Monday, April 23, 2007

Today's Favorite Quote

Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.
-Bill Vaughan


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Friday, April 20, 2007

Cable-Knit Baby Sweater

I finally finished the baby sweater I was knitting for SHAO's newest addition! Geez, I think the kid is already like 3 months old...practically in college. Just in time too, I'm going to see SHAO tomorrow so I can give it to her then. So, it's a late baby shower gift, but I my excuse is the enormous amount of time it took me to get the pattern right. More time = better gift, so I think she'll overlook my faux pas. I even unknit it a couple of times (once because I had to make it bigger when I realized the baby was going to be older by the time I finished it!).

I'm pretty happy with the results. I think it turned out like it was supposed to anyway. I'm a little concerned about the length of the sleeves, but it's hard to know without a baby to try it on. I think it's supposed to be a drop-shoulder sweater and, in that case, the sleeves should be the perfect length. I checked and double-checked the pattern and I'm pretty confident that I knitted them correctly. This week, KB (Knitting Buddy) came over and helped sew everything together so I could get it done by this weekend. She also thinks it's correct, so I'm trying to worry about it. Luckily, I managed to pick up some new buttons for the shoulder last night and I sewed them on quickly this morning during my coffee break (I don't drink coffee, anyway). PK had convinced me to purchase and try some cute little buttons, but they were just really ugly on the sweater and not really complimentary to the feel of cables. I'm much happier with the new buttons, but PK seems a little hurt that I changed them against his "expert" advice. I think he'll have to admit that the new buttons look better even if they don't have as much personality.

Now for the photos:



Front View


Back View






Close-up of cable stitch pattern







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Thursday, April 12, 2007

KellyFaith's Tour de Cure Training Log



This weather is crazy...even for Minnesota. Did you know that it is against the law for Minneapolis to even declare a snow emergency after April 1? I just cannot believe that people think its a good idea to build an outdoor ballpark for the Twins! A couple of seasons like this and we'll have to call it snowball rather than baseball.


I got a very nice note and donation from one of Mom's neighbors...a really nice lady. It always amazes me how many friends she has. I think CT takes after her in that regard. They know no strangers and make new friends wherever they go. Sometimes I envy that. Other times I'm pretty happy that I'm able to dash into the grocery story in my sweats to buy a huge bag of chocolates to go with my personal items without running into someone I know. There's nothing worse than trying to quickly stuff "normal" things into your cart while trying to avoid eye contact with a well-meaning acquaintance.... especially when you're in a rush to get home to watch Desperate Housewives while polishing off the entire bag of Hershey's or a pint of ice cream.....or both. Still, it's good to have so many friends when you need them. I'm glad Mom is such a social butterfly. It means I don't have to be. By extension, her friends are my friends (whether they know it or not). I don't really feel the need to make small talk with the lady at the checkout, because Mom is probably busy chatting with the lady in her checkout stand and has probably already made a friend for life. Then she'll call me when she gets home to tell me all about the nice lady that she met at the grocery store.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Today's Favorite Quote

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
-Sir Winston Churchill


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Monday, April 02, 2007

How Do You Tell It's Spring in Minnesota?

A goose poops on KellyFaith.

Yep, not the melting snow, or the buds on the trees or any of that poetic crap. Truly, the only way to know that spring has arrived is when a Canadian goose returning from it's winter getaway flies overhead and plops a large dollop of poo right on the unsuspecting KellyFaith. This happened last week, so you can all go and uncover your gardens and start your spring training. If you're still not certain that it's really spring, then perhaps the fact that a goose flew into the side of my car as I travelled down an exit ramp this weekend will put your mind at ease. Yes, it's time for the yearly goose adventures of KellyFaith. We can all look forward to another happy season of wild goose chases and countless hours of cursing and swearing.

I'm pretty certain that Canada sends these fowl beasts (yes, I'm aware of the awful pun) down here to covertly sabotage the average American's daily life. The geese are trained to seek out the most intelligent of Americans and commit acts of treachery in an effort to make said intelligent American look like a complete idiot. The geese then send their reports via cleverly encrypted honks back across the border where their intelligence is reenacted on a hugely popular nightly television show for the amusement of their fellow countrymen....all in an effort to undermine Americans while recruiting more geese and other water fowl into their elaborate organization bent on Canadian world domination and the overthrow of our government...that's just a theory, mind you.

I got caught up in the goose nest of deceitful subversion years ago when I was in eighth grade. It began when I wore my very cute and very short new skirt to my boyfriend's house to meet his family for the first time. For some odd reason his family kept a goose (of the generic white variety, obviously an agent deep under cover) as a pet. The goose repeatedly....well, goosed me. It followed me around the house honking and lifting the rear of my little skirt with its beak to the endless entertainment of the entire family. It's clear that these operatives are well-trained to spot extreme intelligence at a very young age. Anyway, I'm not sure if the boyfriend and his family were Canadian, but they could very well be sympathizers. The relationship did not last past the Junior High Valentine's Day Dance...with the boyfriend, my relationship with the geese was just beginning.

Oh, I have lots of similar stories...like my first encounter with a Canadian goose (he settled himself down for a nap on the hood of my parked car and refused to budge)...or the time the goose population plotted to get me fired (a goose followed me into my office building where I was videotaped chasing it around and kicking it out the door. The incident was discussed at my subsequent review and I was subtly reminded that cruelty to animals was not appropriate office behavior)....

Over the years I've collected dozens of similar tales and I'm sure this spring will bring me one step closer to collecting enough information to publish my book and expose this evil plot against the American society. SHHHH...don't let the geese know we're onto them. They can be very dangerous when provoked. Be wary of those sneaky Canadians too....they can also be very dangerous when provoked.



Beware, some covert agents have been known to
disguise themselves as co-workers and supervisors.