Author: Doris

I’m up for no good reason. Installing Windows XP on my desktop. I should be sleeping or like doing work or working on my speech for this weekend. I had a good phone chat with Doris tonight. and I had a pretty good conversation with Vince. Looks like he’s a vanilla man. But choco crossaints are good for him too. I have one of those almost every morning at the moonbeans cafe across the street from the library. too bad it’s $2 a pop. I think Vince said he was going to ride with me on his new bike at some point too. Tho i could be mistaken about that.

I had lunch with your favorite librarian last week. she’s a pretty funny lady. I forgot to tell you about it over the phone. But basically we had an interesting talk. Apparently when I joined, I thought this one person was pretty useless. Apparently she thinks so too. I think we were both happy to agree on that. We ate at the Golf Course Cafe. by the Stanford golf course (duh). I had an Arnold Palmer which, if you didn’t know, was half ice tea, half lemonade. yum yum…

okay. bedtime.

It’s very simple. Ask yourself what do you want to say? Then condense it down into one sentence. Refine that sentence over and over again until it is perfect. Then read the sentence out loud.

(Note to other contributers to this blog: I’ve joined a knitting secret pal mail / exchange thing… Basically there are a whole bunch of knitters who anonomously send each other little things cards, yarn, stickers, etc over the course of three months, so this information is for her/him)

Hello secret pal –

I am a novice knitter, I have only 2 pairs of straight needles and one set of circular and about 10 skeins of yarn. My mother is a really good knitter and I want to be able to someday knit as well as she does – when I was young, she made all our winter sweaters that we wore all the time.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

About a year ago, I started knitting, I bought all my knitting supplies from Walmart and I started learning increases, decreases, ribbing, etc. Then I got discouraged after my toddler son got into the Red Heart yarn and tangled it all up and although I was doing well with my self-education, I threw it all away. Now, I’ve vowed to get at nice knitting needles and nice yarn to support my local yarn store and I have to say, the nice bamboo needles and nicer yarn just feel good.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

No, but I’m especially interested in crochet.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

Nope. Although I don’t like perfume or smoke.

4. How long have you been knitting?

On and off for about a year.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Nope.

6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

I love citrus.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

I do enjoy chocolate. Yum. I also do like hard candies and mint. Oh, I also like soft candies like Mentos and gummies. And I like salty things like nuts and DORITOS.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

I like to cook for my family.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I’m so out of the music scene if you’d like to introduce me to new music that would be lovely, I think my computer doesn’t have any speakers, so I could play an MP3, I just wouldn’t be able to hear it. Although I do have an iPod that my hubby got me for Xmas (although he uses it more than me.) I think we could figure it out. I love the old Liz Phair, Counting Crows, Joni Mitchell, Abba, Kristy McColl (sp?), Gilbert & Sullivan, the Sound of Music, Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Wiggles, Britney Spears, Norah Jones, Billy Joel, Jethro Tull (OK, not really Jethro Tull and Billy Joel seemed really cool in the late 80s, but seems so sappy now, huh?)

10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?

Love all colors, except flourescent colors.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

You’ll see elsewhere on the blog – one husband Jeremy (37), one son Vincent (3), one daughter Edda (1), one dog Ruby (4), two goldfish Zilker and Zepher (1 month)

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

Um, to knit a fishermans sweater and live somewhere where I can actually wear it.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

Wool.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

None.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Ah, I really want to become a master knitter through the Knitting Guild of America.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I like little things I can finish quickly without a lot of yarn, that way I can concentrate. A sweater or a full sized afgan seems so big.

17. What are you knitting right now?

Nothing, I’m looking around for a pattern for a nice felted bag.

18. What do you think about ponchos?

Like ’em.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Either.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Yes, in that order.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

No, but I want to be.

22. How did you learn to knit?

Through the Learn to Knit program with the Knitting Guild of America.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

I have none.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

I like the Tazmanian Devil and I like dogs and cats.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

I collect nothing. I love decluttering. (But my secret, secret obsessions are bags and notebooks.)

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

None.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?

Hmmm. Not really.

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven’t bought for one reason or another??

Nope.

Edda still loves Peter. Edda is standing with some help from Jeremy. Vince wants to show you his spikey hair which he spent at least 10 minutes styling. (I got a jar of hair wax with my new haircut…)

OK, so there is nothing really wrong with the Fair Price near our house. Fair Price is the main supermarket here in Singapore with branches located everywhere. I bet you could walk all day in 15 minute intervals and just rest at a different Fair Price each time. I like to shop at the Cold Storage which is a few MRT stops over from our house, with wide isles and shorter lines and more stuff like cheese and tortillas. However, we end up shopping at the Fair Price pretty often. You can see – first, my new haircut and second the stack of Tiger beer behind me. And next to the Tiger beer and on the floor is a bunch of boxes. Basically, they are always, always, always stocking the shelves and it is such a pain to move the stroller, keep track of Vince and push our little grocery cart around. Also, since it’s always packed, I think they run out of stock pretty quickly and so you will find different things on different days. One day, the didn’t even have Kikkoman Soy Sauce. What’s with that?

Jeremy finally got a hair clipper yesterday and got around to trimming his beard today. Vince and I hung around to watch those long, long whiskers go down the drain. Edda was in the bathroom as well clutching the edge of the bathtub.

This weekend, make up time on Saturday. Stay Put on Sunday. Just relaxing.