Yarn Harpy

mittens!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:40:46 GMT

the bulkiest knit ever

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:49:45 GMT

seeking hat advice

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:47:19 GMT

I am seeking some hat advice.
I look ridiculous in most hats. Seriously. I can pull off a baseball cap if it's just the right one, well broken-in and my hair is pulled smoothly into a high ponytail coming through the back of the hat. Dave thinks I look cute in a bucket hat (which works best on me if my hair is in braids).
However, when it comes to winter hats, warmer hats, knitted hats, I am totally at a loss. I have a chullo-style hat that I wear outside when it's cold and it works for being cold. I suspect it's the largeness of the hat where it covers most of your head.
From there, I have no idea what would work on me.
I have a round, large head. Seriously. It's just a big head. (Some would say I can be a fathead, but that's beside the point.) And I have thick curly hair, which inevitably will just stick out from under the edge hat in an awkward way that implies that it is trying desperately to force the hat off my head.
But I see these knitted hat patterns and I want to make one. I want a hat that is stylish and warm and comfortable and yet that I can wear with my hair down or at least mostly down instead of having to wrangle the hair into submission in a ponytail or braids - something I can wear in the mornings on my way to work and not have to take off before I get out of the car and start seeing co-workers and students because I look so silly in it that I don't want anyone to see.
Does anyone who reads this have any idea what might work for me?
I've tried going to stores and trying on hats, but since I have a larger-than-average head measurement, they are always too small and therefore look silly anyway, whether the style might work for me in the right size or not.

Of course, just after writing this, I see that there is going to be a feature in the Nashua Telegraph tomorrow (Living section) on how warm hats are now back in style.

Audrey

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:30:21 GMT

Audrey passed away yesterday, very peacefully.

Due to the storm and our lack of electricity (and thus heat, hot water and refrigeration as well), we are at Dave's parents' house, so the family is all together anyway for now.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate it.

knitting Christmas cards

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:34:34 GMT

http://www.cafepress.com/cobaltmoon/3568389

Check these out! These are all graphic art - not photos of knit - yet they are totally correct. It's a card and a colorwork pattern all-in-one, really.

new shoes!!!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:20:30 GMT

I just wrote about my excellent new shoes... in my regular LJ, of course.

I love my Crocs.

think about something else meme

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:22:06 GMT

Borrowed from tjstein.
Spreading the love from my flist:

1. Stop talking about politics for a moment or two.
2. Post a reasonably-sized picture in your LJ, NOT under a cut tag, of something pleasant, such as an adorable kitten, or a fluffy white cloud, or a bottle of booze. Something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS.
3. Include these instructions, and share the love.

slacker

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:50:11 GMT

I feel bad about this blog. I'm never on here, it's been turned into a blog with advertising by the lovely higher-ups at LiveJournal and I have yet to move it to a better home (future home being http://yarnharpy.bluejena.net).

However, I also haven't been knitting or crocheting or spinning. Between the puppy and grad school and work (teaching chorus every other day at GDMS, piano lessons every Tuesday and Thursday at CHS and every Saturday morning at my parents' home), there just hasn't been time for life itself.

But I'm here and I'm alive and I'm reading blogs through my Bloglines and commenting occasionally and have great intentions for projects to be done someday when life gives me some free time again.

Please don't give up on me! :)

Maia videos

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:05:50 GMT

Maia close-up and toys:

Maia vs. the door stop:

Maia runs and barks:

Maia with a soccer ball and a squirrel:

Maia and Dave play with her squirrel:

gratuitous Maia pix

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:15:35 GMT

Her first night with us.

More from that first day: http://maia.daveandjena.com

These two were taken today:

It's a cat bed, but she's so small (just over 4 pounds) that it fits her perfectly. :)

Maia!

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:01:07 GMT

More details here: bluejena

yarn sale

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:10:59 GMT

I have too much yarn, so here goes... a yarn sale.

I'll post pictures later and will keep updating this post with more yarn for sale as I de-stash.

Reynolds Colors Cotton in a fuchsia... long since discontinued, have no idea what it's worth. 8 balls, 100% cotton, 50g balls (about 50 yards), 3.5 stitches per inch.
It has a really nice sheen.
Would like to sell as a lot.
Make me an offer - $20?

Bernat Gloucester Sport, natural color. 2 skeins, 100% cotton, 50g (about 110 yards), 5.5 stitches per inch.
$5 for both skeins

a meme from Amy

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:07:43 GMT

1. Where was I 10 years ago.
Preparing for my senior year of high school. Right around now, I was probably making plans for the evening of the 3rd, which is when my hometown has a big fair at the town common.

2. 5 things on today’s to-do list
-get dressed
-make bed
-do dishes
-return bottles & cans to Hannaford
-go to knitting

3. Snacks I enjoy
popcorn, nachos, ice cream, pretty much anything involving cheese

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Buy our dream house at the beach (for weekends, summer, vacations) and a small farmhouse around here (for during the week because I would still want to keep teaching - I do love my job - and for raising a few alpaca and sheep), pay off our cars and seriously upgrade them (we love them, so replacement would be silly), buy a powder blue Mini Cooper convertible just for fun, replace the piano with a custom Steinway, pay off (and fix up as needed) our parents' houses, set my brother up with a recording studio, set Tony up with some sort of business (he has talked about exploring being an electrician), invest some money for Maddie's eventual college tuition.
Invest the rest. :)

5. Places I have lived.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire

6. Jobs I have had.
piano teacher (since 1996), office work (filing, phones, billing clerk), Trader Joe's crew member, IPSP (special needs aide), music teacher, band teacher, chorus teacher

7. Who would I like to know more about.
Everybody! :)

Molly

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:37:06 GMT

Molly didn't wake up this morning.

R.I.P.
Molly "Bean" Paolilli
June 1, 1993 - June 10, 2008

sock blanks?

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:10:52 GMT

What a neat idea!

the summer plan

Fri, 16 May 2008 19:16:47 GMT

Also posted in bluejena

As I posted to Twitter yesterday, my summer job is gone - the program seems to have somewhat imploded. I'm disappointed because I was starting weekly lesson plans for this year and I like working with Kathy (purplepuggles's stepmom) but I guess things just happen. It's also more proof of my theory that I can't count on anything without jinxing it, but that's something for another day.

Anyway, since the summer job is not happening, that leaves me with two options: temp job or no job. Dave and I discussed it and since I have grad school to worry about, a 40 hour a week temp job (for minimal pay doing filing and office support work) plus grad school plus continuing to teach piano lessons is going to make it so that I am constantly either at work or doing coursework. So, we're looking at this summer as an opportunity for things to finally get done. The plan is to teach piano lessons as I have been for the past 12 years, put more energy into my grad school work and do all the million things that need to be done. My list of things to do will be a mile long and I am going to start it on paper (and maybe on a simple web page so that I can get to it from anywhere and watch it develop and progress).

Over the years and especially the last year, so much stuff was just thrown into boxes. And we both have way too much stuff. So those boxes need to be tackled - all eleventy bazillion of them.

I need to get in shape. Or at least make some headway. So my day is going to need to start with going for a walk at the minimum, more as I get back into it.

I have barely touched my violin since buying it in the fall. I haven't touched my flute in over a year. I haven't touched my saxophone in over two years. Clarinet? Probably five+ years.

The apartment desperately needs reorganizing. We had to move in and everything just kind of came in. I was organizing for that first week while Dave was in Amsterdam and it was just my stuff and a little bit of his, but as we both started bringing in bigger loads of stuff, it got less and less organized and more and more cramped.

My wardrobe needs an overhaul something fierce. Clothes that need to be repaired, things I will absolutely never wear again, things that are in my parents' attic that I have long since forgotten, things that need to be reconstructed to be more flattering.

Knitting and crocheting projects that have been left unfinished (UFOs), art supplies untouched...

So, all that said, it's going to be 10 weeks of catching up on life.

vote for Dave... please?

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:07:00 GMT

Jason Calacanis is having a logo competition and I personally think Dave's submission is kickass. Clearly.

It's #15, the big black-and-white bulldog.

http://www.calacanis.com/2008/05/06/help-pick-the-jasonnation-logo/

Please vote for him.

If you do, come here, leave a comment to tell me that you did. There might be something in it for you. ;)

Seriously, though, if you like it, vote for it. Please and thank you. :)

Feel free to spread this around if you know and love my husband. In the platonic sense, of course. He's all mine. Hands off, ladies... unless there's enough alpaca and cashmere to distract me. ;)

Edit (10:51PM) - When you leave a comment, check your email and click the verification link. It's just a comment-spam prevention measure that he uses.

Days of the Spinning-Wheel in New England

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:12:40 GMT

I came across a first edition of this at the library today. First edition as in an original copy from 1888. Insane.

You can read the full text of it through Project Gutenberg:
Days of the Spinning-Wheel in New England

Enjoy! So far, I am. :)

AMAZING

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:22:44 GMT

My job is safe.

Thank you, all of you, who had words of hope and advice and everything else. :)

There was a long meeting, apparently, the result of which was Steve and Mark managing to save my job.

I am Over. The. Moon.

yarn for sale

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:42:48 GMT

Lang Jawoll Cotton superwash 88 (discontinued colorway: 88.0050)

I bought a bag of 10 at WEBS two years ago and haven't used it - Nicole has some, I'm sending some to a friend and that leaves me with 6 skeins, so I am destashing. Since I don't have many blog readers outside of the gals I see every week, I figured that eBay was a better way to go.

I'll be doing more of this, so I'll post those auctions as I list them.

spring is coming...

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:41:53 GMT

As proven by this little ladybug that came in on Dave's hat today...

dog + knitting

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:04:16 GMT

So cute. :)

quick update

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:08:11 GMT

I won't be at SPA this weekend... I was debating whether or not to go this year and ultimately the decision was made for me when I realized it was the same weekend as we had promised my niece to stay with us. She's coming over tonight and will stay until Saturday daytime.
Not much knitting going on. A close family friend passed away on Tuesday and I found out yesterday so I'm just in a fog right now. I have no idea when the services will be but I can only assume it will be tomorrow or Saturday, making things more complicated. I've written about it more in my regular blog (bluejena) but it's friends-only, so if you have an LJ account, you'll have to sign in to read it.
Anyway, I'm just getting through the end of vacation week and staying busy.

Have fun at SPA if you are going and I'll catch you all when you come back.

There are witnesses!

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 02:37:13 GMT

Dave came with me to knitting last night, learned to continental knit in about two seconds flat (I've been trying for years) thanks to variegatedknits, held Rosanna's newest addition to the family and in no way inhibited the girliness of the conversation - really, we discussed excessive lactation and childbirth for a while - and Lynne (knitnspin) very kindly documented the evidence. :)

(cross-posted in bluejena)

sexy

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:12:09 GMT

Now this, ladies, is a truly sexy beast of a husband. Check him out. :)

Awww yeah. That's tea in that mug.