Thursday, August 28

Blah blah Thursday blah

I tried something new this week: I joined The Evil League of Evil the land of music education. I am now a church choir director. (Okay, so I'm barely on the fringes of music ed. I didn't even wave my arms at rehearsal. It was low-key.)

There were a grand total of 14 people at last night's rehearsal, which is way more than I expected. (Now that I think of it, there are at least two or three more people who couldn't make it to rehearsal.) And I have loud altos. I was so proud of them.

I think it will work out well, although we'll find out for sure in about a week when I direct the first official choir piece during the service. And in October I'm going to direct them at the Covered Bridge Festival, too; they always like the local church choirs to sing the Sunday morning of the festival.

So that's that. And I haven't done any knitting since Sunday, as I haven't quite decided on what to do. I almost want to do another pair of socks. That afterthought heel turned out so well! (The toe, on the other hand, felt a little loose, but that can be adjusted for the next pair.)

That's all I've got. What about you?

Sunday, August 24

Drive by blogging

Alas, the drag queen challenge wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. I think maybe Project Runway is losing its zest and zeal, which just makes me sad.

But what I really came to talk about was the knitting, and how I even have pictures. (Hush, Oboekönigin! You have such a dirty mind.) I finished my Ravelympics socks on Friday and a shawl earlier this afternoon. What's interesting about the shawl is that I started it yesterday afternoon. Lemme show you it.

Ruffled Shawl


It's the Ruffled Shawl from a new knitting magazine that will be on stands early next month. Here's my Ravelry page on it.

I also mentioned the Kaylee socks, of which I'm quite proud. See?

Kaylee socks
My feets aren't deformed. It's an odd angle. I swear.



Oboekönigin and Sister Berte might remember this sculpture in a more put-together form. It's currently parked a block from my parents' house.


But I just got a call that the closing ceremonies have started, so I'm going to head back to my parents' house and watch them. And ponder what to knit next. 'Cause I've got yet another knitting event coming up. I'll probably enlighten you tomorrow, or whenever I happen to post next. (You know me and my sporadical posting.) But here's a hint.

Monday, August 18

I see you!

Raveylmpics Kaylee, Second Monday


Look at all that work I've done on the Kaylee socks! See the dangly pink bits (oh, that sounds disgusting) hanging off my socks? That's where the heel will go. I decided on Saturday to do an afterthought heel, which is a new thing to me. Hopefully it will turn out well. If not, I suppose I'll just have to give these socks to my mom. Again.

Now observe my underhanded attempt to distract you from the fact that I am only actively working on one of my three Ravelympics projects. I never ended up casting on poor Gerda. I started Spring Things over with a different yarn because the Dream In Color wasn't draping the way I wanted to. You can't win 'em all, I suppose.

Thursday, August 14

What a fabulous day

I was all pumped yesterday to watch the Olympics and my weekly dose of Bravo drama — Project Runway and Shear Genius. I went to my parents' house around 6:30, caught a spot on the couch, pulled out my knitting and settled in. Not twenty minutes later, my brother walked in and said, "Hey. I'm gonna go see Dark Knight again. Wanna go? I mean, I know you'll miss Runway ..." The kid knows me too well. I looked at him for two seconds, then replied, "Really?!" and he said all he'd have to do was call and say he wanted two tickets instead of one.

(Let me stop here and say that my brother works for the theater, and as a bonus they can get up to two tickets to movies that have been out at least a few weeks. He loves that aspect of his job.)

So I finally got to see Dark Knight. It was phenomenal. I think it might be one of my favorite Batman movies already. One of my favorite parts was the semi that was made to say 'Slaughter is the best medicine.' (I know. I'm gruesome like that.) But really, the movie is definitely worth seeing, and I can't wait to see it again. I really enjoyed myself.

I got home around 11:15 or so, hoping to catch the second run of Runway. For some reason, Bravo decided to play Kathy Griffin instead, and then *two* bloody runs of Shear Genius, so I watched some Olympics. They didn't re-run Runway until 2 am, but you better believe I watched. And you know what? I'm so pumped about next week's Runway I can hardly stand it. It took about all I had in me at 3 am as I watched the teaser not to squeal. 'Cause you know what next week's challenge is?

Drag queens.

Holla atcha boy. Oh my dude. Hells yeah. I could not be a happier camper. I mean hello? Chris March is the PR love of my life, right next to Jay McCarroll. I love me some costume-y fashion.

And can I let you in on a little secret? I kinda wanna be a drag queen. (Oboekönigin knows this; I confided this to her in May.) Kinda like Connie and Carla, except without all the hiding from the mob. I just wanna be fabulous. And the guest judge is RuPaul.

Wednesday, August 13

Holy Guacamole, Batman!

Or, how I spent my weekend in eastern Iowa.

The weekend started innocuously enough last Friday. Mistress Saucy Dish and I road-tripped to Small German Town to help celebrate the birth of a fence. Not long after we arrived, we all decided to have dinner. The venue of choice? A delightful Chinese restaurant. What was most delightful, however, was the fact that, when we walked in the door, the woman who greeted us asked if we minded that the television at the back of the room was on. The six of us didn't mind in the least, and she sat us right in back, across from it. And then the greatest surprise awaited us: the Olympic opening ceremonies! Yes, we watched them in a Chinese restaurant. How fabulous is that? Pretty fabulous.

The next day, we decided to go exploring in a nearby pioneer village. Our trip there ended with delectable ice cream and a tour through a shed of antique farm equipment. After our sojourn through historical Iowa, the women went grocery shopping while the men went back to start up the grill. While we were purchasing groceries, Aramad said, "Hey, let's have some guacamole! I'll call my hubby and see what ingredients he needs." And then we bought 12 avocados and a metric ton of tortilla chips.

When we arrived back at the newly-fenced house, we started grilling up birds, pigs and cows, peeling and chopping up the humongous pile of veggies, and making the hugest batch of guacamole ever. (Ah, a huge mixing bowl brimming with deliciously blended green goo. Mmmm.) And then we ate. Dinner involved so much food my stomach is straining at the mere recollection. To aid in digestion, we decided to watch a little Firefly, then drink a lottle (which is the opposite of a little, Mistress Saucy Dish will have you know).

And then we broke out the cards. We played Circle of Death (or as Aramad kept calling it, Kings, which is apparently what Wikipedia calls it, too). Eventually someone made up a rule that if a face card was drawn, everyone had to eat some guacamole. (Honestly, by that time it was very necessary. We managed to deplete the guac vat fairly well, though.) Around 11 or so, we all started feeling like we were going to have guacamole babies, so most of us had to just sit for a while and not move much. The girls ended up watching the Olympics a little, and the guys* went to the bar.

When everyone arose from the dead Sunday morning, we got all clean and presentable and headed for the traditional end-of-party feast: IHOP. Check out our sexy post-dinner photo below.


Oboekönigin and her brother, Me (sporting ginormous hair), HutFrau, Aramad and J-man, and Mistress Saucy Dish of the Excellent Long-Armed Photo Taking Skillz.


And that was the weekend. In a nutshell. (A really big nutshell full of lots of guacamole.)

*Note: I should mention that when I'm referring to 'the guys' I actually mean Oboekönigin's brother, J-man and HutFrau. They're pretty much the guys of the group, really.

Monday, August 4

Prepare for a meltdown

I don't have much to say today. Firstly, I got the new Stephanie Meyer book, Breaking Dawn, this weekend. I'm almost finished.

Secondly It's effin' hot in Iowa, and it's difficult to think when it's hot. See that number in parentheses? The 105 degrees is how it felt at about 2 p.m. today. Luckily (ha!) it's only 90 degrees now, even though it feels like 96.

Damn right I believe in global warming.