At the end of a long week

At the end of a long week
Originally uploaded by cuteknitter2000

Sometimes you need giant margaritas and some killer company.

Congrats on your BA, Tika!

Sometimes Vulcans wear ugly sweaters, too.

So, it's been more than a week since the new Star Trek was released. Before I say anything else, it is only fair to say that I LOVED this movie, I think it was brilliant, witty, fun, and Zachary Quinto plays one hot Vulcan.

I think what I might have liked best about this movie was that we get some interesting alternate exposition. We see Spock as a child, and later, as a young adult. We learn that despite logic, even a Vulcan has to wear the Ugly Sweater.

We all know the Ugly Sweater. The one that some well-intentioned family member (or family friend) made for you. The one that itched, or grew, or had some dorky intarsia. Since none of the other Vulcans in the film wore ugly, ill-fitting sweaters made of acrylic (Homespun, anyone?) over their beautifully tailored outfits, I can only deduce there is one person to blame.

Winona Ryder. Aka, Mrs. Sarek, Amanda Grayson, and most importantly, Spock's Mom. She strikes me as the Ugly Sweater knitting type. (Would it be cliche to make a joke about her shoplifting something better for him than ACRYLIC?)

Poor Spock. As if he wasn't a pariah enough for being half human; now he has to don the Ugly Sweater of Half-Human Shame that his mother made for him. Nobody spoke up for him.

My mother saved me from an Ugly Sweater (which, by the way, would have been the autumn-colored, cardiganed sister of Spock's USoHHS) in high school. I saw the end result, which the offending relative decided to make for herself and it was a crime against knitting. A CRIME!

Someone needs to stop the madness. If you happen to witness a crime against knitting, please call the [fictional] Crimes Against Knitting Hotline: 1-800-STOP-THE-ACRYLIC.

Efficiency, thy embodiment is Jasmin

You know what's awesome? Excel. PivotTables rock my world in ways that you can't even BEGIN to understand. (Unless you know the love that is Excel, of course.)

PivotTables have taken a task that was previously done by hand and - WHOOSH! - with a click and a couple of drag-and-drops, we have data. Highlight the table and we have graphs. (I love graphs.)

Alas, there must be balance in the universe, which is why we have Devil PowerPoint. I find it singularly frustrating that gathering the data in Excel is a breeze, but putting it in a simple PowerPoint presentation is enough to make me tear out handfuls of pink, curly hair. I know that it's purported to be simple enough that six-year-olds can use it; but I'll tell you, I've met some wily six-year-olds.

Maybe THAT is why people have kids. Hmm...

Well, she's no Tallulah...

So, there has been knitting, and there has been spinning. I've finished my Abby, but haven't taken any FO pictures because (a) I haven't been wearing makeup and (b) the ends remain unwoven.

But. I have finished the Impulsive Geoff scarf. This took me a week to knit, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I maintain that there is no cure for knitting ennui like cashmere.

I've also been spinning. I've spun and plied the Crown Mountain "In the Air Tonight", finished the spinning on Tallulah, have spun half of the "Crocodile Walk", and started spinning Lina.

Ah, Lina. Lina is a chocolate brown merino hogget fleece that I got at the spinning day at the Retzlaff winery from Janet Heppler last year. Shari processed it, and Lina sat in my office, cleaned and pin drafted, waiting to be spun. She's a lovely fleece, a little heavy on the Veggie Matter, but alas, she's no Tallulah.

The VM makes the spinning a little slower, since I'm pulling it out as I go. I'm breaking in the Schacht-Reeves with Lina, so moving a little slower isn't exactly torture. (By the way, I'm running the Schacht-Reeves on scotch tension, and I run Lancelot the Matchless on double drive.) I'm enjoying Lina, but not in that obsessive way that I enjoyed Tallulah.

This whole thing reminds me of something that happened a few years ago. Andrew and I were in New York, and we were in the audience for Avenue Q. At intermission in the row behind us, we overheard this:

Person A: "So, what do you think of the show?"
Person B: "Well, it's no Wicked."

That's kind of how I feel about Lina. So, appropriately, I think that she's going to grow up to be a Wicked.

Abstract and weird, yes. But really, it's my knitting. So neener-neener.

Just call me Braggatha

This morning when I left the house, Our Favorite Electrician came over. While the dogs were at their Auntie Colleen's house for a marathon playdate with their favorite Akita cousin, Hana, and I was at work, magic was happening at my house.

After work, I picked up two VERY tired dogs, and came home. The change in our home is amazing. Our Favorite Electrician installed canned lighting in our living room and dining room, and Andrew mounted the speakers to the walls. I can comfortably knit with JUST the lights on, no extra lamps are necessary. A-MA-ZING. (Also, the surround sound is AWESOME.)

I haven't tried knitting with black yarn, which will be the real test of how fabulous the lights are, but I'll do that.

Between the lights, and the new-and-improved closet, I am SO pleased with the work we're getting done on this house. I'm so pleased, I'll walk into a room, turn the lights off, and then turn them back on. It's like when I would stand and admire my new closet. (I'm still doing this, by the way. It's that good.)

Not to brag, but I might be married to the best man EVER. Now, what to get him for his upcoming 30th birthday...