Kiss My Knits!

Before ……………………………………………. After

Well, that’s better. I can take care of that little poky bit at the back and we’re all good! This is the most modern haircut I’ve had in 20 years. I started out alternating between hating it and loving it, but now I think I’ve settled on “really like it.” God knows it’s a damn sight better than it was when I walked in.

I walked out with a jar of Italian hair goop called Actyva Mania Glam. I’m pretty sure it contains equal parts of Gak and grape bubble gum. (By the way, making your own Gak is a fun activity for kids or bored adults.)

It turns out the new girl, who has more energy than a caffeinated Chihuahua, went to my high school. She was a sophomore there while I was a senior. So we reminisced about old times. I had forgotten the last names, and even first names, of an appalling number of folks. We were a couple of years apart, though, so probably didn’t run with the same crowd. She was apparently much more of a partyer than I was. Still, we talked about girls we’d had crushes on, and who was doing what now. I’m obviously settled and married now, and that did come up, but I think she may have thought I was a little wilder than I actually am, and maybe played a little looser with the razor as a result. Eh, I’m happy. We’ll see if it’s still holding up tomorrow.

Thanks for all the input, I’m still keeping tabs on what people are saying. Everybody does seem to love the dinosaur hat. I had a teenager in Illinois order one for himself, in fact. I packaged it up with a couple of little toy dinosaurs for him.

It seems that the first thing everybody, large or small, does when they get the hat is to put it on and start roaring and pretending to destroy things. Godzillaaaaaaa!

The strawberry hat is pretty cute, and is knit in cotton, so that could be a good warm-weather topper.

For this, , I’ve got two skeins of the wool/angora, Lorna’s Laces Angel, already on hand. That’d be just enough to make hat and booties.

I’m also contemplating now knitting a black baby sweater and putting a skull and crossbones on it. I’m in that kind of mood. Arr! You’ll never get your scurvy hands on my pirate baby booty!

My hair has calmed down some, but it still looks like a cut I had in ninth grade. Today I see the new haircut lady. This could be either be very good or very, very bad. But, as is my way, I’m keeping a happy thought.

My wrist is getting me a little bit today, but I soldier on with the knitting, as I am slipping behind. Got to get back ahead of the curve! Time and Tim-Tam guy’s hat wait for no one!

My kid’s first grade teacher is going out on leave in early April. I’m thinking I should knit something for her upcoming baby boy.

And so, I solicit your opinions!

Call me old-fashioned, but I like the first few days of Spring to be filled with flowers and sunshine, not wind and sleet. I went a mile on the treadmill this morning, because the weather was unpleasant. Fortunately, I have discovered the wonder of podcasts, and so I listened to a “best of NPR” type selection which was pleasant. I hope to check out knitcast tomorrow. Unfortunately, I think I need some noise-cancelling headphones. I’m uneasy with turning up the old earbuds that high to overcome the roar of the treadmill.

It looks like my swappee from the fibergoddaughter swap isn’t going to be able to post pics anytime soon, so here’s one item that I sent her that I thought was kind of nifty.

It’s felted soap, which is just roving wet-felted around a bar of soap. So it’s a bar of nifty soap encased in its own washcloth, basically. It lathers GREAT. If you squeeze it out between uses, it does last a nice long time. I’ve used this stuff and I love it. I may have to make myself some more soon. Heck, I make some for others, if there’s demand.

Knitted another repeat of the cable pattern on Shedir, which is looking much better to my eye now that I can see its shape emerging. I’m alternating using cable needles and not using them, just because sometimes it feels unwieldy to do some of the crosses without them. I’m happy with it so far. (, if you look closely, you’ll see that I’m using your stitch markers. Thanks again!)

I’m watching “A History of Violence,” which should be titled “A History of People Getting Parts Of Their Face Shot Off In Gory Closeup.” William Hurt hasn’t even shown up yet, and you just know he can ramp up the crazy factor by a power of ten. Good movie, don’t get me wrong, but I’m off of hamburger for a while for sure.

Jayne hats are chugging along. , you’re #2 on the list!

I had an appointment to have my hair fixed at 10am this morning, but didn’t keep the appointment. Last night I was out and saw a woman my approximate age, build, and face shape. Difference? She had FANTASTIC HAIR. I asked her who did her hair, and she raved about her stylist and gave me her card. So rather than get the same cut I’ve had for the past 20 years, I’m going to this new woman and we’ll see what happens. If I have to live with crappy hair until Wednesday, then so be it. That’s the advantage of working from home, no co-workers to impress.

In talking with the hubby about MacGyvering a yarn counter out of a fishing line counter, I also ran across this woman’s homemade ball winder. I’ve seen ball winders made from hand mixers before, but the drill-mounted one looks like it would have the advantage of letting you vary the speed. It seems like such an easy solution that you’ve got to admire the ingenuity.

Got a shipment of 150 boxes – 100 for single hats, 50 larger ones for double orders. Going back through my records I realized I was ordering 50 boxes every month or so, so I bought in greater bulk this time. I was down to six boxes left when these came. It’s not a huge crisis, because I can run up to my local office supply store and get more, but I pay literally ten times as much if I buy them singly. The hats are zipping right along, I feel like I’m starting to get back ahead of the curve again. For the first time in a while, the line is back around 35.

I’m wanting to get more involved with Dragonrealms again, now that I’m starting to make some hat headway. I had scaled back my involvement (aside from the Merelew festival) to nurture the Jayne hat biz, but I miss DR. I’m going to start picking up weddings again, and see how much I can handle at the moment without giving short shrift to either my wedding clients or my knitting clients. I also placed a couple of real gems today, which is always fun. When I was a player, I never spotted one, but I see the behind-the-scenes numbers and people really do find them! Also updated some visions, and saw that the rumor system is nice and healthy. I like to add onto the atmospheric-type systems when I can. Also, updated records on the description of a DR-specific wood, and GMs Reexa, Ilanya, and myself discussed a new fabric. Looks pretty cool, I think fluffhounds will be pleased.

Now I’m off to snag a copy of TurboTax for the Mac. Last year’s fiasco of actually doing taxes ON THE DUE DATE and discovering a form was missing has scared me straight, so to speak. Later, taters!

As time went on last night, the hair got more and more rounded at the sides, until I resembled a Powerpuff Girl. Specifically Buttercup.

I showered and blew it dry today, and it just wasn’t getting any better, so I have an appointment tomorrow for them to fix it. I thought maybe I could salvage it, or learn to like it… but no. If I had to pick one word for this haircut, aside from “bad,” it would be “dowdy.” Yesterday’s decade-old picture aside, I currently have a round body and a round head, I do not need a round haircut to complete the set.

And speaking of hair, check out the stylin’ newly discovered lobster! People in various fiber communities were speculating as to whether you could spin up the fur. Me, I just think it’s cool.

And speaking of fiber… okay, that was a weak segue, but just go with it… a local yarn store just started carrying Rowan Calmer. Usually I’m a big snob when it comes to acrylic, but this is such a soft, springy cotton/acrylic blend that I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve been wanting to knit Knitty’s Shedir anyway, and it only takes one ball. So in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m working on a khaki green cabled cap.

For some of it I’ve cabled without a cable needle, but those bits have tended to be sloppier-looking. I’m trying to decide whether to plow on through and potentially pick up a handy new technique, or to make it look nicer with a needle. In the long run, perfecting up a new technique would be good. We’ll see how it goes.

…for the worst haircut of my life.

Before ……………………………………… After

And that, my friends, is why you always bring a picture to the hair salon.

The weather’s beautiful, wish you were here!

The huge rosemary bush out back is blooming. It never puts out many flowers, but a few have made an appearance.

Went grocery shopping, and happily, most of the things that we needed were on sale. Saving $18 on a $100 order is one of life’s little victories.

Knitted a little on the crazy loopy scarf last night.

Just what every well-dressed circus clown needs!
Yes, I do like it. No, I don’t know why. And no, I don’t know what got into me. Blame it on Spring.

“Oh. My. God.

Keep up the great work! :D”

And THAT, my friends, is why I knit the same hat over and over.

http://www.gatewaygrizzlies.com/news/?id=2723

I imagine the Happy Meal version comes with a special toy surprise: a defibrillator.