Pretty socks!

I got my Sockapalooza socks! See!



She sent me a postcard, some nifty I (heart) NY stuff and a book called "At Knit's End: Meditations for Women That Knit Too Much". :) I love it! And the socks fit great.. (and I love the colors!!!) see...



They are so warm and comfy too. Thanks so much Beth! I forgot your email address at home (at work right now) so I'll have to email you later on. Sockapalooza was so much fun! I hope my sock pal likes her socks... *crosses fingers*

Woot! Done!

I finally got my Sockapalooza socks done. Yay! :)



Now all I have to do is weave in the yarn ends and send them off to my sock pal. Gee, only 13 days late. Doh! I'll make sure to send them Priority so she gets them by this weekend.

In other news... I got to see Eric last night! He got sent out from Dayton to work a few flights this morning out of Raleigh so he flew in last night. It was so great to see him! Yeah I know, it's been about a week and a half since I've seen him but... wow, I miss him some days. I stayed with him in his hotel. *happy sigh* It was just so nice to snuggle. :) *giddy giggle* He'll be home this Wednesday for a few days and then after that... he's based in Charlotte. No he still won't be living at home yet but at least it's only a half hour flight or a two hour drive and he can come home.

In other, other news, Azuredrake and I went thrift store spelunking again this past Saturday before the Stitch N Bitch. We went back to My Secret Closet in Hillsborough. While we were there, she spotted a few things that just told us it was kizmet that we were there. :P



and



*laugh* I -had- to take those photos. Sadly, this did not bode well for me. I found only one shirt that I liked and that fit. But she cleaned up! She got one really cute outfit and a few cute shirts. While we were there, I couldn't help but look at the bags. While I am not normally a big bag/purse woman, lately, I've been drawn to them. I found this:



I love ya Justin! ...just not enough to fork over $5 for such a screamingly pink purse. :P

In even more other news, I started trying my hand at spinning! Yay!



I picked up that book from Yarns Etc. the other day. It's pretty good. I think I'm still going to sign up for one of their spinning classes though...

And here they are... trying to use their kitty mind control to get me to give them tuna... look at their eyes... mesmerizing aren't they? *eyes cloud over* Yes... I will go get the can opener my pretties... *walks into the kitchen in a trance*

Traveling with us is always an adventure!

That's a little saying we have. Right Justin? *wink and a belly laugh* (Justin knows...) Anyhoo, no matter how hard we try, Eric and I always seem to have something come up while we are on vacation. Grab your cup of cocoa and your favorite blankie... this is a long story boys and girls. :)

Tuesday, March 15th.

Both Eric and I made it to the Charlotte airport about 8:30am. He flew in from Dayton. I flew in from Raleigh. Very uneventful. Our flight for Las Vegas was supposed to leave at about 10:30 so we had plenty of time and no worries. When we went to check in at the gate, the gate agent told us that it looked tight but she thought we would get on the flight. Now one thing to keep in mind; since Eric is an employee of PSA Airlines, that means we can fly anywhere in the US for free... but we have to fly stand-by. (Keep that in mind.) So the ticketed passengers start boarding. We're feeling positive. A man walks up and gives a big hug to the gate agent. Looking at him, I saw his ID badge and realized he worked for US Air too. He had a young lady with him that also had an ID badge on. He talked to the gate agent and the whole time, the gal that was with him was putting off vibes I could feel about 20 feet away. A few minutes later, the gate agent hands the gal a boarding pass. The gal gives her a really, really rude look and then gets on board the plane. Eric and I kind of shrug. The gate agent looks at us... looking extremely distressed and says "There is only one seat left." Of course we are both floored. The gate agent goes on to tell us that the gal that was giving her attitude was the current girlfriend of the man that had hugged her. Obviously, the current girlfriend is jealous (for what reason I have no idea.) Anyhoo, the gate agent told this gal that if she could ride in the jump seat then the non-rev passengers (e.g. us) could get on the plane. The gal askes if the gate agent will be able to get all the non-rev passengers on (since there were more than just Eric and I) and when the gate agent said no, the gal demanded a normal seat. This gave Eric the idea to ask if he could ride in the jump seat. Afterall, he's a flight attendant. The pilot said okay, and we boarded the plane. Yay! They closed the door, and even pulled the jetway away from the plane when one of the other flight attendants on board realized that Eric worked for US Air Express (PSA Airlines) and told the pilot Eric was not certified on that plane (which he is not) and thus, we had to get off the plane. So they pulled the jetway back, opened the door and even had to pull Eric's bag from the cargo hold. Doh. While they were opening the door, I spotted that gal... she looked at me and then looked down. I was so pissed off at her!

So we got back out to the gate agent who looked really upset now. She tells us that she was very angry at that other gal (rightfully so) and that the only other plane going to Las Vegas that day wouldn't leave until 9pm and it was oversold. O_o Now we are beginning to panic. Thankfully, this gate agent was on the ball. She gave us the idea to fly to Los Angeles and then get what is called a 'Zed Fare' on one of the other airlines. We would pay about $25 a head and be able to fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Perfect! We list on a flight to Los Angeles and at 2:30, we are on our way!

On the plane, Eric pulled out his laptop and we watched "Airplane". LOL! It was great! The flight attendant kept looking at us because we were cracking up and the movie they were playing was not a comedy. *snicker* So we landed in Los Angeles about 6pm local time. It was really neat! I have never been to Los Angeles and I have never seen the Pacific Ocean. It was so cool! So when we landed, we went over to the SouthWest Airlines desk and told the gal there we wanted to buy two Zed Fare tickets. I think the only way the stare we got back could have been any blanker was if they had put a mannequin there. Really. She said that PSA would have had to have faxed over a request three days previous for us to get that rate. O_o So we shelled out $210 total for two tickets on Southwest to Las Vegas. But before we could leave the gate, the TSA had to inspect our bags. Now keep this in mind... we had to pass security at a different airport. We landed and were still in the gate area, still behind security. Yet we had to get our bags checked. *shrug* It was painless but odd. So while we were in LAX, Eric decided we had to have dinner! After all, we were on the west coast. :) So here we are at our glamorous feast in LAX!





*laugh!* So finally, eight hours after we were supposed to land, we were in Las Vegas!

Wednesday, March 16th.

We blew money! Circus Circus was good to us. The Stratosphere took all our money. The Four Queens held strong. But Binion's Horseshoe was good to us as well. We also walked all over the place. My feet hurt so bad! But it was great! So many things have changed since we were there, it was great to see it all. :)

Thursday, March 17th.

As we were getting ready to head out, I called to make sure that our flight at noon was all set. Doh. Over sold. We ended up spending an hour on both our phones, calling the automated system to find flights that we could get on. Between Thursday and Saturday, there was only one flight that had any seats left at all. It would leave at 1am, and it had five seats available in first class. We listed ourselves on the flight.

We had to check out of our room pretty much right away though, so we checked out and the hotel clerk was nice enough to let us store our bags in the back room with the safe. So until 9pm, we went to a movie, gambled a bit more, had something to eat and generally had fun, with no thoughts of any troubles ahead.

We got to the airport at 9pm to one of the longest check in lines I have ever seen! I can not believe they do not have electronic check in at McCarren Airport! It's Las Vegas for fucks sake! *shakes head* Anyhoo, we get to the clerk at the desk and she tells us, the flight we thought had five seats is now oversold by eight people. And in the most fake sympathetic voice I have heard in a while, she tells us "you aren't getting out of Las Vegas today folks." O_o

Eric is now looking really, really distressed! We've been up and walking around for about twelve hours and now it's looking like we'll be up even longer. So when we got to the gate, I had a small epiphany. I asked the gate agent to list us on every single flight headed east. I didn't care what city. Just get us to the east coast. It would be easier to get our connecting flights that way. And it paid off. I was half asleep with my head on my roll-away bag when I hear our names paged at about 10pm. Lo and behold, a flight to Charlotte had a few seats available. Yay! We wouldn't be able to sit together but at this point, I really didn't care! When we got on board though, a man sitting next to me traded seats with Eric and we were able to snuggle and sleep on the flight to Charlotte.

We landed at 5:30am local time to Charlotte. The first flight I had a chance to get on that would get me to Raleigh was going to leave at 7:50am. The first flight Eric had a chance to get on that would get him to Dayton would leave at 9:40am. So I called my boss and left a voicemail letting her know I would be a little bit late. :P

We both lucked out and managed to get on our respective flights. But when I got to Raleigh, I had to deal with 9am rush hour traffic. Ugh! And to top it off... I smelled bad! I realized we had been wearing the same set of clothes for about 26 hours! I was stinky! So I went home, took a shower and was going to take a nap then go to work, but my boss is soooooo cool and told me to not even worry about it. I gladly went to sleep and didn't wake up until 6pm. :)

So that was our trip. Rough. Yet we still had a really good time! *laugh* I even got a bit of knitting done on the plane.



Sock #2 is almost done. I posted a note on my Sockapalooza Pal's blog letting her know they would be late. She was cool enough to reply so I knew she knew. Thanks! :)

On the kitty front, here is Velvet stealing a fortune cookie! (Yes it is still in the wrapper and she has that in her mouth.)



As you can see, Trouble is not happy with that! *laugh*

I also got an Random Act of Kindness (RAK) gift! She sent me some stickers and some chocolates! Yay! So that got me working on some stitch markers to send out myself. Here are a few:



Only a few more to make and I'll send them out to everyone. :)

Weekend update

Saturday I started out the day by sleeping in. Wow that felt good! I got up about 10:30 and decided to go thrift store spelunking again before the Stitch N Bitch. I went to the stores in Carboro and Chapel Hill. I really didn't find anything I liked that was worth frogging, but there were plenty of good things to see! :)

At 2pm, I went to Tyler's for the Stitch N Bitch. I completely forgot that it was a game day. UNC was playing Georgia Tech. The place was packed! We ended up having to sit all the way in the back which actually turned out to be a lot nicer than where we usually sit. More light. :) Bronwyn came again. Here's one of her eBay finds!:



I love eBay... :)

I frogged a bit more of that sweater I bought last week too. I'm getting a lot of yarn out of it! :)



Today I decided to go hang out at Yarns Etc. in Carboro. I like Yarns Etc just because it is such a pretty store. But like monkeemaven said, there is really no such thing as an ugly yarn store... but this store is really pretty. See...:



That's Ivy, one of the clerks. I'll tell you, every time I've gone into that store, she's always made me feel welcome. :)



This is Amy. I met her today. A really nice gal! She was starting on this cute skirt from one of the Rowan magazines (I think). When she came in she said that "It was such a beautiful day outside... I should go to the store and knit!" I couldn't help but laugh because I had been thinking pretty much along the same lines today too. It is a beautiful day today! In the 70's. I love North Carolina. Poor Eric is up in Dayton where it's snowing. :P

While I was there, I worked more on my Sockapalooza socks. Take a look see...:



I got pretty far considering I was only there for two hours and I made such a big mistake in the fair Isle pattern, I had to frog three rounds. Thankfully there was a little girl in the store or I would have been swearing long and loud. *laugh* Also, while I was at the Stitch N Bitch yesterday, Azuredrake taught me how to knit Continental. I tried holding one strand English and the other Continental today when I was doing the color changes on my socks. It worked really well. :) Thanks!

When I got home, I got to see this:



I couldn't believe how nicely they were sleeping next to each other! :)

For those of you that are wondering, yes I am still working on those Cut Your Teeth Socks from Knitty. I've just kind of put them on hold because I've been busy with those Sockapalooza socks. But here's how far I've gotten:



Oh and I finally decided on what pattern to use to make a scarf for Eric. He specifically requested a black scarf that he could wear in uniform. So since he works for PSA Airlines and it's part of US Airways, I've decided to make a stockinette scarf with a relief of the US Airways logo. I'm going to try and work out the chart tonight.

Fixed!

So I got the new mirror for my car in on Wednesday. Eric was home most of this week so I really wasn't focused on much else. ;) Today I got home and realized I hadn't even opened the box to make sure it was the right mirror! And when I first pulled it out, I didn't think it was. It just looked huge! So, grumbling and mumbling, I went outside to compare it to the one that was currently on the car. What would you know... it was the right one! I really looked at it for a few seconds and realized, there was no way I was going to pay some guy at a body shop $60 to put it on! If I could replace the valve cover, the radiator, and various other stuff on my old diesel Mercedes, I could put on a frigging mirror! :)

Here the car is with no mirror:



Looks odd doesn't it?

And after about ten minutes, a 10mm socket, and a 4mm allen wrench... (as Eric would say) "Vi-O-La!" *laugh*:



and:



I'm so proud of myself. :)

So I went inside when I was done and looked out the window to a beautiful rainbow. Sadly, the pics just didn't come out at all. :( But while I was trying to take some pics of the rainbow, I got to see this:



They are so cute! But to top it off... later on this evening, I got to see this:



So feeling really good, I sat down and actually knitted for a bit. (No kidding!) I was going to start the color change row but I'm feeling really tired this evening. But hey, it's a toe!:



I'm going to have to really, really knit my ass off this weekend to be able to get this sock done by the 15th! I have a feeling, that ain't gonna happen so I posted a note on my Sockapalooza pal's blog to let her know I would do my damnedest to get them done by the 19th. I'm leaving for Las Vegas on the 15th and I will be on a plane for four hours so you never know. *shrug* I might finish the sock on the plane if I don't finish it this weekend. But I'm really going to try and finish them this weekend.

In reply to comments:

From my Sock Pal: Just wanted to let you know that you probably wont see us in your mailbox until the 23rd or 24th.

That's okay! I'll be out of town for a few days too. :)

From monkeemaven: And that looks like a gorgeous yarn shop... not that I can think of a non-gorgeous yarn shop.

Oh it is a great shop! I should have taken some other pics of the rest of the store, but there were a lot of people in the store and most of them were ducking when I pulled out the camera. :) And I know what you mean... I have yet to find an ugly yarn store. :P

Full knitty weekend!

Oh it's been a busy, knitting-filled weekend. :) On Saturday at 10am, Azuredrake and I were supposed to meet up with a few people from the Knittyboard at Needleworks in Burlington but alas, no one else showed up. *shrug* It's okay though... we still had a blast of a Saturday!

Here's Azuredrake in Needleworks giving her best 'pouty look' as I'm screaming "Vogue baby! Vogue!" at her *snicker*:



I love her Skully bag!

And then there's me:



I'll be honest... I have no idea why I chose that pose. *laugh* Needleworks is great! The gal standing in the background was teaching a sock knitting class. You can see, their store isn't the biggest place in the world but they do have a great selection of yarn and needles at killer prices!

Since no one was there, we decided to go thrift store shopping. Our goal was to find sweaters to frog and then dye. We went all over Burlington and Hillsborough! On the list that she had made, there were only two stores that we couldn't find. They just pretty much didn't exist anymore. *shrug*

Our first stop was at a place that all the proceeds go to families that are victims of abuse. I found this sweater:



69% wool, 19% angora (rabbit hair) and 12% nylon. It's so soft too! And I got it for $1!!! I wasn't going to get it at first but it's just so soft and just kept telling me to take it home. By the time I got to the counter, we had both agreed that I would have to make a hat and some mittens or a muffler out of it. :)

We went on, looking for other stores. We found two junk shops but there was one store in Burlington that was having a bag sale. I thought it was a purse sale but no, it was a brown bag sale. They give you a brown shopping bag and then you fill it. One full bag was $2! She found all sorts of good stuff for her niece and one good sweater to frog and dye. Me, I didn't find anything. :( Oh well... I will remember that place though! :)

After that, we found two more stores that had promise but just nothing to buy right then. One store had such horrible music! It made me shiver. O_o We didn't stay in there long.

We headed on down to Hillsborough to a consignment shop that we had heard of but had never visited. I think it was called My Secret Closet (behind the Bojangles on Churton Street). Oh wow the prices were great! I got a great shirt for $10. But she got the find of the day! An aqua sweater vest. 100% Cashmere. Only $10. A steal! She's going to make the Honeymoon Cami with it think. I have no doubt it will be gorgeous! I'll be keeping my eyes on her blog to see what she makes out of it.

Then we went to Tyler's for the Stitch N Bitch. We were the only ones there but we had a great time. We ordered some food (their garlic fries were awesome!). She laughed while I swore as I tried to pick up stitches on this toe-up sock. :P Then we were rolling around howling with laughter as we traded embarrassing stories back and forth. *laugh* On more than one occasion, the waiter was looking at us with one raised eyebrow.

At 4pm, we went home. Talk about a great day!

Today, I started on frogging that sweater. Here's how far I've gotten:



One sleeve, and the collar and I've already got a good sized ball of yarn. But who knew it would take so long. Sheesh! *laugh* I was going to do some more work on that sock but I can't help but swear at that toe right now... buggery provisional crochet cast on won't come off easy... *grumblegrumble* Yeah I know, knitting is supposed to be relaxing but I sometimes swear at my knitting like golfers swear at their clubs while they are out on the links. *laugh*

Yeah I know I should have taken pictures of all the sweaters she got but... well, I just didn't think about it. So *hint, hint* take some pics of our haul this weekend, Azuredrake! :P Tee hee.

Eric comes home tomorrow. Wow I can't wait to see him! I talked with him a few minutes ago. He was actually in Charlotte today after his last flight. He did try to get on a flight to Raleigh but they were all full so rather than get stuck overnight in the airport, he just went back to Dayton on his confirmed flight. It's all good. He was scheduled to come home tomorrow anyway... but it would have been nice to have him home this evening... *happy sigh*

Well before I run out for the evening I'll reply to some comments:

From my Secret Sock Pal! *Waves* Dear Sock Pal,I finished your first sock and I have a few questions. Are your feet shaped like flippers? Do you have ankles like toothpicks? Unless you answered "yes" to both questions, things are not looking good for this first sock attempt. Fear not, last night I cast on for an entirely new and different pair of socks for you which hopefully will turn out a bit better. We shall see. In the meantime, if you do have bizarre duck-like feet, just let me know and I'll refrain from frogging the first sock!

I actually bust out laughing when I read your comment. No I do not have bizarre duck feet. Just long, skinny, gunboats according to my ex-brother in-law. *laugh* I was thinking the same sort of thing while knitting socks for my Secret Sock Pal... I'm hoping she's got perfectly square toes... :P

One sock done.

Finished it finally! Only took me a week longer than I thought. I know I said at least five times that I would "finish it tonight for sure" but then something would come up and I would get distracted and well... *insert shrug and laugh here* So here it is:



Hmmm... two weeks to go to make the other one. Think I can make it? I'm sure I can, but I am going to have to seriously focus on my knitting. That is going to be difficult with Eric home next week and us going to Las Vegas the week after. :P But I'll get it done. I'm going to be hanging out with Azuredrake and a few other folks from the Knittyboard this weekend so I'm sure they will help me stay focused on my knitting. *laugh*

Speaking of which, I'm going to go cast on and start the other toe.