Trying for a record here!

So, I'm trying something new, which will no-doubt fail, but it is worth trying.

Because I am spending so much time and energy on work these days, I thought it might be nice if I also did something other than work the entire time. And because I usually eat lunch at my desk so I can work extra, I thought a quick blog post might be a good way to break up the monotony of my long afternoons. This, then, is the 2nd of my daily posts. Look! 2 in a row! We'll see how long this lasts......


I finished my Citron (2nd one) yesterday. It turned out nice - and I did an extra tier on it, which made it larger. Hopefully I'll have the presence of mind to take a picture of it to post tomorrow. It's in Zauberball - lovely pinks, purples, blacks, and all colors in between. It has not cured my need to get things off my needles. Frankly, at this point I am wondering how many things I need to finish to make that itch go away. So far it's been ripping out a shrug (it was not good), finishing a pair of socks, finishing the knitting on a sweater, the citron, and the aeolian. Oh, and ripping out a sock that had yarn too busy for the pattern. Now I only have a couple things left on the needles: Melon stitch shawl, 2 cowls (one patterned, one not), a pair of socks for Smartest Monkey (the Fiancee Man) , and I think a scarf hiding somewhere....probably in Smartest Monkey's car in case I forget knitting..... oh yeah, and a blanket for the living room that looks like a net and may be abducted into my steam punk costuming.

What I really want: to start a new sweater, DerbyA's derby legwarmers, and a wedding shawl.

I think DerbyA's legwarmers will be the next project I tackle. She's hot and she totally deserves cute legwarmers. Someone restrain me, I'm feeling pom poms coming on......


And that is your daily update the second.
Now back to the salt mines.

Did I mention?

So..... it comes to mind that I haven't written here for about a million and a half years....so I probably never mentioned that I got engaged.

Whoops!

Well, I got engaged. My rediculously awesome boyfriend (now fiance) took me a on a cruise to Alaska and popped the question right in the middle of it. Sooooo, I now have one of the Big-Life-Questions (tm) figured out - I know who I'm lucky enough to spend the rest of my life with. And I am lucky, trust me. My recent bout with food poisoning this past weekend showed me that. After running all the errands I'd asked him to, including going to the grocery store for specific sickie-foods, he came home and made me toast and handed me a bouquet of flowers. Do you know what makes food poisoning better? That's right, getting flowers. I don't know why it works, it just does. It might be magic.

Now I am on the mend, hoping to get a lot of work done today, and hoping to be able to cook dinner tonight. That should be a nice reward for the guy who took care of me all weekend even though he wasn't feeling all that well himself.

And in other news, I finished the Aeolian Shawl from Knitty (well, Knittyspin).
There she is in the picture, knitted out of me-own handspun and blocking cheerfully.

Friday Ramblings

So, it's been a pretty nice Friday so far. I've been nicely productive this week (granted, not so much as I'd like, but close), both in personal and professional life. That gives me a touch of leeway to update this thing - something I thought I'd deny myself if I wasn't being good enough in the rest of my life.


Here, on a nice, rambly, absolutely gorgeous Friday, allow me to share with you three wonderful things.


1st: A bracelet my lovely boyfriend had made for me by an Etsy seller. It's a charm bracelet, much like I had at 11 years old. However, instead of the treble clef and saxaphone charms, this one has charms of sheep, a spinning wheel, a ball of yarn, etc. Very thoughtful of him. I an incredibly lucky that I found such a loving man to share my life with.





2nd: A Coconut smoothie. Yes, you read that right. I have a slight coconut problem. It's almost an addiction. If there is something with coconut in it, sign me up. The more coconut, the better. I don't care if it is raw and in the husk, shredded and sugared (although I like less sugar rather than more), in juice form, in water form, or in milk form, baked into things...................and smoothied!!! All I can say is that it is a rare boss who brings you a coconut smoothie on a Friday afternoon.




3rd: Knitting. (I know, BIG surprise there). I started a new shawl last night and haven't stopped thinking about it all day. I feel really fortunate to have a hobby that I love this much, especially after 23 years. I hope I continue to get my happies from it for a long time (I certainly have enough yarn to!).



Hope your Friday is going as well as mine or better!

STOP! Update time

(you know, as in Hammer time? Oh forget it, I was a child in the 80s and 90s, I can't be held responsible for my references)


Whoa?! Another post in the same week? I am unstoppable! Amazing! Brilliant!.......or just having a really hard time focusing this afternoon after being up to all hours working most nights this week and concentrating so hard this morning at work that my brain tried to leak out my ears. Either way.


I have been informed that my new Ribby Cardi, which had gone to visit Aunti Jasmin of the Better Than Yarn Blog, is now being held hostage after Ms. Gigi so thoughtfully put in the zipper for me. Hostage! As in, I can't have it back unless I go visit....which I'm pretty much ok with, I mean my little doggie neice and nephew live there. And I need to get my Elphie skritches in to feel right. I'm hoping I'll be able to show said Ribby Cardi to you in the near future. Man, I need to find my camera. It's true that I am looking to upgrade and get a new camera altogether, but right now I would be willing to settle for finding the old one and getting my dubai pictures off of it and up on here.


What else? Well, not much except that I have been working a lot. I'm hoping for a relaxing weekend where I get a chance to go to the plant nursery, garden a little, and then knit and spin to my little evil black shriveled heart's content. What are you doing this weekend?

How I survived a busy week at work....or did I?

Well, superfriends, those of you who know me in the flesh, listen to the podcast (www.brassneedles.com), or are really perceptive will know that I have had a rough time at work lately - this is week two of what I am affectionately calling "OHMYGODOHMYGODAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!111-11111111111!!!!" (tm)

Long story short - it's just busy at work, as it tends to be when things change and people have lives and etc. etc. and so forth. Nothing to be done but throw my back into it and press on.


What does this mean to you? Unless you are my boyfriend, my kitty, or Jasmin, probably nothing. If you are, then it means I've been working long hours and being pretty darn unavailable. I've spent time in the past feeling sorry for myself that I'm not a better friend (I would also add not a better girlfriend, but I have to admit that I am possibly the best girlfriend ever, so it's not a fair critique), and am kind of done with that whole self-indulgent feeling bad stuff. So right about now I'm in the place where I shrug and keep moving. I'm thinking about my friends, even if I am not spending time with them, and I will find time for them again.

So, as I move into my 10th hour at work today (2 more to go!), I am staring out at the rain and wondering which of the projects I am juggling is in the most need of my help at the moment. Don't turn your back on projects - and don't feed them after midnight. And all I really want to do is knit. My tangled yoke cardigan is in the car and I technically have an hour before I need to go to my next meeting....and I didn't really take a lunch.....what do you think?

That's what I thought. Bad influences, the lot of you!

Alright, break time is over, back to the grind. I'm hoping everyone is a little less busy than I am right now. If so, knit a row for me - have a cup of tea, or read some of that book you've been enjoying. I'll see you soon if I'm lucky. :)

I'm famous (on the internt)(Sort of)

So, since I never take a lunch hour, and often work at night and on weekends, I've decided that I get to reclaim a little of that time during the day - not a lot - but possibly the 1 of the 2 15 minute breaks that workers here in CA are supposed to have. I promise not to get too carried away and actually use my lunch hour (at least not until I can make one of those knit-lunches that the knitting group at my work has and that I have yet to attend). So, here is my re-claimed time - I'm going to blog every now and then.

So, here are your fantastic updates for today's blog (and someday I'll even post my Dubai pictures from Feb.....once I find my camera again):

Podiversary! My podcast, Brass Needles, turned 1 on April 12th. happy brithday to my podcast! (which, incidentally, you can find at www.brassneedles.com)

I'm making modeling appearances on Etsy for my amazing friend Rachel's Steampunk Corset Busk Covers: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=13782480
Who knew that steampunk could be so sexy?

What else?

The boyfriend had surgery just over two weeks ago - and has rocked out so hard on Physical Therapy that he is now green to hit the treadmill in a week. Life progressess.....I'm slowly losing weight myself - well, not so much on the scale, but the clothes I grew out of are starting to fit again slowly but surely. I may have to give up my bikini plans for the summer, but that's never really been a surprise. :)

Oh, and have I mentioned that I began weaving? There's been a lot of talk on the interwebs, especially in crafty communities, about this whole becoming-an-expert thing of dedicating 10 Thousand Hours to something -anything, really, to master it. While that's attractive and I am a bit of a joiner (ahem cough cough, 52 pair plunge, anyone?) I am going to say no to dedicating my 10 thou to weaving. I think I am going to work on becoming an expert at the things I like and value at the moment and not stress about marking down every hour I spend.

Hopefully there will be pictures soon of my 1st weaving project on the loom. I'm a good 6 inches in since Sunday and feel like a rockstar.

Why Juicing is bad

So, some people have problems for which they have to take medication - and some of those medications are easy on the body and some are hard.

Personally, I generally live my life with as little medication as possible. However, due to unknown allergy x, I recently broke out in a random face-rash thingy and got some puffy eye-lids. The eye-lids are my standard reaction to unknown allergen x, the rash was new. The dr. and I talked about what could be up, and then parted ways after agreeing neither of us wanted me to have to take steroids and deciding to find some other option.

Later that day I took the first dose of steroids. Now, these aren't the steroids of professional atheletes or after-school specials - these are a different type. It doesn't really qualifty as juicing, although I worked out extra this week just in case it would provide me huge muscles. No such luck. - - - what I was provided with were other symptoms. I was warned, but I didn't really believe it. Apparently taking these things can throw your body into acting like it's a special time when you LOSE YOUR MIND AND WANT SALT SALT SALT FAT AND SUGAR NOW OMG NOW.

The result: I've been really careful with my nutritional intake as part of my whole clean-living desire this year, but that could not override my need to dip pizza in nacho cheese tonight. And then I ate some big chocolatey desert that would normally not appeal to me in the least. Now I'm about to indulge in another thing full of sugar. And my body is absolutely in heaven. I can only hope that this goes away as the doses get smaller and that I eventually get my body back. It is good to just give in to these cravings, I think - as my body was feeling icky and blah for the past two days of me fighting the cravings and now feels amazing. I honestly think I could go run a marathon right now......so long as there was a caramello at the end of it.

So, juicing is bad......................... Now where was that candy?

Well, Here is a picture I almost broke my neck taking. Sorry for the blurry-ness. This is the Salwa that my mom purchased for me when she was in India. I brought it with me and had the arms made a little larger so it fit. While I don't find this style of clothing particularly flattering on my shape - it is very comfortable and quite beautiful.





This picture is of the roof of the tailor shop. There are really neat light fixtures like this in many places in India, even a tiny little tailor's shop that's hidden in the recesses of a building. :)




Ah, additional sightseeing pictures from Sunday 1/31/09. This is the lovely Nizam's palace (1 of many, I'm told). All you get are outside shots as they did not allow photography inside.
These pictures are deceptive. There were several buildings for the palace, with a few nice courtyard's between, some with gazeebos and fountains.




Another part of the palace. Sadly, I tried to take some pictures of the vintage cars that were on display, but they were behind glass and poorly lit. Be aware, I saw a Rolls that was 100 years old, and some even older luxury cars. AMAZING. If you visit Hyderabad (Cyberbad), I very much suggest you visit this palace. It is wonderfully kept up and there are absolutely fabulous pictures of the family through the years. Including a very beautiful woman who looks like an actress, which was very reminiscent of Evita, for me.

Sight-seeing: TOMBS

After Golconda Fort, we went to the Tombs. There are several, this is only one.

For obvious reasons, I didn't really want to take pictures inside.

This is a close-up of the outside. Look at how gorgeous the carving is! On some of the other tombs, there were pictures hidden in the carvings - mostly animals, but sometimes shoes.







Here is the tomb from a little farther away - the people walking up to it should give perspective to just how large a building it is.





The same tomb from even farther away. The domes used to be colored in blue or green, they told us. Unfortunately, after a few hundred years it didn't hold up.




And then, Natalie wanted some coffee. We asked our host to take us to a place where she could get a cup. Instead, he took us to a place, went in, and returned with a ceramic mug and saucer. per Natalie, it was fabulous coffee (to me it tasted like a mocha). No, we did not get to take the mug and saucer with us, we had to give them back. But it was our first coffee borrowed from a restaurant to have in the car moment.

Sight Seeing: Golconda Fort

On Saturday, we mostly shopped, hence the picture of Charminar, which is in the middle of a huge shopping area. But on Sunday we went to Golconda Fort and marched around it's battlements. Golconda has a really awesome history - they used physics to do things like move water up into the high areas of the fort and they used accousitcs to make things like whispering walls and an area where you can clap and it can be hears in the highest battlement far above and way. Simply amazing to experience. Here are a few of the shots:



This is the view down on the fort from high up in the fort. We walked all of that to get up to where this picture was taken.




This is the view from the ground level up one of the walls. The camera is at my eye height and pointed up, so you can see that this was a very tall wall, indeed.



The view from one of the lower battlements to one of the higher battlements as we walked the stairs and halls.



One of the halls - restricted entry, but beautiful nonetheless.



And a very welcoming bit of graffiti!

Sight-seeing: CHARMINAR

So, it was almost impossible to get a good picture of the charminar due to how big and ornate it is. I couldn't seem to capture both. So, here are a few shots to give some perspective.


Charminar - one of the towers






Charminar from the bottom:





Charminar from farther away:





And also, at a co-workers's house, I got to play on a 200 year old piano!!! My inner music geek was thrilled. The piano was out of tune, but still a treat.

(Blurry) Dinner out with the team.

Not naming names because I haven't received permission to include people's names in the blog - but here are a few shots from our team dinner. First off, we were on the 2nd floor, on a tent-ish parlour.

Behind us in this shot you can see the trees on the lakefront. There were no windows, and the wall just stopped and the rest was open. Truly a unique experience.






I figured this was so blurry it didn't matter how many co-workers ended up in the shot, since you can't tell who they are. (I know, but then, I actually work with these people). This is the same restaurant, where you first enter, by the stairs. Our tables are in front of us (thus, not shown in the picture). Note the fancy spa-ish atmosphere.




This is the other side of our table from the open sky - the wall. Fancy pictures on the wall.....



The restaurant is called 1865 and I recommend the "Chicken 65" - which is not unique to this menu, but on the menu at several places I've been in India.

The HYD office

Below are a few pictures of the office. None with company information because I don't feel comfortable posting my workplace everywhere online and because I don't intend to be speaking for my company in this blog.



Lights around the planters outside at night! Very pretty :)






Some of the snackies available





The gorgeous entryway decorated with sand because of Republic day when we arrived on 1/26





More of the lovely sand art. The floating flowers are a permanent feature, though, and appear to be changed daily. It is a lovely touch




And here I am in my favorite outdoor feature of them all, the swinging chair! I desperately want one of my own. They are great for lounging and are very comfortable. Plus, they SWING! I have noticed an abundance of swinging seats and benches since being here. The Indians totally have the right idea. I almost bought one before I realized how hard it would be to get it on the plane and home in one piece.

Dubai Airport pictures

In case you were wondering, yes the DUBAI airport is lovely.
Generally, it's just like any other airport I've seen except for one important thing:

TREES AND PONDS! (Evidence below)
Yes, the Dubai airport has living plants, even trees inside it and even has water feature with a pond and Koi fish (yes, I am aware I can't spell). Isn't it pretty?




Another picture of that lovely little oaisis in the airport.
The middle? That's all water gently flowing toward us!



Oh, and here are those pesky socks again, sitting on the chair next to me.
Snoopy - you have well-traveled socks (perhaps even multi-lingual!)

Finally got some pictures!

Alright. So, as of last post, I had no pictures because I had no camera cord. Well, one of my nice Indian co-workers lent me one today. So, let's have a few pictures from the India trip, shall we?

So, here a few of Natalie and I on our way over:


In the beginning, there were size 16 socks for Snoopy.....



Then there were Karl Urban and Chris Pine (of COURSE I watched Star Trek when I saw it was playing)




Then there was rough time when the Malaria pills made me very sick and nothing happened for an hour or two.



Then there were even longer size 16 socks for Snoopy


And then there was a bloody Mary





And then Erin and Nat lived happily ever after working in India (Ok, secretly, we had about 6 more hours of that flight left, a bit of troubled sleep, a layover in Dubai, and then another flight.....but who's counting?)







And let's have a few of my apartment here in Hyderabad (which I've got stamped in my passport as Cyberabad):


Here is the kitchen (picture taken from Dining Room)




Here is the Dining Room and part of the Lving Room. Please note, there in the corner is a hanging bench which is not in the picture, but on which I am spending most of my not-sleeping time in the apartment. The Internet doesn't work so well upstairs in my bedroom, so if you talk to me online from home and not work, then that bench is where I am.



Here is a veiw from the bench of the way upstairs (the stairs and the entire floor are all stone and gorgeous)



Here is the upstairs lounge. We have a big communal balcony on every floor, a private balcony in each room, and a private bathroom in each room.



This is my room. It was the most beautiful sight after being in transit for 30 hours (that's WITHOUT the time difference)



More pictures as I get time to upload them!

Hello from Hyderabad (India)

For those of you who aren't in "the know" about my life - I work for a big international company - and they have sent me on a business trip to India. There is a lot to say. For one, I've never traveled before and it really is a unique experience to get 1st hand window into another culture. Granted, it might have been easier to travel somewhere a little closer to home (in mileage or in culture), but I don't regret this dicision at all and am pretty darn grateful to my company for giving me this experience (Although the work days could have been a little shorter and a little less packed full of meetings -but hey, you can't have everything)

I wish I could fill this post with the sights, smells, and even food of India - but I can't. I can't even provide you pictures since my camera is sitting full of memories without it's cord and the work computer doesn't have a memory card slot.

What I can do is promise to upload as many as I can once I get home. I'm in India for two weeks (or until the end of this week) and then in Dubai for a few days.

While this post is overall positive, I do have a few not so positive things to report:
- Malarone - Anti Malaria Medicine - It is a terrible thing with a ton of really nasty side effects. I will be happy to get off of it in a couple of weeks.
- Spicy Stomach - the way your stomach feels after eating spicy food for a number of days (provided you like spicy food enough to eat it for a number of days).
- Being stared at - kinda funny at first, and now negligible, but I can imagine it might be really awkward for people who can't get used to it.
- OMG THE DRIVING (enough said)
- Smog - while it makes for lovely sunsets, man have I been coughing my lungs out this past week.
- Homesickness - while almost completely absent from my trip, it hits at the strangest times and is brought on by the oddest things. For example: A song on the radio, but not a Video Chat with the boyfriend.
- Salad - I would probably pay $100 for a fresh green salad right about now. I love the food here, but I grew up eating salad at least once a day as a child and have maintained that habit. It's a sorely missed indulgence.


However, back to the positives - we're going to see a Bollywood movie tomorrow night!!!
And the team here are smart and fun people who I feel very priveledged to have met. I can only hope that their impressions of me have been half so favorable.


Take care everyone. I miss you, but I'll be home in a week with tons of pictures!

K

Gumby loves yarn!

This is gumby, who currently sits on the dashboard of my cute little car. He has his little ball of scrap noro that he clutches in an oh-so-loving way. This is what I see every morning when i get in the car to drive to work, and every night when I head home - and I ask you: could life get any better?

Well, the new workplace is like wonderland. But there is too much food. Way too much food. Remember the "Freshman 15" from college? They call it the same thing. I will be working out as hard as I can to counteract this - and possibly lose the little last bit that I want to. Can I do it? We'll see!

The picture above shows 1 thing: LOVE.





And above, here are some sprouts that I planted in August. I'll try to get a more current picture soon. Since I missed August entirely, I thought it might be nice to include at least one picture from that time period.





And, lastly, above are two pictures of the wall at the Trader Joe's by my work. I may be a little morbid, but this mural makes me think of war - specifically, Pearl Harbor bombings - my infamous birthday. So, there you are, a few pictures to make up for a month of being absent.

More posts soon if I can manage it.

However, why not check out my podcast at: www.brassneedles.com (the site is pretty nice with fancy artwork)

Inspiring, isn't it? This bis a picture of one of the yarn walls at A Verb For Keeping Warm in Berkley (Oakland?) Isn't it inspiring? Rumor is that they use all natural dyes. Their stuff is even lovlier in person - I know, I went and mooshed my face against it (as one should do with all good yarn)










This picture sums up everything that is bad about the 80s coming back. Plastic glasses with stripes cut into them? How do those function as sunglasses? Really? You're not fooling anyone, Target. These glasses may convince you that you can be cool, but you will still be the dork who Molly Ringwald DOESN'T date but gives a pity dance to at the end of the movie. Yeah, you know the one. This is proof that the color red cannot solve all fashion disasters.






And now that this bit o'lace has been mailed to and received by its new owner - I can post it. This was made from a friend's stash that she had to part with based on the fact that she could no longer crochet. The pattern was taken from a button up shawl that turns into a shrug that I found in a magazine. Simple, mindless, 4 rows and every other is a purl row. boring.


I am for crap at updating this thing - I'll try to make it to at least once a week.

Ta!

LACIS part 2. SON OF LACIS!

What? who are these people and where are they? Well, it's on of my good friends and the knitmoregirls. We went to LACIS today, the "Museum of Lace," if you will.

Now, I'm not going to say anything about who spent how much.........ahem. But LACIS made it's siren song VERY appealing to at least one of the people pictured in this post. I spent my fair share......but I did not "win" the day...as it were.

More pictures and more posts another time, I promise!!









And what's this? Hair Jewelry. Seriously. Go check out Gail Carriger's blog (you can google it. it's ok, I'll wait). A month or two ago, she posted tons of pictures and some information about victorian hair jewelry. It's fascinating to me. The idea of taking human hair and creating keepsakes of this sort is a really beautiful, if maybe eerie, idea. LACIS is keeping it's 1890's clothing exhibit one more week - if you can get to Berkley (California, USA), I recommend visiting them. It's free - unless you buy things (and you may!)