really?? i mean really???

I need someone to knit 100% wool socks for me... (Vancouver, WA)

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Date: 2012-11-27, 10:43PM PST
 xb8nq-3419516919@sale.craigslist.org^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

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I have wool I bought to knit some socks for myself, but, I just don't have the time. If you would knit some socks for me I will pay you $10 per pair. If I love the socks you knit for me and my wool gets all used up in socks that you knit, then, I am open to you knitting socks for me in the future from your yarn for $20 per pair. The yarn has to be 100% yarn and must be handwashable.

Also, if you are a very experienced knitter, in the future I will be interested in hiring you to knit more items for me, such as sweaters for myself and my grandchildren.

Thanks so much!

i saw this on craigslist.  not sure whether to laugh hysterically... or to have a raging rant over the ignorance on display here!  and she says she is a knitter??  really?  i'm sure knitters are lining up hoping to be chosen to knit her socks for.... ~$10~...a pair??  just think of all the money you could make just sittin' around knittin' socks.  i need to stop thinking about this before i go on a wild raucous profane rant!  maybe it's a joke?

week of thanksgiving

and it wasn't totally stress-free, but the shopping got done, the house got cleaned, the dog did not get to the groomer (so the layer of dog hair will be abundant very soon), turkey and dressing and other foods got prepared, there were enough chairs and places at the table, enough plates and forks, enough wine and those who had "volunteered" to add to the feast came thru with flying colors (and great food!!) and the final count of family and friends came to 22.  everyone seemed to enjoy the day and there was no "drunk uncle" to cause conflict with arguments over politics and other social issues or tell really awful jokes!  i happily received and gave an abundance of hugs, had some lovely but short conversations, and enjoyed the day until at the end my back and sciatica finally had the last word and i kicked the kids off the sofa so i could stretch out.... ahhhh.

the WA branch of the clan arrived and bless their hearts for being willing to make that drive on a holiday.







Friday was our 34th wedding anniversary!!  WOW!  we beat the odds and are alive and happy.  it is not always easy, but is SO worth it.

proteus 2011

proteus 2012

last year Jim brought me these Proteus, which are beautiful in their own right.  and look what they became over the year.  truly a gift that kept on giving!!



and the kids took us out for dinner to celebrate!  we went to a Greek restaurant in Beaverton which we love... and had a wonderful dinner.  we celebrated our 30th anniversary in Vamos, Crete with our friends there and we threw a wild and crazy party to celebrate.  i look at those photos and they still make me smile... ahhh, those memories are sweet!

this is the time of year that raki (aka fire water) is made in Crete.  Jim made a batch today and believe me, it is lethal... whew!  it is made from the fermented must (what's left from the wine grape crushing) and is a traditional drink there.  it is the "welcome" when you visit anyone... any time of the day or night!


this is a really old photo... from our first year in Crete.
Jim was collecting a sample as new raki came out of the spout above that while bucket.

they build a big wood fire to heat the copper kettle on top which holds the must, which is then distilled.


and below, Manoli is standing on the shelf above the fire... the kettle is on his right.

this raki-making ritual usually involves a big party and lots of food and wine.  OPA!

thanksgiving!!

well, that's tempting... but no chemicals in our turkey.

the clan (somewhere between 20 and 23 of us) will gather here around 2pm tomorrow.  i'm hoping we'll sit down to eat the thanksgiving meal about 4pm.  the possible stick in that ointment is that the bird is not thawed completely yet.  at this point i'm dog tired from getting ready for tomorrow, my back and subsequent sciatica are consuming my attention and i'm gonna have a tall cold  drink and get myself to bed real soon now.  tomorrow i will deal with the issue of thawed or not thawed bird.

hoping you'll enjoy a day with those you love, a wonderful feast, and may we all remember those who's lives are not as blessed as ours and do whatever we can to make those lives better.

craig's list and Eat More Kale

Jim found a really good score on Craig's list!  6 dining room chairs for $100.  this was one of those impulse things... we have a dining room set that my parents bought in probably the 60's (that's almost antique, isn't it?)  i've always loved the table, even tho it does have some issues after all those years.  it must be covered by a table cloth at all times... my mom had at some point in time started to refinish the top of it... and didn't get very far, so it looks like... ummm.. crap.  and then the brace part between 2 table legs got broken somewhere along the way.  it doesn't seem to interfere with stability, but isn't real pretty looking.  about a year ago, my brother, Curbhead, gave us the dining chairs from the original set in trade for chairs we had from an old set.  tho it was nice to have the complete set... these chairs had been thru a lot of use and abuse and were really a risk to sit upon because of the threat of falling apart (and one had actually done that when i sat on it, causing huge embarrassment but injury only to my dignity).  so, on Sat. i reminded J that it was really time to fix them or get off the pot.  he'd been muttering for a year about fixing them.  so with gathering of the clan for dinner here at tgiving and xmas, plus a spinning group the next day it was down to the question of fix 'em or take them to a furniture repair place.  more muttering.  about an hour later he appeared with 6 print-outs of chair offerings from craig's list, i chose the one i liked best, and 3 hours later he returned from beaverton with 6 replacement chairs that i really really like!  and they are sturdy and show little wear and they look great with the rest of our kind of hodge-podge eclectic furnishings.  bravo!  his procrastinating had a happy ending!!

kale harvested today from the garden and simmering away  for dinner.  i post this here partly because it is so cool to eat vegetables from the garden even in mid-november, and partly because of my EatMoreKale shirt which i love.  it was made by a guy who has a small business in Vermont and is being bullied (sued by Chic Fil A corporation over trademark infringement) (REALLY??)  i really cannot see any confusion or conflict.  you can read the story by following the link above.  support small business!!  and kale is good for you!

twisted sisters spin....

and laugh and graze and just totally enjoy a day together!  Jane looked splendid in her new dreads (long pieces of felted wool in technicolor).  it's a great look and she wears it so well that she should wear it often.  she could even get into a holiday mode by adding glitter and tinsel to the locks!

i totally failed in picture-taking duties.  guess i was having too good a time to keep up as sisters kept arriving thru the day.
and the ones i managed to get weren't really set up well and in good focus.  and i totally forgot the grazing table which was abundant ... as it always is when we get together.

                                        Linda, the fearless leader at
                                           Northwest Wools    
















       

Lynn and Rachael (and i'm sorry it's such a crappy picture)

today i finally gave up on the low back and sciatica remedies i've been trying... heat, ice, TENS unit, various stretching and (not enough) exercises... and went to see my doctor.  am feeling like i shouldn't have bothered and wasted a perfectly good morning.  she did order a back xray, because i asked for one, and ibuprofen and hydrocodone and get back to her in 2 weeks if no improvement.  this has been going on for so long that i'm really ready for the next step... like back specialist and maybe cortisone injection.   i bought how-to Tai Chi dvd today and maybe that will help.  we'll see.

Rocky Horror

it was saturday night at the world and it started out innocently enough... with a gigantic margarita and super duper taco salad at Mexican/Peruvian restaurant in Forest Grove.

and then it got much less innocent when we walked down the street to Theatre in the Grove to see The Rocky Horror Show.  this show might be not so remarkable in many settings.. but we are talking about Forest Grove, OR here folks.  this is the seat of conservative community theater where the much-loved "Our Town" and "Sound of Music" are repeated over and over due to popular request.  we were there on the last night and the place was crowded... with a lot of oldies like ourselves, with lots of hootin' and hollerin' and enjoyment of the transvestite translyvania theme.  there was a sizable number of a younger crowd, too.  and what's intriguing to me was that there were 2 midnight shows during their run which were advertised to be all out no holds barred and more bared, and i cannot even imagine!  it was a well-done production and we enjoyed it and give high praise to the director (Pruella Centers) and the crew for an all-out great show!  (and this was in beautiful downtown Forest Grove?????  yes!)

and p.s., Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of my all-time favorite movies!

it's Saturday!!

here's one of my goals!

octopus for Z.

my sweet grandgirl asked me to make this for her... how could i refuse??  it's for her birthday (tho a few days late now) and is in the mail to her.

i'm not a fast knitter ever, but this octopus took longer than it should have.  it wasn't difficult, just required that i follow a pattern v-e-r-y closely.  that really interferes with tv and talk and day dreaming.

it's from a book by Hansi Singh "Amigurumi Knits" and there are a couple of other critters i want to make.

sisters' weekend at the beach

such a beautiful time of year in Oregon!  all the reds, yellows, oranges of trees in their fall glory... against the contrast of evergreen trees on the hills and mountains.  as much as i hate to see summer end and winter rains arrive, i love the beauty of the colors of fall!

finally!!  Robin, Dinah and i were able to get it together to have a sisters' weekend at the beach.  we went to Rockaway Beach for 3 days, stayed in a condo thru a rental office in Rockaway and had a totally decadent (well, it seemed decadent to us) time of very few "shoulds" (as in we "should" eat healthy meals instead of crackers, cheese, dip, wine, ice cream, popcorn....), having a movie marathon watching as much Kevin Kline as we could, plus some other good ones, having a big country breakfast/brunch at the Cow Bell, and going out for a fabulous dinner one night.  we even had a rousing game of Carcassone and i WON!  that could have been helped by their coaching... or maybe they kind of let me win.  whatever... it was fun.

                   at times serious.........

and then not so much.

and meanwhile, back at my queendom, the salad stuff in the greenhouse is making good progress.  i do love that arugula!

and then came tuesday.  election day.  and i couldn't be any happier with the results!!!

"H" is for happy!

quilt borders

so... i'm settled on the borders for this quilt.  the deep red will be about 1 inch, the flowers with black background 2 1/2 inches and the ombre (red to orange to yellow and back) 3 1/2 inches.  it will be about (there's that "about" again) 40"x 60" when finished.  at least that's my plan at this moment.

not really good pics.  will try again for better.

bedtime now.  beach with bio-sisters tomorrow.

life and stuff like that

just because i love this!!!




















and then... just because i think this is so funny and so right on the mark and if you like Mitt Romney, do not click on the link because you will not like this ad.  if by some stretch of the imagination you have not made up your political mind (tho i find it impossible to believe this could be true!  please tell me if i'm wrong.), you really should check out this ad! and do feel free to leave comments on this!

Joss Whedon ad supporting Romney

now that summer is really over and i've been pulling up the dying plants in my garden, i've gone back to the quilt i was working on months ago.  and once again my casual approach to creative endeavors is coming back to bite me on the ass.  some day i might get it that it's a better idea to plan out a project before diving into it with a "great idea" and ending up spending too damn much time puzzling out how to finish.  the solution began solidifying as i was going to sleep and i actually must have dreamed about it because i woke up knowing what to do!!  photos coming soon.

i'm going to the beach for a long weekend with my bio-sisters on friday, which i'm really looking forward to.  will take spinning wheel and those lovely batts that i carded last week, also a knitting project... an octopus for Z for her 10th birthday next week.  i showed her a picture of it and she asked me to knit it for her... and so, i bought the book and got started.

and other than that... like everyone else i've been watching the tv reports of the devastation on the east coast following the hurricane.  i wish them all a speedy return to normal life.  i feel deep sorrow for all the loss they are experiencing.  the Red Cross is accepting $$ donations and also blood donations.