You are Shetland Wool. You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a little on the harsh side. Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are widely respected and even revered.

What kind of yarn are you?

Work

Work has been...interesting. I can't give many details but here's the basics: a major online event took place this weekend and the site went down just as it was to go live. And stayed that way for a long period of time.

Yeah.

Photos from Day Two

So after leaving our place late, getting stuck in Friday LA traffic, we finally made it up near San Francisco and stayed the night in a hotel in Dublin. At the first hotel we went to (not a trashy one either) one of the attendants at the counter was screaming at a coworker "You're so stupid, I don't know what you're smoking, you're dumb!!" He walked out while I was standing there with my wallet open and nobody came to help me. So I walked out too. We eventually ended up at the Holiday Inn Express where we were given a discounted rate by one of Apollo's "homies."

The high point of my night? I fell off the bed. See, I was sitting on the edge with my back to the corner when I swung my other leg over and did a back flip onto the floor. I grabbed for my Chococat luggage, thinking it would give me some support or would at least would prop me up against the wall but no. I landed on my knee and then flipped down on top of my luggage and laid there crying. Apollo was concerned but I just kept giving him the "One minute" sign with my finger while I bawled into the carpet. Despite my bad experience with the bed, it turned out to be the most comfortable bed I have EVER slept on. EVER! We left this hotel late because the bed was so soft. We just laid there and talked about how soft it was. I also used up an entire box of tissues at this hotel. (I was still sick.)

Because we took our time leaving, we got caught up in traffic onto the Bay Bridge. And of course, once we got on the other side, we got lost. Why in the hell there isn't a main road that leads you from one major bridge to another, I don't know. Or signs. Why no signs?? Or how about this, in San Francisco you'll see a sign that says something like "Golden Gate Bridge, use right lane." So, you get in the right lane and you drive and drive. And that lane turns right or goes straight. And you drive. And just when you think you're lost, you see the bridge!


Once I realized where we were, I pulled off the road and we took a gander at the Palace of Fine Arts. This time we didn't even bother getting out of the car. We did a drive by tour with a couple other cars.

Oh hey, remember how I told you that the Golden Gate bridge would just suddenly appear? Well, here's the view out our sunroof while we were in traffic to get on it. I was a little edgy at this point and the traffic had made me irritable. I was glad to get over the bridge though and onto the 101 where we, you guessed it, joined more traffic. It is after all road construction season!

I'm not exactly sure what part of Cali this is in. All I know is it's near the Eel River in Northern Cali but before the Redwood Forest. Each time Aimee and I take this drive, we stop here and take pictures. This old bridge is falling apart and is actually blocked off from vehicles. Apollo's not used to my country ways and was afraid to pass the gate but pssh!! I followed the animal trails and made him come with me for this and the next photo.

Ahh, the Eel River! It seems to be ever present in Northern Cali. If you look closely, you can see the road winding at the base of that mountain. The view is better in person.

Speaking of views better in person, here's one you definitely had to see for yourself. These elk weren't that far off the road but they look like ants here. There were two bull elk in this herd, they and the cows blended in with the marsh and were soon hidden from our view. You can see the fog is already rolling in pretty heavy. The beach was just on our left on the other side of the road.

We stopped in Crescent City, home of the infamous Pelican Bay State prison, for gas and the restroom. Apollo got "the eye" from six local young men. They scoped out our car, walked by and looked in side and basically and made him nervous. He figured they thought he had just gotten out of prison or something. I was afraid that this was going to be the first of many bad experiences for him in a mostly caucasion region but thankfully, it wasn't.

During our brief pit stop in Crescent City, I kept thinking of how awful it must be in the prison there since it's always cold and damp in this coastal area. I was still coughing and hacking up lung and wondered how many people got pneumonia or bronchitis at this prison. I'm sure the crappy weather lends itself negatively to the general mood of the inmates.

We made it across the Oregon border around 9:30PM and went shopping at Fred Meyer's in Brookings for the dinner Apollo was cooking at Mom's the next day. He was stunned to learn liquor isn't sold in regular grocery stores in Oregon. Stunned!! I think the clincher was when he learned the liquor store had closed at 7:00PM. He walked around in a speechless daze for a few minutes, trying to figure out what he was going to do about that. We got in to Mom's around...oh, 2:00 or 2:30AM? I'm not sure, I was pretty out of it.

Alright, more later. (So much for no long winded stories. Ha!)

And I'm back!

Actually, I got back Tuesday around 10am. Though we drove up to Oregon in two days, staying the night in a hotel near San Francisco, we wanted to get home so badly that we drove straight home only stopping for gas and goodies. I'm just now recovering from the long drive (each time I do this, I tell myself I'll never do it again and before I know it, I'm planning another trip). It's been tough getting back into the groove at work.

So I've decided that rather than type up long winded stories about my vacation, I'm going to blog random photos starting from day one. I'm also going to add a folder to Flickr so you can look at them there too. Of course, I won't have them uploaded all at once, I'll let you know when they're all up.

Here's the first photo we took on our trip. (Click to fully appreciate the cow population!) It was somewhere near dusk on Day One as we were driving through California and I looked over and saw cows! Thousands of cows everywhere!! I of course thought of Faythe (because she appreciates them so much) and took this photo while Apollo drove. Mom said they put the cows in these over-crowded fields, pump them full of food and chemicals and sell them. I'm not sure if there's any truth to it but I don't see any other reason why they'd have all these poor cattle crammed into small spaces. It was awful. I was aghast!

In case you couldn't see the cows, here's a closeup. The colored masses = cows!


Alright then, I'll post more later.

Vacation!

We're getting a later start than expected (by a day and a half) but we're finally leaving for Oregon! I feel like I just put everything important to me in two suit cases. Well, except for the cats. I feel so bad leaving them behind. Hopefully Big Mac and Tee will pet them a lot though. It's going to be hard on them since they're used to someone sleeping here, etc.

Oh and I will probably be away from the computer for much of my time in OR. EEK! Well, I will be taking a look at Mom's computer and to see what's wrong with it. Consequently I will try to blog a little but she has dialup so I can't guarantee I'll be able to load any pics. Dialup!!

Anyway, I'll update you when I can. This is Apollo's first time north of San Francisco and his first road trip through California. :)

Dialup!!!

Chutes N Ladders socks - done!

Well, my brain won this battle. I blame it on The Sick. When I last blogged about this socks I had realized I didn't have enough yarn to finish off the toe on the second sock. Faythe, who is evil, encouraged me to buy more yarn to finish them off. Seriously, I considered this for two inches of one toe. My healthy self would have done it too or would have at least seriously entertained the though. My sick retching self sick said, "Screw it!" and used some left over dark blue yarn from a different project and used it for toes on both socks. I would rather not do this, EVER, but this will have to do. BTW, the yarn isn't this bright. It's more subdued.

Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock lightweight in Midsummers Night and Lucy in the Sky for toes
Pattern: Chutes N Ladders from Fun Sox Yahoo Group

Rose Quartz

This is the beautiful Rose Quartz Socks that Rock yarn in lightweight. I'm looking forward to seeing how the different hues of pink play out when knit. (click the pic)

Mishap Monday

I wanted to finish the last Chutes N Ladders sock before my trip to Oregon and with all this napping and lying around, it seemed a waste of time not to knit. So, I've been knitting along, totally aware that I was running low on yarn but assumed I would have enough to finish the pair. With every other pair of socks I've knit, I've always had plenty of yarn left over - too much it seemed. I'm sure you can see where this was going. I was a half inch into the toe when I realized I only had about a foot of yarn left. So, here I sit staring at the two socks. I've considered knitting the toes of both socks in a different blue but somehow, it seems like it would take away from the design of the leg. Faythe, who is nothing but an enabler, suggested I buy a new hank of yarn of the same color to complete them, then use the extra yarn to make those short ankle socks Aimee likes so much. I haven't decided if my heart or brain will win this one. *sigh*

Pathetic

I'm so pathetic the cats are avoiding me now. I've been spending my time on the couch sleeping, sweating and feeling sorry for myself. I almost pooped my pants from coughing too hard. Hahaha!! Three people called today and told me I sound like crap. Yay!

whining

I'm sick again. Today I helped with some tele-interviewing and promptly passed out. I'm hot, yet cold. Coughing, retching, sweaty. I have a fever.

I have lost the will to knit.

One down, seventeen eleven more to go

Of course I'm guessing on how many more socks I'm going to knit. I guess I'll just keep knitting up until Christmas or until I get tired of socks. Or like Faythe, I develop some sort of knitting induced injury.


I finished one sock and am half way through the leg on the second one. I'm using the Chutes-N-Ladders pattern by Pam Gordnier found only through the Fun Sox Yahoo group. I didn't realize cables would reduce elasticity this much so they're a little tight on the leg but I have fat legs, I'm sure they'll fit the recipient just fine.