods man friendly or women friendly. - I never knew having a penis or a vagina made certain foods taste better to the sexes. Freaking Nut.

Stoup - It's supposed to mean Stew/Soup, but to me it sounds like Stool Sample/Poop - dear god if anyone ever tries to serve me stoup I'm punching them and running away. And vomiting. *gag*

Sammies - This has irritated me for a lot longer than I knew about the horror that is Rachel Ray. Though she has added a layer of disgust to it that makes it even more unpalatable. (Though the slang of Sandy to mean sandwich is fine. Mainly because I tend to mistype sandwich. Cause my brain doesn't work all the time.... o.0)

I'm also not all that sure she is human. (not that humans are all that great) I think she might be some weird ass alien reptile who killed some poor person and is living inside the corpse. Not a commentary on her appearance, but on her eyes and mannerism. That ain't natural. o.0

The word Foodie also creeps me out, but that's not just a Rachel Ray complaint.

So that is something that makes me say What The Fuck this Wednesday without being personally offensive to anyone.

Though trust me there is a lot more WTF to go around than what I've shared here.

In other news I had a sock in my purse and somehow one of the needles got pulled and now I have a major dropped stitch situation going on over here. o.0 WTF?!

I have a lot of wine here so it's going to be okay.

Just keep drinking, Just keep drinking, Just keep drinking... / Nemo

More on real stuff soon. ;)