Kiss My Knits!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

Here’s a story I haven’t told before.

The list as it stands.

Q: What is yellow and blue and holds a temperature?

A: A banana with blue skin that is sick.

Well, she’s recognized the inherent comedic value of the banana, so that’s a step. Keep at it, sugar!

You remember I posted a few days ago asking for suggestions for moisturizers? Well, took matters into her own hands. Look at what I got in the mail! It’s a Burt’s Bees Hand Repair Kit! Yay! It comes with Shea Butter Hand Repair Creme, Beeswax & Banana Hand Creme, Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme, and a pair of cotton gloves with bees on them. Too cool.

So far I’ve used the beeswax and banana creme and the lemon butter cuticle creme. The beeswax and banana creme really does smell like bananas. I felt like I was slathering pudding on my hands, in a good way. The smell quickly vanished, and it really does feel great. I love the way the lemon butter cuticle stuff smells too. Mmmm… lemons.

Thanks again, !

I was zipping along confidently on the Shedir hat without bothering to look at the pattern. My overconfidence was my undoing, as I apparently purled two stitches together at one point when I wasn’t looking and didn’t notice it for four rows. D’oh! I did a passable fix with a crochet hook. Unfortunately, passable isn’t perfect, and it was bothering me, so I decided I had to rip back and fix it properly. Let me tell you, with all the cables, this hat is a pain in the neck to un-knit. I’ve gone past the mistake and am ready to starting knitting forward again, but I’ve lost a lot of enthusiasm for this project. Doesn’t really matter, though, it has to be done, so I’ll suck it up and keep going.

Yesterday’s hair got more and more questionable as the day went on, finally degenerating into a Peter Tork style pageboy by bedtime. Today it looks like… well, it looks like I need a haircut. Back to square one. I want my 2006 hair back!

On the other hand, perhaps complaining about my hair while knitting a chemo cap is a bit ungrateful. So I’ll live with it for now, and be happy for what I’ve got.

So my old hairstylist moved to California about… I’m gonna say between four and six months ago, and I haven’t found a new stylist yet. This shows you how often I get my hair cut. Last week, I looked in the mirror and realized that my hair had reached the point where it looked so bad that there was nothing that even the least talented stylist could do to it that would make my head look worse than it already did.

So I bit the bullet and made an appointment. I brought with me a picture of what my last stylist had done for me, taken for a post back in March 2006, after a previous stylist had attempted to scalp me.

I walked in with the picture to the left and showed it to the stylist. The guy said, “So, short.” I said, “yep!” And that was the extent of any discussion about my hair.

Next thing I know he’s got the gel and the spray and all kinds of stuff out and is going to town. My glasses are off, so I’m kind of trusting to fate here.


I actually like the way this looks. It’s more grownup than my last cut. After I put my glasses on and saw myself, I said, “wow, now I need some new clothes.” However, although I will try, I am certain that I’m not going to be able to maintain this. I don’t have a curling iron, I seldom blow-dry my hair, and “product” still makes me think of my days making TV spots. I’ll give it a go… but realistically, this style is too long for me.

I’ve got another appointment for two months from now, as opposed to my usual four to six. We’ll see how this goes.

In the meantime, apparently my giant cones of orange yarn have arrived, so I’m off to pick them up. These should last me another couple of months. Yay!

P.S. – you guys know this trick, right? If you don’t have a self-timer or other way to stand away from your camera, don’t take a picture of yourself in the bathroom mirror – it just never looks good. Instead, use the mirror to check the viewfinder while you turn the camera toward yourself. Works every time.

Emily’s attempts at jokes continue.

Q: What did the teddy bear say to the doll?
A: Snuggle us up for a thousand times!

If you can’t get funny, aim for cute!

Since I was down to my last 25 Jayne hat business cards, I ordered more. This time, I ordered double-sided, with care info on the reverse, killing two birds with one stone.

The problem? They came back looking like hot buttered CRAP.

The old one is on the right. The new one is on the left. The exact same graphic file was used for the front of both cards. The colors are allegedly identical in all backgrounds. I thought I’d picked the same coating for the new cards as for the old ones – did I not? And why are there little whitish spots on all the new ones? There weren’t any on the old ones.

I know this is perfectionistic of me, but these are how I represent myself to the world. I want them to look the way I want them to look. Namely, professional, and not like I printed them out on my laser printer at home. Instead I paid for a thousand double-sided business cards that look WRONG! ARGH!

ETA: I heard back from customer service pretty quickly after I wrote them a polite note. The new batch was printed on a different printer than the original batch. They’ve offered to reprint them for me. I asked whether that would fix the specific issues mentioned, and they’ve printed a batch of 100 and are sending them to me for my approval. Based on what I say, we’ll decide what to do next. Good customer service from PrintsMadeEasy!

Folks took me up on the Donors Choose challenge to the tune of $315 smackers, so I think I’ll keep it rolling a while longer. I’m thrilled that this has worked out so well.

I realized there’s an “art to wear” badge for Brownies, meaning if we string our shrinky dinks on a piece of yarn, we’re filling part of a Try-It requirement.

Shedir’s about halfway done. It’s going much faster than the last one. I’m doing it entirely without a cable needle, which is new for me. It’s always good to learn new things. I did notice a mistake two rows back… but let’s not think about that until after breakfast.

The weather forecast includes possible snow flurries by tonight, and I always get excited about snow. To celebrate, if time permits, I think I’ll make myself pumpkin pancakes.

I’ve got so much to do, and about a million packages to mail out, but still. Wishes are horses, and I’m eating steak today!