So I need some fine wine, and you, you need to be nicer

It's finally here! The yarn order I've been waiting on for over two weeks.

I'm normally a very patient person, but I've been itching to get this stuff in my hands since the moment I placed the order. You see, I could not begin my beautiful Icarus shawl until I received this package. And since it's a KnitAlong, I'm way behind! Oh well, it's probably for the best... a larger plan at work since I've been so busy this week that I couldn't have knit much on it anyway and having it around would have only enticed me horrendously.

But no matter! It's here now!

The complete haul:
- Five balls of beautiul luscious Peru DK Luxury in Imperial Purple (70% Fine merino, 20% alpaca, 10% silk). Mmmmmm, this stuff feels amazing.
- One hank of Lane Borgosesia Baruffa Cashwool in Plum Wine (100% extrafine merino laceweight). Also very very soft and yummy. The color is a little off in these photos. It's actually more purpley than it shows up here on my monitor.
- And lastly, three balls of stretchy Cascade Fixation in Calypso.









And after a spin on the swift, we're all balled up and ready to knit! Maybe I'll get some time later tonight to cast on.





And now, along with the beauteousness of my yarn, I present the sad, ugly spectacle of a very drunk David Hasselhoff being begged by his 16 year old daughter to stop drinking. What a sad, sad scene. This man needs professional help, yesterday. I hope he gets it and is able to get his act together. How embarrassed he must be to have had his daughter see him in this condition. I'm resisting the temptation to email this to a few people I know...





"So I need some fine wine, and you, you need to be nicer
For the good times and the bad times
That we'll have
Sometimes we talk over dinner like old friends
Till I go and kill the bottle,
I go off over any old thing,
Break your heart
and raise a glass or ten."

- The Cardigans "I Need Some Fine Wine, and You, You Need to be Nicer" (Super Extra Gravity)

Cuz you've been gone exactly two weeks, two weeks and three days

Bleurgh.

Miz DiFranco has nailed it again. Over two weeks since my last blog post = unintentional radio silence. Radio? Well something. It's late. I've been wanting to post a new entry at least a half dozen times, but Blogger has been a pill -- I could log in, even leave comments, but not post a new entry.

So hi, hey there, hello! How are you?

My little angry bunny toy thing up there just about says it all for me lately. Last week, I got an unexpected email that's had me insanely busy ever since. In short (because if I go into too much detail, it will just hack me off again, and I'm really trying to be a big girl about this), I was told that the mammoth project which I should still have months yet to complete is due... by May 4th. So needless to say, I've been scrambling to work at getting that finished up and out for delivery ASAP. Any random prayers/good vibrations/thoughts you can spare my way would be super fantastic. I can't wait to just be finished with this and be on to the next.

Knitterly things, you ask? Those have been frustrated as well. I'm still working on Samantha's Dashings, but being that I cast on for them as soon as I bound off Tiffany's pair, let us just say, I'm bored. I feel stalled about halfway through the first one, but I'm hoping I can power through it this weekend and get them finished up.

I'm (impatiently) waiting for a my latest yarn order to be delivered so I can launch into my first foray with laceknitting. I'm participating in the International Icarus Along with darlings Kathy and Theresa. I'm afraid I'm hopelessly out of my league on this one, y'all, but I'm resolved to give it a solid effort. After all, it's just modified knits and purls with tiny, teeny yarn, right? The ladies keep reassuring me how doable this pattern is, but we'll see. One thing's fo sho, I'm gonna keep the Voodoo stuff far away from my yarn to avoid the hexation K's been messing with. Whew. :) But I digress. Back to my stash enhancement. I've got a few other bits of yarny goodness coming along with the gorgeous merino laceweight I chose for Icarus (Lane Borgosesia Baruffa Cashwool in Plum Wine) -- some Peru Luxury DK for a Clementine Shawlette for myself and a few balls of Cascade Fixation for giftknitting.

I cast on for a gift for another friend and even took it to a "Knit Out" my LYS hosted last weekend, but too much chatting and not enough paying-attention-to-what-I-was-doing means I'm gonna have to rip back 9 or 10 rows and fix two mistakes. I'm afraid I've got more projects on the needles right at the moment than I care to divulge. I seriously need to work on getting the FO:UFO ratio up a bit.

Ack. Enough griping. I don't want this blog to turn into Complaint Central. Pursuant to that end and in effort to turn the tone 'round on this entry, I offer the following Seven Items of Pure Joy and Delight:

1) First things first! Two dear friends of mine are making a documentary about music which I've had the complete joy and absolute privilege to be a small part of already. They've been shooting footage for this project since last November and are in the editing phase at this point, with the odd interview still to be captured. This week, they released a promotional trailer for the world to gawk and marvel at (I'll be the first to admit my bias, but I'm truly marveling over here). For those of you who know what I look like, watch carefully: I show up a few times in this.



The project's website is still in development (oy, another thing that needs my attention as soon as this paper is turned over), but check out the MySpace page for more information. The blogs posted there outline a lot about what's upcoming and who else is involved. Very exciting stuff, and I just can't stop grinning about any of it.

2) Harry Potter. Okay, I've seen all the films, but haven't taken the time to read the books until now. My goal is to finish all of them before the last book is released in July so that I can do the dorky stay-up-all-night-reading bit along with the rest of the world for once. I finished Sorcerer's Stone today in between writing sessions and started on Chamber of Secrets tonight when my fingers were nearly numb from typing. You think I'll make it by 7/21? :)

3) My dog is such a Mama's boy, it ain't even funny. I'm in intense love with my dog, as anyone who knows me even a bit will attest, but even I must concede, he's been extra precious the last few days. I think he knows I'm stressed and tired because he's not left my side when I'm at the house, and when I do have to leave, he whimpers at the door as I go. Adorable.



4) Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight. I really love to cook, and this happens to be a favorite meal in our house. Turned out deliciously.

5) The Office Season 2 DVDs just arrived in the mail and are now waiting patiently for me to finish up everything so I can have a marathon viewing of them.

6) Ani DiFranco. In concert. With Todd Sickafoose. The day after my birthday. I shrieked when I found out I would be able to go. CANNOT wait.

7) Putting together packages to send out in the mail in the next week or two. I've got goodies going all around the world, yo! I adore sending little boxes of love!

There we have it. I'm sure there are many more, but I arbitrarily chose seven to start, so seven it shall be! I promise I'll take some pics of my Noro scarf tomorrow. It's been rainy and gray here the last couple of days -- to the point where it looks like I live in Seattle or something -- and every time I think of needing to snap a few, the light is super meh. And this yarn deserves some beautiful sunlight.



"Cuz you've been gone exactly two weeks
Two weeks and three days
And let's just say that things look different now
Different in so many ways
Cuz I used to be a superhero
No one could touch me
Yeah, not even myself
And you are like a phone booth
That I somehow stumbled into
And now look at me
I am just like everybody else"

- ani d "Superhero" (Dilate)